Russian coins

UNIT 1

Money and Banking

Ex. 1.

A) Fill each gap with a suitable word from the box.

B) Sum up the text in 5-7 sentences and present your summary in class.

coin	known	invented	handle
forms	small	using	big
used	objects	money	instruments
called	assets

What Is Money?

Money is an asset that serves as a means of payment, a store of value, and a unit of account. Money was_______a long time ago.

Gold and silver coins are the best_______form of money. They have the longest history and have been more widely accepted as payment than any other form of commodity money.

The popularity and universal acceptability of_______money is easy to understand. Coins are solid, attractive, hard-wearing and easy to______. In addition to the qualities mentioned above, coins can be produced in_______and ________ denominations.

Societies________gold and silver have used other _______ as money, including shells, beads and pelts. Anything can serve as______

that is easily recognized, widely accepted, and not easily copied. Gold, shells, and pelts are no longer used as money in the majority of countries.

Today two kinds of financial_______serve as money: currency (coins and bills) and checking deposits at banks and thrift institutions.

Currency plus checking deposits at banks and thrifts is often _______Ml. The money that includes balances in money market

funds, savings deposits in banks and thrifts and certain other liquid ______is called M2.

Along with coins, paper currency, and checking deposits, "plastic money" is widely _______ today. "Plastic money" comes in two_______- credit cards and debit cards.

Words you may need:

asset n (зд.) инструмент

means of payment n средство платежа

store of value средство сбережения

unit of account расчетная единица

commodity money товар-посредник в роли денег {например, соль, мех)

solid adj (зд.) прочный

hard-wearing adj неизнашивающийся

denomination и достоинство (денег)

shell n раковина

bead n бусина

pelt n шкура

checking deposit вклад на текущем счете

Ml денежный агрегат Ml

М2 денежный агрегат М2

"plastic money" «пластиковые деньги»

Ex. 2 Read the text and retell it.

Russian coins

In the past, scientists thought that for many centuries only leather and furs were used in ancient Russia as money. But now it is known that silver was also used.

In the XII-XIV centuries almost all the coins disappeared in Russia. It happened because Russia was at war with the German Knights and the Mongol-Tatars at the same time. After the war the Russians had to fight with the Mongol – Tatars. So normal trade and economic ties with both the West and the East were broken. People began to hide money not to pay it to the Mongol – Tatars, that’s why archaeologisits to this day find a lot of coins from that period.

In the XIV century some Russian principalities began to make their own silver coins. The coins weight as much as one rouble. In ancient Russia the word “rouble” meant a silver piece which weighed 200 grammes. The coins were called denga. Now we use this word as dengi and it means “money”. It was difficult to use them in the country as there were more than 25 cities which made money and coins were different in different cities.

In 1534 a single monetary system was introduced in Russian state. It showed that the long process of unification of the country was over. A new coin – a silver copeck – was made. In the 17^th century Peter the Great began to rule the country and made many changes in Russia, and one of them was a new monetary system. A silver rouble became the main coin, there were 10 copecks and 5 copecks.

In 1769 the first Russian paper money appeared. When World War I began all gold and silver coins disappeared and only paper money was used at that time.

Ex. 3. Read the text and find the right answer in the test:

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14