Today anyone will accept money in exchange for goods and services. People use money to buy food, furniture, books, bicycles and hundreds of others they need or want. When they work, they usually get paid in money.
Most of the money today is made of metal or paper. But people used to use all kinds of things as money. One of the first kinds of money was shells.
Shells were not the only things used as money. In China, cloth and knives were used. In the Philippine Islands, rice was used as money. In parts of Africa, Cattle were one of the earliest kinds of money. Other animals were used as money, too.
The first metal coins were made in China. They were around and had a square hole in the center. People strung them together and carried them from place to place.
Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money. The first coins in England were made of tin. Sweden and Russia used copper to make their money. Later, other countries began to make coins of gold and silver.
But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again the Chinese thought of a way to improve money. They began to use paper money 76)The first paper money looked more like a note from one person to another than paper money used today.
Money has had an interesting history from the days of shell money until today.
11. Which of the following can be cited as an example of the use of money in exchange for services?
A. To sell a bicycle for $20.
B. To get some money for old books at a garage sale.
C. To buy things you need or want.
D. To get paid for your work.
答案：C
12. Where were shells used as money in history?
A. In the Philippines.
B. In China
C. In Africa
D. We don’t know
答案：C
13.Why, according to the passage, did ancient Chinese coins have a square hole in the center?
A. Because it would be easier to put them together and carry them around.
B. Because it would be lighter for people to carry them from place to place.
C. Because people wanted to make it look nicer.
D. Because people wanted to save the expensive metal they were made from.
答案：B
14. Why does the author say that even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive?
A. Because they are easy to steal.
B. Because they are difficult for people to obtain.
C. Because they are not easy to carry around.
D. Because they themselves are expensive, too.
答案：C
15. Which do you choose as the best title for this passage?
A. Money and Its Uses
B. Different Things used as Money
C. Different Countries, Different Money
D. The History of Money
答案：C
In the last 500 years , nothing about people ----not their clothes, ideas, or languages----has changed as much as what they eat. The original chocolate drink was made from the seeds of the cocoa tree by South American Indians. The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500’s. And although it was very expensive, it quickly became fashionable. In London shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places. Some still exist today.
The potato is also from the New World. Around 1600, the Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe, where it soon was widely grown. 78)Ireland became so dependent on it that thousands of Irish people starved when the crop failed during the “Potato Famine” of 1845-6, and thousands more were forced to emigrate to America.
There are many other foods that have traveled from south America to the Old World. But some others went in the opposite direction. Brazil is now the World’s largest grower of coffee, and coffee is an important crop in Colombia and other South American countries. But it is native to Ethiopia. It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400’s.
According to an Arabic legend, coffee was discovered when a goatherd name Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red berries on a coffee bush. He tried one and experienced the “wide –awake” feeling that one-third of the world’s population now starts the day with.
16. According to the passage, which of the following has changed the most in the last 500 years?
A. Food
B. Chocolate
C. Potato
D. Coffee
答案：D
17. “Some ”in “Some still exist today” means _________.
A. some cocoa trees.
B. some chocolate drinks.
C. some shops.
D. some South American Indians.
答案：A
18. Thousands of Irish people starved during the “Potato Famine” because _________.
A. they were so dependent on the potato that they refused to eat anything else.
B. they were forced to emigrate to America.
C the weather conditions in Ireland were not suitable for growing the potato.
D. the potato harvest was bad.
答案：A
19. Coffee originally came from_________.
A. Brazil
B. Colombia
C. Ethiopia
D. Arabia
答案：C
20. The Arabic legend is used to prove that _________.
A. coffee was first discovered by Kaldi.
B. coffee was first discovered by Kaldi’s goats.
C. coffee was first discovered in south American countries.
D. coffee drinks were first made by Arbas.
答案：C、
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