ГДЗ Английский язык за 8 класс Ваулина - Spotlight - УчебникModule 3 – Culture corner – 2a

🔊 British money is called the "pound", or sometimes "pounds sterling". The word "sterling" probably originated with a little silver coin 1000 years ago. A "pound" referred to how many coins you needed to make a pound in weight. Back then, as now, this was worth a lot; check the price of 400 grams of silver today!

🔊 It was a nuisance to carry round so many coins, so people put them in a bank. The bank gave notes to their customers, representing a number of pounds. Customers used these notes to buy things from a merchant. The merchant could take the note to the bank and exchange it for silver coins. In fact British banknotes still say "I promise to pay …" on them, and then their value - followed by the signature of the Chief Cashier of the Bank of England.

🔊 Of course, the notes don't get you pounds of silver any more! For many years, they have been symbolic. In the 1960s, British banknotes began to carry pictures of famous British people on them.

🔊 These included Elizabeth Fry, a prison reformer; Sir Edward Elgar, a composer and Adam Smith, an economist. These pictures change from time to tme, but there is one person who is always on a British banknote: the King or Queen!

🔊 These pictures make the notes attractive, but they have another purpose.

🔊 They are full of hidden details that make them difficult to copy, or "counterfeit". There are four British banknotes: 5 pounds, or the "fiver"; 10 pounds, or the "tenner"; 20 pounds and 50 pounds.

🔊 If you are wondering why there is no?100 note, or even higher - well, most banks do not like to create high-value notes, it is because it makes it easier for criminals to steal large amounts.