Passage G1f

 17

PICK, SHOVEL AND SPEAR

In England there are two places very near each other called "Brancepeth" and "Brandon".

What do you think these names mean?

Brancepeth means "the bear's path" and Bran-don means "the bear's den".

Here is the story of how these two places got their names. Long, long ago a bear had his den in the place now called Brandon. There was a forest in that place.

The bear killed many people, and nobody dared to go near "the bear's path".

One day a brave man, Hodge by name, set out to kill the great bear.

He took with him only a pick, a shovel and a spear. The people did not know what he could do with a pick and a shovel.

Hodge went to the wood. With his pick and shovel he dug a pit in the bear's path.

He then covered the pit with turf and nobody could see that there was a pit there.

Then Hodge took his spear and hid himself behind a tree.

At last the bear came out of his den. He walked to the pit and fell into it. Hodge ran up to the pit, and killed the bear with the spear.

In an old churchyard, near that place, there is a stone in memory of Hodge, the brave man who killed the bear. On the stone there are pictures of a pick, a shovel and a spear.

18

BRUCE AND THE SPIDER

There was once a king of Scotland whose name was Robert Bruce.

The King of England was at war with him and led a great army into Scotland to conquer the land and the people.

Bruce fought the enemy most bravely. Six times he led his brave little army against his enemy; and six times his men were beaten. At last he was forced to hide himself in the mountains.

One day, feeling tired and sick at heart, he lay on the ground under a farmhouse. He was ready to give up all hope for it seemed to him that it was no use fighting any longer.

As he lay thinking, he saw a spider over his head, getting ready to weave her web. He watched her as she worked slowly and with great care. Six times she tried to throw her thread from one beam to another, and six times she failed.

"Poor thing!" said Bruce. "You, too know what it is to fail."

But the spider did not lose hope. With still more care, she made ready to try for the seventh time. Bruce almost forgot his own troubles as he watched her struggling with the thin thread. Would she fail again? No! The thread was carried safely to the beam.

"I, too, will try a seventh time!" cried Bruce.

Inspired by the spirit of the spider, Bruce called his men together and made careful plans. Soon another battle was fought. This time the king of England was beaten and driven out of Scotland.

Revision 4

MERRY CHRISTMAS

It was one of the last days before Christmas, and the assistants in the large store had their hands full serving eager Christmas shoppers.

At one counter an old lady was choosing gloves—red ones for her daughter-in-law, light-blue ones for her niece, pink ones for her granddaughter, green ones for her sister—and by the time she had found what she wanted the counter was covered with pairs of all colours and sizes.

When the salesgirl had finally written out the bill and was about to turn to the next customer with a tired "Thank you very much, madam," the old lady suddenly cried out, "Oh, I almost forgot..."—"Anything else, madam? "said the girl. "Yes," began the old lady, "I'd like to buy another pair, but I'm not quite sure about what exactly I should choose. I wonder if you could help me.” “Certainly, madam,” was the girl's reply. The old lady then went on to explain that what she was looking for was a pair of gloves for a girl of her age. She was not at all sure what colour to choose, and the design was a problem, too.

The tired salesgirl did her best to help the old lady make up her mind, showing her all kinds of gloves.

At last the chosen pair of gloves were wrapped up and paid for as well, and as the girl was about to turn to the next customer, the old lady handed her the little parcel and said, “These now, dear, these are for you—and thank you for being so patient. I do hope you have a merry Christmas!”

Passage G1e

 14

GOOD“NEIGHBORS”

There is a family of ants that lives below a tree in front of our house, but I don't know when they got there.

They work hard all day long repairing and cleaning their nest and looking for food. There's not a lazy one among them. They are very friendly toward one another and greet each other with their feelers when they meet. I like them very much and go to see them every day.

One day I went to see the ants just before a big rain. They were busy carrying earth in their mouths to stop up the entrance of the nest. Just then the rain came pouring down. I ran back into the house. As I watched from the window I thought, "What a pity, the ants will surely be drowned."

As soon as the rain stopped I went out to see the ants. They were alive and as happy as ever. The mud at the entrance to the nest had kept the rain out and they were already busy moving it away.

It was late. The people who had been outside enjoying the cool air had already gone home. I thought that the ants would be tired from their day-long work and would go to bed too. But when I shined my flashlight on their nest, they were still working silently. What good, hard-working neighbors they are!

15

DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION

A TV reporter wanted to find out what people thought of a new film, so she decided to interview people as they came out of the theatre. She asked one woman what she thought of the film. “It was excellent,” the woman replied. “I thought it was the best film I've seen in years.”

Then she stopped a young man and asked him the same question. “It was dynamite” he said. He was surprised to see the reporter dive to the ground and cover her ears. He bent down to ask her what the trouble was.

“Where is it?” she whispered.

“Where's what?” he asked.

“The dynamite!” she shouted. “Where's the dynamite?”

This reporter had a problem. She understood what the word "dynamite" meant, but she didn't understand what the young man meant. In other words, she understood the denotation, but not the connotation, of the word.

16

ABOUT THE CONTINENTS

A: There are seven continents in the world. But I only remember five. Could you tell me the other two?

B: What are the five you know?

A: Asia, Europe, Africa, North America and South America.

B: The sixth is Oceania, the smallest of all the continents. It's mainly made up of Australia and New Zealand.

A: I know Australia and New Zealand, but I didn't know they're of the same continent. What's the other continent?

B: Antarctica, an ice-covered continent.

A: Oh, I forgot I've learned about it somewhere.Which is the largest of the seven continents?

B: Asia.It has an area of about 43 million square kilometres,covering thirty percent of the world's land.

A: Which continent comes next?

B: Africa,with an area of over 30 million square kilometres, about one-fifth of the land of the world.

A: Is Europe very large?

B: No,Europe is only larger than Oceania in area,with a little over 10 million square kilometres,occupying one fourteenth of the land of the world.

A: Why is Latin America so called?

B: Because most of the people there speak Spanish, Portuguese or French. Those languages belong to the Latin family.

Passage G1d

 11

Shop Assistant: Good afternoon, what can I do for you?

Abraham: Could you do me a favour, please, and change this note for me?

Shop Assistant: Well, I don't know ...

Abraham: I've got to phone someone, and I need some small change.

Shop Assistant: Hm, and I thought you wanted to buy something in my shop.

Abraham: Sorry, but I don't need anything except some change.

Shop Assistant: All right, I' ll see what I can do for you.

Abraham: That's very kind of you.

Shop Assistant: Well, let's see. Oh, oh, I'm rather short of change myself. But there's a bank across the road.

Abraham: Well, thanks, anyway. I'll go to the bank.

Shop Assistant: Bye-bye ... and come back sometime.

Abraham: Yes, I certainly will. Bye-bye.

12

NOISE

Mr and Mrs Kay have gone to live in the country after living for twenty years in a noisy London suburb. They are talking about the move after breakfast on Saturday morning.

Mr Kay: I think I was very lucky to get that job. Now we are able to live in a little village.

Mrs Kay: Ah, but it won't be a little village forever. This is a developing area. There'll be a lot more people here in about five years' time.

Mr Kay: Yes, but there won't be any factories. Just two or three office buildings, and they'll be hidden behind that woodland over there.

Mrs Kay: How did you sleep last night, by the way?

Mr Kay: Like a log! Never slept better. I'd forgotten how refreshing the country air could be. And it was so quiet!

Mrs Kay: I didn't sleep too well, actually. I couldn't get used to the silence. The only noise I heard last night was an owl screeching at about two o'clock in the morning.

Mr Kay: Well, the silence was perfect for me.

13

MAKING A BOAT

One day Crusoe decided to go to the lifeboat. He wanted to try to float it, so that he could leave the island. But the boat was too heavy to move. So he left it lying in the sand.

But he did not give up hope. He thought, "I will make a boat."

He searched and found a tree with a thick trunk. He set to work chopping it down.

Crusoe worked on the boat for many weeks and at last the boat was finished. He was very proud of it.

