Residents were warned not to be extravagant with water, _______ the low rainfall this year.

(29) ___________

Most doctors agree that it is not good for patients to lay in bed without exercising.

The word ‘this’ in the passage refers to ……….

Lauren’s predominant features, what you first noticed about her, were her stunning black hair and large, dark eyes.

A (n) _____child means a child who behaves badly and saddens his parents.

The fire must have been started on purpose; otherwise, it couldn’t have caused so much damage.

George took _______ of the fine weather to feed his baby tiger in the garden.

At the meeting, Ms. Volatile always manages to put her foot in her mouth. (underlined words CLOSET in meaning with)

(32) ___________

Why does the author mention "a small flat-screen device" in the first paragraph?

What does the author think may happen in the future?

People who are unhappy sometimes try to compensate by eating too much.

By the end of next year, we _______ this advanced training course.

Choose the word that has different pronunciation: bought, sought, drought, fought.

Smart cards and mobile phones are becoming an increasingly popular way to make all sorts of payments. Even now, in Japan thousands of transactions, from paying rail tickets to picking up the groceries, take place every day with customers passing their handsets across a small flat-screen device. And predictions in the world of finance reckon that payments using mobile phones will have risen to more than $50 billion in the very near future.

What's the appeal of e-cash? Compared to cheques or credit cards, it offers the speed of cash, but more so. It takes just one tenth of a second to complete most transactions and as no change is required, errors in counting are eliminated. Fraud and theft are also reduced and for the retailer, it reduces the cost of handling money. Sony's vision of having a chip embedded in computers. TVs and games consoles means that films, music and games can be paid for easily and without having to input credit card details.

And what about the future of the banks? Within grip on the market, banks and credit-card firms want to be in a position to collect most of the fees from the users of mobile and contactless-payment systems. But the new system could prove to be a "disruptive technology" as far as the banks are concerned. If payments for a few coffees, a train ticket and a newspaper are made every day by a commuter with a mobile, this will not appear on their monthly credit card statements but on their mobile phone statements. And having spent fortunes on branding, credit-card companies and banks do not want to see other payment systems gaining popularity. It's too early to say whether banks will miss out and if so, by how much. However, quite a few American bankers are optimistic. They feel there is reason to be suspicious of those who predict that high-street banks may be a thing of the past. They point out that Internet banking did not result in the closure of their high-street branches as was predicted. On the contrary, more Americans than ever are using local branches. So, as to whether we'll become a totally cash-free society or not, we’ll have to wait and see.

What is the main idea of the first paragraph?

He did not do well at school and left with few _________ qualifications.

Pasteur _______all his life to science.

How does the writer seem to feel about the future of banks?

Jane is making a call for Mrs. Smith but she isn’t on the phone

Jane: Hello, I’d like to speak with Mrs. Smith.    

Daisy: “   __________”

Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?