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Behind the cash register at a store in downtown San Francisco, Sam Azar swiped his credit card to pay for a pack of cigarettes.
舊金山市中心的一家商店收銀處，山姆·阿扎正在用信用卡支付一包香煙的錢。
The store's card reader failed to scan the card's magnetic strip. Azar tried again and again. No luck.
商店的讀卡器無法識別他卡上的詞條，阿扎試了又試，總是不行。
As customers began to queue, Mr. Azar reached beneath the counter for a black plastic bag.
眼看顧客們開始排隊，阿扎在收銀臺后面拿出了一個黑色的塑料袋。
He wrapped one layer of the plastic around the card and tried again. Success.
他把卡用一層塑料包起來然后有刷了一次，這次成功了。
The sale was completed. "I don't know how it works. It just does." said Mr. Azar who learned the trick from another clerk.
交易完成了。阿扎先生說：“我不知道其中的原理。但是就是行得通。”這是他從一名其他員工那里學來的小竅門。
Verifone, the company that makes the store's card reader, would not confirm or deny that the plastic bag trick worked.
這家商店讀卡機的生產商，惠爾豐，對這種塑料袋技巧的功效不置可否。
But it's one of many low-tech fixes for high-tech failures that people without engineering degrees have discovered often out of desperation，and shared.
生活中很多非專業人士在絕望時發現一些毫無技術含量但卻能克服高科技問題的竅門，并與他人分享。這只是其中之一。
Today's shaky economy is likely to produce many more such tricks.
如今不穩定的經濟可能會催生更多這種小竅門。
"In post-war Japan, the economy wasn't doing so great so you couldn't get everyday-use items like household cleaners,"
“戰后日本經濟不景氣，所以人們買不到一些日用器具，比如家用清潔器。”
says Lisa Katayama, author of Urawaza, a book named after the Japanese term for clever lifestyle tips and tricks.
《裏技》的作者片山麗薩說。“裏技”在日語中是聰明的生活貼士和技巧的意思。
"So people looked for ways to do with what they had."
“所以人們就會用現有的東西想辦法。”
Today, Americans are finding their own tips and tricks for fixing malfunctioning devices with supplies as simple as paper and glue.
現在，美國人也開始發現一些能夠用紙和膠水之類的簡單材料解決機器故障的竅門了。
Some, like Mr. Azar's plastic bag, are open to argument as to how they work or whether they really work at all.
其中一些和阿扎先生包塑料袋的竅門一樣，其工作原理和功效飽受爭議。
But many tech home remedies can be explained by a little science.
但很多“丹方”是可以用科學解釋的。
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
請根據你剛聽到的內容回答16-18題。
Question 16. What happened when Sam Azar swiped his credit card to pay for his purchase?
問題16：山姆·阿扎購物后用信用卡支付時遇到了什么問題？
Question 17. How did Sam Azar manage to complete the sale?
問題17：山姆·阿扎是如何完成交易的？
Question 18. What is today's shaky economy likely to do?
問題18：如今不穩定的經濟會帶來什么？