His next work was to roll the boat down to sea. But it would not move. It was too heavy for him.

Then he thought to himself, “If my boat will not go to the sea, I will have to bring the sea to my boat.”

So he began to dig a channel down to the sea. But it was much too far and he could not dig the channel deep enough.

He realized that he had made his boat much too large and too heavy. All his work was wasted. He felt unhappy.

But he still wanted to get away from the island. He decided to make another boat, this time a smaller one.

He chose a tree nearer to the sea, and chopped it down. Then he set to work for the second time. After many weeks the boat was finished and ready to go into the water.

He dug a short channel six feet wide and four feet deep, from the sea to his boat. When the tide came in he floated it down his channel.

Passage G1c

 9

THE STORY OF SILK

The story of silk is a fascinating one.

About 4,000 years ago the Chinese discovered the secret of the cocoon. No one knows exactly how or when this important discovery was made. One story says that a young princess was drinking tea in her garden and watching the silkworms form cocoons. By chance one dropped into her tea and the hot liquid softened it. When the girl tried to take the cocoon out of her tea, she pulled out a long silk thread.

The Chinese learned to weave the silk thread into cloth. For 2,000 years they were the only people who knew how to make silk. Chinese merchants sold silk throughout Asia and Europe and became rich.

Everyone wanted to learn how to make silk, but the Chinese kept the secret carefully.

Finally the secret was stolen in the sixth century. It is said that two monks learned about the silkworms and their cocoons. They spent several years in China and finally found a way to take some silkworm eggs out of the country without anyone finding out. The monks always carried canes. One day they hid some eggs in the canes, and left China with them. It is said that the development of the silk industry in other countries came from those few eggs which the monks carried out of China.

CAREFUL AND CARELESS

Careful and careless are as different as fire and water. But strangely enough, many scientists have both these qualities, that is, they are both careful and careless. Newton, the well-known English scientist, is such a person.

Once Newton invited a friend to a dinner at home. When they were ready to eat, Newton left to get a bottle of wine. But after his friend had waited for a long time, Newton still didn't come back. Finally his friend found Newton in his lab. The reason was that when Newton was going to get the bottle of wine, he suddenly had a new idea for the experiment he was doing, so he completely forgot his friend and the dinner. There was another time when Newton was leading a horse up a mountain, holding the rein in his hand. While he was walking, he kept thinking of problems he had met in his studies. When he got to the top of the mountain, he found that the rein was not in his hand and that the horse was gone.

Among scientists, there are many people like Newton. Einstein was one. Once he was waiting for a friend at a bridge. While waiting, he became lost in thought. It started to rain. The rain kept on for some time. When Einstein took out a piece of paper from his pocket to write something down, the paper was wet and then he realized that it was raining. His clothes had become soaked in the rain. But after he put the paper into his pocket, he again forgot he was standing in the rain.

Many scientists are careless about how they live. This is because they are too careful in their studies.

10

LU BAN'S BET

One day while Lu Ban and his younger sister were visiting West Lake in Hangzhou, they were caught in a sudden heavy rain and had to turn back. "What a pity!" thought Sister Lu.

When they reached home, she said to her brother: "You're the best craftsman around here, but I'll make a bet with you. Let's see who can invent something that will let people enjoy the scenery even in the rain."

Lu Ban laughed. "All right," he said, "but there must be a time limit. Three days?"

"No, just one night. We start tonight and stop at the first cock's crow."

Lu Ban was surprised. "All right, it's a bet."

When it turned dark, Lu Ban started building a pavilion at the lakeside. Under the pavilion, people would be able to enjoy the scenery, even in wet weather. When he finished, he went home and looked through the window of his sister's workshop. All was quiet inside.

Lu Ban went back and built another pavilion, then another, and still another. He built nine and started working on the tenth, but before he could finish, he heard a cock crowing, so he stopped.

Soon the sun rose. As he stood by one of the pavilions wondering what his sister had done, Lu Ban saw something coming towards him, something like the roof of a pavilion. Under it was his sister!

As she came nearer, Lu Ban saw that she was holding a bamboo pole which had something round and flat at one end and was covered with silk of many colors.

“What a useful thing! How clever” he cried out, examining his sister's invention.

Sister Lu smiled. “Mine can only be used by a single person, while yours can be used by many at the same time. What's more, it was your design that gave me the idea. The scenery looks so much nicer with your pavilions.”

Some people say that was the beginning of the Hangzhou umbrella.

Passage G1b

 ONE OF THE BIGGEST POST OFFICES IN THE WORLD

Charlie, a boy of fifteen, once stayed with his friend Mike, who lives in New York. Mike's father, Mr White, is a postman.

One day Mr White took the boys to one of the biggest post offices in the world. They first went to a very large room which looked like a shop. There were all kinds of things in it: books, clothes, radios, bicycles and many parcels.

“All the parcels with the wrong addresses come to this room,” said Mr White.“People who lose their mail come or write to this office. Sometimes they find their mail. Parcels stay here for two or three months. Then the post office sells them.”

Then they went to the sorting room.

“Look at that big red machine, Charlie,” said Mike. “Do you know what it's for?”

There were men who were putting cans into the machine. The cans went down into a tube.

“What's in those cans?” asked Charlie.

“Letters that go to other parts of New York,” answered Mr White. “Those tubes all go under the ground. The cans with letters go through the tubes to all parts of New York.”

“This is really interesting,” said Charlie. “I didn't know letters went under the ground.”

They then entered a big hall where Charlie bought some stamps. When they came out, Mr White showed them the trucks which were taking mailbags to the trains, planes and boats and bringing in other mail from the planes, trains and boats.

Mail was going in and coming out of the post office all the time.

6

GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HIS HATCHET

When George Washington was quite a little boy, his father gave him a hatchet. It was bright and new, and George took great delight in going about and chopping things with it.

He ran into the garden, and there he saw a tree which seemed to say to him, "Come and cut me down!"

George had often seen his father's men chop down great trees in the forest, and he thought that it would be fine sport to see this tree fall with a crash to the ground. So he set to work with his little hatchet, and, as the tree was a very small one, it did not take long to chop it down.

Soon after that, his father came home.

"Who cut my fine young cherry tree?" he cried. "It was the only tree of its kind in the country, and it cost me a great deal of money."

He was very angry when he came into the house.

“If I only knew who killed that cherry tree,” he cried, “I would ... yes, I would ...”

“Father！” cried little George. “I chopped the tree down with my hatchet.”

His father forgot his anger.

“George,” he said, and he took the little boy in his arms, “George, I am glad that you told me about it. I would rather lose a dozen cherry trees than that you should tell one lie.”

7

THE KING'S DISEASE

Part I

Many years ago there was a king who was very bad-tempered. Every one was afraid of him. The king was bad-tempered because he was often ill. He was often ill because he ate and drank too much.

“I'm always ill,” the king told his doctor. “Why can't you cure me?”

The doctor did not dare to tell the king the reason. He knew this would make the king very angry. “I've given you the best medicine. Your Majesty,” he said. “I've done my best.”

“Your medicine makes me worse,” the king said. “You must cure me before the end of the month or I shall put you in prison. You are trying to poison me.”

“Perhaps your food is making you ill,” the doctor said. What the doctor really wanted to say was: “You eat too much.”

“Nonsense, ”the king shouted. “My cook is the best cook in the world. It is all because you're a fool that I'm often ill. You do not know how to cure me. I pay you to make me well, but what happens? I have a stomachache and a headache every day. Now go and study your books. Find a cure for my disease or ...”

“Yes, yes, Your Majesty,” the doctor said and went to his room. He made a lot of medicine but none of it could cure the king.

At last there were only three days before the end of the month. The doctor went into the forest, where he wanted to see a wise old monk and ask him for advice.

(To be continued)

8

THE KING'S DISEASE

Part 2

The wise old monk listened carefully to the doctor's story. Then he said, “I understand your problem, doctor. You cannot tell the king the truth. He will throw you into prison if you do. You must let the king find out for himself why he is always ill.”

