Part 4
Questions 26-45
·Read the following passage and choose the best word for each space.
·For questions 26-45, mark one letter A, B, C or D on the Answer Sheet.
One hundred and thirteen million Americans have at least one bank-issued (26) card. They give their owners automatic credit in stores, restaurants, and hotels, at home, across the country, and even (27) , and they make many banking services available as (28) . More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or (29) money in scattered locations, (30) the local branch bank is open. For many of us the "cashless society" is not on (31) — it’s already here.
While computers offer these (32) to consumers, they have many advantages for sellers too. Electronic cash registers can do (33) than simply ring up sales. They can (34) a wide range of records, including who sold what, when, and to whom. This information allows businessmen to keep (35) their list of goods by showing which items are being sold and how fast they are moving. Decisions to reorder or (36) goods to suppliers can then be made.
(37) the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employees are the most efficient, (38) personnel and staffing assignments to be made (39) . And they also identify (40) customers for promotional campaigns. Computers are relied (41) by manufacturers for similar reasons. Computer- (42) marketing reports can help to decide which products to emphasize now, which to develop for the future, and which to drop. Computers keep track of goods in stock, of raw materials (43) hand, and even of the production process itself.
(44) other commercial enterprises, from theaters to magazine publishers, from gas and electric utilities to milk processors, bring better and more (45) services to consumers through the use of computers.