2004年英語學習資料-閱讀精解24(1)

wPassage 24 貨幣
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, paper money and bank notes spread widely. The bulk ofthe money in use came to consist not of actual gold or silver but of fiduciary money--promises to payspecified amounts of gold and silver. These promises were initially issued by individuals or companiesas bank notes or as the transferable book entries that came to be called deposits. But gradually the stateassumed a role. From fiduciary paper money promising to pay gold or silver, it is a short step to fiat paper money--that is,notes that are issued on the "fiat" of the sovereign, are specified to be so many dollars or francs or yen. The first large-scale issue in a Western country occurred in France in the early 18th century (though there are reports of paper money in China many centuries earlier). Later, the French revolutionary government issued paper money in the form of assignats from 1789 to 1796. The American colonies and later the Continental Congress issued bills of credit that could be used in making payments. These early experiments gave fiat money a deservedly bad name. The money was overis- sued, and prices rose drastically until the money became worthless or was redeemed in metallic money at a small fraction of its initial value.

Subsequent issues of fiat money in the major countries during the 19th century were temporarydepartures from a metallic standard. In Great Britain, for example, payment of gold for the outstand-ing bank notes was "suspended" during the Napoleonic Wars (1797--1815). As a result, gold coinand bullion became more expensive in terms of paper. Similarly, in the United States during the CivilWar, convertibility of Union currency (greenbacks) into gold was suspended, and resumption did notoccur until 1879. At its peak, in 1864, the greenback price of gold, nominally equivalent to $100,reached more than $ 250.

閱讀理解
1. Which kind of money is issued by government, fiduciary paper money or fiat money?

2. What does "overissue" in paragraph 1 mean?

3. According to the passage, first kind of large scale money issue by government occurs in_______

4. What is the name of American paper bill?

5.During American Civil War, when the value of gold reached its highest point, it may increase
________times in terms of paper bill.

閱讀理解
1. bulk 大小，體積，大批，大多數 2. fiduciary 基于信用的，信托的，受信托的
3.transferable 可轉移的，可轉換的，可傳遞的 4. deposit 沉淀物，存款，押金，保證金
5. fiat 命令，法令，許可，批準 6. i

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