In Europe and Asia, the first "medium of exchange" or "standard of value" was not gold or silver, but cattle. In other parts of

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问题    In Europe and Asia, the first "medium of exchange" or "standard of value" was not gold or silver, but cattle. In other parts of the world, however, such different commodities as salt, shells, stones and coca beans were all used as "money": They all offered advantages over the barter system, but none of them was perfect. Some were too heavy, some could not be divided into small enough parts (how much of a cow would you need to buy a piece of cheese?), and some were not permanent enough. The solution was money as we know it, that is, as coins.
   The invention of coins appears to have occurred almost simultaneously but quite independently in ancient Greece and in China in about 800 BC. The reason historians believe development was independent is because of the notable differences in the two systems.
   The first money to appear in China was made of bronze. More notably, it was not -circular, but in the shape of a knife ! The knife had a hole pierced in the handle so that it could be suspended (for example, from a string), and it generally bore an inscription. Other shapes included keys or spades, but what they had in common was the pierced hole. It was probably round 250 BC that the first Chinese money we would recognize as coins appeared, and, subsequently, the famous Ming mint produced a round coin with a square hole in it. This particular coin bore the inscription, "Knife of Ming", but the knife itself had disappeared. It was from this coin that the famous "cash" developed. The Chinese word, "cash" means "a small unit of currency". Al though Chinese coins often have inscriptions, they virtually never had portraits, or types of any kind, until the 19th century when they were influenced by western models.
In the following paragraph, the writer will most probably deal with ______.

选项 A、how to distinguish a Greek coin from a Chinese one
B、how to recognize the exact age of Chinese coins
C、the appearance of "cash" in China
D、the development of coins in ancient Greece

答案D

解析 作者在文章的第二段中首先指出“The invention of coins appears to have occurred almost simulta neously but quite independently in ancient Greece and in China in about 800 BC.”然后指出“The reason historians believe development was independent is because of the notable differences in the two systems。”在接下来的第三段作者介绍了中国古代硬币的产生和发展,由此我们可以断定在接下来的第四段作者将介绍古代希腊硬币的产生和发展。所以答案为[D]。
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