A college boy, not knowing that it takes hard work to make money, was attracted by an advertisement that promised to make a lot of money easily. The boys soon realized that if things seemed too good to be true, they might not be true.

Make big money easily

John? g？ Haberler

"You should see this," I suggested to our two college sons. "If you want to avoid always asking for money and losing your dignity, this may be a way." I will give them some magazines, hang them on our doorknobs and put them in plastic bags. There is a sentence printed on the plastic bag, which is easy and profitable for recruiters to send such a bag. ("Make a lot of money easily!" )

"I don't care about losing my dignity," replied the eldest son.

"I can stand it," echoed his brother.

"I'm sorry to see that you two are used to asking for money without feeling embarrassed at all," I said.

The children said they could consider sending magazines. I was very happy to hear the news, so I left the city on business. At midnight, I left home and settled comfortably in a hotel room. The phone rang. It was my wife. She wants to know how my day was.

"Great!" I am happy to say. "How have you been?" I asked.

"Great!" She shouted sarcastically. "That's great! And this is just the beginning. Another truck just stopped in front of the door. "

"Another truck?"

"The third car tonight. The first car placed 4000 advertisements for Montgomery Ward Department Store. The second car placed 4000 advertisements for Sears-Robock Department Store. I don't know what's in this one, but I'm sure it's another 4 thousand or something. Now that you have contributed to this matter, I thought you might want to know the progress of the matter. "

The reason why I was accused is this: due to a strike of newspaper workers, the advertisement inserts usually sandwiched in Sunday newspapers had to be sent directly. The company promised to give our children 600 yuan, and the task was to deliver these advertisement inserts to 4000 households before Sunday morning.

"As easy as blowing off dust!" Our eldest son cried when he was in college.

"Six hundred dollars!" His brother replied, "We can finish it in two hours!" "

"Sears and Ward's ads are usually as big as four pages of newspapers," my wife told me. "Now there are 32,000 pages of advertisements piled on our porch. As we were talking, two big men came up with a big bag of advertisements. What can we do with so many advertisements? "

"You tell the children to do it quickly," I instructed. "They are all college students. They must do their own thing. "

At noon the next day, I returned to the hotel and saw an urgent message asking me to call my wife at once. Her voice was unnaturally high and a little shaky. Several truckloads of advertising inserts were delivered home. There are department stores, thrift stores, grocery stores, grocery stores, auto shops and so on. Some are as thick as a magazine. We have hundreds of thousands of pages of advertisements here, maybe millions of pages! Our whole house is covered with advertisements from the east wall to the west wall and from the south wall to the north wall, pile after pile, taller than your eldest son. Now there is only a little space left, just enough for one person to walk in, take one from each of the eleven kinds of inserts, roll them together, put on a rubber band and stuff them into a plastic bag. Our plastic bags are enough for all take-away restaurants in America! "When she spoke, her voice grew louder and louder, almost deafening. "So many advertisements must be put out before seven o'clock on Sunday morning."

"Well, you'd better let the children tie up their luggage as soon as possible, and I'll talk to you later. I have a lunch appointment. "

When I came back from dinner, my wife called again urgently.

"Did you have a good lunch?" She asked in a sweet voice. The steak I ate was great, but I learned a lesson this time, so I'd better not talk about it.

"Terrible," I reported. "What kind of sour fish? I think it's probably an eel. "

"Not bad. Your son, a college student, has hired their younger brothers and sisters and two or three children from neighbors to help, each with a salary of five yuan, and set up an assembly line. In diplomatic terms, things are "progressing". "

"This is really encouraging."

"No, it isn't," she corrected. "On the contrary, it is very frustrating. They have been working for hours. Packed plastic bags have been piled up to the ceiling, but all efforts have had little effect. These advertising materials are like constantly producing themselves! "

"One more thing," she went on, "your son who is going to college must understand that it is impossible to force employees to work hard by threatening them with beatings."

When I was talking to my eldest son, I growled, "If you threaten those children again, I'll be rude to you! Idiot! You should give bonuses to the workers who pack the most bags. "

"But it will reduce our profits," he warned.

"If those children don't help you put out all the advertisements on time, you won't get any profit. If they don't do it, you two will have to remove all the advertisements yourself. And you can't eat or sleep until you move them. "

There was a short silence on the phone and he was thinking. Then he said, "Dad, you just enlightened me deeply and made me suddenly realize."

"Then do it!"

"Yes, sir!"

By the next night, my wife had a lot to report. The bonus plan was effective, but later some people expressed doubts about whether it could be cashed, and proposed to show the money to everyone. Then an activist in the workers' team claimed that the boss took hundreds of dollars each, and the workers had no reason to be satisfied with five dollars each plus a little competition bonus. The labor organization announced that all workers were paid five yuan an hour! They stopped working for a minute before the boss agreed.

The strike lasted less than two hours. Through mediation, the two sides reached an agreement, two yuan per hour. Gradually, many advertisements began to decrease.

As a result, all the work was completed three hours before the deadline of 7: 00 on Sunday morning. By the time I got home, the children had settled the accounts. Labor cost 150 yuan, gas cost 40 yuan and 40 yuan bought gifts-several boxes of candy for their helpful neighbors, who volunteered to drive their cars to help deliver them, and a dozen roses for their mothers. Excluding the above expenses, they each get 185 yuan-about two-thirds of their minimum wage of 9 1 hour. Even so, as one son said, it is "enough" to spend some time to let them "avoid that shameful thing"

A few weeks passed and everything was fine. Later, one Saturday morning, the strange behavior of our two youngest sons caught my attention. They kept moving one carton after another out of the corner of the house, past the front door and onto the sidewalk. I thought their mother was directing them to move the garbage so that the garbage truck could take it away. Just then, I heard them talking about economic problems.

