本文课文：金融英语教程Unit 11

Background Knowledge

The use of barter-like methods may date back to at least 100,000 years ago, though there is no evidence of a society or economy that relied primarily on barter.

类似易货的方法可以追溯到至少10万年前，尽管没有证据表明一个社会或经济主要依赖易货。

1,200 BC: Cowrie Shells 贝币

The first use of cowries was in China.The cowrie is the most widely and longest used currency in history.

贝币最早在中国使用。它是历史上使用最广泛、使用时间最长的货币。

Paper money 纸币

交子

The system of commodity money eventually evolved into a system of representative money. This occurred because gold and silver merchants or banks would issue receipts to their depositors –redeemable for the commodity money deposited. Eventually, these receipts became generally accepted as a means of payment and were used as money. Paper money or banknotes were first used in China during the Song dynasty. These banknotes, known as "jiaozi", evolved from promissory notes that had been used since the 7th century.

商品货币体系最终演变成了代表性货币体系。之所以会出现这种情况，是因为金银商人或银行会向存款人开具收据——可以兑换存入的商品货币。最终，这些收据被普遍接受为一种支付手段，并被用作货币。纸币或纸币最早在中国使用是在宋朝。这些纸币被称为“交子”，是从7世纪开始使用的期票演变而来的。

The international monetary system (国际货币体系）

The framework within which countries borrow, lend, buy, sell and make payments across political borders. So far the world has gone through the following

各国跨越政治边界进行借贷、购买、出售和支付的框架。到目前为止，世界已经经历了以下事情

types of monetary system货币体系类型:

(1)The gold standard 金本位制

(2)The gold exchange standard 金汇兑本位制

(3)Floating/fixed or pegged exchange rate system 浮动/固定或挂钩汇兑制

The definition of money

Money is any commodity or token that is generally acceptable as a means of payment for goods and services.

货币是指作为商品和服务的支付手段而被普遍接受的任何商品或代币。

token 象征: sth. serving as an indication, a proof, or an expression of sth. else. sign, symbol

作为其他事物的指示、证明或表达的事物。符号，符号

The Function of Money

? Medium of exchange 交换媒介（eg.You should pay $500 to get something你应该花500美元买某东西）

? Unit of account 记账单位 (eg.You should pay $500 to get something)

? Store of value 价值存储 (eg.You can deposit $500 when you don’t need them sometimes你不需要的时候可以存500美元)

? Standard of deferred payment 延期付款标准（eg.You should repay a certain amount of money after you borrow $500 from a bank.从银行借了500美元后，你应该偿还一定数额的钱。）

1.The occurrence of a double coincidence of wants is sufficiently rare that barter exchange would leave potential gains from specialization and exchange unrealized. (Para. 1, P102)

翻译：需求的双重巧合非常罕见，以至于易货交换会使专业化和交换的潜在收益无法实现。

2.Money guarantees that there is always a double coincidence of wants. People with something to sell will always accept money in exchange for it, and people who want to buy will always offer money. Money acts as a lubricant that smooths the mechanism of exchange. It lowers the costs of making transactions. (Para. 2, P102)

翻译：金钱保证了总是有双重的巧合。有东西要卖的人总是会接受金钱作为交换，而想买的人总是提供金钱。货币起到润滑剂的作用，使交换机制趋于平稳。它降低了交易成本。

3.An agreed measure for stating the prices of goods and services is a unit of account.

To get the most out of your budget, you have to figure out, among other things, whether seeing one more movie is worth the price you have to pay, not in dollars and cents, but in terms of the number of ice cream cones, sodas, and cups of coffee that you have to give up. (Last para., P102)

翻译：一种商定的衡量商品和服务价格的方法是一种记账单位。

为了最大限度地利用你的预算，你必须弄清楚，再看一部电影是否值得你付出的代价，不是以美元和美分为单位，而是以你不得不放弃的冰淇淋筒、苏打水和咖啡的数量为单位。

among other things 等等: in addition to things that are not specifically mentioned

e.g. In March street protesters called for privatisation and deregulation, among other things.3月，街头抗议者呼吁私有化和放松管制等。

4.There are no stores of value that are completely safe. The value of a physical object such as a house, a car, or a work of art fluctuates over time. The value of a commodity or token used as money also fluctuates, and when there is inflation, its value persistently falls. (Para. 2, P103)

没有完全安全的价值存储。房子、汽车或艺术品等实物的价值会随着时间的推移而波动。用作货币的商品或代币的价值也会波动，当出现通货膨胀时，其价值会持续下跌。

5.Using money as a standard of deferred payment is not entirely without risk because, inflation leads to unpredictable changes in the value of money.