“How can I do that?” the doctor said.

“I have a plan,” the old monk said. “Can you get me an invitation to breakfast at the palace?”

“Yes, I can do that easily,” the doctor answered.

The next morning the monk arrived at the palace. He looked very fat because he had cushions under his robe. And he seemed to enjoy the food very much.

“I like a man who can eat a lot,” the king said.

A few minutes after the meal the monk suddenly fell to the floor.

“Oh, oh” he cried. “My stomach! My head! Oh! Oh”

“Do you have a stomachache and a headache, too?” the king asked.

“Always, Your Majesty,” the old monk said, and he walked painfully out of the room.

On the last day of the month the old monk came to the palace again. He looked thin and healthy.

“You look well,” the king said. “Come and eat with me.”

“No, thank you,” the old monk said. “I eat only one meal a day. I saw your doctor. He is a very clever man and he told me that I ate and drank too much. He was right. Now I do not eat as much as before and I am healthy. I no longer have pains in my stomach or head.”

“That is very interesting,” the king said, “I'll eat and drink less, too. Perhaps it will cure me.”

And of course, it did.

Passage G1a

 1

Once Lu Xun spoke to the youth about the study of foreign languages. He said:

"You must not give up studying foreign languages for even a day. To master a language, words and grammatical rules are not enough. You must do a lot of reading. Take a book and force yourself to read it. At the same time, consult dictionaries and memorize grammatical rules. After reading a book, it is only natural that you won't understand it all. Never mind. Put it aside and start another one. In a few months or half a year, go over the first book once again; you are sure to understand much more than before ... Young people have good memories. If you memorize a few words every day and keep on reading all the time, in four or five years, you will certainly be able to read works in the foreign language."

2

A VISIT TO THE LIBRARY IN THE FUTURE

The shopping is finished. Charlie's parents tell him they have to go out for a little while. "Why don't you visit the library while we're out?" says Charlie's dad. "I know they have some new books on basket-ball, your favourite game."

Charlie goes to one of the visionphones. He places a call to the library. He asks to see one of the new books on basket-ball.

*Basket-ball Giant,* the name of the book, is flashed on the screen. "Turn," says Charlie. The first page of the book is shown on the screen. Then the second, and the third. Charlie has read about thirty pages of it. Then he hears his mother's voice coming through a speaker on the wall. Charlie turns off the visionphone. He says hello to his mother.

"Where are you?" he adds.

"We' re driving on the freeway, "Mrs Green says. "This is taking a little more time than we thought. We won't be back until two o' clock. Better get some lunch for yourself."

"What are you doing? "Charlie asks.

"We'll explain later, "she says.

"O. K." says Charlie.

3

THE CAT'S PAW

Long, long ago there lived two animals — a cat and a monkey. One day the monkey found some chestnuts in a fire. He wanted very much to eat them, but was afraid of burning his hand. So he took the cat to the fire and said: "Ah! How good those chestnuts smell! Cat, my dear friend, your paws are made just like man's hands. You are the only one who can pull the nuts from the fire. Why don't you try it?"

The cat was flattered by the monkey's praise. She was willing to do anything for him. So she put out her paw and began to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. She burned her paw each time she pulled a nut out.

"How fine it is to have hands like a man!" said the monkey. "Try to get some more. We' ll share them."

So the cat went on pulling more and more chestnuts out of the fire. But when at last she turned for her share of the nuts, she found that the monkey had eaten them all.

This is how the term "cat's paw" has come into use.

4

PENICILLIN

If you leave a piece of bread in a warm damp place, mould will soon grow on it. When this happens, we say the bread "has gone mouldy". Mould can grow on all kinds of things besides food. It grows from spores which are in the air. If the conditions are right, a spore can quickly get around and form a mould. This happens quite commonly. We have all probably seen it.

In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming found that mould had killed some germs he was trying to grow in his lab. If he had not noticed this, the world would have lost one of the greatest discoveries of the century. Fleming called the substance "penicillin".

Because penicillin can kill germs, doctors use it to treat diseases. It has saved millions of lives. Scientists grow large quantities of common mould so that they can get penicillin from it in order to make antibiotics, that is, substances that kill germs.

Next time you see some mould on a piece of bread, remember that it is one of man's greatest friends!

5

THE VAIN STAG

One hot day a big stag that had a pair of very large antlers stood on the bank of a river. He was thirsty and went down to the water to drink. Suddenly he saw his reflection in the water. He was very pleased with what he saw. "Oh," he said. "What a beautiful pair of antlers I've got How fine my head is! How proud I look! Nobody has such beautiful antlers as I have. Perhaps some people will say that my antlers are too big, but I don't think so. I like them very much. "And the vain stag looked again at his reflection in the water.

Suddenly he heard the barking of dogs. Three hunters and their dogs came out of the forest. The stag ran across the field into the forest. He was already far from the dogs, but he caught his antlers in the branches of some low trees and could not get away.

The dogs ran up to him and pulled him to the ground. Then the hunters came up and killed him.

THE BOYS BUILD A BRIDGE G1sr06

 6. THE BOYS BUILD A BRIDGE

"Do you all agree, then? "asked David. "We will go for a long cycle ride during the holidays. I expect the other three will agree. We can ask them when they come.”

“But what about Sammy?” said Roy. “He hasn't got a bicycle. His father can't afford to buy him one.”

“Oh, we hadn't thought of that,” said David thoughtfully. “I wonder if we can borrow one for him.”

At that moment Robert, Henry and Sammy arrived.

“You three are late,” said Roy. “What happened to you?”

“We had to come round the long way,” said Robert. “The old bridge over the stream has collapsed.”

“And that means we had to walk an extra quarter of a mile and use the other bridge,” added Henry. “The stream must be nearly five feet deep after all this rain.”

“Don't worry,” said David. “The Town Council will soon build another one.”

“Oh no,” replied Henry quickly. “My father has already asked about that. There isn't enough money this year.”

The boys were silent for a moment.

“I wonder who built that old bridge,” Robert said. “It was only a few tree trunks and planks held together with some nails.” Then an idea struck him. “Do you think we could rebuild it?”

“How wide is the gap?” asked David.

“About ten or fifteen yards, I think,” replied Robert.

“You know …” David paused. “I think we could do it, if we planned it properly and could borrow the tools.”

“And if we could get the timber,” added Roy. “What do we need?”

The boys started to consider the idea seriously. Sammy told them that his elder brother worked in the Public Works Department and could probably make a plan for them.

“I'll ask him to come and look at the old bridge tomorrow,” said Sammy. “I'm sure he'll help us.”

Their greatest problem was to find enough planks and thick beams. The next day the boys visited nearly every house in the area. In the evening they returned to their hut and told each other about their visits. Henry was very excited.

“I must tell you this,” he burst out. “Mr Robinson has promised to supply the wood as long as we do the work and finish it within a month.”

“Splendid” said Robert. “That will certainly solve our problem.”

“There's another thing,” said David. “Roy and I found that several people will give us money if we build a new bridge. It's a short cut for them.”

"Then let's start work," said Robert. "Sammy's brother is making a plan now."

The next day the boys cleared away the remains of the old bridge. They then climbed down the sides of the stream and dug holes for the supports— one on each bank.

Mr. Robinson kept his promise and sent a lorryload of timber. The boys soon slipped the supports into their holes, and at the end of a week of hard work, two thick logs had been lowered on to them from each bank. The most difficult job was to get the long logs across the middle. The boys fastened a rope to each log, threw the rope over, and then pulled the log into position. Mr. Robinson walked out each evening to see how the work was getting on, and the boys knew he was proud of them.

The last job was simple. The boys nailed the planks across the logs, and strengthened these with other planks which ran right across the bridge. Three days after the start of the holidays, the bridge was finished. The boys met in their hut to decide on an opening ceremony for their bridge.

