Until recently, the British system of money was not based on the decimal system. But in February, 1971, Great Britain (41) its currency to the decimal system(十进制). The pound is still the basic monetary unit, but it is now made up of 100 pennies (42) pence. In the new system, there are six coins. The coins are known (43) their values. They have the following values: 1/2 pence or penny, 1 penny, 2 pence, 5 pence, 10 pence, and 50 pence. In Great Britain, the word note is used to refer to paper money. The notes you would most probably use if you (44) England are the one-pound note, the five-pound note, and the ten-pound note. It isn’t (45) for a country to convert(转换) its currency from one system to (46) . In England the Decimal Currency Board spent $ 3 million to explain the new system to the people. The change (47) the decimal method of counting is to go much (48) than the money system. Great Britain will (49) the metric system for all weights and measurements. The (50) will be enormous. According to one estimate, it will run (51) $12 billion. There must be new (52) for businesses and factories, new bottles and cans for the food and dairy industries, new traffic (53) for the highways (the speed limits and distances must be (54) in kilometers rather than miles), new thermometers (water will freeze (55) 0 degrees centigrade instead of 32 degrees Fahrenheit). But the changeover is inevitable. In the long (56) , the new system, which is uniform and (57) , will save money. And now that Great Britain has joined the Common Market, it will be necessary for British exporters to use the (58) system as that of the other countries (59) Britain has formed such close economic (60) . |