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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.
旧金山市中心的一家商店收银处，山姆·阿扎正在用信用卡支付一包香烟的钱。
The store's card reader failed to scan the card's magnetic strip. Azar tried again and again. No luck.
商店的读卡器无法识别他卡上的词条，阿扎试了又试，总是不行。
As customers began to queue, Mr. Azar reached beneath the counter for a black plastic bag.
眼看顾客们开始排队，阿扎在收银台后面拿出了一个黑色的塑料袋。
He wrapped one layer of the plastic around the card and tried again. Success.
他把卡用一层塑料包起来然后有刷了一次，这次成功了。
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。阿扎先生说：“我不知道其中的原理。但是就是行得通。”这是他从一名其他员工那里学来的小窍门。
Verifone, the company that makes the store's card reader, would not confirm or deny that the plastic bag trick worked.
这家商店读卡机的生产商，惠尔丰，对这种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.
生活中很多非专业人士在绝望时发现一些毫无技术含量但却能克服高科技问题的窍门，并与他人分享。这只是其中之一。
Today's shaky economy is likely to produce many more such tricks.
如今不稳定的经济可能会催生更多这种小窍门。
"In post-war Japan, the economy wasn't doing so great so you couldn't get everyday-use items like household cleaners,"
“战后日本经济不景气，所以人们买不到一些日用器具，比如家用清洁器。”
says Lisa Katayama, author of Urawaza, a book named after the Japanese term for clever lifestyle tips and tricks.
《裏技》的作者片山丽萨说。“裏技”在日语中是聪明的生活贴士和技巧的意思。
"So people looked for ways to do with what they had."
“所以人们就会用现有的东西想办法。”
Today, Americans are finding their own tips and tricks for fixing malfunctioning devices with supplies as simple as paper and glue.
现在，美国人也开始发现一些能够用纸和胶水之类的简单材料解决机器故障的窍门了。
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窍门一样，其工作原理和功效饱受争议。
But many tech home remedies can be explained by a little science.
但很多“丹方”是可以用科学解释的。
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.
请根据你刚听到的内容回答16-18题。
Question 16. What happened when Sam Azar swiped his credit card to pay for his purchase?
问题16：山姆·阿扎购物后用信用卡支付时遇到了什么问题？
Question 17. How did Sam Azar manage to complete the sale?
问题17：山姆·阿扎是如何完成交易的？
Question 18. What is today's shaky economy likely to do?
问题18：如今不稳定的经济会带来什么？
