Many of us may know that Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia. But this will change soon. In 2019, Indonesia announced plans to move its capital from Jakarta to the province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. That was big news for Indonesia, as any country’s capital is obviously very important. The new capital will be named Nusantara.

The word capital comes from the Latin word caput, meaning “head”. It is no doubt the “head” of a country. The central government is located there, as well as important institutions(机构). The leaders of a country usually work and live in the capital as well.

In English-language news reports, when you read “relations between Beling and Moscow”, it actually means relations between China and Russia” That’s how important the capital is—it is a symbol of a country, showing its national power.

Therefore, it is important to choose a good place for one’s capital. In many countries, the capital is the richest city. This is because when a city becomes a major business center, it takes on a more important place on the world stage. London, for example, has been the economic (经济的) center of Britain for nearly 2, 000 years, so people naturally chose it as the capital.

Sometimes, capitals are chosen for safety reasons. For example, Brazil’s capital used to be Rio de Janeiro, which is a coastal (沿海的) city. Later the capital moved to the inland city of Brasilia, partly because coastal cities can be attacked(攻击) more easily.

In the case of Indonesia, the new capital was chosen in order to achieve balanced development in different areas. Kalimantan is an underdeveloped area. By becoming the new capital, it can expect faster economic growth.

New York is a very large city with 8 million (八百万) people. How do so many people move on their way to work or school? In New York you can travel by subway (地铁), bus, taxi and private (私人的) car.

The subway runs on the railway lines (轨道线) under the city. Travelling by subway is the fastest way to get around the city. The second way to travel around the city is by public bus (公共汽车). It is a slower way to travel. This is because the traffic is very heavy.

You can also travel around the city by taxi. This is very expensive, but the taxi will take you to the very place you want to go to. If the traffic is heavy, the taxi will be slow, too.

During the mornings and afternoons, there is the “rush hour”. This is the time when the traffic is very heavy with people going to and from work. The last way to get around New York is using your own private car. It is not easy because you will probably be driving during the “rush hour”. The best time to travel around the city is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., because it isn’t the “rush hour”.

In Sweden, there is an amazing library called Bokbaten. It’s in fact a big boat with thousands of books. It’s a floating (漂浮的) library. Bokbaten visits the remote islands (遥远的岛屿) every spring and autumn. The boat is filled with more than 3,000 books. It then sails to the remote islands. The boat stops at 23 islands and allows the islanders to borrow the books.

You can return the books you borrowed during the last visit and borrow anything you like again. There are tall wooden shelves full of all kinds of books, including picture books for children, texts about history and science and cookery books. The floating library has run since (自从) 1953. It is the oldest library boat in Northern Europe.

The country wants all its people, especially children, to read. They believe that reading is important for life and success. It doesn’t matter where you live or whether you are rich or poor. They want you to read books, as everyone has the opportunity (机会) to get education (教育) and knowledge.