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　　Cheques have largely replaced money as a mean s of exchange, for they are widely accepted everywhere . Though this is very 1 for both buyer and seller, it should not be forgotten that cheuqes are not real money: they are quite 2 in themselves. A shop-keeper always runs a certain 3 when he accepts a cheque and he is quite 4 his rights if, 5 ,he refuses to do so.

　　People do not always know this and are shocked if their good faith is called 6 . An old and very wealth friend of mine told me he had an extremely unpleasant 7 . He went to a famous jewellery shop which keeps a large 8 of precious stones and asked to be shown some pearl necklaces. After examining several trays, he 9 to buy a particularly fine string of pearls and asked if he could pay 10 cheque. The assistant said that this was quite 11 , but the moment my friend signed his name, he was invited into the manager’s office.

　　The manager was very polite, but he explained that someone with 12 the same name had presented them with a 13 cheque not long age. He told my friend that the police would arrive 14 any moment and he had better stay 15 he wanted to get into serious trouble. 16 , the police arrived soon afterwards They apologized to my friend for the 17 and asked him to 18 a note which had been used by the thief in a number of shop .The note 19 :“I have a gun in my pocket. Ask no questions and give me all the money in the safe.” 20 , my friend’s handwriting was quite unlike the thief’s.

　　Text 8

　　In October 2002, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank 1 a new electronic market for economic indices that 2 substantial economic risks, such as nonfarm payroll (a measure of job availability) and retail sales. This new market was made possible by a 3 rating technology, developed by Longitude, a New York company providing software for financial markets, 4 the Parimutuel Digital Call Auction. This is “digital” 5 of a digital option: i.e., it pays out only if an underlying index lies in a narrow, discrete range. In effect, Longitude has created a horse race, where each “horse” wins if and 6 the specified index falls in a specified range. By creating horses for every possibl 7 of the index, and allowing people to bet 8 any number of runners, the company has produced a liquid integrated electronic market for a wide array options on economic indices.

　　Ten years ago it was 9 impossible to make use of electronic information about home values. Now, mortgage lenders have online automated valuation models that allow them to estimate values and to 10 the risk in their portfolios. This has led to a proliferation of types of home loan, some of 11 have improved risk-management characteristics.

　　We are also beginning to see new kinds of 12 for homes, which will make it possible to protect the value of 13 , for most people, is the single most important 14 of their wealth. The Yale University-Neighbourhood Reinvestment Corporation programme, 15 last year in the city of Syracuse, in New York state, may be a model for home-equity insurance policies that 16 sophisticated economic indices of house prices to define the 17 of the policy. Electronic futures markets that are based on econometric indices of house prices by city, already begun by City Index and IG Index in Britain and now 18 developed in the United States, will enable home-equity insurers to hedge the risks that they acquire by writing these policies.

　　These examples are not impressive successes yet. But they 19 as early precursors of a technology that should one day help us to deal with the massive risks of inequality that 20 will beset us in coming years.