Listen to Talk No 1 and answer the questions below. Then listen again and check your answers

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. What is the topic of the talk?

2. How many periods does the speaker point out in the history of American money and banking?

3. What are the specific features of the first period?

4. Over what question did A. Hamilton differ from

T. Jefferson?

5. Who won in the battle between Federalists and advocates of states' rights?

6. What government post did A. Hamilton occupy and what was his position?

7. Why did T. Jeffeerson oppose a centralized banking system?

8. When was the First Bank of the United States established?

9. What were its responsibilities? 10. What role did it play in the development of monetary and banking systems?

8* Complete the text using the words from the box. There are two words which you don't need to use.

buy, sell, value, investment, currency, containing, gold, circulation, denominations, coin, mint, rise

What Is a Gold American Eagle?

Gold coins have not been legal tender in the United States since the early 1930s. The Gold Bullion Act that President Reagan signed in 1985, however, once again allows the United States government to ______(1)______ coins. The American Eagle gold coin comes in _____(2)_____ of $5, $10, $25, and $50. Each_____(3)______contains a different amount of (4)_____, with the $50 coin_____(5)_____ a full ounce of gold. The actual price at which the gold coins ______(6)______, however, is higher than the face _____(7)_____of the coin. Most people who______(8)_____ the gold coins do so as an_____(9)_____, hoping that the coins will_____(10)_____in value. In 1986, the $50 Gold American Eagle was selling for about $450.

9* Before you listen to Talk No 2 match the expressions in the left column with their translation in the right one.

1. national currency

2. gold standard

3. medium of exchange

4. banking system

5. backed by and converted into

6. in circulation

7. paper currency

8. state bank

9. national bank

10. fiat money

11. representative money