Задание

Прочитайте текст с пропусками, обозначенными номерами 1–10. Выберите правильный ответ для пропуска 9.

Nowadays the humanity knows a good deal about the history of coins. The first coins were issued in the ancient kingdom of Lydia, probably by King Croesus, in the 1 _______ seventh century BC. The first Greek drachmas were not far behind and before early coins were being used throughout the Mediterranean. Soon they had 2 _______ all over the developed world.

We know so much about the history of coins because there are still a lot of them around. Before the 3 _______ of banks people often buried coins for 4 _______ keeping, sometimes so thoroughly that centuries passed before they were found again.

Coins often have a tale to 5 _______ .They provide us with what are sometimes the only 6 _______ we have of the rulers of the past, giving us what amounts at a gallery in miniature of the great and powerful. By tracing the distribution of buried coins we can 7 _______ at a record of the territories these people controlled or influenced and the trade links they made with other nations. For example, Roman coins have come up as far away as India and ancient Greek silver coins have been found in Italy, North Africa and 8 _______ .

As the fortunes of these city states varied so did the purity of the metals they used in their coins. Gold, silver, copper and brass have, in times of hardship, been mixed with other less valuable metals or have been replaced altogether by nickel, iron and even cardboard and leather. 9 these materials are not so durable, it seems that coins themselves are here to 10 _______.