A lot of interesting things have happened in the past several months as people from all walks of life learn how to stretch their money. A lot of changes have been accelerated by the fuel shocks during the summer of 2008; in a lot of ways we seem to be reverting to the frugal(economical) sensibilities of a past generation. More people are choosing to be more picky when they swipe their credit cards even if that means not buying things until they have money in their bank accounts, the days of the $0-down mortgage(抵押贷款)seem to be murdered, and there is a lot more acceptance of environmentally-friendly technologies that promise to reduce our overall dependency on foreign oil even if it means taking a hit to the excesses that used to define our quality of living.
An interesting new trend being taken by small businesses is the practice of offering discounted prices to customers willing to pay in cash. This is not the same as paying “under the table”---rather, the store saves its merchant processing fees and passes those savings on to the customers. The idea is a good one in principle---paying in cash forces consumers to take stock of what they are spending as much as it saves stores from transaction(交易) fees.
Of course there are drawbacks to the plan. When people pay in cash, they tend to be more conservative with their spending since they tangibly(really) feel their money leave their possession. That will cause stores to lose profits because customers will think twice before buying high—margin “impulse” products at checkout whereas before they might not have thought twice before charging it. Increased volume of cash handling opens stores to loss through employee theft at the till(抽屉), not to mention controls that need to be put into place to count and deposit physical currency.
Our family has saved a fortune by switching to cash. When getting to the bottom of your change jar means no more purchase power until your next pay period, you really start to appreciate the fine art of merchandising(做买卖) and the expertise applied to make you want to buy more and more. Cold hard cash feels more organic, and helps us to appreciate the effort it takes to maintain our lifestyle.
56. From the passage, we can learn that __________.
A. customers are in a more favorable position by paying in cash.
B. people will not be allowed to use their credit cards if there is no money in their bank account.
C. people have adjusted their way of living to the new situation.
D. people are living better than before by paying in cash.
57. By saying “people from all walks of life learn how to stretch their money”, the author means that _________.
A. people walk to work in order to save money.
B. people of all professions learn to make the best use of their money.
C. people of the whole society learn to earn more money.
D. all people learn to extend money so that it is worth more.
58. When the customers pay their goods in cash, the stores will be affected in the following ways EXCEPT ___________.
A. the sale of their goods will decrease as the customers are more reluctant to buy things.
B. there is a potential danger of money loss by their staff.
C. it brings a burden to the stores as they need to deal with the cash.
D. the stores make less money as they need to give some money back to the customers.
59. What caused people to start to use cash instead of credit cards?
A. The rising prices. B. High unemployment. C. The fuel shocks. D. The economic crisis.
60. What’s the author’s attitude towards the practice of paying in cash?
A. Approving B. Ridiculous C. Uninterested D. Opposed