【正文】 ven a special Oscar for his outstanding work in films. He lived in England and the USA but spend his last years in Switzerland, where he was buried in 1977. He is loved and remembered as a great actor who could inspire people with great confidence.AN APRIL FOOL’S JOKE: THE NOODLE HARVESTApril Fool’s day, or April 1st, is known in many countries as a day for playing jokes on others. It is usually a time when children make fun of each other, but sometimes other people can get caught in the fun too.One of the most famous jokes in England took place on British television in 1957. It was a Monday night when there were always many serious programmes on the television. One of them was called Panorama, this show explored problems and progress all over the world, so nobody was surprised when it began with a report on the excellent noodle harvest in the south Switzerland. The programme mentioned two reasons for the good crop: an unusually warm winter and the disappearance of the insect that attacked the noodle crop every year. The reporter showed many noodle trees with the farmers pulling noodles off them and putting them into baskets. The people watching were told that they may not have heard of noodles from this part of the world because noodles were grown as part of small family businesses.The programme makers makers realized that people might wonder why noodles were always the same size so that they explained that “it was the result of many years’ patient research with the tree to produce noodles of exactly the same length.” But even so they explained, the life of a noodle farmer was not easy. “The last two weeks of March are an anxious time for noodle farmers. There is always a chance of very cold weather spoiling their crop. Then it is difficult for them to get top prices on the markets.” Many people in England believed this story. They rang the BBC to find out hoe to grow their own noodle tree. They were told to “place a piece of noodle in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.” This may seem very silly, but in the 1950s very few British people travelled aboard for their holidays and even fewer of them ate noodles. So it seemed possible to imagine that noodles grew on tree like apples, pears and nuts. People also trusted the Panorama programme for its careful research and serious information. So they were shocked to find the next day that they had all believed an April Fool’s joke. Even today the report of the noodle harvest is remembered as one of the best April Fool’s jokes ever!Unit 4Communication: No Problem?Yesterday, another student and I, representing our university’s student association, went to the Capital International Airport to meet this year’s international students. They were ing to study at Beijing University. We should take them first to their dormitories and then to the student cantee. After an hour of waiting for their flight to arrive, I saw several young people enter the waiting area looking around curiously. I stood for a minute watching them and then went to greet them.The first person to arrive was Tony Garcia from Columbia, closely followed by Julia Smith from Britain. After I met them and then introduced them to each other, I was very surprised. Tony approached Julia, touched her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek! She stepped back appearing surprised and put up her hands, as if in defence. I guessed that there was probably a major misunderstanding. Then Akira Nagata from Japan came in smiling, together with George Cook from Canada. As they were introduced, George reached his hand out to the Japanese student. Just at that moment, however, Akira bowed so his nose touched George’s moving hand. helps crops grow strong and healthy. Organic farmers, therefore, often prefer using natural waste from animals as fertilizer. They feel that this makes the soil in their fields richer in minerals and so more fertile. This also keeps the air, soil, water and crops free from chemicals.Organic farmers also use many other methods to keep the soil fertile. They often change the knd of crop in each field every few years, for example, growing corn or wheat and then the next year peas or soybeans. Crops such as peas or soybeans put important minerals back into the soil, making it ready for crops such as wheat or corn that need rich and fertile soil. Organic farmers also plant crops to use different levels of soil, for example, planting peanuts that use the ground’s surface followed by vegetables that put down deep roots. Some organic farmers prefer planting grass between crops to prevent wind or water from carrying away the soil, and then leaving it in the ground to bee a natural fertilizer for the next year’s crop. These many different organic farming methods have the same goal: to grow good food and avoid damaging the environment or people’s health.An early farmer pioneerSome people thought Jia Sixie was a lucky man. He had worked for the emperor and when he got old, he was able to go his hometown to relax. Jia Sixie, however, had other plans. He had always been interested in agriculture and intended to do something to make Chinese farming even better.Jia Sixie lived in the six century AD. He was born in Yidu in Shandong province and worked in Gaoyang, which is also in Shangdong. As he rode through the countryside on his journeys for his work he looked out at the fields. Some of them were greener and had more crops than others. Some cows and sheep looked healthier than others too. He was lost in though. What could a farmer do to get good crops from his fields? Surely there must be rules that would help them. He thought he could use his knowledge to find out the best ways for farmers to grow crops and then write a book to help them. In doing so he collected information from farmers who did well, studied it and did experiments to find the best way.For example, he studied ways of keeping seeds and advised farmers to choose seedheads which h