The next day, at six o' clock the boys gathered at the bridge. Mr Robinson appeared with nearly forty of the people of that district. In a little speech he praised the boys for their efforts. The neighbours clapped, and the boys felt even more pleased with their work.

THE FIRST TELEVISION G1sr05

 5. THE FIRST TELEVISION

John Baird lived in Scotland. As a boy he was always making things, and most of them were electric. When he was older, he went to college to study more about electricity. Radios had just been invented then, and people were talking about sending pictures by electricity. John Baird began to think about this. He worked so hard at it that he got ill. But he made up his mind to go on working at the wireless pictures until he had found out how to send them.

He made his first set in an old box. He found a toy electric motor in a junk heap behind a shop. He fixed it and used it in his set. He also bought a cheap lamp to help him. Besides this, he used part of an old army wireless set, and some bits of wood. All these he fixed together with glue, string, wax, and many wires.

After many months of hard work, he managed to send a picture of a cross over a distance of three yards. It was not a clear picture, but he could not do any better, for he was running out of money. He had to take his machine to a shop and show the picture to people. In return, the shop owner paid him £25 a week. He stayed in the shop for a few weeks, then left to work at his set again. But the money was soon spent, so he often had to go hungry. His clothes needed mending and his shoes needed repairing. He became ill again, but still he worked at his idea. He was so poor by now that he even had to sell some parts of his set so as to have money to buy some food. That meant, of course, he could not work without those parts.

But then his luck changed. Some friends sent him some money and he soon bought back the parts he had sold. With these to help him he tried to send a picture of a face—not a real face, but the face of a doll he had. The picture only came out like a white circle with three black spots showing for the mouth and eyes.

He now bought some new parts for his set with more of the money his friends had given him. He put these parts into the set and switched it on. He had a great surprise! It now showed the doll's face clearly—nose, mouth, eyes, ears, and hair! John was so delighted that he wanted to find someone whose face could be shown. He ran downstairs to an office just below his room. He found the office boy there, and quickly dragged him upstairs.

The boy must have thought John was mad, but John did not care. He made the boy sit down in place of the doll, facing the strong lights and noisy machinery. Then he shouted to him, "Don't move!" and went off into the room where the picture would be shown. He looked at the screen. Alas! There was no face showing! What had happened? John rushed back into the room, and saw what was wrong. The boy was afraid and had bent his head back from the lights and noise. John made the boy sit still, promising that nothing would hurt him. A few seconds later he was looking at the screen again with the machinery turned on. This time, to his delight, he saw the boy's face! It was quite clear—just as clear as the doll's had been. He called the boy to the screen, and he himself went and sat in the doll's seat. To the boy's surprise, he saw John's face on the screen.

So John Baird had really managed to do it. He had found a way to send pictures by wireless. That was in the year 1925, and it was the beginning of television.

THE BEST ADVICE I EVER HAD G1sr04

 4. THE BEST ADVICE I EVER HAD

When I was about 15, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings. Week by week her list grew: I was skinny, I talked too loud, I was too proud, and so on. I put up with her as long as I could. At last, I ran to my father in tears and anger.

He listened to my outburst quietly. Then he asked, "Are the things she says true—or not?"

True? I wanted to know how to strike back. What did truth have to do with it?

"Mary, didn't you ever wonder what you're really like? Well, you now have that girl's opinion. Go make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. You needn't pay attention to the other things she said.”

I did as he told me and discovered to my surprise that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn't change (like being skinny), but a good number I could—and suddenly wanted to—change. For the first time in my life I began to get quite a clear picture of myself.

I brought the list back to Daddy, but he wouldn't take it.

"That's just for you, "he said." You know better than anybody else the truth about yourself, once you hear it. But you've got to learn to listen, not close your ears in anger or hurt. When someone says something about you, you'll know if it's true or not. If it is, you'll find it will echo inside you."

"I still don't think it very nice of her to talk about me in front of everybody, "I said.

"Mary, there is one way you could stop others talking about you ever again, and criticizing you—just say nothing and do nothing. But then, if you do that, you'd find you were nothing. You wouldn't like that now, would you?"

"No," I admitted.

Later, I was to have another, more painful lesson about hearing the truth. It happened the week we were to put on a play in which I had the lead. How eager and excited I was!

A few days before the show, some of my friends decided to have a picnic at a nearby lake. It was still rather cold. Mother wanted me to stay home so that I might not catch cold, but I insisted on going. After making me promise not to go swimming, she gave in.

Well, I kept the words but not the spirit of that promise. When the others went into the water I couldn't stand being left behind. I put on my swimming-suit, too, and went out in a rowboat.

When at last I headed for shore, some of the boys began to rock my boat. Just as I was about to reach the shore, it went over. Trying to keep out of the water, I took a leap for shore. I made it— but I landed on a broken bottle. My heel was cut right to the bone!

I didn't get to star in the play, but had to lie still in hospital. “But I kept my promise not to go swimming,” I said to daddy.

“Mary, you listened to only half of what your mother said. What she really made you promise was to try not to catch cold. Going swimming was only part of it. You let yourself hear only part of the truth. And that's why you ended up like this.”

I made a final excuse: “All my friends thought it would be all right, if I stayed in the boat.”

"And they all were wrong, weren't they?” He paused a moment. “You’ll find the world is full of people who think they know better than you. Don't shut your ears to them. Hear them out, but listen out only for the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”

Daddy's advice has returned to me at many critical moments in my life and it has worked.

THAT CRAZY TOWER IN PISA G1sr03

 3. THAT CRAZY TOWER IN PISA

*The Dear Old Lady—that is what the people of Pisa call the tower—needs help.*

Three million people visit Pisa each year. That's a lot of people. Why do they come to this town in Italy? To see a tower. A look at the picture will tell you why. The crazy tower leans！ It is known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The tower looks as if it might fall at any time. In fact, some visitors stop at the tower just long enough to take a picture. Then they hurry away. Other visitors climb the 294 steps to the top—and come down, feeling like heroes.

Engineers say that the visitors are safe—at least for a while. But the tower does lean. It slants 14 feet 10 inches at the present time. The tower has been leaning for 800 years. And every year it leans a tiny bit more. If this keeps on, the tower will fall.

You may wonder what makes the tower lean. If you look at the picture, you will see that one side of the tower is deeper in the earth than the other. The foundation on which the tower rests has sunk into the soil on the leaning side. Why has this happened?

Pisa's tower weighs 14,500 tons. The soil of the town is a mixture of clay and sand and water. A heavy tower built on soil like this must have a very strong foundation. The Leaning Tower's foundation is just not deep or wide enough for the tower above it.

Can anything be done about the tower?

Yes, Italian engineers have several plans. They don't want to make the tower straight—just keep it from leaning any further. So all the plans call for a new foundation that won't sink.

But a new foundation can't be built while the tower is resting on the old one. The tower must be raised. And it must have something to rest on while the new foundation is being built.

The tower could be raised with jacks. They would be like the jacks we use to raise cars when changing a tire. Only these jacks would be giant ones. One plan calls for 15 of them to be placed around the tower. Each of the giant jacks would be on its own foundation. And each of them could lift 1000 tons. The 15 jacks would raise the 14,500-ton tower and hold it up while the new foundation is being built.

The Italian engineers are searching for the best plan to save the tower. They know that any plan will take a lot of money. They are trying to get the money from the Italian government. But many Italians refuse to believe that the old tower is in danger. “It leans and leans and leans," they say." But it will never fall down."

The engineers want to make sure that it won't.

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND G1sr02

 2. GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

The two largest islands of the British Isles are Great Britain and Ireland. There are three regions in Great Britain. They are England, Scotland and Wales. Scotland lies to the north of England, and Wales to the southwest. Ireland lies to the west of Great Britain. It is a smaller island than Great Britain.

The Atlantic Ocean lies between the British Isles and America, and the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. The North Sea is on the east side of Great Britain. To the south is the English Channel. Every day large ships cross the Atlantic Ocean to America, and smaller ones cross the North Sea and the Channel to Europe.

