A farmer grew some vegetables in his garden. One day his wife was ill and he had no money. He had to sell some cabbages and carrots in the market. The next morning he took two baskets of vegetables to town, but it was raining hard that afternoon and there were few people in the street. When his vegetables were sold out, it was dark. He bought some medicine and hurried to his village.

    On his way home he saw a person lying on the ground. He placed his baskets on the ground and was going to help the person to get up. At that time he found it was a dead man and there was much blood on his body. He was so afraid that he ran away quickly, without taking his baskets.

    The next afternoon the farmer was sent to the police station. Having shown the baskets, an officer asked, “Are these yours? ” “Yes, sir. ” The farmer answered timidly（胆怯地）. “Have you killed the man?” “No, no, sir.” The farmer said in a hurry. “When did you see the dead man?” “About seven last evening. ” “Did you see who killed the man?” “No, sir. ” The officer brought out a knife and asked, “Have you seen it yet?” “No, sir. ” The officer became angry and told the policemen to beat him up and sent him into prison.

    That evening the officer went on trying. Pointing to the knife, he asked again, “Have you seen it yet?” “ yes, sir.” The officer was happy and asked, “When and where?” “I saw it here this afternoon, sir.”

    “Soon, you're going to have to move out!” cried my neighbor upon seeing the largest tomato plant known to mankind, or at least known in my neighborhood.

    One tiny 9-inch plant, bought for $1.25 in the spring, has already taken over much of my rose bed, covering much of other plants, and is well on its way to the front door.

    Roses require a good deal of care, and if it weren't for the pleasure they give, it wouldn't be worth the work. As it is, I have a garden full of sweet-smelling roses for most of the year. bushes must be pruned(剪枝) in early spring, leaving ugly woody branches until the new growth appears a few weeks later. It was the space available(可用的) in the garden that led me into planting just one little tomato plant. A big mistake.

    Soil conditions made just perfect for roses turn out to be even more perfect for tomatoes. The daily watering coupled with full sun and regular fertilizing(施肥) have turned the little plant into a tall bush. The cage I placed around it as the plant grew has long since disappeared under the thick leaves.

    Now the task I face in harvesting the fruit is twofold; First, I have to find the red ones among the leaves, which means I almost have to stand on my head, and once found I have to reach down and under, pick the tomatoes and withdraw(缩回) my full fist without dropping the prize so dearly won. I found two full-blown white roses completely hidden as I picked tomatoes in June, but they were weak and the leaves already yellow for lack of light.

    Here I am faced with a painful small decision: To tear up a wonderful and productive tomato plant that offers up between ten and twenty ripe sweet tomatoes each day or say goodbye to several expensive and treasured roses. Like Scarlett in Gone With the Wind, I'll think about that tomorrow.

HEARST CASTLE, CA

    Hearst Castle is open for tours daily, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Tour A — The Grand Rooms

    View the ground floor rooms of La Casa Grande where Mr. Hearst's guests met their host and were entertained during their stay. See the Assembly Room, where guests met for cocktails, the Refectory, where meals were served, the Morning Room, Billiard Theater. Your knowledgeable guide will bring this big house to life sharing stories about Mr. Hearst, his many guests, and the art collection it contains.

Prices: Adults: $25.00; Children: $12.00.

Tour B—The Upstairs Suites (套房)

    This tour features rooms on the upper floors of Casa Grande. Travel through guest suites on your way to the Library where Mr. Hearst housed a collection of 2,000-year-old Greek pots. Visit Mr. Hearst's private third floor suite including his bedroom and private study where he held business meetings. Learn about the genius of architect Julia Morgan and the way she put Mr. Hearst's art collection into the design.

Prices: Adults: $20.00; Children: $10.00.

Tour C—Evening Tour

    This tour allows visitors to experience the Castle at night as a visitor to the Castle in the 1930s might have. It features highlights from the experience, Upper Floors of Casa Grande, and Garden tours.

Evening tours are offered on most Fridays and Saturdays during March—May & October — December.

Prices: Adults: $36.00; Children: $18.00.

Tour D—Accessible Holiday Twilight

    This tour is wheelchair accessible. Visitors who have difficulty climbing stairs, or who cannot stand or walk for extended period, may also benefit from this tour. Accessible transportation is provided from the Visitor Center to all areas of the Holiday at Hearst Castle tour. Call 866-712-2286 for additional information.

Prices: Adults: $30.00; Children: $15.00.

    SPORTS EVENTS

    BASKETBALL:

    Central Sports Centre. City Road.

    All Stars vs Rockets, Saturday 8: 30 p.m. $12

    Northerners vs Tigers, Sunday noon $14

    BUSHWALKING (越野走)：

    Meet at Wanda Station, Saturday 9:00 a.m. sharp for 3-hour walk to Canary Mountains. $7, ph 341-5432 Meet at Westley Station, Sunday 9:00 a.m. sharp for a full day walk to Wombak Valley. $5, ph 341-8643. Bring your own lunch.

    FOOTBALL:

    St Martins Sports Centre

    St Martins vs Doonsberg, Saturday 2:00 p.m. $8

    Eastside Central vs Light Hill, Sunday 2:00 p.m. $8

    Neill Park Recreation Centre

    Neill Park vs Robinson, Saturday 2:00 p.m. $11

    Essen vs Springwood, Sunday 2:00 p.m. $11

    LAWN BOWLS(草坪滚木球）：

    Tans Town B.C

    Tans Town vs White Vale, Saturday 9:00 p.m. $10

    Wake Hill B.C.

    Wake Hill vs Colls, Saturday 2: 00 p.m. $9

    Robots come in many shapes and sizes. But most have one thing in common. They are built to help people. Lately engineers have been developing new kinds of humanoid robots. These high-tech machines are designed to lend a hand everywhere from hotels to disaster areas.

    "Robots help people by making their lives easier, safer, and more fun," says engineer Omar Abdelwahed.

    Since November, a robot named pepper has been on the job at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. When guests have questions or need directions, they can ask Pepper. They can also use the robot's touch screen to find the information they need. Pepper is able to talk with guests and entertain them with stories too. It can even tell what kind of mood they are in.

    "Pepper provides our guests with information in an exciting and new way," says hotel manager Donald Bowman.

    For a kid, being in the hospital can be boring and even scary. But a small robot called NAO is helping to make hospital stays easier. It was designed to keep people company.

    A Tennessee doctor named Phil Parker bought a NAO robot three years ago. He programmed it to talk to and play with young patients. He brings it to hospitals to help sick kids. When kids get medical tests, NAO explains what is going on. The robots also reads to kids and plays games with them like rock, paper, scissors.

    "The robot gets many kids to smile for the first time since they've been in the hospital," Parker says.

    Other robots are being developed to help in places where it's hard or risky for people to go. For example, disaster areas can be full of rubble and other dangers. Engineers in Japan are building a robot called E2-DR to go into those areas and search for people who are hurt.

    Apple and Microsoft each launched new products. One company astonished everyone. The other made people sleepy. Can you guess which was which? You probably guessed wrong. Because Apple, famous for its creative products, was the tech giant whose new product caused a collective shrug. While Microsoft, which stole a move out of the Apple Playbook, won cheers from high-end, creative-class consumers like business analysts, media designers and music producers.

    As Hayley Tsukayama remarked at The Washington Post, the Surface Studio, one of Microsoft's new products, is really just a super-sized version of the Surface Books product that Microsoft has been selling for years. But if you've ever watched science fiction movies like Minority Report-- where Tom Cruise seems to operate pictures and data hanging on mid-air by touching them, spreading his fingers to increase on details, and sending files and information sliding from one folder to another with a click of the finger, you can see how Microsoft is trying to show the same experience.

    Meanwhile, apple's new products were almost like some fine promotions for its Apple TV. They boast that the new Macbook Pro has a smaller size and more functions, and a new touch screen bar on laptop keyboards where function keys used to be.

    So what's going on? In many ways, Apple is focusing on attracting the average consumers who have been attracted by Microsoft. And Microsoft is focusing on targeting the high-end professionals Apple has historically been associated with. You can even see this is the companies' ad campaigns: Microsoft's ads stress imagination and creativity, while Apple's commercial chief performance and convenience of its Macbooks.

    So Apple is trying to control the world of devices and laptops from the top down, starting with the high-end market and moving on to appeal to a broader base of consumers. Microsoft, having already strengthened itself within the bigger low-end market, is now attempting the opposite with a bottom-up strategy. Will they succeed? Time will tell...