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For travelers to Europe, from January 2002 there’s something special on offe

游客2024-04-03  46
问题     For travelers to Europe, from January 2002 there’s something special on offer besides all the usual sights. It’s the chance to be on the end of an era, and the birth of a new currency. Yes, it’s goodbye to the franc, the mark, drachma, peseta, lira and many of the other currencies which now confront visitors to Europe. They have all been replaced by the new euro.
    While a little of the mystery of travel will vanish with them, the changeover promises a much simpler life for visitors to Europe. On December 31, 2001 a dozen members of the European Union switched to the euro—a change which affects 300 million people. The euro currency has existed in abstract form since 1999, and is already used for check and credit card transactions. The next step was to make the move from abstract to physical, by abandoning the old currencies and using the new euro notes and coins instead.
    Since the beginning of the 2002 New Year, people in Europe have the choice of paying with the old notes and coins or with euros, but traders are meant to give change only in euros. Many of Europe’s 200,000 or so automatic teller machines(ATMs)are also meant to begin dispensing nothing but euros from the stroke of New Year’s Eve.
    More than 14.5 billion euro notes and 50 billion coins—239 tons of them—were produced for e-day and distributed across the continent under heavy security. The switch too place simultaneously in a dozen countries. Britain, however, is sticking with the pound for now, and European Union members Denmark and Sweden have also kept their own currencies. So have other European nations that don’t belong to the EU, such as Switzerland, Norway and the Czech Republic.
    However, travelers will find they can also use the new currency in some places outside the official euro zone; several large UK-based retail chains will accept the new notes and coins, including Marks & Spencer, Virgin, Selfridges and Dixons. Smaller nations such as Andorra and Monaco have also adopted the new currency. For travelers, the big benefit will be fewer currency conversions.
    The switch will also make it much easier to compare prices throughout Europe, without having to indulge in complex gymnastics. Not that the introduction of a new currency suddenly makes prices the same right across Europe, but having one currency will make those sorts of regional differences much more apparent than they are now. [br] When will the old currencies be no longer used?
选项 A、Since the 2002 New Year’s Day.
B、When all the automatic teller machines are ready.
C、After the traders help withdraw the old currencies.
D、The exact time is not settled yet.
答案 D
解析 第2段末句开头的next step只表明欧元将代替旧货币，但具体的时间是不明确的，因此本题应选D。
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