使用货币作为延期付款的标准并非完全没有风险，因为通货膨胀会导致货币价值的不可预测的变化。

But, to the extent that borrowers and lenders anticipate inflation, its rate is reflected in the interest rates paid and received. Lenders in effect protect themselves by charging a higher interest rate, and borrowers, anticipating inflation, willingly pay the higher rate. (Para. 3, P103)

但是，在借款人和贷款人预计通货膨胀的程度上，其利率反映在支付和收到的利率中。实际上，贷款人通过收取更高的利率来保护自己，而借款人在预期通货膨胀的情况下愿意支付更高的利息。

Different Forms of Money

? Commodity money商品货币

? Convertible paper money可兑换纸币

? Fiat money法币

? Private debt money私人债务货币

1.Commodity money 商品货币

(1)Definition:a physical commodity that is valued in its own right and also used as a means of payment

定义：一种实物商品，其本身具有价值，也用作支付手段

*in one’s own right 凭自己、本身: by means of one’s own ability,ownership, etc.

? e.g. As Europeans explored deeper into the continent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, tobacco became an article of trade and currency in its own right.十八世纪和十九世纪，随着欧洲人对欧洲大陆的深入探索，烟草本身就成为了一种贸易和货币

(2)Advantages 优点:

? its value as money is readily known 其货币价值是众所周知的

? their quality is easily verified 其质量易于验证

? they are easily divisible into small units 它们很容易被分割成小单位

(3)Disadvantages 缺点:

? there is constant temptation to cheat on the value—clipping/debasement 在价值削减/贬值方面不断存在作弊的诱惑

? it has opportunity cost 有机会成本

2.Convertible Paper Money 可兑换纸币

（1）When a paper claim to a commodity circulates as a means of payment, that claim is called convertible money.

当一种商品的纸质债权作为一种支付手段流通时，这种债权被称为可转换货币。

? Goldsmiths 金匠

? Gold receipt 黄金收据

? Fractional reserve banking 部分准备金银行业务（拓展见后：比例制银行业务）

3.Fiat Money 法币

Fiat money or fiat currency, usually paper money, is a type of currency whose only value is that a government made a fiat that the money is a legal method of exchange.

法定货币或法定货币，通常是纸币，是一种货币，其唯一价值是政府制定的法定货币是一种合法的交换方式。

Unlike commodity money, it is not based on another commodity such as gold.

与商品货币不同，它不是以黄金等其他商品为基础的。

Fiat money issued by government is now legal tender in all modern national economies since the collapse of the Bretton Woods regime of fixed exchange rates liked to a gold-backed dollar in 1971.

自1971年布雷顿森林体系崩溃以来，政府发行的法定货币在所有现代国民经济中都是法定货币，布雷顿森林体系的固定汇率就像黄金支持的美元一样。

e.g. The bills and coins that we use today: the paper with special watermark, printed in colored ink.

例如，我们今天使用的纸币和硬币：用彩色墨水印刷的带有特殊水印的纸张。

4.Private debt money 私人债务货币

IOU （I owe you）借据、欠条

putting down these letters on a piece of paper with figures of a specified sum of money owed to others and signing the name and date, then a simple liability confirmation sheet iscomposed.

将这些信件写在一张纸上，上面有欠他人的特定金额的数字，并在姓名和日期上签名，然后就形成了一张简单的责任确认表。

It is kept by the creditor as attestation of the liability thatcan be presented in court as proof.

它由债权人保存，作为责任的证明，可以在法庭上作为证据出示。

IOU

Gresham’s Law (格雷欣法则：劣币驱逐良币)

It refers to the tendency for bad money to drive good money out of circulation.

它指的是劣币将良币逐出流通的趋势。

The law was first proposed by Sir Thomas Gresham, who was at that time the adviser of Queen Elizabeth I. According to his views of bad money driving out good money expressed in 1558, when the public feel doubtful about some parts of the money supply, they will hoard the good money and try to transfer the bad money to others.

