When George was thirty-five, he bought a small plane and learned to fly it. He soon became very good at it and made his plane do ①all kinds of tricks.

    George had a friend. His name was Mark. One day George wanted to take Mark up in his plane. Mark thought, "I've traveled in a big plane several times, but I've never been in a small one. So I'll do."

    They went up, and George flew around for half an hour and did all kind sof tricks in the air.

    When they came down again, Mark was very glad to be back ②safely, and he said to his friend in a shaking (颤抖的)voice ,"Well ,George, thank you very much for those two trips in your plane."

    George was very surprised and said, "Two trips?"

    "Yes, my first and my last," answered Mark.

A neighbor of mine, while visiting his mother in Boston, took her to a shoe store to buy a new pair of shoes. While she was trying on different styles, my neighbor took the manager（经理）beside him. "When she picks out a pair that she likes,' he said, "just tell her that the price is 12 dollars. I'll pay the regular price. I don't care how much it is.'

The following week, my neighbor was walking by the shoe store and the manager recognized (认出)him and called him in.

"What's the problem?' asked my neighbor as he entered the store.

"Wasn't my check any good?'

"That's not it,' answered the manager, "The problem is that your mother is bringing all her friends in for those 12-dollar shoes!'

Archimedes and the golden crown

One day in ancient Greece, King Hiero asked a crown maker to make him a golden crown. At first, he was very 1 with it.

"It's a nice crown, isn't it?" he asked his men. Later, however, he began to doubt 2it was a real golden crown. "Is it made completely of gold?" he wondered. He sent it to Archimedes and asked him to find out the truth.

"This problem seems difficult to solve. What should I do?" thought Archimedes.

Archimedes was still thinking about this problem 3he filled his bath with water. When he got into the bath, some water ran over.  

"That's it!" shouted Archimedes. "I know 4 to solve the king's problem!"

Archimedes went straight to the palace to see the king. First, he 5the crown and asked the king for some gold of the same weight.

Next, he put two pots into two big bowls and filled 6pots with water. He put the gold into one pot, and some water ran into the bowl. Then he put the crown into 7pot. This time, even more water ran into the bowl.

"Look at this," said Archimedes to King Hiero. "A crown 8completely of gold displaces 9water than a crown made of gold and another metal. This crown displaced more water than gold of the same weight, so I'm certain that it is not 10made of gold. "

"The crown maker tricked me, didn't he? What a bad man he is!" shouted King Hiero. He then sent the crown maker to prison.

Environmental protection is one of the hottest topics nowadays. It was also something that ancient Chinese paid great attention to. In fact, the world's earliest environmental protection idea, ministry （部门） and law were all born in China. How did the ancient Chinese protect the environment?

The world's earliest idea of "managing state affairs（政事）through environmental protection"

Xunzi, a famous thinker in the Warring States Period, came up with the idea of "managing state affairs through environmental protection". He wrote in his book that vegetation（植被）should be protected well by humans.

Guan Zhong, a government officer 400 years ahead of Xunzi, was also an environmental protection expert. He said "a king who cannot protect his vegetation is not doing a good job".

The world's earliest environmental protection ministry"

Nine ministries set up by Shim, an ancient Chinese emperor, included "Yu"（虞） , an environmental protection ministry. Hie first " Yu'' leader was Boyi, an environmental protection expert. He invented wells so people could drink clean water. He knew a lot about animals and also called for animal protection.

The world's earliest "environmental protection law"

Over 4, 000 years ago, Dayu, an ancient Chinese water-control expert and also an emperor, made a rule, not allowing people to cut down trees in March or catch fish in June, because it was the time when they grew quickly.

Almost 3,000 years ago, Tianlv, the first environmental protection law, appeared in Qin. It recorded many ancient environmental protection rules. Two of them were interesting: firstly, rivers should not be blocked（堵塞）; secondly, grass and trees should not be burned to be fertilizer （肥料）except for summer. The second one is inspiring even for today. It can help to keep air clean and fresh.

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