钱，昨天——今天——明天

钱，也就是货币。在钱的发展的历史中，它以实物货币、金属货币、纸币、电子货币等等的形式出现。

Money is money. In the history of the development of money, it appears in the form of physical currency, metal currency, paper currency, electronic currency and so on.

钱的昨天就是一些实物货币、金属货币。实物货币就是一些古希腊时的牛和羊、非洲和印度的象牙、美洲土着人和墨西哥人的可可豆这一类的东西。而这些实物货币对人类来说，很不方便也很不安全。所以很快就被淘汰了。接着就产生了金属货币。金属货币最初是由铜等低价的金属充当的，后来就逐渐固定在金银上。我国的古铜币有刀币、布币、铲币、环钱等。虽然金属货币比起实物货币要方便些，但还是有点笨重了，而且也不够安全，所以不久后也被淘汰了。

Yesterday's money was some real money, metal money. The real currency is something like cattle and sheep of ancient Greece, ivory of Africa and India, cocoa of Native Americans and Mexicans. These real currencies are inconvenient and unsafe for human beings. So it was eliminated soon. Then came metal money. Metal money was initially made of low-priced metals such as copper, and later gradually fixed on gold and silver. China's ancient copper coins include knife coins, cloth coins, shovel coins and ring coins. Although metal currency is more convenient than real currency, it is a bit cumbersome and unsafe, so it was eliminated soon.

钱的今天就是我们现在普遍使用的纸币。我国着名的纸币就是四川的“交子”。它是世界上最早的纸币。它与昨天的钱有很大的不同。纸币是独立货币。比起往日的钱，它最大好处就是其携带的方便性，但它的安全性就得不到保证了，因此我们经常发现会有假币。

Today's money is the common paper money we use now. China's famous paper currency is Jiaozi in Sichuan Province. It is the first paper money in the world. It's very different from yesterday's money. Paper money is an independent currency. Compared with the past money, its biggest advantage is its portability, but its security can not be guaranteed, so we often find that there will be counterfeit money.

明天的钱即将面世了——电子货币。目前的电子货币主要有银行卡和网上电子货币两种。比较着名的有数字现金、第一虚拟、网络现金、赛博现金和硬币等。相对于昨天和今天的货币来说，电子货币非常安全，携带也很方便，为人类交易活动的进一步发展提供了支付手段的准备。

Tomorrow's money is coming out - electronic money. At present, there are two kinds of electronic currency: bank card and online electronic currency. More famous are digital cash, first virtual, online cash, cyber cash and coins. Compared with yesterday's and today's money, electronic money is very safe and convenient to carry, which provides the preparation of payment means for the further development of human transaction activities.

明天的钱——电子货币作为货币形态演变的最新形式，是一种在网上电子信用上发展起来的，以商用电子机具和各类交易卡为媒介，以电子计算机技术和现代通信技术为手段，以电子脉冲进行资金传输和存贮的信用货币。通过网上银行进行的金融电子信息交换，电子货币与纸币等其它货币形式相比，因为具有保存成本低，流通费用低，标准化成本低，使用成本低等优势，所以将进一步降低人类的交易费用，这对人类的交易行为产生重大影响。

Tomorrow's money electronic currency, as the latest form of currency form evolution, is a kind of credit currency developed on the Internet electronic credit, with commercial electronic machines and tools and all kinds of transaction cards as the medium, with electronic computer technology and modern communication technology as the means, with electronic pulse for capital transmission and storage. Compared with other monetary forms such as paper money, e-money has the advantages of low cost of preservation, low cost of circulation, low cost of standardization and low cost of use, so it will further reduce human transaction costs, which has a significant impact on human transaction behavior.

当然，电子货币作为一种占主导地位的支付手段的前提条件是网上商业活动成为社会的主流商业模式，这个前提条件尚不充分具备时，电子货币只能作为一种辅助性的支付手段起作用。但是这个条件在IP网络革命的推动下正日益成熟，电子货币完全取代纸币的崭新的货币时代即将来临，任何人在任何时间任何地点都能交易将会实现，人类的交易活动也将揭开新的篇章，而钱的明天，也将会更加美好。

Of course, as a dominant means of payment, the prerequisite for e-money is that online business activities become the mainstream business model of the society. When this prerequisite is not fully met, e-money can only play a role as an auxiliary means of payment. But this condition is becoming more and more mature under the promotion of IP network revolution. A new currency era is coming when electronic currency completely replaces paper currency. Anyone can trade at any time and any place will be realized, and human trading activities will open a new chapter, and the future of money will be better.