Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Italy. He is best known as an artist today. One of his famous paintings is called Mona Lisa. However, Leonardo had many other natural abilities. He was also a great inventor. Many of his inventions have become important in modern day life. Although Leonardo hated war, he invented many different machines used for wars. His most special invention was the machine gun, which was produced and used in war many years later.

    By watching the way birds fly, Leonardo tried to find out the secret of f lying. Among his sketches we can see several objects. We consider them as modern flying machines.Leonardo spent many hours thinking about how to make good use of time. He developed ideas for labor-saving machines like cutting machines.

    Leonardo was a strange man. He didn't eat any meat, which was unusual in those times. He never published his ideas and scientific discoveries. He usually used mirror writing, which looks like writing in a mirror, starting from the right side of the page and moving to the left.

    We have very little of his work today. Leonardo finished only a few of his paintings. He left many unfinished because he thought they were not perfect. No one in his life time knew how great Leonardo was. We now believe, however, that he was one of the cleverest men the world has ever known.

    Alan worked in an office in the city. He worked very hard and really looked forward to his holiday. He usually went to the seaside, but one year he saw an ad in a newspaper Enjoy country life. Spend a few weeks at William Farm. Good food, fresh air, horse riding, walking, fishing.

    "This sounds like a good idea," he thought, "I'll spend a month at William Farm. I'll go horse riding, walking and fishing. It'll be different from the seaside." Four days later, he returned home.

    "What's wrong with William Farm?" his friend Jack asked him. "Didn't you enjoy country life?"

    "Country life was fine, "Alan said." But there was another problem."

    "Oh, what problem?"

    "Well, the first day I was there, a sheep died, and we had roast（烤好的）mutton for dinner. "

    "Fresh meat is the best."

    "I know, but on the second day a cow died, and we had roast beef for dinner."

    "Lucky you!"

    "You don't understand, "Alan said." On the third day a pig died and we had roast pork for dinner. "

    "A different roast every day, "Jack said.

    "Let me finish, "Alan said." On the fourth day a farmer died and I didn't want to stay there for dinner. "

    "Look here, Watson," Holmes said after we finished lunch. "Please sit down. I want to talk to you. I don't know what to do, and your advice is important to me. You smoke your cigar (雪茄烟) while I explain."

    "Please continue," I said, as I lit my cigar.

    "Now there're a few important points in young James' story. One, his father cries Coo-ee before he sees him. Two, he talks about a rat (老鼠). I think young James is telling the truth (真相)."

    "So why did Mr. McCarthy shout Coo-ee then?"

    "Well, he was not shouting Coo-ee to his son. It was by chance that James heard. The Coo-ee was to call the person he was meeting. But Coo-ee is an Australian cry, Australians usually say it when they meet to catch attention. Perhaps Mr. McCarthy was meeting someone from Australia."

    "I see. But why did he talk about a rat, then?" I asked.

Holmes took a piece of paper from his pocket and put it on the table.

    "This is a map of Australia," he said. He put his hand over part of the map. "Now, Watson, what can you read there?" he asked me.

    "ARAT," I read.

    "And now?" Holmes moved his hand.

    "BALLARAT," I read.

    "Yes. That was the word the dead man said. It's a place called Ballarat. His son only heard the 'rat' part of the word. Old Mr. McCarthy was trying to say where his murderer was from, the town of Ballarat. The grey cloak is point No. 3. If James is telling the truth, there was a grey cloak (斗篷). So now we have an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak."

    "Great!" I replied.

    "And it's someone who lives nearby, as the Boscombe Pool isn't open to the public. Only people from the farm nearby or the Turner house can go there," said Holmes.

    "That's wonderful, Holmes!" I exclaimed.

    In ancient China, there was a man called Zhou Yong. Before his father died, he left Zhou Yong a great number of gold ingots (元宝). Zhou hid them in a safe place in his home. One day, Zhou decided to travel far away. He was afraid that someone would steal the gold ingots. But they were too heavy for him to bring along with him. So he put all the ingots into a jar (坛子) and gave it to his friend Wang Wu, telling Wang that the jar was full of fresh red dates (红枣).

    A year later, one day before Zhou came back, Wang's wife wondered what was in the jar. So she secretly opened it. She was shocked when she saw so many ingots inside. She told Wang about it and they took the ingots out and filled the jar with fresh red dates.

    When Wang returned the jar to Zhou, Zhou found the ingots were missing. They argued about it for a while, then they went to see the county magistrate (县官).

    When the magistrate asked Wang what had happened, he answered, "Zhou said that there were fresh red dates in it when he gave me the jar a year ago."

    The magistrate examined the jar and the fresh red dates in it carefully. Then he said: "Bring the ingots back, Wang Wu!"

    Wang still denied (否认)having taken them. But after the magistrate explained what he knew, Wang finally admitted (承认)that he had taken the ingots.