【正文】 es for thei r di ner. Charl i e fi rst picks out the l aces and eats them as i f they were spaghetti . Then he cuts off the l eather top of the shoes as i f i t were the fi nest steak. Fi nal y he tri es cutti ng and chewi ng the bottom of the shoe. He 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! Charl i e Chapl i n wrote, di rected and produced the fil m s the starred i n. In 1972 he was given a speci al O scar for hi s outstandi ng work i n film s. H e l ived i n Engl and and the USA but spend hi s l ast years i n Swi tzerl and, where he was buri ed i n 1977. H e i s loved and rem em bered as a great actor who could i nspire 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 y a ti m e when chil dren make fun of each other, but som etim es other peopl e can get caught i n the fun too. O ne of the m ost famous 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 programm es on the tel evi si on. O ne of them was cal ed Panoram a, thi s show expl ored probl em s and progres al l over the worl d, so nobody was surpri sed when i t began wi th a report on the excel ent noodl e harvest i n the south Swi tzerland. The programm e m enti oned two reasons for the good crop: an unusual l y warm wi nter and the di sapearance of the i nsect that attacked the noodl e crop every year. The reporter showed m any noodl e trees wi th the farm ers pul i ng noodl es off them and puti ng them i nto baskets. The peopl e watchi ng were tol d that they m ay not have heard of noodl es from thi s part of the worl d because noodl es were grown as part of sm al l fam il y busi nesses. The programm e makers m akers real i zed that peopl e mi ght wonder why noodl es were al ways the same size so that they expl ained that “it was the resul t of many years’ patient research with the tree to produce nodl es of exactl y the same l ength. ” But even so they expl ained, the life of a noodl e farmer was not easy. “The last two weeks of March are an anxi ous ti m e for noodl e farm ers. There i s al ways a chance of very col d weather spoil i ng their crop. Then it is difficul t for them to get top prices on the markets.” Many peopl e i n Engl and bel i eved thi s story. They rang the BBC to find out hoe to grow their own noodle tree. They were tol d to “place a piece of nodl e in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best. ” This may seem very sil y, but in the 1950s very few British peopl e travel ed aboard for their holidays and even fewer of them ate noodl es. So i t seem ed possi bl e to im agi ne that noodles grew on tree li ke appl es, pears and nuts. Peopl e al so trusted the Panoram a programm e for i ts careful research and seri ous i nformati on. So they were shocked to fi nd the next day that they had al bel ieved an April Fool’s joke. Even today the report of the nodl e harvest is remembered as one of the best April Fool’s jokes ever! Unit 4 Com municati on: 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 Bei ji ng Uni versity. We shoul d take them fi rst to thei r dormi tori es and then to the student cantee. After an hour of wai ti ng for their fl i ght to arri ve, I saw several young peopl e enter the waiti ng area l ooking around curi ousl y. I stood for a mi nute watchi ng them and then went to greet them . The fi rst person to arri ve was Tony Garci a from Col um bi a, cl osel y fol l owed by Juli a Sm ith from Britain. After I m et them and then i ntroduced them to each other, I was very surprised. Tony approached Jul i a, touched her shoul der and ki ssed her on the cheek! She stepped back appeari ng surprised and put up her hands, as i f i n defence. I guessed that there was probabl y a m ajor mi sunderstandi ng. Then Aki ra N agata from Japan came i n smi li ng, together wi th Gee Cook from Canada. As they were i ntroduced, Gee reached hi s hand out to the Japanese student. Just at that m om ent, however, Akira bowed so his nose touched Gee’s moving hand. hel ps crops grow strong and heal thy. O rgani c farm ers, therefore, often prefer usi ng natural waste from anim al s as ferti li zer. They feel that thi s makes the soil 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 air, soi l, water and crops free from chemi cals. Organic farm ers al so use many other m ethods to kep the soi l fertil 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 i mportant m inerals back i nto the soil , making i t ready for crops such as wheat or corn that need ri ch and fertil e soil. O rgani c farm ers also pl ant crops to use different levels 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 deep roots. Som e ani c farm ers prefer pl anti ng grass between crops to prevent wi nd or water from carrying away the soi l, and then l eavi ng i t i n the ground to be e a natural fertil i zer for the next year’s crop. These m any different ani c farmi ng m ethods have the sam e goal : to grow god fod and avoi d dam agi ng the envi ronm ent or people’s heal th. An earl y farm er pi oneer Som e peopl e thought Ji a Si xi e was a l ucky 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. Jia Si xi e, however, had other pl ans. He had al ways been i nterested i n agri culture and i ntended to do so