The value of money is going down. What you could buy in 1970 for ￡20, now, in 1979 costs￡5

6.40. That's inflation and nobody likes it, least of all the Bank of England. One of the results of inflation is that people need coins and notes of higher value. At the moment, the note of the highest value which is generally in circulation is the ￡20 note. Now, the Bank of England plans to introduce a new, ￡50 note. And the Bank is trying to decide which famous English man or woman to put on the back of the new note.

Quite a problem. The Bank usually chooses safe, historical personalities. We already have Sir Isaac Newton, the scientist, the first duke of Wellington, the famous soldier who led the British army at Waterloo, Florence Nightingale, founder of English nursing and — of course — Shakespeare. So far, the list of possible choices for the ￡50 note is quite predictable. There's Sir Francis Drake, to represent the achievements of English explorers in the sixteenth century. Then we have Lord Nelson, another sailor and the man who won the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 for England. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer, is also on the list because of the magnificent bridges which he built. The Bank will not forget music this time either — Sir Edward Elgar, one of our most famous composers of the nineteenth century is a possible choice. If they choose a woman, the feminist movement has two representatives: Boadicea, Queen of the early English tribes of the first century, who fought against the Romans, or Emily Pankhurst, who fought to get the vote for women early in this century.

What do you think of this selection？ There's no one who was alive in the last fifty years on it and no political leader. Why not？ Why doesn't the Bank choose popular heroes — like the Beatles, for example？ Write and tell "BBC Modern English" who is on your list for this banknote. Imagine you have to choose some personality to go on a banknote in your own country. Who is your choice？

"Inflation" in this story means "______".

A．the rise in prices resulting from an increase in the money, credit, etc.

B．the rise and fall of the voice in speaking

C．the process of inflating or being inflated

D．an illness brought by infection