Introducing the Penny

Introducing the Penny, written by Jane Selman. Illustrated by Len Epstein.

《认识一分硬币》，作者简·塞尔曼，插画作者莱恩·爱泼斯坦。

Hi, let me introduce myself. I'm a United States coin. My friends call me Penny. My name comes from a German word, Finig, which means coin.

嗨，让我来介绍一下我自己吧。 我是美国的一种硬币。 我的朋友们都叫我一分币。 我的名字来自德语单词“Finig”，意思就是硬币。

You might have other coins that look like me in your pocket. We are each worth one cent. That's one one hundredth of a dollar. That means it takes exactly one hundred of me and my friends to equal one dollar.

你口袋里说不定还有其他长得和我一样的硬币哦。 我们每个的面值都是一分。 也就是一美元的百分之一哦。 也就是说，凑齐我和我的一百个小伙伴，刚好等于一美元哦。

I was born when the United States first became a country. In 1792, the U .S. government created the U .S. mint. A mint is a factory where coins are made. One of the first coins the government made was me, the one -cent coin. In 1787, my good friend Ben Franklin suggested how I should look. But over the years, my look has changed several times.

我在美国刚刚成立的时候就诞生啦。 1792年，美国政府成立了美国铸币局。 铸币局就是制造硬币的工厂哦。 政府最早制造的硬币里就有我——一分硬币哦。 1787年，我的好朋友本·富兰克林还为我的外观提过建议呢。 不过这么多年来，我的样子已经变过好几次啦。

For a while, I carried a picture of Lady Liberty wearing a Native American headdress. This picture appeared on my obverse, or my face. My back is called, you guessed it, my reverse. You probably call it heads and tails.

有一段时间，我的身上印着戴着印第安原住民头饰的自由女神像。 这张图案印在我的正面，也就是我的“脸”上。 我的背面嘛，你猜对啦，就叫背面。你们平时应该叫它们“正面”和“反面”对吧。

In 1909, I got an important makeover. America decided to honor President Abraham Lincoln by putting his picture on me. On my reverse, you could see stalks or stems of wheat. Some folks called me the wheat penny. Look at all the pennies in your pocket. You might find an old wheat penny.

1909年，我迎来了一次非常重要的外观升级。 美国决定纪念亚伯拉罕·林肯总统，就把他的肖像印在了我的身上。 那时我的背面可以看到几根小麦的麦秆。 有些人就把我叫做小麦一分币。 快看看你口袋里的所有一分币。 你说不定能找到一枚古老的小麦一分币哦。