节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-08-14
难易度:High
关键字:exchange rate, alternative, subscription, unemployed, eco-friendly
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And I'm Carolyn.
And you're joining us for a lesson about currencies.
It's called Dollars, Euros and Funny Hats: The Rise of Unusual Currencies.
Well, a currency is money in any form that you can kind of exchange.
And of course you've heard of the dollar, you've heard of the euro.
But funny hats?
Hey, what other kinds of currencies are there?
Carolyn, let's play a game and see who can list more currencies. OK?
Oh, OK. That sounds like fun.
OK, you begin.
OK. Uh, the yen.
Oh. The yen is good. OK.
Uh, pesos. Pesos is good.
OK. Um, the mark.
The mark. Uh, the franc.
Oh. That's a good one.
Um... rupiah.
I was going to say that!
OK. How about rubles?
Oh! How about baht?
Uh, baht.
How about the Armenian dram?
Oh. Um... how about the yuan?
The yen?
No, no, no.
Oh, the yuan.
Yuan.
Yeah, the yuan is good.
How about the dinar from Algeria?
That's a kind of currency.
Gabe, I... I think you're cheating.
No. I'm not cheating.
And then there's... there's the pula in Botswana.
And then of course, the pound.
And of course we have Makkies and bitcoins and...
Um, I think you're reading off of your paper, Gabe.
I'm not.
Oh, well. Let's get started with our lesson today and learn about some unusual
currencies.
(Music).
Dollars, Euros and Funny Hats: The Rise of Unusual Currencies.
Money has more forms than you think.
The exchange rate tables in banks and airports include many currencies but
probably not Makkies or bitcoins.
That's because governments do not back these alternative currencies.
But all over the world, people are making purchases with alternative currencies,
and if current trends continue, this may become more and more common.
Community currencies.
Your country probably has its own currency, but does your neighborhood?
Local currencies are appearing in communities in the Netherlands, the United
States, South Africa and elsewhere.
For example, residents of Makassarsquare, a neighborhood in Amsterdam,
can earn "Makkies" for actions like cleaning up a public space or assisting an
elderly neighbor.
Well, this is a very interesting idea, these Makkies.
Well, let's go back to the beginning first.
Money has more forms than you think.
And it's true.
Many times when we think of money, we think of the currencies that Gabe and I
were naming earlier.
Maybe you think of pounds or dollars or... or euros or your own local currency.
But apparently, there are many more.
Now how does the article begin, Gabe?
All right.
We're talking about the exchange rate here.
The exchange rate tables in banks and airports include many currencies but
probably not Makkies or bitcoins.
Indeed. I have never heard of these two currencies before.
But let's take a look at some words from our Word Bank: the exchange rate.
The exchange rate is how much one currency is worth in another currency or the
value in another country's currency.
So how could you use this phrase, Carolyn?
Well, I know when I go traveling, it's always important to check the exchange
rate before you go and see which place offers the best exchange rate.
Where can you get the most for your money?
So, you want to travel to another country, and they use a different kind of
money.
You want to go and exchange the money that you have for the money that they use
in another country.
That's right.
So you check the exchange rate.
Or you could ask: What's the exchange rate?
And this word "rate" kind of implies that it might be changing.
It might not be the same today as it was yesterday or tomorrow.
The exchange rate.
And there's a popular site that I go to to check the exchange rate.
It is XE.com.
You can go and check the exchange rate for most currencies.
Well, exchange rates are important if you are traveling.
But moving on we see that Makkies and bitcoins are probably not part of the
exchange rate tables that you would see in an airport or in a bank.
And that's because governments do not back these alternative currencies.
So governments don't back these alternative currencies.
And we see a word from our Word Bank, the word "alternative." Now if something
is an alternative, then it is a different choice.
It can be used in place of something else, but it is not the same as something
as well.
That's right.
So maybe you guys are deciding on a restaurant to choose or to eat at, and you
really want to eat at this one restaurant.
But there are too many people there.
There's no room for you.
So what is your alternative?
What's your alternative choice?
You must find another restaurant.
Find an alternative restaurant.
That's right.
Now also in this sentence, we see the word "back." The governments don't back
these alternative currencies.
And Liz is going to tell us about that word in the Grammar Gym.
Welcome to the Grammar Gym, friends.
My name is Liz.
And here's our Grammar Tip sentence for today.
That's because governments do not back these alternative currencies.
Our focus is on the word "back." Normally we use back to mean the opposite of
front.
But in today's sentence, "back" is a verb that means support.
So today's sentence just means governments do not support these alternative
currencies.
Let's have a look at some example sentences.
Gina's family has backed her ever since she decided to go into politics.
Or: Timothy is not afraid to accept the difficult task because he knows his team
will back him.
If you'd like to see some more example sentences, they're available in today's
Grammar Tip section in your magazine.
That's it for today.
This is Liz from the Garmmar Gym.
See you next time.
Thank you, Liz.
So we were just learning about the Makkies and bitcoins and how most banks or
countries don't accept these currencies.
But all over the world, people are making purchases with alternative currencies,
and if current trends continue, this may become more and more common.
All right.
So maybe they're not a recognized officially, but common people are using these
kinds of currencies.
That's right.
And we have another section coming up here: Community currencies, where we learn
a little bit more about the Makkie.
Your country probably has its own currency, but does your neighborhood?
And this is a very interesting question.
I know my neighborhood does not have its own currency.
Yeah, mine neither, Carolyn.
Actually, no. My neighborhood doesn't have its own currency.
This is an interesting question, I guess.
We continue.
Local currencies are appearing in communities in the Netherlands, the United
States, South Africa and elsewhere.
"Elsewhere" just means in other places.
So neighborhoods or local communities, we're seeing other currencies rise in
these places and in these countries.
And now we have an example.
For example, residents of Makassarsquare, a neighborhood in Amsterdam,
can earn "Makkies" for actions like cleaning up a public space or assisting an
elderly neighbor.
So you can earn a type of currency that is very unique to just this area for
doing good things.
That's right.
This place, Makassarsquare in Amsterdam, this place has Makkies, kind of named
after that area, Makassarsquare, Makkies.
So you can get Makkies for doing something nice for other people.
Remember we talked about community service?
Well, I think that's what they're talking about here in this lesson as well.
Cleaning up a public space is definitely a kind of community service - and you
could get a Makkie.
Yes, it is.
So this is more than just a volunteer work because you were actually earning a
form of money, although you wouldn't be able to use it outside of
Makassarsquare.
That's right.
Well, it's time for us right now to learn something new with Michelle in the
Language Lab.
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.