English: Cloze Test Set 12

 
Investors are (1)____ into the digital currency, which is not issued by a central bank but is conjured into being by cryptographic software running on a network of volunteers’ computers. This week the price of a Bitcoin (2)______ to above $1,000, from less than $15 in January.
Having long been favoured by libertarians, gold bugs and drug dealers, Bitcoin is (3)_____ some surprising new fans. Germany has recognised it as a “unit of account”. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, told a Senate committee on virtual currencies that the idea “may hold long-term promise”. A small but growing band of shops and firms accept (4)_____ in Bitcoin. Some like the way it allows funds to be transferred (5)_____ between users, without middlemen. Others are attracted by the (6)____ for anonymous transfers, or by the fact that the number of Bitcoins in circulation has a fixed upper limit—so there is no way a central bank can inflate their value away by issuing more.
But the recent price surge, driven by Chinese investors stashing money offshore, (7)___ like a classic bubble. Hoarding means that Bitcoin is currently more of a (8)____ asset than a currency. And a crash is not the only risk Bitcoin users face. As the price rises, Bitcoin theft is increasing, both from individuals and from online exchanges that (9)____ the coins and convert them into other currencies. Around $1m in Bitcoins was recently stolen from BIPS, a European exchange. GBL, a Chinese Bitcoin exchange, abruptly vanished in October, taking $4.1m-worth of deposits with it.
The system itself is straining at the seams. The amount of computing power consumed by its transaction-verification system, which has the side-effect of “mining” new Bitcoins, is(10)_______: it now far exceeds that of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers combined.

1. A) hoarding
   B) gathering
   C) piling
   D) profiting
   E) spending
   
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   Option C
   
2. A) soared
   B) downgraded
   C) stood up
   D) crawled
   E) rise
   
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   Option A
   
3. A) producing
   B) owing
   C) procuring
   D) limiting
   E) attracting
   
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   Option E
   
4. A) coins
   B) payments
   C) everything
   D) bills
   E) cash
   
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   Option B
   
5. A) precisely
   B) directly
   C) straight
   D) literally
   E) exactly
   
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   Option B
   
6. A) possibly
   B) ease
   C) future
   D) potential
   E) practicable
   
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   Option D
   
7. A) looks
   B) flashes
   C) tends
   D) views
   E) awaits
   
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   Option A
   
8. A) hazardous
   B) logical
   C) speculative
   D) presumed
   E) dangerous
   
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   Option C
   
9. A) deposits
   B) store
   C) funds
   D) supplies
   E) tanks
   
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   Option B
   
10. A) exploding
    B) shooting
    C) shrinking
    D) ceasing
    E) mushrooming
    
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    Option E