【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 as a peanut. Dr Yuan awoke from hi s dream wi th the hope of producing a ki nd of ri ce that could feed m ore people. N ow, m any years l ater, Dr Yuan has another dream: to export hi s rice so that i t can be grown around the gl boe. O ne dream i s not al ways enough, especi al y for a person who loves and cares for hi s peopl e. Chemi cal or ani c farm ing? O ver the past hal f century, usi ng chem i cal ferti li zers has ve e very mon i n farm i ng. Many farm ers wel ed them as great way to stop crop di sease and i ncrease producti on. Recentl y, however, sci enti sts have been fi ndi ng that l ongterm use of these ferti li zers can cause dam age to the l and and, even m ore dangerous, to peopl e’s heal th. What are som e of the probl ems caused by chemi cal fertil i zers? Fi rst, they dam age the land by ki l i ng the helpful bacteri a and pests as wel l as the harmful ones. Chemi cal s al so stay i n the ground and underground water for a lonog tim e. Thi s affects crops and, therefore, ani mal s and hum ans, si nce chem i cal s get i nsi de the crops and cannot just be washed of. These chemi cal s i n the food suppl y buil d up in peopl e’s bodi es over tim e. Many of these chemi cal s can l ead to cancer or other i l nesses. In addi ti on, frui t, vegetabl es and other food grown wi th chem ical ferti li zers usual y grow too fast to be ful l of m uch nutri ti on. They m ay look beautiful, but i nsi de there i s usual ly m ore water than vi tam i ns and m i neral s. Wi th these di scoveri es, som e farmers and m any customers are begi nni ng to turn to ani c farm ing. Organi c farmi ng i s si mpl y farm ing wi thout usi ng any chemi cal s. They focus on keepi ng their soil ri ch and free of di sease. A heal thy soi l reduces di sease and hel ps crops grow strong and heal thy. O rgani c farm ers, therefore, often prefer usi ng natural waste from animal s as fertil i zer. They feel that thi s m akes the soi l i n thei r fi el ds ri cher i n m i neral s and so m ore fertil e. Thi s al so keeps the ai r, soi l, water and crops free from chemi cal s. O rgani c farm ers also use m any other m ethods to keep the soil ferti l e. They often change the knd of crop i n each fi el d every few years, for exam pl e, growi ng corn or wheat and then the next year peas or soybeans. Crops such as peas or soybeans put im portant mi neral s back i nto the soil , m aki ng it ready for crops such as wheat or corn that need ri ch and ferti le soi l. O rganic farm ers al so pl ant crops to use di ferent l evel s of soi l, for exam pl e, pl anti ng peanuts that use the ground’s surface fol owed by vegetabl es that put down dep roots. Som e ani c farm ers prefer pl anti ng grass between crops to prevent wi nd or water from carryi ng away the soil , and then l eavi ng it i n the ground to be e a natural fertil i zer for the next year’s crop. These m any di fferent anic farmi ng m ethods have the same goal: to grow good food and avoid damagi ng the envi ronm ent or peopl e’s heal th. An earl y farm er pi oneer Som e peopl e thought Jia Si xi e was a lucky m an. H e had worked for the em peror and when he got ol d, he was abl e to go hi s hom etown to rel ax. Ji a Si xi e, however, had other plans. H e had al ways been i nterested i n agri cul ture and i ntended to do som ethi ng to m ake Chinese farm i ng even better. Ji a Si xi e l ived i n the si x century AD. He was born i n Yi du i n Shandong province and worked in Gaoyang, whi ch is al so i n Shangdong. As he rode through the countrysi de on hi s journeys for hi s work he l oked out at the fi el ds. Som e of them were greener and had m ore crops than others. Som e cows and sheep l ooked heal thi er than others too. H e was l ost i n though. What coul d a farm er do to get good crops from hi s fi el ds? Surel y there m ust be rul es that woul d help them. H e thought he coul d use his knowl edge to fi nd out the best ways for farm ers to grow crops and then wri te a book to hel p them. In doi ng so he col ected i nformati on from farmers who di d wel l, studi ed it and di d experim ents to find the best way. For exam pl e, he studied ways of keepi ng seeds and advi sed farm ers to choose seedheads whi ch had the best col or. Then he tol d them to hang them to dry al l wi nter. The next spri ng the seeds shoul d be knocked out of thei r seedheads and pl anted. H e studi ed how to im prove the soil . H e advi sed farm ers to cl ear weeds from the ground before pl anti ng crops. They coul d ei ther l et the anim als eat the weeds or turn 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