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7/11/2024 (#10 this year)
Did you have a nice day off yesterday? Did you have time to recover from the school
festival? You must be exhausted1. You all worked so hard on the dances and on theclassroom displays and shops. It was very impressive. I enjoyed it a lot. The teachers
and the students in the student council must be exhausted as well. You all did such agood job and put on an amazing school festival. The junior high school had aninteresting few days as well. The first grade went to Maruyama Zoo. The second grade
went to Upopoi. The third grade went to Otaru. Everyone had a very good time and welearned a lot. Field trips2 are always fun.
11 differences!

Last week’s answer

Something you didn’t know about the security features3 on Japan’s new money
1. They have raised print you can feel with your fingers.
2. They have very high definition watermarks4.
3. They have 3D hologram pictures that move when you tilt5 the note.
4. They have a section that is a pattern when the note is held up, but becomes thevalue of the note when it is tilted.
5. It has microprinting that is too small for regular printers to print.
6. They glow6 under ultraviolet light7.
7. Part of the paper they are printed on changes color when you angle8 the notes.

Japan Introduces New Banknotes
The government of Japan has introduced three new banknotes that werereleased into circulation9 last week on Wednesday. This is the first time thedesign of Japanese banknotes has been changed in 20 years. That is before allof you were born. We did get a new 2,000 yen note in 2000, but that was
before you were born as well. I haven’t seen a 2,000 yen note in ages. Do they
still exist? Anyway, the 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 yen notes have beenredesigned. So, what has changed? They are the same size and the same color.
The number on them is now written in English and it is much bigger. The 10,000
yen note, for example, used to have 10000 in the top corner, and 壱万円 in bigcharacters. The new one has 10000 in big numbers in the middle. They havedifferent people on them as well. The 1000 yen note has Shibasaburo Kitasato
on it. He was a bacteriologist10 who founded11 the department of medicine at
Keio University. The 5,000 yen note has Umeko Tsuda. She was one of the firstJapanese women to study overseas and when she came back she founded
Tsudajuku university, which was very important for girls’ education. The 10,000
yen note has Eiichi Shibusawa, who was the father of modern capitalism12 inJapan. He founded the first bank in Japan. One of the reasons the notes havebeen redesigned
Istostop13
forgers
fromcounterfeiting
14
themoney.
However, this is
not so much of aproblem
recently
because more
people are using
cashlesspayment
methods
andless cash.
1.exhausted 疲れ果てて 2.field trip 校外見学 3.security feature 種セキュリティー機能.watermark 透かし 5.tilt 傾く 6.glow 光る 7.ultravioletlight 赤外線 8.angle 角度に動かす 9.circulation 流通
10.bacteriologist 細菌学者 11.found 創立する 12.capitalism 資本主義 13.forger 偽造者 14.counterfeit 偽造品

An Unusual Job

World record
Have you ever used modeling balloons? They’re a lot of fun and you can make manythings, but they are very difficult. Whenever I try to make something, the balloons usually
burst1. I am not very good at it and I am not very fast. This week’s world record is thefastest time to make a balloon dog behind the back. It is hard enough making a balloon
dog in front of you, but Daniele Bottalico decided to make one with her hands behind herback. It took her 4.54 seconds! That is incredibly fast! I guess she already had the balloons
blown up2 before she started because it would take longer than 4.54 seconds just to blow
up the balloons. Do you get dizzy3 when you blow up a balloon? Well, you shouldn’t try
for this world record then. Hunter Ewen has the world record for blowing up 18 balloons
in one minute! I wonder if he passed out4 afterwards. Anyway, these are records we could
try to beat. What do you think?

Fire Eater
Do you like hot food? Do you like really really hot food? I’m not talking about
spicy food. I’m talking temperature6. If you do, then maybe you could be afire eater. Fire eating is not very difficult. Ok. It is very difficult, but the idea
is easy. When you are eating fire, you just have to remember that heat7 goesup, the transfer of heat8 is not instant9, and not to breathe in. If you want tobe a fire eater, you need a torch for your fire. Fire eater torches are made ofaluminium covered in silicone. Aluminium is light and the silicone stops thetorch getting hot. The end has a cloth that is the bit that burns. To start, holdthe torch so the fire is above your mouth, with your head tilted back.
Remember that heat goes up. Don’t have your head over the torch because
you will get burned. Put the burning bit in your mouth and close your mouth
as quickly as possible. Heat transfer is not instant and the saliva10 in yourmouth will stop you getting burned if you are fast. When you close yourmouth you cut off the oxygen11 and the fire will go out. The last thing isremember not to breathe in because you don’t want flame12, smoke13, andgasoline in your lungs14. What do you think? Is this the career for you? Fireeaters are usually booked for shows and you can me a lot of money if it is a
big show and if you are good.

割れる 2.blow up 膨らむ 3.dizzy 目まい 4.pass out 倒れる“Don’t look any further than your own 1.burst
5.reflection 鏡に映る自分 6.temperature 温度 7.heat 熱 8.transfer ofheat 熱移動 9.instant 瞬間 10.saliva 唾液 11.oxygen 酸素 12.flame 炎
reflection for a hero.”— Allyson Partridge
13.smoke 煙 14.lungs 肺5