又中又英 | Penny | 褚簡寧
Many English idioms use the word "penny". If you see your friend thinking about something, you can say "a penny for your thoughts". This means you are asking what your friend is thinking about. A pretty penny means a large sum of money. If someone says the penny dropped, it means that person has finally understood something after being confused. Most people know a penny is the lowest value in the UK currency. A British pound has 100 pennies, or pence. A penny is also the lowest value in a US dollar. There are 100 pennies, or cents, in a US dollar.
When I lived in the US, I often received some pennies back when I used cash to buy something. I would put them in a jar because they are worthless. Most Americans don't bother using them or even bother picking them up if they see pennies on the streets. The US penny has a history of over 230 years, but President Donald Trump ordered the Treasury Department earlier this year to stop producing them because it costs about 3.7 pennies to produce one.
Only a small portion of the 300 billion existing pennies are in actual circulation because most people don’t use them. Pennies will remain valid for people who want to use them. Although Trump has decided to stop production of the penny, he wants to issue a commemorative $1 coin with his image on both sides for America’s 250th birthday next year. It is unclear how he can do this. US law prohibits the image of a current president or living former president on a coin. The law only allows such coins two years after the death of a president.
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許多英文成語都用上「penny」一字。若你見到你朋友在想着某事，你可以說「a penny for your thoughts」，意思就是你問你朋友在想甚麼。A pretty penny是指很大一筆錢。若某人說the penny dropped，意即他對某事困惑良久，現在終於想明白了。大多數人都知道，a penny就是英國貨幣最低的幣值，一英鎊有100便士（pennies或pence）。A penny亦是美元最低的幣值，一美元有100便士（pennies）或說100美分。
我住美國的時候，用現金購物不時收到些美分（pennies）零錢回來，我便將它們放在一個樽內，因為它們沒甚麼價值。大部分美國人都不費心要用這些零錢，甚至在街上見到美分（pennies），也不勞心要拾起。美國的美分（penny）有超過230年歷史，但總統特朗普卻下令要求財政部停止再生產美分，因為製造一美分的成本需要3.7美分（pennies）。
因為大部分人都不會使用美分，現存3000億美分（pennies）只有一小部分在真實流通。對於想用的人來說，美分（pennies）仍是通用的。雖然特朗普決定停止生產美分（penny），他卻想在下年製作兩邊印有他肖像的一美元紀念硬幣，以慶祝美國建國250周年。現在還不清楚他可以怎樣辦成這事。美國法律禁止在硬幣上印上現任或仍在世的前任總統。法例只容許在總統去世後兩年，方能印製有其肖像的硬幣。
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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻
