单选题Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For
each blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D on the right side of the
paper. You should choose the ONE that best fits into the passage. Then mark the
corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the
centre. The term e-commerce refers to all commercial
transactions conducted over the Internet, including transactions by consumers
and business-to-business transactions. Conceptually, e-commerce does not
{{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}from well-known commercial offerings
such as banking by phone, "mail order" catalogs, or sending a purchase order to
supplier {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}fax. E-commerce follows the
same model {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}in other business
transactions; the difference {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}in the
details. To a consumer, the most visible form of e-commerce
consists {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}online ordering. A customer
begins with a catalog of possible items, {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}}
{{/U}}an item, arranges a form of payment, and {{U}} {{U}} 7
{{/U}} {{/U}}an order. Instead of a physical catalog, e-commerce arranges for
catalogs to be {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}on the Internet.
Instead of sending an order on paper or by telephone, e-commerce arranges for
orders to be sent {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}a computer network.
Finally, instead of sending a paper representation of payment such as a check,
e-commerce {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}one to send payment
information electronically. In the decade {{U}} {{U}}
11 {{/U}} {{/U}}1993, e-commerce grew from an {{U}} {{U}}
12 {{/U}} {{/U}}novelty (新奇事物) to a mainstream business influence. In
1993, few {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}had a web page, and
{{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}a handful allowed one to order
products or services online. Ten years {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}}
{{/U}}, both large and small businesses had web pages, and most {{U}}
{{U}} 16 {{/U}} {{/U}}users with the opportunity to place an order.
{{U}} {{U}} 17 {{/U}} {{/U}}, many banks added online access,
{{U}} {{U}} 18 {{/U}} {{/U}}online banking and bill paying
became {{U}} {{U}} 19 {{/U}} {{/U}}. More importantly, the value
of goods and services {{U}} {{U}} 20 {{/U}} {{/U}}over the
Internet grew dramatically after 1997.