Exercise 14

Choose the most suitable word for each space.

Someone once described the age we live in as that of a vanishing world, one in which the familiar is constantly disappearing forever and technological change is often difficult to 1)………… with. So it should come as no surprise to most of us to hear that yet another part of everyday life is 2) ………… to go forever. Still, when I read recently that within the next decade money as we 3) ………… it will probably cease to exist in technologically advanced countries. I had to read the article twice to make sure it wasn’t April 1^st. 4) ………… to Professor Gerry Montague of the Institute for Economic Reform, the familiar 5) ………… and banknotes will soon be replaced entirely by credit cards of various kinds. And the shop of the future (the ‘retail outlet’ as Prof. Montague puts it) will be 6) ………… directly to the network of banking computers. The assistant will simply key in your bank account code number and the 7) ………… you have spent, and thank you politely. You won’t have to dig deep in your 8) ………… for change or pretend at the pub that you have left your money at home. You may not have a number for your 9) ………… as such, as the computer may by then be able to read your handprint. So no more credit card frauds 10) …………. But I am afraid that I shall 11) ………… money. I have felt strongly attached to it, ever since I received my first pocket money when I was five, and kept it in a money box. Even if my credit card of the future will be able to tell me exactly how much 12) ………… power I have left in the computer files, even if it lights up and plays a happy (or sad) tune at the same time, nothing will be able to replace the sheer pleasure I gained from 13)………… the coins in my money box. Not to 14) ………… the other obvious problems which will be caused by 15) ………… of real money – like how to start a football match, for example!