全新版大学英语听说教程第三册 Unit 12

Unit 12

Part B

Text 1

The Launching of the Euro

As firework displays ushered 1 in the euro from Paris to Athens, Rome to Madrid, curiosity drove Europeans to cash machines at midnight December 31, 2001 for the first look at the brightly colored new notes. More than 300 million Europeans began changing their old currencies for the euro in the most ambitious currency changeover in history. To prepare for the large demand, banks across the euro zone disabled 200,000 ATMs in the afternoon, changing software and loading them with euro notes. Altogether 15 billion banknotes and 52 billion coins -- worth 646 billion euros, or $568 billion -- have been produced for the switchover.

Knowing how people can be attached to their national currencies, architects of the euro expressed hope that it will help realize dreams of a united Europe.

Across the continent, officials welcomed the euro as a sign of economic stability -- a new symbol to bind 2 12 nations on a continent at the heart of two world wars.

"We will become a greater Europe with the euro," EU Commission President said in Vienna, shortly after he used the new currency to buy flowers for his wife. "We shall become stronger, wealthier."

His view was shared by Helmut Kohl, the former German chancellor 3, who with the late French leader Francois Mitterrand had championed the single currency to bring peace and security to Europe. Kohl wrote in a newspaper, "A vision is becoming a reality. For me, the common currency in Europe fulfills 4 a dream. It means there is no turning back from the path toward unification of our continent."

The nations adopting the euro are: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Those staying out are Britain, Sweden and Denmark.

Questions:

1. What does the passage mainly tell us?

2. What can be said about the passage?

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

Text 2

Britain's Reaction to the Single Currency

Buckingham Palace and other royal residences open to the public do not accept euros at their gift shops and entry turnstiles.

The new currency was launched in 12 European Union countries on January lst, 2002, but Britain was not one of them.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said the decision not to accept the euro was purely 5 a business one and not a political statement. The retail 6 outlets 7 at the official residences have never accepted any other currencies. It is simply because as very small retail outlets, they don't have the facilities for changing currencies.

However, many retail outlets in Britain have prepared to accept the new currency since millions of tourists are expected to visit the country every year. In 2002 alone, visitors from the euro zone were estimated to spend more than 6.55 billion euros in Britain.

Major department stores Debenhams and Marks & Spencer and a big electronics retailer 8 accept euros, but only on a limited basis initially 9.

Twenty-nine of Marks & Spencer stores, primarily those in tourist locations, have at least one cash register on each floor to process euro transactions. Its other stores have at least one designated area -- either a register or a customer service desk-where the currency is accepted. Products are not priced in euros, however, and change is given in British money.

The British prime minister Tony Blair said Britain will only join the single currency if economic conditions are right. A series of recent opinion polls show many Britons oppose the euro and see it as against Britain's sovereignty.

Questions:

1. What does the passage mainly tell us?

2. What can we infer from the passage?

3. What is the speaker's attitude toward Britain's decision not to join the single currency?

Part C

Withdrawing Money

Teller 10: Hi. Can I help you?

Peter: Hi. I've, uh, just opened a checking account and I want to withdraw 150 euros. What I want to know is, who do I make the check out to?

Teller: Well, since the money is for you yourself, you make it out to cash.

Peter: OK. W... how do I do that?

Teller: You just write the word 'cash' on this line.

Peter: This line here?

Teller: Yes, next to 'pay to the order of'.

Peter: OK. C-A-S-H. Now, I want to make this 150 euros. There, how's this?

Teller: Well, you've written the amount in numbers, but you have to write it out in words, too. That goes on the second line, there.

Peter: Oh, yeah.

Teller: By the way, it's a good idea to draw a line from the end of the amount to the word 'euros' so nobody can change the amount.

Peter: Oh, thanks. Well, that should do it. Here you go.

Teller: You forgot to sign your name. There, in the bottom right corner.

Peter: Woops, sorry. Here you go.

Teller: The date.

Peter: W... huh?

Teller: The date -- you forgot it. It goes in the top right corner.

Peter: Oh, right. OK, am I done?

Teller: Yes. That's fifty-a hundred -- a hundred and fifty euros.

Peter: Thanks a lot. Have a good day.

Teller: You too.

Part D

The French Franc

For a century much attached to national symbols, France took the imminent 11 death of the franc calmly. It was as if an ancient great-great uncle were about to pass away: a time for nostalgia 12 and regret, rather than grief.

Unlike the German mark, the franc had never been a symbol of national rebirth or glory. Its recent history was relatively 13 stable but it had to be revalued as recently as 1960. In the 1950s, its value and reputation were so weak that French politicians considered abolishing it and replacing it with something else, based on the value of the pound.

But money is money after all. It is with us every day. It was surprising that such a conservative people did not express greater sorrow for the loss of their familiar francs. It was also surprising they did not feel a greater sense of aesthetic 14 loss for the franc had always been one of the world's most beautiful currencies.

The name franc was first used in 1360, to celebrate and help to pay for the release of King Jean II, who was captured by the still poundless English. He created the "franc" or "free" to celebrate the occasion. Over the next 400 years the name came and went but was finally restored by the Revolution in 1795. On February 17th, 2002, the French franc disappeared completely from the financial scene.

Questions:

1. How did the French feel for the loss of their franc?

2. At what time did the French politicians think of replacing the franc with some other currency?

3. Why was the French currency named "franc" when it was first used in the 14th century?

4. What can be learned about the French people from the passage?