Now we all accept money in exchange for goods and services. We use money to buy clothes, food, furniture, books, cars and many other things we need or want. When we work, we usually get paid in paper currency.

    Most of the money circulating today is made of metal, paper or plastics. But in ancient times, people actually used various kinds of things as exchange media, such as knives, cloth, rice, gold and silver. In China, for instance, cloth and metals were used as money for thousands of years. In southeast Asia and parts of Africa, rice and other things were used as money for a long time.

    Today everybody knows that the first metal coins were made in China. England used tin to make its first coins. Russia and some other countries used copper to make their money. Later, a number of countries began to make coins of gold and silver. Again the Chinese people thought of a way to improve their money. As the metal money was inconvenient if you wanted to buy something expensive, paper currency came into existence, though the first paper money looked more like a note from one person to another than the paper currency we use today.

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金钱已成为我们生活中不可缺少的一部分。我们用钱买衣服，食物，家具，书籍，汽车以及其他我们需要或想要的东西。如果我们有工作，我们的报酬也是金钱。当代的金钱都是由金属，纸，或是塑料制成。从前，人们是有各式各样的东西来交换物品。刀子，钟表，米，金子以及银子。古代的中国，钟表和金属是他们流传千年的货币。东南亚国家和非洲一些国家都用米或其他物品作为他们的货币。众所周知，第一个使用软刚制作货币的是在中国。俄罗斯及其他国家使用铜来制作货币。随后，许多国家用金子及银子制作货币。中国再次改善他们的货币。这类货币比以往方便多了。这就是我们所谓的纸币。