晨讀英語美文100篇四級Money
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Money
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In the earliest stages of man’s development
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he had no more need of money than animals have.
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He was content with simple forms of shelter
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and from natural materials around him,
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he made his own rough tools and weapons.
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As he became more civilized,
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however, he began to want better shelter,
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more efficient tools and weapons,
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and more comfortable clothing
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than could be provided by the work of his own unskilled hands.
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For these things he had to turn to the skilled people
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such as smiths and carpenters who were springing up everywhere.
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It was then that the question of payment arose.
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At first he got what he wanted by a simple process of exchange.
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The smith who had not the time to look after land or cattle
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was glad to take meat or grain
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from the farmer in exchange for an axe or a plough.
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But as more and more goods which had no fixed exchange value
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came on the market,
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exchange became too complicated to be satisfactory.
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Another problems arose
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when those who made things wanted to get stocks of wood，
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leather or iron,
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but had nothing to offer in exchange
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until their finished goods were ready.
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Thus the difficulties of exchange
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led by degrees to the invention of money.
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In some countries,
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easily handled things like seeds or shells
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were given a certain value and the farmer,
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instead of paying the smith for a new axe
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by giving him some meat or grain,
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gave him so many shells.
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If the smith had any shells left when he had bought his food,
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he could get stocks of the raw materials of his trade.
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In some countries quite large things
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such as cows or camels or even big flat stones were used for trade.
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Later, pieces of metal,
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bearing values according to the rarity of the metal
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and the size of the pieces of coins were used.
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Money as we know it had arrived.
