节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-08-15
难易度:High
关键字:transaction, predictable, distinctive, arguably, GDP [gross domestic
product]
Hey, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And you're joining us for the second day of our lesson about currencies -
Dollars, Euros and Funny Hats: The Rise of Unusual Currencies.
"The rise of something," that means something is becoming more and more popular.
We talk about rising stars - celebrities that are becoming more famous.
Now we're talking about currencies that are used more and more in different
places in the world.
Well, aside from our usual currencies like the dollar and the euro, have you
ever used something other than money to buy something?
Carolyn?
Well, I remember when I was in junior high school, I would trade cards for other
cards.
So that's kind of trading.
And sometimes a card would be more valuable than the ones that I had, so I would
have to give them many cards for just one.
All right. So you might trade cards.
I think I would say that I've also done that kind of thing as well - trading
something for something else that I liked, like shirts, for example.
I gave one of my shirts to a friend; he gave his to me.
So you can use... or you can buy things in different ways.
And we're continuing to learn about alternative currencies in our world.
Let's do that now.
(Music).
Dollars, Euros and Funny Hats: The Rise of Unusual Currencies.
Online currencies.
The world's most popular alternative currency, the bitcoin is used in online
transactions by over 100,000 people worldwide.
Any online company can choose to accept them, so bitcoins can buy video games,
books and even socks!
Bitcoins are generated through "mining," a process in which computers run
complex programs to record bitcoin transactions and keep the network secure.
Mining is regulated to produce the coins at a predictable, limited rate.
This avoids creating too many bitcoins, which would decrease their value.
(Music).
We're talking all about online currencies here.
And our first sentence is:
The world's most popular alternative currency, the bitcoin is used in online
transactions by over 100,000 people worldwide.
So all around the world, over 100,000 people are using the bitcoin.
They are! And we see a Word Bank word in our sentence right there, the word
transaction.
Now if you are making a transaction, that means that you are either buying or
selling something.
You might hear someone say, "To complete your transaction, please click
'Confirm'," if you are buying something online.
All right.
And I like the phrase that Carolyn used: to make a transaction somewhere.
Often you might do this in business, negotiating with someone.
You have a business transaction to do something.
Or you might go to the bank to make some kind of transaction.
Of course you can do this online as well.
So any online company can choose to accept them, so bitcoins can buy video
games, books and even socks!
You can buy lots of different kinds of things with bitcoins.
And it is very popular if over 100,000 people are using them.
So it might be a good idea for companies that have their business online to
agree to accept bitcoins.
Now you might be a little uncertain about what a bitcoin is, so it is explained
in the next sentence.
Bitcoins are generated through "mining," a process in which computers run
complex programs to record bitcoin transactions and keep the network secure.
So they're trying to keep track of how many bitcoins are out there, how they're
being spent and where they're being spent.
That's right, so that this is a secure process.
It's safe.
They're watching over it.
They're monitoring it.
And this is a complex program.
So it's not simple.
It takes a lot of work.
We're continuing to learn about mining.
Mining is regulated to produce the coins at a predictable, limited rate.
So again, it's regulated.
It's monitored.
It's checked on often so that things are... are produced at a predictable,
limited rate.
Let's look at a word from our Word Bank: predictable.
If something is predictable, that means you know what will happen next, you can
predict it.
That's right.
So something that might be predictable might be an answer that someone gives
you.
You might ask them just a very simple question, and their answer was very
predictable.
You already knew what they were going to say.
For example, Carolyn, I know what you're going to say next.
You do?
I knew you were going to say that!
I knew you were going to say "You do?" Very predictable.
Very predictable, Gabe, yes.
Well, these coins are mined at a predictable, limited rate.
So they are limited in how many are produced or mined by these computers.
And this avoids creating too many bitcoins, which would decrease their value.
And this is the same way that money works.
Governments need to control how much money is printed or coined each year.
That's right.
Of course, otherwise, this might decrease the value.
If there are too many bitcoins being made, of course their value would be
decreased.
The opposite of decrease, of course, is increase.
And so if there are fewer bitcoins, then the value is increased.
That's right.
Well, right now it is time for us to increase our knowledge, not decrease it,
with Michelle in the Language Lab.