THE WEEK Nov 22: Saving the city

Batkid saves San Fran

A five-year-old boy traveled San Francisco Saturday to save the city. Batkid, as he's been called, rescued a woman tied to cable car tracks, stopped the Riddler from robbing a bank and prevented the evils of the Penguin. The boy is recovering from leukemia, and the community in California came together to help his dream of becoming Batman come true. President Obama even sent the boy a message, and he received a key to the city from the mayor.

Toronto mayor: I smoked crack!

After months of denial, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admitted to buying and using illegal drugs -- more specifically, crack cocaine. The mayor is facing a number of other accusations of bad behavior, but he still denies having a serious problem and refuses to leave office, despite the city council stripping him of most of his power. We wanted to offer Mayor Ford a little help, so we put together a three-step plan to recovery.

Monkeys on birth control

In India, cities aren't having trouble with mayors. Instead, they're having trouble with monkeys. Due to shrinking forest areas and sprawling cities, monkeys in the country have been forced to enter urban areas in search of food and have been causing some trouble. Populations are growing so large, in fact, that officials are considering feeding the monkeys birth control pills.

This wacky world!

A divorced man in the US bought the home next door to his cheating wife's and then erected a large middle finger statue on the porch. That's a win.

Officials in Amsterdam hired poorly behaving alcoholics to clean the city's streets. As part of the payment, alcoholics will receive five cans of beer.

Good news in the Justin Bieber column: Ticket sales for the idiot's concerts in Australia have plummeted after a summer of the teen acting like an absolute fool.

Oxford Dictionary named "selfie" the word of the year. Selfies are pictures people take of themselves with the sole purpose of showing off how hot they are. A word of advice to you selfie enthusiasts: Get a life.

Buzzword:

selfie (noun) - a picture someone takes of him or herself -- usually in the mirror -- with the sole purpose of showing off how good looking he or she is.

1. Did you see the selfie that Lindsay Lohan posted on Instagram? She looks like a drunk mess.

2. I love it when guys take selfies in the gym. Their muscles are so big and sexy.

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）