(Q).
Passing a store, you might just step in and see if the store has received any new CDs. Once in the store, you're delighted to discover some new CDs that you must have. You could buy them later, of course, but you're already here, so why not now? In the checkout line you wonder whether to write a check or pay with a credit card. Either way would be OK, you suppose. The trouble with writing a check, though, is that you don't have much money left in your checking account. Using the credit card you won't have to pay at once, and when you do pay, you will only have to pay a little a month. So you hand the salesperson your plastic card, and that's the deal!     There are a few good things about credit cards. For one thing, it's almost impossible to rent a car without a credit card. For another, they are helpful if you are in a situation where you don't have your checkbook or you have little cash with you. What are the disadvantages? One is that few people have the discipline to use their credit cards wisely. Instead, many fall into the buy-now-pay-later trap. Many become "addicted to plastic." Another disadvantage is that credit cards are more abstract than money or checks and thus contribute to our having less control over our money. Bank notes are physical things, and you have to  _ your checking account every month when you pay with a check. This takes a bit of work, and although it's painful, it's more realistic. Credit cards represent the abstract, lending a certain air of unreality to the stage of managing your finances. All you do is sign your name; someone else does the math for you. What is the advantage of credit cards? A) You can buy what you like at a lower price. B) You can buy what you like without paying at all. C) You can buy what you like more conveniently. D) You can buy what you like more freely.
(A).
C


(Q).
In a few years,you might be able to speak Chinese,Korean,Japanese,French,and English-and all at the same time. This sounds incredible,but Alex Waibel,a computer science professor at US's Car-negie Mellon University (CMU) and Germany's University of Karlsruhe,announced last week that it may soon be reality. He and his team have invented software and hardware that could make it far easier for people who speak different languages to understand each other. One application,called Lecture Translation,can easily translate a speech from one language into an-other. Current translation technologies typically limit speakers to certain topics or a limited vocabulary. Us-ers also have to be trained how to use the programme. Another machine can send translations of a speech to different listeners depending on what languagethey speak. "It is like having a s _ translator right next to you but without disturbing the person next to you,"Waibel said Prefer to read? So- called Translation Glasses transcribe  the translations on a tiny liquid-crystal display(LCD) screen. Then there's the Muscle Translator. Electrodes capture the electrical signals from facial muscle movements made naturally when a person is mouthing words. The signals are then translated into speech.The electrodes could be replaced with wireless chips implanted in a person's face,according to research-ers. During a demonstration held last Thursday in CMU's Pittsburgh campus,a Chinese student named Sang Jun had 11 tiny electrodes attached to the muscles of his cheeks,neck and throat. Then he mouthed-without speaking aloud- a few words in Mandarin  to the audience. A few seconds later,the phrase was displayed on a computer screen and spoken out by the computer in English and Spanish: "Let me introduce our new prototype." This particular instrument,when fully developed,might allow anyone to speak in any number of lan-guages or,as Waibel put it,"to switch your mouth to a foreign language". "The idea behind the universi-ty's prototypes is to create'good enough'... Where can we probably find this passage? A) A newspaper. B) A magazine on science. C) A fairy tale. D) A scientific fantasy book.
(A).
B


(Q).
In 1959, when Jean Harper was in the third grade, her teacher gave the class an assignment to write a report on what they wanted to be when they grew up. She poured her heart into her report and expressed her dream of becoming an airline pilot. Her paper came back with an "F" on it. The teacher told her it was a "fairy tale". Jean was heartbroken and ashamed. As the years went by, Jean was beaten down by the discouragement and negativity she encountered whenever she talked about her dream. "Girls can't become airline pilots; never have, never will. You're crazy. That's impossible. "Finally Jean gave up. In her senior year of high school, her English teacher was a Mrs. Dorothy Slaton, a demanding teacher with high standards. One day Mrs. Slaton asked this question: "If you had unlimited finances, unlimited access to the finest schools, unlimited talents and abilities, what would you do?" Jean felt a rush of the old enthusiasm, and with excitement she wrote down the very old dream. The next thing that Mrs. Slaton said changed the course of Jean's life. The teacher leaned forward over her desk and said, "I have a little secret for you. You do have unlimited abilities and talents. When you leave school, if you don't go for your dreams, no one will do it for you. You can have what you want if you want it enough." The hurt and fear of years of discouragement disappeared all of a sudden. Jean felt thrilled and told her about her dream of becoming a pilot. Mrs. Slaton slapped the desk top. "Then do it!" she said. So Jean did. It didn't happen overnight. In her l0 years of hard work, even facing varieties of laugh, frustration and opposition, she never gave up her dream. Instead, she went on doing everything her third-grade teacher said was fairy-tale. Eventually, Jean Harper became a Boeing 737 captain for the United Airline Company. According to the passage, we can infer that  _  . A) Jean's dream was always in her deep heart B) Jean owed her success to all her teachers C) most people around Jean approved of her dream D) Jean achieved her dream with ease
(A).

A