Funny Money (有趣的货币)

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How does money start？ & l4 d; P. |$ D4 S% X* n8 h　　Long ago, people in the world didn＇t go to an office or a factory to earn money. They found their money on the ground. The money was large, round, and flat. It looked just like what it was -- a stone!

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　　很久以前，世界上的人不是去办公室或工厂去赚钱。他们在地上找到钱。那种钱很大，很圆，而且很平。它其实就是----一块石头。

　　Because it was very hard to find these stones, they were valuable. People carried the stones when they went shopping. The richest men left their big and heavy stones in front of their houses so that everyone could see how rich they were.

　　因为找到这种石头很不容易，它们很珍贵。人们在去买东西时带上这些石头。最富有的人把又大又重的石头放在房子前面，这样每个人都看得到他们有多富有。 % ?, x3 Z2 A' M3 Z! b0 E　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 ; A+ M0 A. V# O7 M　　　　　　　　　　　　　　中国最早的货币是贝

　　People in some places found their money along the seashore--red, black, and white shells. Some people could eat their money! They made money out of salt. When it rained, the money might melt!

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　　人们在有的地方沿着海滩就可以找到货币----红的，黑的，还有白色的贝壳。有的人可以吃他们的货币！这种货币是用盐做成的。下雨时，钱会融化的！

　　Finally, people started using metal for money--copper and silver and gold.

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　　最后，人们开始把金属用作货币----铜，银或是金。

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　　metal money was certainly better than salt or shell or stone money. But if you have much of it, metal money is hard to carry around. So today we have paper money, with numbers printed on it to show how much the money is worth.

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　　金属的货币当然要比盐或是贝壳的或是石头的货币好。但是你有太多时，金属货币不方便带在身上。所以今天我们用纸币，上面有数字表示它的面值。

Notes: # G1 k) [+ |5 H! e( G \: l3 b8 \money n.货币 ' g _8 m3 [; ?* N, ~office n.办公室 , m( ?, w9 ^+ P% V2 x" _3 T6 Dfactory n.工厂 + z* d" z( L9 S7 s6 x( H) Mearn v.赚得，挣得 4 K6 U3 y3 }! b% X l' P1 tground n.地（面） round adj.圆的 & E. E, M6 r: `6 h; N- b( xflat adj.平的 stone n.石头 valuable adj.有价值的，贵重的 9 j# A' [0 }1 \8 f& j0 ^carry v.搬动，带去 1 b4 g2 K1 C5 L9 r( B2 @richest adj. rich的最高级，富有的 seashore n.海岸，海滨 shell n.贝壳 salt n.盐 4 C. y8 j8 b7 q6 d( f8 Fmelt v.融化 : X: O! L: O' E' Z Z, N( D$ Ometal n.金属 4 i' n: j. z3 g+ g2 Xcopper n.铜 silver n.银 gold n.金 3 W& @& N( ?% |) |+ n" Uprint v.印，印刷 6 i5 [1 y4 Y$ H! hworth prep.相当于...价值 8 r' }# `' r0 M6 R8 q