2021年考博英語閱讀理解模擬題（四六）

The idea that mobile phones bring economic benefits is now widely accepted. In places withbad roads, few trains and parlous land lines, they substitute fortravel, allow price data to be distributed more quickly and easily, enable tradersto reach wider markets and generally ease the business of doing business.Leonard Waverman of the London Business School has estimated that an extra tenmobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country leads to an extrahalf a percentage point of growth in GDP per person.To realise the economic benefits of mobile phones, governments in suchcountries need to do away with state monopolies, issue new licences to allowrival operators to enter the market and slash taxes on handsets. With few exceptions(hallo, Ethiopia), they have done so, and mobile phones are now spreading fast,even in the poorest parts of the world.

As mobile phoneshave spread, a new economic benefit is coming into view: using them forbanking, and so improving access to financial services, not just telecomsnetworks. Pioneering m-banking projects in the Philippines, Kenya and SouthAfrica show the way. These “branchless” schemes typically allow customers todeposit and withdraw cash through a mobile operator's airtime-resale agents,and send money to other people via text messages that can be exchanged for cashby visiting an agent. Workers can then be paid by phone; taxi-drivers anddelivery-drivers can accept payments without carrying cash around; money can beeasily sent to friends and family. A popular use is to deposit money beforemaking a long journey and then withdraw it at the other end, which is saferthan carrying lots of cash.

There is no need toset up a national network of branches or cash machines. M-banking schemes canbe combined with microfinance loans, extending access to credit and enablingusers to establish a credit history. Some schemes issue customers with debitcards linked to their m-banking accounts. All this has the potential to givethe “unbanked” masses access to financial services, and bring them into theformal economy.

What cangovernments do to foster m-banking? As with the spread of mobile phonesthemselves, a lot depends on putting the right regulations in place. They needto be tight enough to protect users and discourage money laundering, but openenough to allow new services to emerge. The existing banking model is bothover- and under-protective, says Tim Lyman of the World Bank, because “it didnot foresee the convergence of telecommunications and financialservices.”

Inmany countries only licensed banks are allowed to collect deposits. Even ifa mobile operator forms a partnership with a bank, its agents may have tocomply with banking rules covering everything from the height of the counter tothe installation of alarms. Financial institutions may have to providedetailed statements to the central bank every week, which is tricky fororganisations with agents in remote areas. Some countries have rigid rules onthe documents demanded of anybody opening an account, which excludes many.

1. The following are advantages of economic services through mobile phones except that_____

[A] price data can be distributed quicky and easily.

[B] traders can extend their market.

[C] doing business is more convenient.

[D] the growth of GDP per person can be greatly promoted.

2.Which one of the following statements is TURE of the m-banking schemes?

[A] They can prevent safer services than the traditional banking.

[B] They could provide the customers with credit services

[C] They have been experimented in some developing countrie.

[D] They could encourage people to use fiancial services

3. The word “convergence” (Line 5, Paragraph 4) most probably means_____

[A] conversation.

[B] combination.

[C] similarity.

[D] exchange.

4.Towards m-banking, the governments’ attitudes can be said to be_____

[A] supportive.

[B] opposing.

[C] indifferent.

[D] unclear.

5. The best title of this passage can be_____

[A] Economic Benefits Brought by Mobile Phone.

[B] M-banking—Marriage of Mobile Phone and Banking.

[C] Mobile Phone Used for Banking.

[D] The Pioneering M-banking Schemes.

[答案]

1. D

2. C

3. B

4. D

5. B

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