Read and Complete

Choose the word that best completes each blank.

The earliest paper money did not begin as cash at all. Centuries ago in China, merchants who carried heavy strings of metal coins found them awkward to transport over long distances. Instead, they began leaving their coins with a trusted shop and accepting a written note that promised the same value. These notes could be exchanged later for the coins, and people soon found it easier to trade the notes themselves. In this way, a simple receipt slowly turned into the first banknotes.

Paper money did not start as cash. Long ago in China, merchants found heavy metal coins hard to —transporttranslatetransform over long distances. They began leaving the coins with a trusted shop and taking a written note that promised the same —valuevalleyvolume. People soon found it easier to trade the notes themselves, and so a simple receipt gradually became the first —banknotesbandagesbarriers.