Notes:
disposable shopping bag　レジ袋;
petroleum　石油;
semitransparent　半透明；
*********************
In Japan, about 30 billion disposable shopping bags are used in a year. When the amount is divided by the Japanese population, It means that one person uses about 300 bags a year. Most of these are thrown away as rubbish. If people keep using too many, it is a waste of petroleum. That’s why many stores are trying to reduce the amount of wasteful disposable shopping bags.
When I lived in my hometown, Ibara, many stores offered the bags for free, but if people bought something and refused the bag, they would get points. When they collected enough points, they could get coupons. It seemed that not so many people refused bags. After I came to Izumo, I realized that you have to pay for the bags. It is a more effective way of making me refuse them. Now, I have gotten into the habit of carrying my own shopping bag. I think it is more fashionable to carry my own shopping bag than the semitransparent store bag. In this way, rules can change habits. The shops’ attempts and rules may contribute to saving petroleum.   (written by student K, edited by Prof. Douglas Jarrell)
*********************

Notes:
rare　珍しい；
used to　 （以前［昔］は）よく…した（ものだった)；
goat　《動物》ヤギ；

********************
Tigers are rare animals. They used to live all over Asia, but now there are fewer than 5,000. In the north, there are about 250 Siberian tigers that live in Russia and northern China. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, wanted to show that he was interested in saving the tigers. He helped a group of scientists that put some tigers back into the wild in 2011. Now a couple of those tigers are in China eating the goats of Chinese farmers. The Chinese government is probably not very happy, but it doesn’t want to kill the tigers. Instead, it will pay the farmers for their losses.  (by Prof. Douglas Jarrell)
********************