【正文】 the soil over so that the weeds were covered and woul d rot. Then he gave advi ce on Turi ng over the soi l. The fi rst tim e each year, farm ers shoul d di g deepl y, but the second tim e shoul d be l ess deep. Therefore the autum n pl oughi ng of the soil shoul d be deeper thant the spri ng pl oughi ng. H e suggested changing crops i n the fi el d every year: ri ve one year and wheat the next so that they woul d al ways get good harvests. They shoul d al so grow di fferent pl ants next to each other i n the fi el d. He al so gave adi ve on how to fi sh, keep a garden and even m ake wi ne. H e wrote down hi s i n a book cal led Qi Mi n Yao Shu, whi ch was consi dered an im portant summ ary of the knowl edge of farm i ng. For centuri es after Ji a Si xi e di ed, i t was studi ed by Chi nese farm ers and students of agri cul ture. Uni t 3 A MASTER O F NON VERBAL H UMO UR As Victor H ugo once said, “Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face”, and up to now nobody has been able to do this beter than Charli e Chapli n. H e bri ghtened the l ives of Am ericans and Bri ti sh through two worl d wars and the hard years i n between. H e m ade peopl e laugh at a ti m e when they felt depressed, so they coul d feel m ore content wi th thei r li ves. Not that Charlie’s own life was easy! H e was born in a poor famil y in 1889. H is parents were both poor music hal perform ers. You m ay fi nd i t astoni shi ng that Charli e was taught to si ng as soon as he coul d speak and dance as soon as he coul d walk. Such traini ng was m on i n acti ng fam il es at that tim e, especi al ly when the fam il y i ne was often uncertai n. Unfortunatel y hi s father di ed, l eavi ng the fam il y even worse off, so Charl i e spent hi s chil dhood l ooki ng after his si ck m other and hi s brother. By hi s teens, Charli e had, through his hum our, be e one of the m ost popular chil d actors i n Engl and. H e coul d mim e and act the fool doi ng ordi nary everyday tasks. N o one was ever bored watchi ng him hi s subtl e acting m ade everythi ng entertai ni ng. As ti me went by, he began maki ng fi lm s. H e grew m ore and more popul ar as hi s charm i ng character, the l i tl e tram p, becam e known throughout the worl d. The tram p, a poor, hom el ess m an wi th a m oustache, wore large trousers, wornout shoes and a sm al l round black hat. He wal ked around sti ffly carrying a wal ki ng sti ck. This character was a social fail ure but was l oved for hi s optim ism and determ inati on to over e al di fficul ti es. H e was the underdog who was kind even when others were unki nd to him . H ow di d the li ttl e tram p m ake a sad si tuation entertai ning? H ere is an exampl e from one of hi s m ost fam ous fi lm s, The Gol d Rush. It is the m i dni eenth century and gol d has just been di scovered i n Cal i forni a. Li ke so m any others, the li ttl e tram p and hi s friend have rushed there i n search of gol d, but wi thout success. Instead they are hi di ng i n a sm al l hut on the edge of a mountai n duri ng a snowstorm with nothi ng to eat. They are so hungry that they try boi li ng a pai r of l eather shoes for their di nner. Charli e fi rst pi cks out the l aces and eats them as i f they were spagheti. Then he cuts off the l eather top of the shoes as if i t were the fi nest steak. Fi nal ly he tri es cutti ng and chewi ng the bottom of the shoe. H e eats each m outhful wi th great enjoym ent. The acti ng i s so convi nci ng that i t m akes you bel i eve that i t i s one of the best m eal s he has ever tasted! Charli e Chapli n wrote, di rected and produced the fil ms the starred i n. In 1972 he was gi ven a special O scar for hi s outstanding work i n fi lm s. He li ved i n Engl and and the USA but spend his l ast years in Switzerl and, where he was buri ed i n 1977. H e i s l oved and rem em bered as a great actor who coul d i nspi re peopl e wi th great confi dence. AN APRI L FOOL’S JOKE: THE NOODLE HARVEST April Fool ’s day, or April 1st, i s known i n m any countri es as a day for pl ayi ng jokes on others. It i s usual l y a ti m e when chi l dren m ake fun of each other, but som eti m es other peopl e can get caught i n the fun too. O ne of the m ost fam ous jokes i n Engl and took pl ace on Bri ti sh tel evi si on i n 1957. It was a Monday ni ght when there were al ways m any seri ous program m es on the tel evi si on. O ne of them was cal l ed Panoram a, thi s show expl ored probl em s and progress al l over the worl d, so nobody was surpri sed when i t i ncrease ri ce harvests wi thout expandi ng the area of the fi el ds. In 1950, Chi nese farm ers could produce onl y fifty mi l i on tons of ri ce. In a recent harvest, however, nearl y two hundred m il li on tons of rice was produced. These i ncreased harvests m ean that 22% of thwart worl d’s peopl e are fed from just 7% of the farm l and in Chi na. Dr Yuan i s now ci rcul ati ng hi s knowl edge i n Indi a, Vi etnam and m any other l ess devel oped countri es to i ncrease thei r ri ce harvests. Thanks to hi s research, farm ers are produci ng harvests twi ce as l arge as before. Dr Yuan is qui te sati sfi ed wi th hi s li fe. H owever, he doesn39。t care about bei ng fam ous. H e fel s it gi ves him l ess freedom to do hi s research. He woul d rather keep tim e for hi s hobbi es. H e enjoys li steni ng to voli n m usi c, pl ayi ng m ahjong, swim mi ng and readi ng. Spendi ng m oney on him sel f or l eadi ng a fortable l i fe al so m eans very l ittl e to him. Indeed, he bel i eves that a person wi th to m uch m oney has m ore rather than fewer troubl s. He therefore gi ves mi li ons of Yuan to equi p others for thei r research i n agri culture. Just dreami ng for thi ngs, however, costs nothi ng. Long ago Dr Yuan had a dream about ri ce pl ants as tal l as shum. Each ear of rice was as bi g as an ear of corn and each grai n of ri ce was as huge