【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 a li st of i tem s for her. Cl aire went into the ci ty and bought curtai ns, cushi ons, a carpet and beddi ng. Then she went i nto a jewel ry shop to buy a neckl ace. When the cl erk at the counter was rude to her, she rang Tony up and tol d the cl erk to speak to him . The cl erk imm ediatel y changed hi s atti tude. Cl aire thanked Tony, tel li ng him that he was a “dear”. As she turned around, there stood Gl adys Cl affern. H ow awful to be di scovered by her, Clai re thought. By the am used and surprised l ook on her face, Cl ai re knew that Gl adys thought she was havi ng an affai r. After al l, she knew Cl ai re’s husband’s nam e was Lary, not Tony. When Cl aire got hom e, she wept wi th anger i n her arm chai r. Gl adys was everythi ng Clai re wanted to be. “You can be li ke her,” Tony tol d her and suggested that she i nvi te Gl adys and her fri ends to the house the ni ght before he was to l eave and Larry was to return. By that tim e, Tony expected the house to be pl etel y transform ed. Tony worked steadi l y on the im provem ents. Cl ai re tri ed to hel p once but was too cl um sy. She fel l off a l adder and even though Tony was i n the next room, he m anaged to catch her i n tim e. H e hel d her fi rm l y i n hi s arms and she fel t the warm th of hi s body. She scream ed, pushed hi m away and ran to her room for the rest for the day. The ni ght of the party arri ved. The cl ock struck ei ght. The guests woul d be arri vi ng soon and Cl aire tol d Tony to go into another room. At that mom ent, Tony fol ded hi s arm s around her, bending hi s face cl ose to hers. She cri ed out “Tony” and then heard him decl are that he didn’t want to l eave her the next day and that he fel t m ore than just the desi re to pl ease her. Then the front door bel l rang. Tony freed her and disappeared from sight. It was then that Cl ai re reali zed that Tony had opened the curtai ns of the front wi ndow. H er guests had seen everythi ng! The wom en were i m pressed by Cl ai re, the house and the deli ci ous cui si ne. Just before they l eft, Cl ai re heard Gl adys whi speri ng to another wom an that she had never seen anyone so handsom e as Tony. What a sweet vi ctory to be envi ed by those wom en! She m i ght not be as beauti ful as them, but none of them had such a handsom e lover. Then she rem em bered—Tony was just a m achi ne. She shouted “Leave m e al one” and ran to her bed. She cri ed al l ni ght. The next m orni ng a car drove up and took Tony away. The pany was very pl eased wi th Tony’s report on hi s three weeks wi th Cl ai re. Tony had protected a hum an bei ng from harm. H e had prevented Clai re from harm i ng hersel f through her own sense of fail ure. H e had opened the curtai ns that night so that the other wom en woul d see him and Cl ai re, knowi ng that there was no ri sk to Cl ai re’s m arriage. But even though Toby had been so cl ever, he woul d have to be rebuil t—you cannot have wom en fal i ng i n l ove wi th m achines. A BIOGRAPH Y OF ISAAC ASIMOV Isaac Asim ov was an Am eri can sci entist and wri ter who wrote around 480 books that i ncluded m ystery stori es, sci ence and hi story books, and even books about the H ol ly Bi bl e and Shakespeare. But he i s best known for hi s science fi cti on stori es. Asim ov had both an extraordinary im agi nati on that gave him the abi li ty to explore future worl ds and an am azi ng mi nd wi th whi ch he searched for explanati ons of everythi ng, i n the present and the past. Asi m ov’s l i fe began in Rusi a, where he was born on 2 January, 1920. It ended i n N ew York on 6April , 1992, when he di ed as a resul t of an H IV i nfection that he had got from a bl ood transfusi on ni ne years earl i er. When Asim ov was three, he moved wi th hi s parents and hi s oneyearol d si ster to N ew York Ci ty. There his parents bought a candy store which they ran for the next 40 or so years. At the age of ni ne, when hi s m other was pregnant wi th her thi rd chil d, Asi m ov started working parttim e i n the store. H e hel ped out through hi s school and uni versi ty years until 1942, a year after he had gai ned a master’s degree i n chem istry. In 1942 he joi ned the staff of the Phi l adel phi a N avy Yard as a junior chemi st and worked there for three years. In 1948 he got hi s PhD i n chem i stry. The next year he becam e a bi ochemi stry teacher a Boston Uni versi ty School of Medi ci ne. In 1958 he gave up teachi ng to be e a ful lti m e writer. It was when Asi mov was el even years ol d that hi s tal ent for wri ti ng becam e obvi ous. H e had tol d a fri end two chapters of a story he had written. The fri end thought he was retel i ng a story from a book. This real y surpri sed Asim ov and from that m om ent, he started to take him self seri ousl y as a wri ter. Asim ov began havi ng stori es publi shed i n science fi cti on magazines i n 1939. In 1950 he publ i shed hi s fi rst novel and i n 1953 hi s first science book. Throughout hi s li fe, Asi m ov recei ved m any awards, both for hi s sci ence fi cti on books and his sci ence books. Am ong hi s m ost fam ous works of sci ence fi cti on, one for whi ch he won an award was the Foundati on tril ogy (19511953), three novel s about the death and rebi rth of a great empi re in a gal axy of the future. It was l oosel y based on the fal of the Rom an Em pi re but was about the future. These boks are fam ous because Asim ov i nvented a theoreti cal fram ework whi ch was desi gned to show how i deas and thi nki ng m ay devel op i n the future. He i s al so wel known for hi s col ecti on of short stori es, I, Robot (1950), i n whi ch he developed a set of three “l(fā) aws” for robots. For exam pl e, the fi rst l aw states that a robot must not i njure hum an bei ngs or al ow them to be i njured. Som e of his i deas about robots l ater infl uenced other wri ters and even sci enti sts researchi ng i nt