Money, Real and Counterfeit¹

1. Without looking, tell me whose picture is on a one dollar bill. What about a five dollar bill? If you know these, maybe you know the pictures on a ten, twenty or even a fifty dollar bill. If you're not sure, someone could give you a "phony" bill with the wrong picture and you'd never know the difference.

2. Do you know where the pictures on money came from? In the early days people made payments by the weight of their silver or gold. (Just think how much time you save now by paying for things with a coin or bill. You don't have to weigh out so many ounces of gold. That would surely slow down the normal pace of business today.)

3. However, the ancient Greeks and Romans used coins of a definite value like our dime² or quarter. At that time, animals were pictured on the coins. You won't think that this is so unusual if you examine a nickel³ and see the buffalo⁴ on the back of it.

4. A little later, though, the Greeks and Romans began to put pictures of famous people on their coins. It took some time to develop a central money-making business. Because of this, people would sometimes put pictures of their own ancestors on their coins. Even though this may have been confusing at times, it' s easier than trading animals for things that you need. Imagine receiving a cow as Change for something you have just bought! It's much simpler to carry a purse or a wallet than to exchange one thing for another.

5. The use of coins and money grew just as civilization advanced. As time passed, civilization became much more complicated. Now a person works for a certain amount of money so that he can pay for food and clothing. He does not need to grow his own food. We're in an age of specialization. We don't have time to make our own clothes and shoes, so money is a way of trading today.

6. When we use money today, however, the actual value of the coin itself does not equal its face value. For example, a clime may ngt have ten cents' worth of silver in it. The paper in a dollar bill may not be worth a full dollar. Well, you might ask, how is it worth anything? The answer is that money is like a medal..It's not the money itself, but what it stands for, that gives it its value. An Olympic runner wins a medal. It is actually not worth very much, but it's the idea behind it that counts to him. It's like the half dollar in your pocket. It's what it will buy that counts, not its actual weight.

7. Money making is much more complicated now than it has ever been. That's one reason why it's harder to get away with making counterfeit money these days.

8. You might think that it would be easy to make a phony dollar bill. Many people have tried, but they haven't been very good at it. There are some good reasons for this. First of all, the pictures on American bills are in the shape of an oval⁵; so if you see a one-dollar bill with the picture of George Washington in a circle, you can be certain that it's not a real bill. Check the eyes on the picture, too. The eyes on the picture of a real bill are sharp and clear; so there's another sign to watch for.

9. Some people say that a bank teller⁶ can spot a counterfeit bill just by feeling it. If there is reason to believe that a bill is not real, there are other signs to us, though. It takes a close look, but if you check the treasury⁷ seal, you'll see that the points on a counterfeit are not quite sharp enough. The serial⁸ numbers are a third giveaway. The type use by the United States government cannot be purchased anywhere else. Since they're difficult to copy, the serial number should tip off a counterfeit bill.

10. Perhaps the most interesting part of the real bill is the border. The pattern of thin lines is made by a very special machine. The design of thin lines is so complicated that it's almost impossible to match them. Those who try usually pause some of the lines to run into each other, or else some of them blur⁹ or blot¹⁰.

11. Now that you know some of the signs of a counterfeit bill, what about the pictures? Thomas Jefferson is on the two-dollar bill, and Abraham Lincoln is shown on the five. If you're not sure of a ten-dollar bill, check the picture of Alexander Hamilton. For a twenty, you should look for the picture of Andrew Jackson, and on a fifty-dollar bill, you'll see a picture of Ulysses Grant. You see, we're like the Greeks and Romans when we put pictures of famous men on our money, too. Actually, it would be ridiculous to expect a counterfeiter¹¹ to put the wrong picture on a bill.

12. Have you ever seen a counterfeit coin? If a coin feels greasy¹², that's one of the first signs that it's not real. You can probably hear a fake¹³ coin just by dropping it on a hard surface. A counterfeit will sound dull, while a real coin will have a definite ring to it.

13. You don't need to look for trouble all the time, but if you have reason to think a coin or bill is a counterfeit, perhaps some of these tips will help you out.