The mountains in Great Britain are almost all in the north and the west. They are not very high; the highest ones are in Scotland. There are many low hills in some parts of the country, but not in the south and east, where there are almost no hills. In summer there is no snow on any of the mountains or hills in Great Britain or Ireland.

There are many rivers in Great Britain, but they are not very long. The rivers which run to the east are longer than the ones which run to the west.

The Thames is one of the longest rivers in England. It is a very beautiful river. It is in the south of the country and runs to the east, into the North Sea. London, the capital of Great Britain, is on the Thames.

London is a very old city. Today it is one of the largest cities in Europe. More than nine million people live there.

The port of London is one of the greatest ports in the world. Ships from all countries go up and down the Thames. They bring food to the people of Britain.

Then they take British machines and other things back to the ports from which they came.

There are many scenic spots in the West of England. The lakes here are the most beautiful in England. There are trees, and flowers and green grass round them.

The water is almost always very still, and you can see the green hills, the brown mountains and everything else round the lake upside down in the water. There are boats on all the larger lakes, which take people from one side to the other. There are always a lot of boats on the lakes in summer.

Travellers from many countries of the world go to the West of England in summer. There are boat races on the largest lakes, and people from many places in Great Britain and Europe come to see them. Young people travel from one place to another on their bicycles, or walk from one lake to another.

There are large lakes in Scotland too with mountains round them. They are not like the English ones; there are not so many trees and flowers, and green hills round them, but they are beautiful too. The mountains here are higher, and they are grey and dark.

Some people think that this part of Scotland with its lakes and mountains is more beautiful than the West of England. Other people say it is not more lovely, but it is more interesting.

Ireland is a very beautiful country. It is not far from England, and some people like to go there for their holidays. Ireland is even greener than the West of England. It rains very often there, but it is never very cold, and snow almost never falls. The west wind brings rain from the Atlantic Ocean, and much of it falls on Ireland and on the west of England and Scotland.

HOW TO USE AN ENGLISH DICTIONARY G1sr01

 SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS

1. HOW TO USE AN ENGLISH DICTIONARY

A dictionary can be most useful, if you know how to use it correctly.
The first thing to know is that the words in the dictionary are arranged in alphabetical order. This means that all the words beginning with 'a' come first, then those beginning with 'b', then those beginning with 'c', and so on. But this is not all. Take two words beginning with 'a', after and ago. Which comes first? After comes first, because the second letter in after, 'f', comes before the second letter of ago, which is 'g'. The same rule is followed all the way through the word. Thus about comes before above, and fifth before fifty. If you remember this rule it will save you a lot of time in looking up words.
Open your dictionary at any page. At the top of the page you will see two words printed in heavy type. These are known as guide words. The one on the left-hand side of the page tells you what the first word on that page is. The one on the right-hand side tells you what the last word on that page is. So if you are looking for a word in the dictionary, you first look at the guide words at the head of the pages. Then you will be able to tell whether or not the word you want is on the page you are looking at.
You will notice that a dictionary very often gives several definitions for one word. How would you decide which of these definitions is the one you need? First, you must know what part of speech the word is in the sentence. Is it a noun or a verb? Is it an adjective or an adverb? A word can be used differently in a sentence, and so may have a different sense. Next, you must see which of the definitions will fit into the sentence. It is important to study the rest of the sentence carefully in order to find out the meaning of the word.
For example, you might come across this sentence: “We use an inclined plane to load or unload a truck.” You look up ‘load’ in the dictionary. The dictionary says: 1. n. a burden, ... 2. vt. put a burden on or into, ... Of course the second definition makes the right sense in the sentence.
You will find that the more you use the dictionary, the better you'll be able to use it and the more useful it will be to you.

A LITTLE HERO G118

 A LITTLE HERO

A group of Italian soldiers led by a captain were advancing slowly toward the position of the enemy. They were expecting to see in the distance some signs of the enemy. They arrived at a farmhouse, in front of which sat a small boy. The boy was cutting a branch of a tree with his knife to make a cane.

When the boy saw the soldiers, he stopped working on the branch, stood up, and took off his cap. He was a handsome boy with large, bright eyes and fair hair.

“What are you doing here?” asked the captain. “Why didn't you leave with your family?”

“I don't have any family,” said the boy. “I'm an orphan. I used to work for the family that lived here. They've gone, but I stayed in order to see the fighting.”

“Have you seen any Austrians pass by here?”

“Not within the last three days.”

The captain got off his horse, and went into the house. His head soon appeared out of one of the second storey windows, from where he could see nothing but trees. In front of the house was a tall tree, its top well above the tops of the other trees. The captain came out and asked the boy:

"Do you have good eyesight, young man?"

"Me? "asked the boy. "I can see a sparrow two hundred paces away."

"Do you think you could climb that tree and tell me whether you see anything of the Austrians in the distance?"

"Sure," said the boy eagerly, jumping up, kicking off his shoes, and throwing aside his cap.

"How much do you want for that? "asked the captain,.

"I don't want anything, "said the boy, already starting to climb the tree. "I would do anything for our soldiers."

In a few minutes the boy was at the top of the tree.

"Look straight ahead, "cried the captain, "and tell me what you see."

Two men on horse back—nothing else.”

“How far away?”

About a mile and a half. They're standing still.”

“What else do you see?” asked the captain after a moment of silence.

The boy looked to the right. After a while he said:

“Near the cemetery, between the trees, there's something shining, perhaps bayonets.”

“Do you see any soldiers?”

“No, if there are any, they must be hidden among the trees.”

Just then there was the sharp whistle of a bullet which passed near the boy.

“Get down!” said the captain.

Another bullet whistled by.

“They're shooting at me,” said the boy. “But don't worry. Let me tell you what's to the left. Well, there's a church and I think I see ...”

A third bullet passed, and at almost the same moment the boy was seen to fall suddenly from the tree. He struck the ground heavily. Blood was trickling from his mouth. The captain ran to him and tore open the boy's shirt. A bullet had passed through his chest on the left. The boy opened his eyes for a moment, looked at the captain, and then died.

"Poor boy! "said the captain over and over. He looked at the boy for a minute. He ordered a soldier to bring a national flag and covered the boy's body with it, leaving only his face exposed. The captain collected the boy's cap, shoes, knife, and the branch he had been cutting, and placed them near the boy's body.

"We'll send someone to pick him up, "said the captain. "He died like a soldier and we must bury him like a soldier."

The captain and his group moved on, but the story of the little boy spread quickly. Later that afternoon other groups of soldiers moved up to the front. When they passed the place where the dead boy lay, each soldier saluted. Some of them placed flowers on the boy's body.

Soon it was covered with flowers. On the boy's pale face there was a half-smile that seemed to suggest that he was happy to have given his life for his country.

THE STORY OF WILLIAM TELL G117

 THE STORY OF WILLIAM TELL

A long time ago the tiny country of Switzerland was ruled by Austria. But the Swiss did not take their fate lying down. Every week there was a rebellion somewhere, and the Austrian soldiers were kept busy hurrying from one town to another in order to put down the rebellions. The town of Altorf was particularly troublesome.

The emperor of Austria finally decided to teach the Swiss a lesson. He sent a special governor to Altorf, a man named Gessler, who would rule with a firm hand.

One of Gessler's orders required all Altorfers to bow before him. Anyone who refused to bow was thrown into prison. Although most of the people bowed to Gessler, they spat into the dirt as they did so. So Gessler decided to get even tougher. He placed his hat on a pole in the marketplace and ordered the Altorfers to bow before it whenever they passed.

One day, William Tell, a famous hunter, came to Altorf with his little son. He saw that ten soldiers were stationed beside the pole. He knew about the order, and he knew why the soldiers were there, but he would have none of it.

Holding his head high, he walked past the pole and the soldiers as if they didn't exist. Immediately the soldiers surrounded him and his son, saying, “You must bow before the hat!”

