Learn the following words and their translations.

сurrency – валюта

coin – монета

bill – банкнота

goods – товары

circulation – оборот

valuable – ценный

common – распространенный

in exchangefor – в обмен на

lend – давать взаймы

customer – клиент

amount – количество

circulation – оборот

Read and translate the text in the written form.

Money

Money is something that is very difficult to explain . People in variouscultures think of money in different ways. A London banker and an African tribesmanhave different ideas of what money is.

Many people think of money as a currency– metal coinsand paper bills. We need it to buy the things in life that we need. We also get money for the work that we do. So, money is a way of exchanging goods and services .

The History of Money

In early civilisationspeople did not have money. They tradedobjects. Maybe a hunter had more animal fursthan he could use and his neighbour might have caught more fish than he could eat himself. They soon saw that they needed each other. The fisherman needed fursto protecthimself from the cold and the hunter needed something to eat, so they exchangedtheir goods . This is called barter .

Barteralso had disadvantages. If there weren’t any more people who needed the hunter’s furshe couldn’t tradethem for the things he needed.

Early Forms of Money

As time went on, people used things that were valuableas a kind of money. Cattlewas one of the earliest forms of money. People who had many cows were thought to bevery rich. Later on, grainand salt were commonforms of money. They had advantagesbecause you could weighthem.

The Aztecs used cacao beans as money. They were valuableand easy to carry. The early American colonists used gunpowder , tobacco and nailsas money. These things were very rare.

Coins

In the course of timepeople searched for better ways of tradinggoods. They found out that metal , especiallygold and silver, was very valuable .

Some historians believe that the first coinswere made at around 700 B.C. by the Lydians. The Greeks and Romans also had silver and gold coins. Their valuewas guaranteedby the government .

But it was not until the late Middle Ages that coinsbecame commonthroughout Europe. Metals were stampedand coins had to have a certain weight. People knew how many coins they needed to buy something because they had a fixed value.

Paper money

Paper money came into useabout 300 years ago. The idea came from goldsmithswho gave people pieces of paper in exchangefor their gold. These billscould be exchangedfor their gold later on . They told you that realgold and silver existed somewhere.

Until the middle of the 20th century governmentsall over the world had depositsof gold that was worth as much as the money they gave to their people. Paper money had many advantages . It was cheaper to make and easier to carry around.

But there were also dangers. Governmentscould produce as much paper money as they wanted. If they produced too many banknotes and gave them to the people, they would have too much money to spend. If there were not enough goodsto buy, prices would go up. The money then would loseits value . We call this inflation.

Today, the amountof money in circulationis controlled by central banks . They make sure that paper money has a constant value .

In the second half of the 20th century people realizedthat they didn’t have to carry money around to buy the things they needed. Information about money was sent from bank to bank, so you could have your money transferred from one place to another without touchingit.

Credit cards

Today, more and more people use credit cards to buy things. You don’t have to take realmoney with you. With a credit card the bank lendsits customermoney to buy something. The customer signsa small slipof paper and the shop assistant sends it to the bank and gets his money at once. A few weeks later the customerpays the money back to the bank.

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