Coins阅读理解.doc

Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, summed up the four chief qualities of money some 2,000 years ago. It must be lasting and easy to recognize, to divide, and to carry about. In other words it must be, durable, distinct, divisible and portable. When we think of money today, we picture it either as round, flat pieces of metal which we call coins, or as printed paper notes. But there are still parts of the world today where coins and notes are of no use. They will buy nothing, and a traveler might starve if he had none of the particular local money to exchange for food.Among isolated peoples, who are not often reached by traders from outside, commerce usually means barter. There is a direct exchange of goods. For this kind of simple trading, money is not needed, but there is often something that everyone wants and everybody can use, such as salt to flavor food, shells for ornaments, or iron and copper to make into tools and vessels. These things-salt, shells or metals-are still used as money in out-of-the-way parts of the world today.Salt may seem rather a strange substance to use as money, but in countries where the food of the people is mainly vegetable, it is often an absolute necessity. Cakes of salt, stamped to show their value, were used as money in Tibet until recent times, and cakes of salt will still buy goods in Borneo and parts of Africa.Metal, valued by weight, preceded coins in many parts of the world. Iron, in lumps, bars or rings, is still used in many countries instead of money. It can either be exchanged for goods, or made into tools, weapons or ornaments. The early money of China, apart from shell, was of bronze, often in flat, round pieces with a hole in the middle, called cash. The earliest of these are between three thousand and four thousand years old-older than the earliest coins of the eastern Mediterranean.Nowadays, coins and notes have supplanted nearly all the more picturesque forms of money, and although in one or two of the more remote countries people still hoard it for future use on ceremonial occasions such as weddings and funerals, examples of primitive money will soon be found only in museums.Text 3 译文希腊哲学家亚里世多德在2000 年前总结了货币的四个主要特点。它必须耐久、容易辨认、可以用整数除尽、容易携带。换句话说就是，耐用的、有明显区别的、能够用整数除尽的、便于携带的。 我们想到货币时，我们想象它是圆的、平的金属片，我们称它为硬币，或者是印刷的纸币。但是今天世界上仍有一些地方硬币和纸币都没用。它们不能买任何东西。 一个旅行者如果没有特殊的当地“钱”换取食物，他可能会饿死。在不和外界商人接触的隔绝国家，贸易通常是易货贸易。这儿有物物之间的直接交换。对于这种简单的贸易，钱是不需要的，但是总是存在一些人人想要的和 人人能用的东西，比如，用于调味的盐、用于装饰的贝壳和用于做工具和器皿的铁和铜。这些东西，盐、贝壳和金属，今天仍在世界的偏远地区当作钱使用。盐作为钱大概看起来很奇怪，但是在食物以蔬菜为主的国家它完全是一个必需品。直到最近西藏还把用盐做成的蛋糕作为钱在西藏使用，这些蛋糕被压成不同大小来表示他们的价值。用盐做的蛋糕在婆罗州和非洲的部分地区仍可以买东西。由重量决定价值的金属先于世界上许多国家的硬币产生。做成小方块的、棍状的、环状的铁仍在许多国家代替钱在使用。它可以换成货物，也可以做成工具、 武器或装饰品。中国最早的钱除了贝壳就是铜，铜通常被做成中间有一个洞的平的圆片，称为“现钱”。这些最早的钱是在3000 年到4000 年前早于东地中海最早的钱币。如今，尽管在一两个比较偏远的国家有些人仍贮藏那些别致的钱用于以后的一些礼仪场合，比如，婚礼和葬礼，硬币和纸币还是取代了它们。原始货币会很快在博物馆中看到。56. According to Aristotle money must _.A be easy to carryB be strong enough and last longC be able to be divided without remainderD bear all the qualities above答案：D释疑：Aristotle 讲钱应?quot;durable, distinct, divisible and portable：（耐用的、有明显区别的、能够用整数除尽的、便于携带的）。选项AB和C都不全面。57. In some parts of the world _.A money cannot buy goodsB money is not needed for the exchange of goodsC money is used in barter termsD money is used to flavor food答案：B释疑：在世界有些地方人们采用易货贸易（以货换货,不需要货币），所以答案选择B。58. In Tibet the value of salt money is determined by _.A the weight of the cake of saltB the size of the cake of saltC the value stamped on the cake of saltD the quality of the salt答案：B释疑：答案可以在第三段中找到。59. The early money of China was _.A older than the earliest coins of the eastern MediterraneanB not as old as the earliest coins of the eastern MediterraneanC made of copperD made of iro