Notes:
calisthenics [柔軟]体操;
neighborhood 近所，近隣;

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Since the summer vacation started, the children in my neighborhood have been going to the local shrine every morning. Many go with their parents. A lot of senior citizens gather there, too. Everyone gets to the shrine by 6:30 in the morning so that they can do radio calisthenics. Did you know that the first exercises on the radio began in the U.S. in the 1920s? Then people started doing them in Japan. After that, the Americans stopped. That’s why I didn’t know anything about radio calisthenics until I came to Japan. (by Prof.Douglas Jarrell)
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Notes:
the semi-finals: 準決勝(戦);
the Netherlands: オランダ;
Argentina:アルゼンチン;

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The World Cup is now over. For one month, Brazil has been the host of the world’s biggest soccer event. Brazilians were hoping to win, but they were beaten in the semi-finals (and lost their best player). Then they lost to the Netherlands (Holland) on Sunday morning Japan time. In the end, they came in fourth place. The final game of the World Cup was this morning. Argentina and Germany played a great game. There were moments when it looked like Argentina would win, but in the end Germany got the winning goal. Now we can say goodbye to the excitement but hello to late mornings again. (by Prof.Douglas Jarrell)
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