How do you pay for things? Do you usually use cash(現(xiàn)金), or do you like to pay by credit card(信用卡)? If you are like a lot of people, you probably have at least one credit card. Also, you might use it more often than you probably should.
Credit cards first became popular in the 1920s, At that time, businesses, such as hotels and companies, gave credit cards to their best customers(顧客). Unlike today's credit cards, customers could only use these cards at the Store or business that gave out the card. Customers had to pay for things in full. They couldn't pay for something a little at a time.
In 1950, a businessman named McNamara started a credit card company — Diners Club. Unlike earlier credit cards, this card could be used by customers at many restaurants. Customers liked the card because they didn't have to carry a lot of cash with them. Restaurant owners liked the card, too. Why? They found out that customers usually spent more money when they could pay by credit card.
In its first year of business, Diners Club issued 200 cards, The customers who got the cards from the Diners Club could use them at 27 different restaurants. Today, Diners Club has about 8 million customers, and they can use their cards in over 7. 6 million businesses in more than 200 countries.
【小題1】What can we know about the earlier credit cards from the passage?

How old was I? I can’t remember. Maybe I was only 10. It was the first    16   without my father because he was away for something. He left me to fill that sad place in my mother’s heart. It was the Christmas when I stopped being a    17   and tried to play Father Christmas myself. I really wanted to make it happy and bright again. It was the Christmas of the    18  .
Mom first saw the coat at Tobias, a nice    19   shop in our town’s little shopping mall. It was dark green. And it was a    20  , heavy, wool dress coat. Mom pulled it out from the rack(架) and held it up. “Long enough,” she said in a low voice and    21  .
“I need a new coat,” Mom smiled before the mirror. She looked good on any clothes,       22   this coat suited her much better. She looked at the    23  , then hung the coat back on the rack, standing there once more to    24   
Eighty-seven dollars. But I decided to buy it for her. As we moved on    25  the mall, I found some excuse to return and asked one of the Tobias ladies to    26   the coat.
I helped clean every yard(庭院) in our neighbourhood—some yards twice, and soon I got the coat. The store ladies helped me put it in their biggest    27   with bright blue paper and thick silver ribbon(絲帶). I don’t remember    28   I got it home, but I can still feel the wonderful    29   and pride that filled me. I would imagine the big space which the box would take up under our tree. Here it was—joy, peace and    30  —all in the box, waiting for Mom’s surprise.

A predator(捕食性動(dòng)物) kills and eats other animals as prey(獵物).Sometimes it also becomes food for other predators. Polar bears are the largest of all the land predators. They can run across snow and swim in icy water for hours without rest. Their favorite food is seal. Not all big animals live on small animals. Hippos have heavy bodies and huge mouths. But they don’t eat animals. They just eat grass.
Some predators use speed to catch their prey. Cheetahs are the fastest animals on land. They can run up to 70km an hour. Other predators use their senses to find their food. Sharks can see, smell, hear, feel and taste. They can also sense electrical currents(電流 )from other animals’ bodies. Some fish try to hide themselves, but with this sixth sense, sharks can always find them. Sharks have smooth bodies. This helps them swim without using lots of energy. They need to save their energy because they never really sleep and never stop hunting. Flying is a useful skill for many predators in the sky. The butcher bird is the most interesting predator. It has a special way of eating its prey. First it kills its prey. Then it hangs it on a fence or in a tree, just like a butcher hangs meat in his shop. Finally, it eats its prey.
Some people hunt and kill more animals than any other predator. They not only hunt for food. They also hunt for fun. They kill sharks for their fins, and tigers for skins. Those human hunters are the worst predators on Earth.
【小題1】The following statements are about “predators”, which one is true?