【正文】 that if we ask for too much we may get no salary at all。 and then what39。ll happen to us, with no way in the world to earn a living?(At the brothers39。 home, the servant lets them in. The two brothers are seated, waiting.)HENRY: Good morning, gentlemen. ( Roderick seems very surprised to see Portia ) Portia, these are the men who helped me.PORTIA: So very nice to meet you, kind sirs. (She gives Oliver a wink with one eye.)HENRY:Gentlemen, I39。m ready to report.RODERICK:Er ... Portia, I ...OLIVER: We39。re both glad to hear it, for now we can decide the bet which Roderick and I made. If you39。ve won for me, you shall have any job as my gift. Have you got themillion pound bank note?HENRY: Here it is, sir.OLIVER: I39。ve won! Now what do you say, Roderick?RODERICK: I say that I39。ve lost twenty thousand pounds. I never would have believed it. Why,that is amazing, man!HENRY: Come, let39。s be going now, Portia.OLIVER: But wait, wait! The job, you know. I must give you a job, as I promised.HENRY: Well, thank you very much, but I really don39。t want one now.PORTIA: Henry, I39。m disappointed (失望的) in you. You didn39。t thank the gentlemen properly.May I do it for you?HENRY:Let me see you try.(Portia walks over to Roderick and gives him a hug. Then she sits in Oliver39。s lap, puts her armsaround his neck and kisses him on the cheek. Oliver begins laughing.)PORTIA: Papa, he says he doesn39。t want anything else from you.HENRY: (shocked) My dear, is that your papa?!PORTIA: He39。s my stepfather, and the dearest one thatever was.HENRY: Oh, my dearest dear sir, I regret what I said.You have got a job open that I want.OLIVER: Name it.HENRY: Soninlaw.OLIVER: Well, well, well! But you39。ve never had sucha job before. How can I be sure you can do itsuccessfully?HENRY: Try me ... oh, do, I beg of you! Give me 30 or 40 years, and ...OLIVER: Oh, well, all right.NARRATOR: Are Portia and Henry happy? There are not enough words in the biggest dictionary to describe it. Did the people of London have a good time with this bit of news? Yes. Portia39。s stepfather took that bank note. back to the Bank of England and cashed it. The bank note was then useless for money but was his wedding gift to the young couple. Yes, the bank note was worth millions of dollars, but not worth one tenth as much as how Henry felt about Portia.Unit 4 Astronomy: the science of the starsHOW LIFE BEGAN ON THE EARTH No one knows exactly how the earth began, as it happened so long ago. However, according to awidely acceptedtheory, the universe began with a Big Bang that threw matter in all directions. After that,atomsbegan to form and bine to create starsand other bodies. For severalbillionyears after the Big Bang, the earthwas still just a cloud of dust. What it was to bee wasuncertain until between and billion years ago when the dust settled into a solidglobe. The earth became soviolentthat it was not clear whether the shape would lastor not. It exploded loudly with fire and rock. They werein timeto producecarbon, nitrogen, water vapour and othergases, which were to make the earth39。satmosphere. What is even more importantis that as the earth cooled down, water began to appear on its surface.Water had also appeared on otherplanets like Mars but,unlikethe earth,it had disappeared later. It was notimmediately obvious that water was tobefundamentalto the development oflife. What many scientists believe is thatthe continued presence of waterallowed the earth to dissolveharmfulgases andacidsinto the oceans andseas. This produced achainreaction,which made it possible for life to develop. Many millions of years later, thefirst extremely small plants began toappear on the surface of the water. Theymultipliedand filled the oceans andseas withoxygen, which encouragedthe later development of earlyshellfish and all sorts of fish. Next, greenplants began to grow on land. They werefollowed in time by land animals. Somewere insects. Others, called amphibians,were able to live on land as well as inthe water. Later when the plants grew into forests, reptiles appeared for the first time. Theyproduced young generally bylaying eggs. After that, some huge animals, called dinosaurs,developed. They laid eggs too andexistedon the earth for more than 140 million years. However, 65 million years ago the age of the dinosaurs ended. Why they suddenly disappeared still remainsa mystery. This disappearance made possible the rise of mammals on the earth. These animalswere different from all life forms in the past, because theygave birth to young baby animals andproduced milk to feed them.Finally about million years ago some small clever animals, now with hands and feet,appeared and spread all over the earth.Thusthey have,in their turn, bee the most importantanimals on the planet. But they are not looking after the earth very well. They are putting toomuch carbondioxideinto the atmosphere, whichpreventsheat fromescaping from the earthinto space. As a result of this, many scientists believe the earth may bee too hot to live on.So whether life will continue on the earth for millions of years to e will depend on whetherthis problem can be solved.A VISIT TO THE MOON Last month I was lucky enough to have a chance to make a trip into space with my friend LiYanping, an astronomer. We visited the moon in ourspaceship! Before we left, Li Yanping explained to me that the force of gravity would change threetimes on our journey and that the first change would be th