阅读理解。
Millions of Americans run to the bank or visit ATM when they need cash. They use credit cards when
they want to buy clothes, VCRs, or television sets.
But there is an underclass-people with low incomes and no credit history -who visit their neighborhood
pawnshops (当铺) when they need cash or a loan.
About 20 percent of the US population has no bank account. More than half of this group don't have credit
cards and cannot get bank loans.
"These people are borrowing an average of $50," said John P. Caskey of Swarthmore College in
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania."If you add up in terms of how much dollar value pawnshops provide, they don't
look very important. If you add up how much of the population they serve or the number of loans they make,
they are important."
Because they make loans, pawnshops are a type of bank, often calling themselves"the bank of the little
people."
Caskey and Swarthmore student Brian Zidmund in 1989 looked at the importance of pawnshops in the US
economy-the first serious study of the subject since the 1930s.
Their conclusion: pawnshops are the consumer's lender of last resort (最后贷款人).
Pawnshop customers typically cannot get credit at banks. They have poor credit records, low and unstable
incomes, or cannot maintain positive bank account balances.
Typically, pawnshop customers borrow relatively small amounts that traditional lenders are unwilling or
unable to provide on a secured basis.
"If you look at total consumer credit, the amounts provided by pawnshops remain small," Caskey said.
"They are lending mainly to low-income people. In terms of the population they serve, they're really important."
In 1988, there were about 6,900 pawnshops in the United States - one for every two commercial banks.
They made about 35 million loans, providing 1 percent of the nation's consumer credit.
1. The best title for the passage would be ______.
A. Credit Cards for the Poor
B. Banks for the Poor
C. Pawnshops vs. Banks
D. Commercial Banks
2. What do the underclass people do when they need cash?
A. They go to local banks for help.
B. They apply for credit cards.
C. They ask for a loan from large banks.
D. They apply for a loan in pawnshops.
3. What can we learn about pawnshops?
A. Poor people come to pawnshops as their last resort.
B. Most people prefer pawnshops for their need of cash.
C. Pawnshops are an important part of the state economy.
D. Pawnshops are not important because they make up only 1 percent of the nation's consumer credit.
4. According to John P. Caskey, pawnshops are important because ________.
A. they provide great dollar value to the poor
B. they make big loans to a lot of people
C. they are serving the majority of the population
D. they make a large number of loans to the poor