这项法律最早由托马斯·格雷沙姆爵士提出，当时他是英国女王伊丽莎白一世的顾问。根据他在1558年表达的劣币驱逐良币的观点，当公众对货币供应的某些部分感到怀疑时，他们会囤积良币，并试图将劣币转移给其他人。

*When the value of the metal in a coin is less than the buying power of the coin, the coin is said to be debased.

当硬币中金属的价值低于硬币的购买力时，硬币就被认为是贬值的。

Henry VIII debased the coinage of England as a means of raising revenue.

亨利八世为了增加收入而贬低了英格兰的铸币。

In Ireland the debasement started earlier, in 1536, and did not finish until 1560.

在爱尔兰，贬值始于1536年，直到1560年才结束。

**Language in use

WSJ.–Yet Mr. Zhou's words are also a warning that reserve currency status carries special obligations. It means the U.S. isn't conducting monetary policy only for itself but for much of the world. And it means that when the U.S. falls for the temptation to debase its currency, it sends shocks through the entire global trading system. The dollar's sharp but needless gyrations during this decade are in our view one of the major causes of the housing and commodity asset bubbles that led to the financial panic and global recession

《华尔街日报》–然而，周永康的话也是一个警告，即储备货币地位具有特殊义务。这意味着美国不仅为自己，而且为世界大部分地区制定货币政策。这意味着，当美国受到货币贬值的诱惑时，它会给整个全球贸易体系带来冲击。在我们看来，美元在这十年中急剧但不必要的波动是导致金融恐慌和全球衰退的房地产和大宗商品资产泡沫的主要原因之一

Fractional banking（比例制银行业务）

It refers to the banking system in which it is required to keep a specified ratio between all bank deposit and cash. This requirement is good to the safety and liquidity of the banking system.

它指的是要求所有银行存款和现金之间保持特定比例的银行体系。这一要求有利于银行系统的安全性和流动性。

Fractional reserve banking 部分准备金体系

Nowadays Central banks generally mandate reserve requirements that require banks to keep a minimum fraction of their demand deposits as cash reserves. This both limits the amount of money creation that occurs in the commercial banking system, and ensures that banks have enough ready cash to meet normal demand for withdrawals. Problems can arise however, when depositors seek withdrawal of a large proportion of deposits at the same time; this can cause a bank run or, when problems are extreme and widespread, a systemic crisis. To mitigate these problems, central banks (or other government institutions) generally regulate and oversee commercial banks, act as lender of last resort to commercial banks, and also insure the deposits of the commercial banks’ customers.

The PBOC uses multiple methods to control money supply and interest rates:

中国人民银行采用多种方法控制货币供应量和利率：

the reserve requirement ratio 存款准备金率

rediscount rate 再贴现率

open market operations 公开市场操作

benchmark interest rates 基准利率

various types of PBOC loans to commercial banks 中国人民银行向商业银行发放的各类贷款

Practice

1. name of money

? Money in notes and coins is called _______.

? The dollar, the Euro and the yen are all ___________.

? Money borrowed from a bank is a ___________.

? Borrowed money that has to be paid back constitutes a ________.

? All the money received by a person or a company is known as ______.

? The money earned for a week’s manual work is called________

? Money paid for a month’s work is a ____.

? Money placed in banks and other savings institution constitutes______.

? Money paid by the government or a company to retired person is a _____.

? The money that will ultimately be used to pay pensions is kept in a ______.

? The money needed to start a company is called _____.

? The money paid to lawyers, architects, private schools, etc. is called ______

? Regular part payments of debts are called _____.

? Part of a payment that is officially given back is called _____.

? Estimated expenditure and income is written in a ______.

? A person’s money in a business is known as his or her_______.

? Money given to producers to allow them to sell cheaply is called a _____.

2. translation Practice

? 1、 防范跨境资本流动风险，保持人民币汇率在合理均衡水平上基本稳定，维护国际收支基本平衡，坚决守住不发生系统性金融风险底线，维护外汇市场稳定和国家经济金融安全。

2、 积极的财政政策的重要内涵之一就是要适度加大支出强度。适当提高财政赤字率、发行特别国债、增加专项债券规模等措施，将为经济发展注入强大动力。

3、 2022年上半年，我国经常账户顺差1664亿美元，同比增长43%，与国内生产总值比值为1.9%，仍处于合理均衡水平。