1．在不看的情况下，告诉我在一美元钞票上是谁的头像?五美元钞票 呢?如果你知道这些的话，那你可能也知道十美元、二十美元甚至五十美元 钞票上的像。如果你不能确定的话，就有可能当别人给你一张印错头像的伪钞时，而你却不知道其中的差异。

2．你知道在钱上印人头像出自哪里吗?在早期，人们通过他们的银子或金子的重量来进行支付。(想想看，你现在用硬币或钞票来购买物品可以节省多少时间。你无需称量那么多盎司的黄金。今天那样做无疑会减慢正常交易的速度。)

3．不过，古希腊人和古罗马人也使用类似我们的一角硬币或二角五分硬币那样有确实价值的硬币。不过在那时，硬币上画着动物图案。如果你查看一个背面有牦牛像的五分镍币时，不要以为它非同寻常。

4．然而不久以后，希腊和罗马人开始把名人像放在他们的硬币上。这使得建立和发展中央货币制造业颇费了一些时间。因为人们有时会把他们自己祖先的像放在自己的钱上。尽管这样做有时会引起迷惑，但这总比用动物来换取你想要的东西来得容易。设想一下，当你买了什么东西后，找回的零钱 竟是一头母牛!带个钱包或皮夹出门看来比用一件东西换另一件要简单许多 了。

5．硬币和货币的使用随着人类文明的进化而发展。随着时间的流逝，人类文明变得十分复杂。现在，人为了获得一定数量钱而工作，因而他能够买食物和衣服而不需要自己种植食物。我们正处在一个专业化的时代。我们没有时间去制造自己的衣服和鞋，因此货币成为当今交易的必须方式。

6．但是，当我们今天使用货币的时候，硬币本身的实际价值并不等同其面值。举个例子，一角硬币里也许没有价值十美分的银子。一美元钞票所用的纸也并不值整整一个美元。这样一宋，你也许会问：那它是怎么代表东西的价值的呢?答案是货币就像奖章，不是货。币本身，而是它代表什么，这就 是它价值的来源。一位奥林匹克长跑运动员获得了一枚奖章。奖章本身并不 值多少钱，但是，奖章所具有的意义却与运动员的价值相符。这一切就像一 个沉掂掂的半美元硬币在你口袋里，它所代表的是它所能购买的东西，并非 其实际的重量。

7．现在货币的制造比以往复杂得多。这也是为什么现在更难伪造假币的原因之一。

8．你也许会认为制造假美元钞票很容易。许多人做过尝试，但是他们做得并不太好。当然这也有其合理的解释。首先，美国钞票上的人像位于一个椭圆形之中。因此如果你看到一张一美元钞票上乔治·华盛顿的图案在一个圆形中，你可以肯定这不是一张真正的钞票。也可以检查人头像上的眼睛。真钞票图案上的眼睛锐利清晰，因而这是另一个辨别真伪的特征。

9．某些人说银行出纳员可以仅凭感觉就能辨出伪钞。如果有理由相信这张钞票不是真的，那么对我们来说必定还有其它辨别的特征。这需要近距离的观察：如果你检查钞票的财政官印章，你会发现假钞印章上的·点子都不够锐利，序列号是第三个辨别的特征，美国政府制造序列号的机器类型，不可 能在任何地方都买到。而序列号又难以复制，因此通过它可以检验出假钞。

10．也许真钞最有趣的部分是它的边沿。细线的模式由非常特殊的机器制 作。细线的设计是如此复杂以至几乎不可能找到与其相似的。所以那些假钞上的线总是由于被弄断而互相交错，或者其它某些线模糊或有污迹。

11．现在你已经知道了伪钞的一些特征，那么关于人头像呢? 托马斯·杰 弗逊的头像在两美元钞票上，亚伯拉罕·林肯的头像在五美元钞票上。如果 你不确定十美元钞票的头像是谁，去看看亚历山大·哈密尔顿的头像。在二十美元钞票上，你看到的是安德鲁·杰克逊的头像。而在五十美元上，你将 会看到尤利西斯·格兰特的头像。你看，我们也像希腊人和罗马人一样也把 名人头像放到了我们的货币上。事实上，期望假币制造者把错误的人头像放 到钞票上是荒谬的。

12．你是否见过伪造的硬币?如果一枚硬币摸上去很粘，这是伪硬币的第 一个特征够通过听硬币落在坚硬表面上的声音宋辨别硬币。假币听起 来声音发钝，而真币会发出清晰的铃般的响声。

13．你不必天天自寻麻烦去辨别真伪，但是，如果你有理由认为一枚硬币或一张钞票是假的，也许这些小小的提示将会帮助你。