Notes:
Israel: イスラエル;
mattress: マットレス;
garbage dump: ゴミ処分場;
desperately :  必死に;
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A woman in Israel gave her mother a present, a new mattress. At the same time, she threw away the old one. That was a big mistake! Her mother disliked banks, so she kept all her money in the mattress. She had one million dollars in it. When the daughter found about the money, she went around to all the garbage dumps desperately looking for it. As you can imagine, that was big news in Israel. (by Prof. Douglas Jarrell)
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Japan is coming up to an election, and the U.S. has just had one. There is one very big difference between the elections, however. The United States has long election campaigns. The campaign for president is probably the longest in the world. People who want to be president start campaigning two years before the election. Japan has a very short campaign. It only lasts 12 days. Most other countries have longer campaigns, but Japan’s isn’t the shortest. Singapore’s election campaign only lasts 9 days.(by Prof. Douglas Jarrell)
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