While the U.S. is still debating about getting rid of the penny, Sweden is rapidly moving towards abolishing currency altogether. Though this may sound radical(过激的), it is a natural evolution in this digital society.

    Sweden, which was the first European country to introduce banknotes in 1661, has just been working harder to convince its residents that digital payments are a safer alternative to carrying cash.

    Over the years, the idea has gained popularity with residents, especially the younger generation that is much more comfortable with technology. Today many banks don't even have ATMs and some have stopped handling cash altogether!

    Tickets to ride public buses in most Swedish cities can only be purchased via cell phones. Numerous businesses are also moving towards accepting only digital payments. Even the homeless that sell street paper to make ends meet have to start accepting this mode of payment!

    But despite its growing popularity, some people don't like this radical idea. They include the homeless, elderly people as well as those living in rural areas who are still uncomfortable with mobile phones and computers. But the officials are confident that in the very near future, they will be able to convince everyone to move this safe and more cost-effective payment system.

    Sweden is not the only country trying to abolish paper currency and coins. The movement is rapidly gaining ground in Denmark and Finland as well. In 2014, Israel announced a three-step plan to go cashless and just last week the vendors(小贩)of a popular street in Sydney declared they would stop accepting currency from customers. Whether this phenomenon spreads remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure—With increasingly advanced payment systems being introduced every day, pulling out cash is rapidly becoming “uncool”.

    In no particular order, here are some songs on the Music app of my phone:

On a Sunday Afternoon by Lighter Shade of Brown—A student of mine introduced this rap song lo me all the way back in the early 1990s, when 1 was teaching Spanish at a local university. The story in the song takes place not too far from where I live in Los Angeles. It's a good "driving" song, nothing complicated or "deep".

    Say Something by A Great Big World—A more recent song about a couple losing contact with each other. The piano part is very little playing but beautiful.

    American Pie by Don McLean—Another song from my youth in the 80s, very popular with almost every American of my generation. It retells some of the key events of the middle 20th century, a song of happy memories of the past and wanting to return to those better times.

    The Weight by The Band—Another old song, originally made public in 1968, but one I didn't hear until I was in high school more than 10 years later. I don't understand the words to the song completely, but the feeling of the song is very comforting to me.

Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers—This Los Angeles group wrote a song that 1 used to listen to when I first moved to LA more than 25 years ago. I didn't know anyone here when I first arrived. When I got bored, I used to drive up and down the major streets that cross the city from east to west, listening to this song about the "city of angel" being as "lonely as I am. (Don t worry! I have plenty of friends now.)

    For 26 years, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF) has featured (放映，上演) thoughtful, memorable, meaningful and culturally diverse children's movies. This film festival in 2009 ran from October 22 to November 1 and featured more than 200 films. It is the largest annual film festival in North America and the only Academy­qualifying children's film festival in the world. Winners in the short film category go on to compete in the Oscars！The films came from more than 40 countries. More than 25,000 people attended.

    TFK Kid Reporter Meghan Pfau was there. “We don't just show kids movies. We ask kids to think about what they are watching,” CICFF Director Nicole Drieske told TFK. “Five minutes before the lights go down we have a talk with everybody. We talk about what's going on in our minds when we are watching a movie,” she explains. “Movies teach us so much. If we're not paying attention to what we are watching, we aren't learning as much as we could.” Viewers vote to give their opinions at the end of each movie. The CICFF staff wants kids to feel like they are an important part of the festival.

    Kids can also attend interactive (互动的) workshops led by filmmakers, media professionals and celebrities. And young talent takes part in the CICFF. Eleven­year­old Shiropa Purna wrote and directed Our Boat is Our Address ， which is featured in the festival. “My dad is a director and he taught me many things，”Shiropa says.

    A “children's jury” meets in August to watch more than 100 movies that will appear in the festival. They rate the films based on plot, character, setting, acting and sound. The jury awards more than a dozen prizes. The awards are announced at the festival's Closing Night Award Ceremony.

    Sometimes it can be easy to become too satisfied when it comes to living sustainably. We may all have recycling bins in our kitchens, but here are some ways you can live more sustainably.