“Why?”

“It's an order”

“It's your order,” said William Tell, “not mine.”

“We'll show you whose order it is,” said the soldiers, and they led the father and son to Gessler.

Even before the cruel governor himself William Tell did not bow. He held his son's hand firmly to be sure that the boy did not bow either.

“You broke the law,” said Gessler.

“That is not my law,” said William Tell. “I am a citizen of Switzerland, not Austria.”

Gessler turned red with anger. He then thought of a plan to punish William Tell.

"You're a hunter, "he said. "Well, we'll see how good you are. "Picking an apple from a tree overhead, he turned to a soldier and said, "Take the boy one hundred paces down the street and place this apple on his head. "Then he ordered Tell to shoot at the apple with one of his arrows.

The people who had gathered around gasped at the cruelty of the order.

Without saying a word, William Tell drew two arrows. He looked at his son, one hundred paces away with an apple on his head. The soldiers had him stand with his back to his father.

"Turn around, "William Tell called to his son. "Look this way."

The boy turned around and faced his father.

William Tell studied the two arrows, selected one, and placed it in his bow. Slowly he raised the bow; pulled back the cord, and after taking careful aim, let the arrow fly.

It split the apple in half!

The people raised a shout of joy. William Tell turned and looked calmly at Gessler.

“Congratulations!” said Gessler, sneering. "Now tell me why you took a second arrow."

“If I had missed,” said William Tell, “and had shot too low, I was going to use this arrow on you.”

The story of the bravery of William Tell and his son quickly got round throughout Switzerland. It filled the hearts of the Swiss with pride and courage, and it was not long before the whole country rose up and drove the Austrian soldiers from their homeland.

CONTINENTS AND OCEANS G116

 CONTINENTS AND OCEANS

From space the earth looks like a huge water-covered globe, with a few patches of land sticking out above the water. North of the equator about 61 percent of the surface is covered by water. South of the equator 81 percent of the surface is water. Altogether more than 70 percent of the surface of our planet is covered by water.

As you study a globe, you may notice that most of the large land areas are connected, or almost so. We often speak of seven continents, but you can see that Europe, Asia, and Africa are really one landmass. South America is joined to North America, and only a narrow strait separates North America from Asia. Oceania is a separate landmass, but it is separated from Asia by very shallow water. Antarctica is about 600 miles from the tip of South America.

The largest landmass is usually divided into two “continents” along the Ural Mountains. Land to the east of the Urals is called Asia; land to the west, Europe. Asia is the largest continent, covering one third of the earth's land area. Africa is the second largest continent. It is actually connected with Asia at the spot where the Suez Canal was dug. Oceania is the smallest continent.

The world's coldest continent, and the most difficult to reach, is Antarctica. For centuries, people have wondered what this continent is really like, since it is covered with solid thick ice and deep snow. You may think it strange that anyone would live there. Actually a very small number of people do. They are mostly visiting scientists. A lot of research work has been carried out in recent years, but much still has to be learned about the land lying under the ice.

As we have seen, oceans cover more than 70 percent of the earth. Study of a globe shows that the oceans actually form one continuous body of water. From Antarctica, three main “gulfs” extend northward. These are called the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. The Atlantic is longer and narrower than the other two. The Arctic Ocean is considered by some to be a northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. The Pacific is by far the largest ocean and covers almost half of the total ocean area.

Because the ocean surface is so smooth, people may think that the ocean bottom is made up of smooth plains. Actually the ocean floors are almost as irregular as the exposed land areas. Many scientists are now making a study of animal and plant life in the oceans. They hope to find new resources for mankind.

NAPOLEON'S THREE QUESTIONS G115

 NAPOLEON'S THREE QUESTIONS

A story is told about a Swede who wanted to join Napoleon's Grand Army. One evening some of Napoleon's soldiers were drinking together when a young Frenchman brought a friend to their table. He explained that his friend was a Swede and knew no French; but this Swede admired Napoleon so much that he wanted to join the French army and fight for him.

The soldiers looked up and saw a tall young man with blue eyes, a friendly face, strong arms and broad shoulders. They liked him at once.

The officers saw that he was just the right sort of man, so they accepted him and he became one of Napoleon's soldiers. His new friends smoothed away the difficulties. He fought bravely in many battles and gained their respect. However, his knowledge of French remained very weak, because he was not good at learning languages; but this did not prevent him from fighting hard.

Several years later, word came that Napoleon himself was coming to inspect them, and the Swede was warned that the great man would probably ask him some questions. There was some difficulty in explaining this to the Swede, but when at last he understood he became very anxious.

“The Swede won't understand the questions,” one of the Frenchmen said. “What can he do?”

It was well known that Napoleon always asked the same three questions, and usually in the same order. The first question was, “How old are you?” The second was, “How long have you been in my army?” And the third was, “Did you serve in either of my last two campaigns?”

The Swede could not possibly remember all these words and so his friends decided to teach him only the answers in their proper order. They gave him a lot of practice. Whenever possible, one of them would stop him, make him stand at attention, and ask him the three questions. “How old are you?” he would demand; and the Swede would answer, “Twenty-three, sir.”

Then his friend would ask, "How long have you been in my army? "and the Swede would answer, "Three years, sir. "To the third question, "Did you serve in either of my last two campaigns? "the Swede would answer with pride, "Both, sir!"

For many days this practice continued. The Swede would walk about, saying to himself, "Twenty-three, sir. Three years, sir. Both, sir! "Before the day of the inspection, his friends were satisfied. He knew his answers. There ought to be no trouble.

Napoleon arrived. Standing in front of the straight lines of soldiers, he looked at them with great satisfaction. Then he began to walk along the lines, smiling sometimes, and saying a few words here and there. The Swede stood quite still, except that his lips moved slightly. He was still practising.

Napoleon suddenly caught sight of the tall soldier and realized at once that he had never seen him before. He stopped in front of the Swede. For some reason, this time the great man began with the second question.

"How many years have you been in my army? "he demanded.

"Twenty-three, sir, "said the Swede clearly and well.

Napoleon was surprised. He looked at the tall man and asked, "How old are you, then?"

"Three years, sir, "replied the Swede quickly.

Napoleon was astonished. "Either you are mad, or I am, "he declared.

"Both, sir! "cried the Swede proudly.

WATCHING ANTS G114

 WATCHING ANTS

If you go into the fields and turn over a few big stones, you may uncover a city of ant “people”. You will see the workers, who gather food for themselves and for all the others. You will see the nurses, who care for the baby ants. And you will see some of the babies too.

While ants grow, they change their form three times. They start as tiny white eggs, and when these hatch, out come little fat white worms. These worms then weave silk cocoons around themselves, inside which they change from fat worms to ants. When the time comes, the cocoons are torn open by the ant nurses, and the new ants with their tender legs and bodies are very gently helped out. You may see some of these new ants, still very pale in colour.

A lucky visitor to the ant city may see the queen. She is much larger than the others and her hind half is very big because it is full of eggs. Laying eggs is her full-time job. She may have tens of thousands of babies in one summer. The nurses keep her very clean, washing her with their tongues. From the outside, the workers bring her food. As the mother of many children, she is respected and taken good care of.

Not all the ants go out for food. Some have extra powerful jaws. These act as guards and soldiers in time of trouble. Some workers keep the tunnels and rooms clean. All rubbish is carried out.

Ants are fond of sweet food. They often milk little bugs called ant cows. You can see ant cows on the leaves and flowers of many plants. These cow bugs drink much more sap than they can use. It passes right through their bodies, only getting a little thicker and sweeter. The ant knows how to milk them. It strikes a cow bug's back with its forelegs and feelers. The cow bug seems to enjoy this, and presently a tiny drop of honeydew milk appears. The ant laps it up and goes to the next cow bug for more.

