【正文】 person with to m uch m oney has m ore rather than fewer troubls. H e therefore gives mi l i ons of Yuan to equi p others for their research i n agri cul ture. Just dream i ng for thi ngs, however, costs nothi ng. Long ago Dr Yuan had a dream about ri ce pl ants as tal as shum. Each ear of ri ce was as bi g as an ear of corn and each grain of ri ce was as huge as a peanut. Dr Yuan awoke from hi s dream wi th the hope of produci ng a ki nd of ri ce that coul d feed m ore peopl e. N ow, m any years later, Dr Yuan has another dream: to export hi s ri ce so that it can be grown around the gl boe. One dream is not al ways enough, especial y for a person who loves and cares for hi s peopl e. Chemi cal or ani c farm ing? O ver the past half 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 fertil i 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 em s caused by chemi cal ferti li zers? First, they dam age the l and by kil i ng the helpful bacteri a and pests as wel as the harmful ones. Chemi cal s al so stay i n the ground and underground water for a l onog tim e. Thi s affects crops and, therefore, ani mal s and hum ans, si nce chem i cal s get insi de the crops and cannot just be washed off. These chem i cal s i n the food suppl y buil d up i n peopl e’s bodi es over tim e. Many of these chem i cal s can l ead to cancer or other i l neses. In additi on, frui t, vegetabl es and other fod grown with chemi cal fertil izers usual l y grow too fast to be ful of m uch nutri ti on. They m ay l ook beauti ful , but i nsi de there is usual y m ore water than vi tami ns and mi neral s. Wi th these discoveri es, som e farm ers and many custom ers are begi nni ng to turn to ani c farmi ng. O rgani c farm i ng i s sim pl y farmi ng wi thout usi ng any chem i cal s. They focus on keepi ng thei r soil ri ch and free of di sease. A heal thy soi l reduces di sease and hel ps crops grow strong and healthy. O rgani c farm ers, therefore, often prefer usi ng natural waste from anim al s as fertil izer. They feel that thi s m akes 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 ai r, soi l, water and crops free from chemi cal s. Organi c farmers al so use m any other methods to keep the soil fertil e. They often change the knd of crop i n each fi el d every few years, for exampl e, growi ng corn or wheat and then the next year peas or soybeans. Crops such as peas or soybeans put im portant m i neral s back i nto the soil , maki ng it ready for crops such as wheat or corn that need ri ch and ferti l e soi l. O rgani c farm ers al so pl ant crops to use di fferent l evel s of soil , 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 anic 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 i t in the ground to be e a natural ferti li zer for the next year’s crop. These m any di fferent ani c farmi ng methods have the same goal : to grow good food and avoi d dam aging the envi ronm ent or peopl e’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 hometown to rel ax. Ji a Si xi e, however, had other pl ans. 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 li ved i n the si x century AD. He was born i n Yi du i n Shandong provi nce and worked i n 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 ooked 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 in 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 hel p them. H e thought he coul d use hi s knowl edge to fi nd out the best ways for farm ers to grow crops and then wri te a bok to hel p them. In doi ng so he col ected i nformati on from farm ers who di d wel , studi ed i t and di d experi ments to fi nd the best way. For exam pl e, he studi ed ways of keeping seeds and advi sed farm ers to choose sedheads whi ch had the best color. Then he tol d them to hang them to dry al winter. The next spri ng the seeds shoul d be knocked out of thei r seedheads and planted. H e studi ed how to im prove the soi l. H e advised farm ers to cl ear weeds from the ground before pl anti ng crops. They coul d ei ther l et the ani m al s eat the weeds or turn the soi l over so that the weeds were covered and woul d rot. Then he gave advice on Turi ng over the soil . 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 dep. Therefore the autum n pl oughing of the soi l shoul d be deeper thant the spri ng pl oughing. H e suggested changi ng crops in 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 ferent plants next to each other i n the fi el d. H e 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 l ed Qi Mi n Yao Shu, whi ch was consi dered an im portant summ ary of the knowl edge of farmi ng. For centuries after Ji a Si xi e di ed, it was studi ed by Chi nese farm ers and students of agri cul ture. Unit 3 A MASTER O F NO N 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 ben abl e t