    ⒈Put an end to plastic water bottles and one-off coffee cups

    The only way this is going to work is that if you have reusable options you really love, invest in a great water bottle. This is an advance payment, but it will save you money in the long run. A 750ml bottle of Evian costs 90p in Tesco, meaning if you buy one every two days you could save £10 within three weeks by filling up a reusable bottle at home.

    ⒉_______________________________________

    The high street is problematic on so many different levels. Not only are you buying items with questionable supply chains, but the carbon footprint of each product is shocking as well. Online shopping is even worse, with overpackaging for each item and the emissions from delivery trucks. The answer is to stick to reach-me-down or previously owned items as much as possible. Not only will this save you money, but there's also a sense of satisfaction in finding a hidden treasure from the flea market where you find outstanding bargains or something used, which you simply can't get from shopping in Wal-Mart or on Amazon.

    ⒊Think hard about your transportation

    Even if your car is supposedly a low-emissions model, it's still going to be a huge contribution to your carbon footprint. There are times when getting in a car can't be avoided, but if you can substitute just one flight a year with a train, one car journey a week with a bus, and one bus a month with a bike ride, you'll find that making more mindful transport decisions can easily make your day-to-day life more environmentally friendly with little effort.

    ⒋Try to buy local, seasonal produce

    You may think buying strawberries in December or courgettes in spring is no big deal, but the chemicals and fuel used to artificially copy the right environment for them to grow create harmful gas emissions. Similarly, the environmental impact of transporting produce from another country is huge. Buying from local farmers also means you can often ignore the huge amounts of packaging the supermarkets use.

    Two heads are better than one. It means that two people working together have a better chance of solving a problem than one person alone. But not everyone likes working in a group.

    There can be a number of reasons why people dislike group work. Some may feel nervous or uneasy in group situations. Others might have had a bad experience with individuals who did not work well as a team. Another comment is that teachers or instructors fail to provide roles for group members. This may create a situation where everyone or no one wants to lead. Whatever the issue, the result is the same: the group does not realize its goal.

    Cooperative (合作的) learning is an educational method that can help to solve this problem. There are many methods of cooperative learning. Today we will talk about one: giving each person in a small group a specific duty to reach a shared goal. For example, if learners are divided into groups of four people each, their roles might be: leader, writer, checker and speaker. This structure helps ensure that everyone takes part equally in group work and allows each member to play a meaningful part in completing the shared goal.

    Before dividing learners into groups, it is a good idea for the teacher or club's instructor to first have knowledge about the language skill levels of participants. The goal is to make each group a mixture of higher- and lower-level language learners. Putting too many people with similar skill levels together could make the work too difficult or easy. Role cards can be a helpful tool in this method of cooperative learning. Their purpose is to remind learners of each person's role.

    Before the cooperative activity, the role of the teacher or activity instructor is to explain two things to the group: the main job for the activity and how the cooperative roles work. The person in charge may appoint these roles or let the English learners choose them. Then, during the activity, the instructor's job is to watch the groups and provide more guidance when needed. After the activity, the instructor may wish to provide feedback to groups on their work and their use of cooperation.

    With this cooperative learning method, you can say that four heads are better than just one.

Three Feet From Gold

    Darby's uncle was caught by the "gold fever" in the gold—rush days, and went west to dig and grow rich. After months of labor, he was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore (矿石). He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. So, with the "strike", he returned home. And with the help of Darby, he borrowed a lot of money. After buying the machinery and having it shipped, Uncle and Darby went back to work the mine.

    The first car of ore was mined. And the returns proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Uncle and Darby!

    Then something happened! The vein (矿脉) of gold ore disappeared! They drilled on, but all in vain. Finally, they decided to quit and sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars. The junk man called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer's calculations showed that the vein would be found just three feet from where the Darbys had stopped drilling! The junk man took millions of dollars in the vein, because he knew enough to seek experts' advice before giving up.

    Most of the money which went into the machinery was borrowed through the efforts of Darby, who was then a very young man. The money came from his relatives because of their faith in him. He paid back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so.

    Long afterwards, Mr. Darby made another discovery that desire can be changed into gold. This discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance. Remembering that he lost a huge fortune, for he stopped three feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his chosen work, saying to himself, "I stopped three feet from gold, but I never stop because men say 'no' when I ask them to buy insurance."

    Darby sold more than million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his "stick-ability" to the lesson he learned from his "quit-ability" in the gold mining business.