The ant is not gathering this food for itself alone. It has two stomachs in its body, one for itself and one for carrying food to “the folks back home”. When it returns, a nurse ant which has been busy indoors all day is sure to ask for honeydew. The two ants place their mouths together. The one which has the honeydew brings up a drop from its public stomach and passes it into the nurse ant's mouth; later, the nurse will give some of her drop to the babies, or to the queen. This is how the whole city is fed.

When one ant wants food from another, it taps on the other's head with its feelers, using a kind of telegraph code. They “talk” a great deal by this means. If you watch long enough, you will see many problems settled by this “tap-talking” with the feelers.

THE FOOTPRINT G113

 THE FOOTPRINT

One day, walking along the sands towards his boat, Crusoe saw in the sand the mark of a man's foot. He was terrified at the sight. He looked round, but could see nobody. He listened, but could hear nothing. There were no other marks. Who had made the footprint? Was there someone else on this lonely island? Was it a savage? Crusoe stared at the footprint, full of fear.

He hurried home, looking behind from time to time as he went. For some days he stayed in his cave, behind his wall. He was afraid to go out, even for food.

But no savages came, and after a time he began to go out again. His dog, which was now very old, became ill and died. This made Crusoe very sad. He now felt even more lonely without his friend, the dog.

He often thought about the footmark. Perhaps he had made it himself? He decided to go back and look again. The footprint was still there. He tried his foot in it, but it was much larger than his own. So there must be someone else on the island. Full of fear again, Crusoe returned home.

He built another fence round his cave. Now he made holes in the wall and placed his guns in them, pointing outwards.

But he still did not feel safe enough. He decided to look for another cave, where he could hide if savages came.

He found a good place in the rocks, more than twelve feet high, with a narrow entrance. He stepped into the cave. Suddenly he saw two eyes glaring at him out of the darkness. Was it a man, or a wild animal? He hurried out into the daylight.

Crusoe lit a fire and from it took a burning stick. He stepped back into the cave, holding the stick high above his head. He heard a noise, as if someone was breathing. He stopped. Nothing happened. He went farther into the cave.

On the ground lay an old sick goat, which had gone into the cave to die. It was the goat's eyes that he had seen in the darkness. As he looked at it, the goat rolled over and died.

Crusoe looked about the cave. The ground and the sides were quite dry. Inside, the top of the cave was nearly twenty feet high. It was a good hiding-place.

Crusoe had eleven guns altogether. He brought five of them to his new cave and a great deal of gun-powder. The cave was quite dark inside, so he made some candles to give light.

Now he had a safe place if the savages came. Every day he climbed to a high rock near his cave to keep watch. And so the months and years went by.

It was autumn, the time for Crusoe to gather his small harvest of corn. Early one morning, before starting work, he climbed up to his lookout.

There, on the shore, were nine savages, sitting round a fire. Nearby were two canoes in which they had come to the island. They seemed to be eating something they had cooked on the fire. Crusoe watched, full of fear.

As soon as the savages had gone, Crusoe returned home for two guns. Then he made his way down to the shore. He looked out to sea. The two canoes were almost out of sight.

He went towards the fire, which was still smoking. Among the ashes he found bones. They were not the bones of an animal, but of a human being!

Crusoe knew that the savages killed their enemies and ate them. He made up his mind to shoot them if they came again. But many months went by and no one visited the island.

POLLUTION G112

 POLLUTION

The population of the earth is increasing very fast. Man must make the earth support more people. This has made it necessary for agriculture and industry to develop very quickly.

With the development of modern agriculture and industry, more and more waste is produced. Much of this waste is harmful. It goes into the water, the soil and the air. Some of it is absorbed and made harmless. But where there is too much of it, the poisonous waste may do great harm to the things around us. This is called pollution.

When farmers add fertilizer to the soil to make plants grow better, or spray poison to kill plant pests, poison is sent into the air, the water and the soil. When birds, fish and people eat the grain, drink the water or breathe the air, harm will be done to their health.

The air in big cities is often made very dirty by factories. Millions of tons of waste and poisonous gases are sent into the air with the smoke. In some places, little is done to make the smoke clean before it goes into the air.

Oil is burnt in cars, trucks and buses. They produce waste gases almost as harmful as the gases from factories. In big cities during cold winter months, many old people die from the polluted air. In places around big factories, trees and vegetables are often killed by the bad air.

Another kind of pollution is noise. Very loud noises can make people ill, hurt their ears, or even drive them mad. Houses near airports sometimes have their windows broken by the noise of jet planes passing overhead. Workers in some industries have their hearing harmed by the noise of the machines.

Every day, people throw away a lot of rubbish. Some of the rubbish, such as food, paper and iron, rots away over a long period of time. But plastics and rubber never rot. If they are burned, they give off poisonous gases. How to get rid of these things is a big problem.

Fortunately, people are beginning to realize just how serious the whole situation is. In many countries, laws have been passed to prevent factories from sending out poisonous gases and polluted water.

Many natural materials are becoming scarce. Scientists have found ways to take some useful things out of the waste materials and use them again. This is called recycling. Steel, iron, glass, cloth and paper can all be recycled.

Waste water, too, can be recycled. When the waste water from factories is made clean and reused, a lot of money is saved. Waste water from a number of cities is now “cleaned” before flowing back into rivers. Today, many rivers that were polluted are getting cleaner and cleaner. Fish and birds are returning to these rivers, and the water in them is no longer poisonous or dangerous to people's health.

Man is fighting a battle against pollution. Yet, this battle will not be won until everyone knows how serious the danger is, and does something to stop it.

AT A TAILOR'S SHOP G111

 AT A TAILOR'S SHOP

I was wandering through the streets when I caught sight of a tailor's shop. I wanted very much to get a new suit and throw off my old clothes. But ... I had nothing in the world but a million-pound note. However, I could not resist the temptation. I went in and asked if they had a cheap suit. The fellow I spoke to made no answer at first, looked me up and down, noticed that I was almost in rags, then said, “Just a minute.”

I waited till he had finished his work. Then he took me into a back room, where the rejected suits were kept. He looked through the suits and selected the cheapest one for me. I put it on. It didn't fit, but it was new and I was anxious to have it, so I said shyly:

“Could you wait a few days for the money? I haven't any small change on me.”

The fellow looked at me coldly and said, “Oh, you haven't? Well, of course, I know that gentlemen like you carry only large notes.”

I was hurt and said, “My friend, you shouldn't judge a stranger always by the clothes he wears. I'm quite able to pay for this suit. I simply didn't wish to put you to the trouble of changing a large note.”

“Why do you think we can't change your note? On the contrary, we can.”

I handed the note to him and said: “Oh, very well, I apologize.”

He received it with a smile, and then as he looked at the note, his smile froze. Holding the note in his hand, he stood there dumbfounded. The owner of the shop came up to see what was the matter.

I said, “There isn't any trouble. I'm just waiting for my change.”

“Come, come; get him his change, Tod; get him his change.”

Tod answered, “Get him his change! It's easy to say, sir; but look at the bill yourself.”

The owner took a look, gave a low whistle, then made a dive for the rejected clothing and began to snatch it this way and that, talking all the while excitedly, as if to himself.

"To sell such a suit as that to a millionaire! Tod's a fool. Ah, here's the thing I'm after. Please get those things off, sir, and throw them into the fire. Do me the favor to put on this shirt, and this suit. Ah, it's just the thing, the very thing! The trousers are all right; now the waistcoat; aha, right again! Now the coat— sir! Look at that, now! Perfect—the whole thing!"

I expressed my satisfaction.

"Quite right, sir, quite right. But wait till you see what we'll make for you to your own measure." Before I could get in a word he had measured me, and was giving orders for evening suits, morning suits, shirts and all sorts of things. “They will be ready the day after tomorrow,” he said.

“But I can't give these orders, unless you can wait some time, or change the note.”

“I can wait all my life, sir. Tod, you will send these things to the gentleman's address. Put down the gentleman's address and ...”

“I'm changing my hotel. I'll drop in and leave the new address, ”I said.

“Quite right, sir, quite right. One moment — let me show you out, sir. Good day, sir, good day.”

