雅思阅读UNIT 12 Money.doc

UNIT 12 Money Warm up-Thinking about the Topic ?Look at the images. Talk about them with your partner. ?1 What do you know about these items? Think about their value. ? 2 All these items have been used as money at some time in history. Discuss with a partner each of them was used in the past or is still being used now. ? 3 Make a list of all the different currencies you know in the world today -yuan, dollar... Beginning to Read Predicting Content from the Title of the Passage ?Money Through the Ages A From the earliest of times, money has been central to our communities and our organized way of life. Over the centuries, various monetary systems have directed our lives. Today, it has wide social, psychological and political influence. It has developed since the beginnings of our history. B From the beginning of humankind, the system of barter, or exchange, has been used to buy goods. Personal items of value such as crops or animals were exchanged for goods or services wanted. This kind of exchange still exists today. C There is a problem with using perishable commodities such as salt, tea, tobacco, cattle, pigs or seeds as money, because the storage and transportation of these items become a problem. Consequently, over time, the bartering system evolved, so that people could sell their pigs at the best possible time and receive coins which could later be used to buy grain when the eat was harvested ?world. These original coins were made with holes in the middle so they could be chained together. E Later, around 700 BCE, the Lydians, who lived in the area known as Turkey, were the first people to make silver coins. From around 550 BCE they produced pure silver and gold coins with their gods and emperors imprinted on the surface. From the fourth century BCE the Egyptians used gold bars as a means of exchange. Coins were now in wider use. The Greeks and Romans used the more scarce metals of bronze, gold and silver to make their coins, which meant the coin itsel