VOA标准英语2015--实现无现金社会 全球在效仿瑞典?

Moving Away from Cash: Is the World Emulating¹ Sweden? 实现无现金社会 全球在效仿瑞典? 

Cash has not disappeared from everyday life, but the world’s largest information and financial companies are working on ways to replace it with wireless² communication payments.  Sweden is in the forefront with between 85 and 90 percent of all transactions being made electronically.  The task is formidable and there is some strong opposition³ to a total change.

Cash…clams…dough…scratch.   All mean the same thing.  Money - that one can hold and use for any kind of purchase or purpose.  Is it losing favor worldwide?

According to John Sheldon of MasterCard’s Innovation Group, the move to a cashless society is picking up steam worldwide, especially in Africa.

“They have the opportunity to leap-frog the existing infrastructure⁴ that, say, exists in Europe and North America because they can, just like in China they skipped right from the P.C. to the 4G phone," he said. "Societies in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia have the same opportunity to skip payment technologies right straight to the mobile phone and doing mobile payments instead of going through all the magstripe, the chip and beyond.  So they can move much more quickly because those infra-structures don’t have to be put in place."

MasterCard has been working with Nigeria and South Africa to reduce fraud by using so-called “proof of life” technology - which allows for cashless transactions once a user is identified.

“I'm going to make a purchase and actually I'm validating⁵ that purchase with a picture of my face, use that photo so it’s establishing that it’s me," said Sheldon. "It’s actually validating me, looking for my password and therefore it’s validated⁶ that I’m here and I’m alive and then I can make that purchase."

Across the continents, money keeps being printed.  But Cornell University Professor Robert Hockett says cashless transactions are a necessity in many countries.

“It’s often hard to find banking⁷ services, right, to find institutions that are located in one conveniently-reachable place at which one can make one’s deposit or meet with one’s bankers or the like," he said. "So it ends up being quite convenient to be able to sort of carry around your bank with you, as it were, say in the form of a single electronic device like a mobile phone."

Scott Shay, chairman and founder⁸ of Signature Bank in New York City, cautions against a totally-cashless world.

“Once we get to the point where there is no currency, no cash, essentially⁹ every single transaction that any individual makes is susceptible¹⁰ to being monitored and even more worrisome, controlled," he said.

Is the public sold on total electronic transactions?  Outside of United Nations headquarters in New York, Huda Alzeera of Bahrain summed it up.

“Maybe electronic payments are good for online stuff for certain things.  They’re really good for globalization, actually, you know, because you can pay online and can get things from different countries.  It’s good for that electronically.  But I feel that for everyday life it’s good to have cash on hand," said Alzeera.

According to monetary¹¹ experts, there’s a huge cost for countries using cash - including printing money, securing money, and distributing the cash.  But even in nearly-cashless Sweden, two-thirds of Swedes think carrying cash is a human right.

1 emulating   

v.与…竞争( emulate的现在分词 )；努力赶上；计算机程序等仿真；模仿

参考例句：

• The possibilities of producing something entirely new by emulating nature's very wide crosses are enticing. 用自然界的非常广泛的杂交方法创造出全新植物种的可能性是诱人的。 来自辞典例句
• The human emulating this archetypal patterning will be quite the accomplished businessperson. 这类原型模式者会是一个很成功的商人。 来自互联网

2 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

5 validating   

v.证实( validate的现在分词 )；确证；使生效；使有法律效力

参考例句：

• His politics at home were validating his efforts in the hemisphere. 他的国内政策也有效地支持了他对本半球所做的努力。 来自辞典例句
• A number of different experimental approaches have aided in validating the concept. 许多不同的实验方法，有助于确证这种概念。 来自辞典例句

6 validated   

v.证实( validate的过去式和过去分词 )；确证；使生效；使有法律效力

参考例句：

• Time validated our suspicion. 时间证实了我们的怀疑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The decade of history since 1927 had richly validated their thesis. 1927年以来的十年的历史，充分证明了他们的论点。 来自辞典例句

7 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

8 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

11 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。