Page 65 - Exercise 1A

Page 65 - Exercise 1A

Money

Here’s an everyday situation: you buy a magazine and you use money to pay for it. But think about that for a minute. You’ve actually given the shopkeeper just a piece of paper, a few pieces of metal or nowadays just a piece of plastic. It’s all very easy. However, at one time, there wasn’t any money. How were things paid for then?

Imagine that you’re a farmer and you’ve got some eggs, but you want some bread. If the baker wanted some eggs, it would be easy. Your eggs would be exchanged for the baker’s bread.This is called ‘barter’. In a barter system, things are exchanged by people.

But there is a problem with barter: What if the baker doesn’t need any eggs? What will happen then? Maybe the eggs will be exchanged for a lamb.The lamb will be exchanged for a shirt and then the shirt will be exchanged for the bread. It can get very complicated. But that’s how trade was done for thousands of years.

The problem was solved by the introduction of money.The first things that were used as money were shells and stones.The first real coins were made by the Lydians in about 650 BC.

They were made of gold and silver, and they were stamped with a lion’s head - the king’s symbol.The Lydians lived in what is now western Turkey.

They were traders and soon their coins were being used all over the Mediterranean.The idea was taken to India by Alexander the Great and his army, and from there it spread to China and other parts of Asia.The first paper money was produced by the Chinese in the 9th century.

In the modern age, new ways of paying for things have been invented, such as cheques, credit cards and debit cards.

Today, billions of dollars are moved around the world by computers electronically. More and more things are paid for by card, and now you can even pay for things with your mobile phone. Some people think that in the future everything will be paid for electronically. Notes and coins won’t be used at all.