【正文】 a small boat in the jungle without help. C. The dirty water they drank didn?t threaten their lives. D. They had no food or drinking water prepared. C Millions of Americans run to the bank or visit ATM when they need cash. They use credit cards when they want to buy clothes, VCRs, or television sets. But there is an underclass — people with low ines and no credit history —who visit their neighborhood pawnshops (當(dāng)鋪 ) when they need cash or a loan. About 20 percent of the US population has no bank account. More than half of this group don?t have credit cards and cannot get bank loans. “These people are borrowing an average of $50,” said John P. Caskey of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. “If you add up in terms of how much dollar value pawnshops provide, they don?t look very important. If you add up how much of the population they serve or the number of loans they make, they are important.” Because they make loans, pawnshops are a type of bank, often calling themselves “the bank of the little people.” Caskey and Swarthmore student Brian Zidmund in 1989 looked at the importance of pawnshops in the US economy—the first serious study of the subject since the 1930s. Their conclusion: pawnshops are the consumer?s lender of last resort (最后貸款人 ). Pawnshop customers typically cannot get credit at banks. They have poor credit records, low and unstable ines, or cannot maintain positive bank account balances. Typically, pawnshop customers borrow relatively small amounts that traditional lenders are unwilling or unable to provide on a secured basis. “If you look at total consumer credit, the amounts provided by pawnshops remain small,” Caskey said. “They are lending mainly to lowine people. In terms of the population they serve, they?re really important.” In 1988, there were about 6,900 pawnshops in the United States — one for every two mercial banks. They made about 35 million loans, providing 1 percent of the nation?s consumer credit. 79. The best title for the passage would be ________. A. Credit Cards for the Poor B. Banks for the Poor C. Pawnshops vs. Banks D. Commercial Banks 80. What do the underclass people do when they need cash? A. They go to local banks for help. B. They apply for credit cards. C. They ask for a loan from large banks. D. They apply for a loan in pawnshops. 81. What can we learn about pawnshops? A. Poor people e to pawnshops as their last resort. B. Most people prefer pawnshops for their need of cash. C. Pawnshops are an important part of the state economy. D. Pawnshops are not important because they make up only 1 percent of the nation?s consumer credit. 82. According to John P. Caskey, pawnshops are important because ________. A. they provide great dollar value to the poor B. they make big loans to a lot of people C. they are serving the majority of the population D. they make a large number of loans to the poor D Memory, they say, is a matter of practice and exercise. If you have the wish and really make a conscious effort, then you can quite easily improve your ability to remember things. But even if you are successful, there are times when your memory seems to play tricks on you. Sometimes you remember things that really did not happen. One morning last week, for example, I got up and found that I had left the front door unlocked all night, yet I clearly remember locking it carefully the night before. Memory “tricks” work the other way as well. Once in a while you remember not doing something and then find out that you did. One day last month, for example, I was sitting in a barbershop waiting for my turn to get a haircut, and suddenly I realized that I had got a haircut two days before at the barbershop across the street from my office. We always seem to find something funny and amusing in incidents caused by people?s fetfulness or absentmindedness. Stories about absentminded professors have been told for years, and we never get tired of hearing new ones. Unfortunately, however, absentmindedness is not always funny. There are times when “tricks” of our memory can cause us great trouble. 83. If you want to have a good memory, you should ________. A. force yourself to remember things B. make a conscious effort of practice and exercise C. never stop learning D. try hard to remember things 84. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage? A. One night the writer fot to lock the front door. B. One night the writer fot having locked the front door. C. The writer remembered to lock the door. D. The writer remembered unlocking the front door. 85. What can we infer from the last paragraph? A. Absentmindedness stories can bring people fun. B. Absentmindedness is more troublesome than fetfulness. C. Absentminded professors are often amused by the incidents, too.