英语翻译
There is a story of a country where the rate of inflation is so high that smart people pay for a taxi ride before the trip instead of after.They save money that way.That story may ormay not be true.But inflation was almost that severe in Germany from July,1920 until December,1923.Prices went up so fast that by the end of 1923 they were 500 million percenthigher——a rise of almost 2500% a month.
There was so much paper money,and it had so little value that people carried bags full of cash around to pay for things.Often the bags were worth more than the money insidethem.One woman tells the story of standing outside a butcher shop with a basket full of500,000 mark notes.She wanted to buy just one piece of meat,and she hoped she had enough money.But when she wasn't looking,a thief robbed her.He didn't take her money,though he dumped it out and st
le the basket instead.
At first workers demanded to be paid every day.But as the situation became worse,they had to be paid twice every day.But they had to run out and spent the money rightaway,or it would lose its value.People bought anything that was in the shops,but food wasalmost impossible to find.Farm workers refused to take cash.They wanted to be paid in potatoes instead.