大学英语四级各类练习讲解_四级阅读2.docVIP

四级阅读讲义 Reading For Band 4 Unit 2 Reading Comprehension Directions: There are 3 passages in this unit. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements For each of them there are four choices marked A ), B ), C )and D ). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center. Passage One Questions 1 to 4 are base on the following. Aristotle, the Greek Philosopher, summed up the four chief qualities of money some 2000 years ago. It must be lasting and easy to recognize, to divide, and to carry about. In other words it must be, ‘durable, distinct, divisible and portable’. When we think of money today, we picture it either as round, flat pieces, of metal which we call coins, or as printed paper notes. But there are still parts of the world today where coins and notes are of no use. They will buy nothing, and a traveler might starve if he had none of the particular local money to exchange for food. Among isolated peoples, who are not often reached by traders from outside, commerce usually means barter. There is a direct exchange of goods. Perhaps it is fish for vegetables, meat for grain, or various kinds of food in exchange for pots, baskets, or other manufactured goods. For this kind of simple trading, money is not needed, but there is often something that everyone wants and everybody can use, such as salt to flavor food, shells for ornaments, or iron and copper to make into tools and vessels. There things-salt, shells or metals-are still used as money in out-of-the-way parts of the world today. Salt may seem rather a strange substance to use as money, but in countries where the food of the people is mainly vegetable, it is often an absolute necessity. Cakes of salt, stamped to show their value, were used as money in Tibet until recent times, and cakes of salt will still buy goods in Borneo and parts of Africa. Cowrie sea shells have been used as money at some time