填空题

The use of money has a long history. Money began very simply thousands of years ago when (36) commodities such as metals, clam shells, stones, grain, and other things came into use as (37) of exchange. instead of merely trading goods for goods, people began to exchange these early forms of "money" for goods. Commonly used metals were gold and silver. These metals were durable, easily (38) , divisible, and uniform. About 600 B.C. coinage was invented. Metal, which had previously been used as money, was (39) .It was cut into pieces of uniform weight and quality and was (40) by the seal of the (41) authority. Since coinage assured uniformity, buyers and sellers no longer had to weigh and test the metal for every transaction. Prices were still (42) in terms of the amount of gold or silver one should offer or demand for other goods, but the new coinage form made the use of money much more convenient. No further monetary developments (43) in the Western world for 2,000 years. Even though the Chinese had begun to use paper money, the only money in Europe was in the form of coins. For the Western world, the great changes in money began only about 300 years ago with the introduction of paper money. (44) . Yet paper money can be copied if care is not taken to imprint on it certain characteristics of design that identify it as genuine, and the paper must be strong enough to withstand wear. (45) Today coins have been almost entirely replaced by paper money except for small transactions. (46) .