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12/11/2023 (#25 this year)
How did your tests go? I’m sure they weren’t fun, but you got through all of them. Well,except for 4F. They have their tests today and tomorrow, so, good luck to them. Have
you got your results back yet? Were they as good as you hoped? I’m sure they were.
Even if they weren’t that good, don’t worry. You can try harder next time.
We start Christmas preparation this Friday. I can’t believe it is already time to start
making the stained glass. The years seems to have gone by so quickly. What kind ofdesign are you going to do? I am very excited. The school looks amazing when all of thestained glass is up and the lights are on. You are all artists!
10 differences

100,000 Coins Found in Gunma
Last month, construction workers6 unearthed7 a hoard8 of 100,000
ancient coins when they were digging the foundations9 for a factory. They
were found in the town of Maebashi in Gunma. After the construction workers
found the coins, archaeologists10 moved in and they uncovered11 all 100,000of the coins. All of the coins have holes through the middle and they were tied
together in bundles with straw rope going through the holes. The oldest coins
were from 175 BC and the most recent cons were from AD 1265. Because thelast coin is from 1265, the archaeologists think that all of the coins were buriedin the Kamakura Period (1185 to 1333). Nobody knows who buried them, butthey were probably buried for safekeeping12 because there were a few wars atthat time. Whoever buried them obviously couldn’t come back to dig them up
again. Many of the older coins were minted in China and brought to Japan. Itis an interesting reminder of the connection between the two countries that
goes back a very long way. All Chinese coins and the Japanese coins were madewith a hole in the middle because it made it easier to carry the coins. The coins
are being cleaned and examined by experts at the local museum. After they
have been prepared, they will be exhibited13 there.

Last week’s answer

Something you didn’t know about coins
1. The first coins were used in 700 BC.
2. The word “coin” comes from the Latin “cuneus”, which means “wedge1”.
3. The first person to have their face minted2 on a coin was Tissaphernes. He was aPersian3 nobleman4 and he made the coins in 410 BC.
4. The smallest coin in the UK is one penny. Americans call their one cent coin a penny
as well. In England we use ￡, which are called pounds. Pound is also used forweight. This is because it used to be one pound5 of silver.
5. We still use 1 yen coins in Japan but a one yen coin costs 3 yen to make.

1.wedge くさび 2.mint 鋳造する 3.Persia ペルシア 4.nobleman 貴族 5.pound ポンド(453g)
6.construction worker 建設労働者 7.unearth 掘り出す 8.hoard 貯蔵 9.foundation 土台
10.archaeologist 考古学者 11.uncover 掘り出す 12.safekeeping 保管 13.exhibit 展示する

One thing we can do to help the environment

World record
This is an interesting world record. The longest time recorded on a stopwatch is 29,564
hours 50 minutes and 30.39 seconds. That is 1231 days, or just over 3 years. That sounds
like a world record we can probably beat if we just dedicate1 a computer to running astopwatch and remember to stop it shutting down. Unless, of course, that person neverstopped their stopwatch. The world record was achieved2 in 2013 and I could not findany updates. There is a strong
Likelihood3 that they haven’t
stopped the stopwatch and it is stillgoing. If that is the case4, then we
will never be able to get this record!
There are several stopwatch world
records. The fastest time astopwatch was started and stopped
is 0.005 seconds. The most times
someone has pressed the lap
button is 122 times in 10 seconds
and 732 times in one minute. Do
you think we should get theserecords? We just need time.

The mind is everything. What you
think you become. Buddha–#10 #10 Practice Mindful Consumption
This is Practice Mindful5 Consumption6 sounds very complicated7, but it
actually means “just think about what you are going to buy”. I buy a lot ofthings from the 100 yen shop and I buy a lot of disposable8 things. That is
not good for the environment because many of the things I buy from the100 yen shop harm the environment in many ways. 1. They produce lots of
CO2 when they are made. 2. They have to be shipped to Japan. 3. They use
precious natural resources. 4. They are usually made of plastic so they areharmful to the environment when I throw them away. 5. They don’t teachme to value9 the things that I have. So, I want to practice mindful
consumption. What that means is I need to ask myself if I really needsomething before I buy it. I don’t have to stop buying things, but I need tothink about what I am buying. Sometimes I will need the thing and I will buyit. Sometimes I will remember that I have something at home I can use to
do the same job. And sometimes I will realize that I don’t need it after all.
Just trying to think before I buy can make a difference.

1.dedicate 特定用途のために取っておく 2.achieve 得る 3.likelihood 可能性 4.if that is thecase もしそうだとしたら 5.mindful～を心に留める 6.comsumption 消費 7.complicated 複
雑な 8.disposable 使い捨てができる 9.value 大事にする