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA G110

 THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

The Great Wall of China, the longest wall in the world, runs a cross north China like a huge dragon. It winds its way from west to east, across deserts, over mountains, through valleys, till at last it reaches the sea. It is one of the wonders of the world. And it was one of the few man-made objects on earth that could be seen by the astronauts who landed on the moon.

The Great Wall has a history of over twenty centuries. The first part of it was built during the Spring and Autumn Period (770 B.C.—476 B.C.). During the Warring States Period (475 B.C.—221 B.C.), more walls were put up to defend the borders of the different kingdoms.

In 221 B.C., the kingdom of Qin united the different parts of China into one empire. To keep the enemy out of his empire, Emperor Qin Shi Huang had all the walls joined up. Thus the Great Wall came into being. Since then, it has often been added to, rebuilt and repaired, especially during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

The Great Wall, which is called in Chinese “The Ten-Thousand-li Great Wall”, is actually more than 6,000 kilometres long, 6-7 metres high and 4-5 metres wide. In most places it is wide enough for five horses or ten men to walk side by side along the top. It has great gateways which connect the main roads of north China.

Every few hundred metres along the Wall there are watchtowers, where soldiers used to keep watch. When the enemy came, fires were lit and at the same time guns were fired to warn soldiers at other towers. One column of smoke with one gunshot meant an enemy troop of about 100, two columns with two shots meant 500. In this way, a warning message could be sent 500 kilometres within a few hours.

It was very difficult to build and rebuild such a great wall over wild and distant country without any modern machines. All the work had to be done by hand. Many people were forced to work on the wall far away from their homes. They lifted earth in baskets, passed bricks from hand to hand and dragged heavy stones with ropes over their shoulders. Their living conditions were terrible. Thousands of men died and were buried under the wall they built. The Great Wall was made not only of stone and earth, but of the flesh and blood of millions of men.

After the Great Wall was rebuilt hundreds of years ago, no more work was done on it until the People's Republic of China was founded. After that, parts of the Wall were repaired. On both sides of it new cities appeared, trees were planted, and deserts became grasslands. The old Great Wall took on a new look.

Today the Great Wall has become a place of interest not only to the Chinese people, but also to people from all over the world. Many of them have come to know the famous Chinese saying: "He who does not reach the Great Wall is not a true man."

LADY SILKWORM G109

 LADY SILKWORM

Long long ago, there lived in Hangzhou a girl called Aqiao. When Aqiao was nine years old, her mother died. Her father remarried and the stepmother was cruel to Aqiao and her brother.

One winter morning, the stepmother told Aqiao to go out and cut some grass for the sheep. The poor girl, with a basket on her back, searched all day from the riverside to the foot of the mountain. But where could she find any green grass in winter? She was tired, cold and hungry, but she was afraid to go home and face her stepmother.

As she walked along, she noticed an old pine tree ahead at the entrance to a valley. Aqiao pushed the branches aside. She saw a brook with red flowers and green grass on both sides. She bent down immediately to cut the grass. She went on cutting and cutting until she came to the end of the brook. She stood up to wipe the sweat off her face. Suddenly she saw a lady all in white standing in front of her. The lady was smiling.

“Little girl, how nice to see you! Won't you come and stay with us for a while?”

Aqiao looked around. To her surprise, she found herself in a different world. There were rows of white houses with trees in front of them. The leaves on the trees were green and large. And there were many other ladies in white, who were singing and picking the leaves from the trees.

Aqiao liked what she saw and decided to stay.

After that, she worked together with the ladies in white. They picked leaves from the trees, and fed them to some little white worms. Slowly, the little worms would grow up and spit out silk to form snow-white cocoons. The lady in white taught Aqiao how to reel the shining silk from these cocoons and how to dye the silk different colors. She told Aqiao that these white worms were called silkworms and the leaves they ate were called mulberry leaves. And all this beautiful silk, she said, would be used to weave colorful clouds in heaven.

Time passed quickly and three months went by before Aqiao knew it.

One day, Aqiao thought of her brother: “Why not ask my brother to come here too?”

Early next morning, without telling the lady in white, she hurried back home. When she left, Aqiao took some silkworm eggs and a bag of mulberry seeds with her. As she walked, she dropped the seeds along the road so that she would know the way back.

When Aqiao reached home, she found that her father had grown old and her brother had become a young man. The cruel stepmother had died.

It had been fifteen years since she left!

“Aqiao! Why didn't you come home all these years? Where have you been?” her father asked.

Aqiao told her father all that had happened. Her father thought that she must have met a fairy.

The next day Aqiao decided to go back to the valley with her brother. But when she opened the door, she found things had changed. The road was lined with mulberry trees. All the seeds she had dropped had grown into trees. She walked along the trail of mulberry trees until she came to the valley. The old pine tree still stood there like an umbrella covering the entrance, but she could no longer find a way to get into the valley. So all she could do was to go back home.

When Aqiao returned home, she found that the silkworm eggs had hatched. She fed mulberry leaves to the silkworms, and started to raise more of them.

It was said that that was how the Chinese first raised silkworms. The lady in white whom Aqiao met in the valley was Lady Silkworm, the fairy in charge of the harvesting of silk.

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES G108

 THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES

(Continued)

Now at last the Emperor wished to go himself and see the cloth while it was still on the looms. He took with him a few of his officials, including the old Prime Minister and the official who had already been there.

As soon as the weavers heard the Emperor coming, they pretended to work harder than ever, though they were not weaving a single thread through the empty looms.

Isn't the cloth magnificent?” said the official and the Prime Minister. “What a splendid design! And what colors!” they said, while pointing to the empty looms. They thought that everyone else could see the wonderful work of the weavers though they could not see it themselves.

“What on earth can this mean?” said the Emperor to himself. “I don't see anything. This is horrible! But I mustn't let anyone know.”

“The cloth is beautiful,” he cried out loud. “Beautiful! I am very pleased with it.”

The officials could see no more than the Emperor, but they all shouted, “Beautiful! Excellent! Magnificent” and other such expressions. They told the Emperor that he should have new clothes made of this splendid cloth for the coming great procession.

The Emperor nodded. He tried hard to pretend to share in the pleasure of his officials and gave each of the weavers a medal.

The night before the procession, the two men had their lights burning all night long. They wanted everyone to see how hard they were working on the Emperor's new clothes.

At last they cried, “Finished! The Emperor's new clothes are now ready!”

Then the Emperor arrived with all his high officials.

“Now if you will take off your clothes, Your Majesty, we will fit the new clothes on you in front of the mirror,” said the cheats.

The Emperor was then undressed, and the cheats pretended to dress him in his new clothes. The Emperor turned from side to side in front of the mirror.

“How splendid the Emperor looks in his new clothes” everyone cried. “And how well they fit! What a splendid design! What colors?”

“Well, I suppose I'm ready for the procession,” said the Emperor. “Don't you think they are a nice fit?” And he turned again in front of the mirror, in order to make the others think he was looking at his new clothes.

“Yes, perfectly wonderful!” cried his officials.

And so the procession began.

The Emperor walked in the middle of the procession, through the streets of the city. And all the people standing by and those at the windows cried out, “Oh, how splendid our Emperor's new clothes are! What a perfect fit?”

No one dared say that he could not see the Emperor's new clothes.

Suddenly a little child's voice was heard: “But he has nothing on!”

“Good heavens! Listen to that silly child!” said the father.

“Did you hear what the child said?” some people nearby asked each other.

What the child had said was whispered quickly from one to the other.

“I can't see anything at all on the Emperor,” cried one or two of the braver ones.

The cry was taken up and soon everyone was nodding and saying, “BUT HE HAS NOTHING ON!”

The Emperor heard the cries. He felt very silly, for he knew that the people were right. But he thought, “The procession has started, and it must go on!”

So the Emperor held his head higher than ever. And the two officials who were following him took great trouble to pretend to hold up higher the train of the robe that wasn't there at all.