TheWorldBanksaysthereareabout650millionmobilephoneusersinAfrica.ThatisgreaterthanthenumberofusersintheUnitedStatesandEuropeanUnion.SamiaMelhemworksfortheWorldBanktoincreaseinformationtechnologiesinAfrica.

Question

The World Bank says there are about 650 million mobile phone users in Africa. That is greater than the number of users in the United States and European Union.

Samia Melhem works for the World Bank to increase information technologies in Africa. She says mobile phones are the fastest growing technology on the continent. “More people communicate by phone. More people have Internet access today in Africa than they have access to clean water or even sanitation(卫生系统). So we can say this has been the most significant revolution in terms of changing how people live their daily life.”

CNN television says many ways of life have been changed because of mobile phones. They include political activism education entertainment disaster management agriculture and health.

Another area is banking. Reports say half or more of the adults use mobile money. Rene Mendy sells goods in the streets. But he never had enough money to open a bank account. Now he uses a mobile phone banking service called Orange Money. With his telephone he can add or take out as little as one dollar. He can make payments and send money to family members who live far away.

Orange Money says it serves four million customers in ten countries. The World Bank's Samia Melham says “The mobile banking is a huge trend. And people in the West don't understand it because most people have bank accounts and credit cards. It provides cash at a much lower cost. The cost is the cost of sending an SMS which is almost nothing compared to what traditional transfer(转账) agents like Western Union would charge 10 dollars or more for a particular money transfer.”

1. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. Mobile phones users are increasing in Africa.

B. Mobile phones are changing lives in Africa.

C. A mobile phone banking service appears recently.

D. The mobile banking is a huge trend in the world.

2. According to the passage we know Orange Money________.

A. charges less than traditional transfer agents

B. can't send money to those living far away

C. has four million customers in African countries

D. could afford money to consumers in advance

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A. There are six areas affected by mobile phones in Africa.

B. People in the West are against the use of the mobile banking.

C. The number of phone users in the US is larger than that in Africa.

D. Traditional banks face great challenges from mobile banking.

Answer 1

BAD