"Oh, we will make a lot of money!"

"We're going to be rich!"

Upon inquiry, we found that they were "selling or renting" all our books.

"no! No! " I cried. "Our books can't be sold!"

"Oh, Dad, we thought you didn't need them!"

"Books will never be used," I tried to explain.

"Are you sure you don't have to. You saw it all. You don't need it anymore. There is nothing wrong. Since we don't need it, it's better to sell some money. We want to avoid that shameful thing and stop asking you for it ... "

2 unit

Can we learn anything from deer? During the "energy crisis" of 1973- 1974, the author of this article was living in northern Minnesota and was able to observe how deer survived when winter came. The experience he gained from the way deer store energy can also be applied to our daily life.

Deer and energy cycle

Allen? n？ Mohn

Some people say that love drives the world; Others who are not so romantic and practical say that it is not love, but money. But the fact is that energy drives the world. Energy is the currency of the ecosystem. Only when food is converted into energy, and energy is used to obtain more food for growth, reproduction and survival, can life become possible. All life depends on this cycle.

It is almost well known that wild animals can survive year after year, mainly by eating as much as possible in the peak season of summer and autumn. Usually, the excess parts are stored in the form of fat, and then these stored fats are used to maintain life in the difficult period of food shortage in winter. However, it is probably little known that even with stored fat, wild animals consume less energy in winter than in summer.

White-tailed deer is a good example. Like most wild animals, deer breed, grow and store fat in summer and autumn when there are abundant nutrients and food. A mature and robust doe became pregnant in November and gave birth to two fawns in late May or June. At this time, she must find food to get the necessary energy, not only to meet her own needs, but also to produce milk for the young deer. The best time to produce milk is also when plants are flourishing. This timing is very good, because milk production is an energy-consuming process-it needs a lot of food, and unless there are abundant food resources in this area, it can't meet this consumption.

With the passage of summer, fawns are growing, and they become less dependent on the mother deer's milk and more dependent on growing plants as food sources. Male adult deer grow antlers in summer to fatten their bodies. In autumn, both male deer and female deer continue to eat high-quality food and store body fat for winter. As for the doe and young deer, because a lot of energy is used for milk production or growth, the fat accumulation rate is not as fast as that of the fully mature stag. Fat reserves are like deposits in banks. They can be used in winter when food sources are insufficient and sometimes it is difficult to get because of the deep snow.

With the coming of autumn and winter, other changes will take place: young deer lose the markings on their fur, and all deer's hair becomes thicker and darker. The change of fur usually lasts until September. Hair grows thickest when it gets cold in June 5438+065438+ 10 or June 5438+February.

In addition, nature also provides deer with further protection to help them spend the winter-the physiological functions in the body are adjusted accordingly, which slows down metabolism, that is, the speed of physiological activities, thus reducing energy consumption. Deer become a little dull and sleepy. Their heart rate slows down. Hibernating animals have a better habit of conserving energy than deer. Although deer don't hibernate, their habit of changing metabolic rhythm with the seasons is the same. In summer and autumn when food is plentiful, deer consume more energy and store fat. When food is scarce in winter, they consume less energy and use the stored fat.

During 1973- 1974, when the "energy crisis" first appeared, my family and I lived on the edge of a deer wintering ground in northern Minnesota. We live in a small house, observing the living habits of deer, observing how they become less active from summer and autumn with the arrival of winter, and how they increase their activities when the spring is warm and the snow melts.

At that time, the radio often warned us: "There is no need not to drive." "Put on more clothes to keep warm. Please turn down the thermostat on the boiler." These words sound both interesting and funny. Because at the same time, we have been watching the deer reduce their activities, grow thick winter hair and slow down their metabolism. They have been like this for thousands of years. From the biological point of view, it is reasonable for deer to reduce the energy consumption needed for survival to increase their chances of wintering.

Of course, not every winter is dangerous for deer. If there is less snow in winter, the survival rate and fertility will be high in the next spring. However, if the snow is deep and the weather is cold for several weeks, the deer will have to spend more energy to move and it will be more difficult to find food. At this time, they will have to rely more on their own fat reserves to spend the winter. If this situation lasts too long, some deer will die, and only the biggest and strongest can survive. For wild animals like deer, this is a fundamental survival rule.

Indeed, life and death have been going on. When animals die, their bodies are converted into energy and become food for other life forms.

This cycle will never stop.

Unit 3

Can you prove that the earth is round? Come and have a try! Will you rely on your own intelligence or have to quote experts?

Why do we believe that the earth is round?

George? Orwell

I remember somewhere-I think in the preface of Joan of Arc-Bernard Shaw commented that we are more credulous and superstitious today than in the Middle Ages. As an example of modern credulity, he quoted the widely circulated view that the earth is round. Bernard Shaw said that ordinary people can't give a coherent reason why they believe that the earth is round. He fully accepted this theory only because there was something in it that catered to the mentality of the 20th century.

Of course, Bernard Shaw exaggerates, but what he said does have some truth. This problem deserves further discussion, because it will help people to see the real situation of modern knowledge. Why on earth do we believe that the earth is round? I'm not talking about thousands of astronomers and geographers. They can prove this with observed facts or theoretical basis. I mean ordinary newspaper readers like you and me.

As for "horizon theory", I believe I can refute it. If you stand idly by at sea on a clear day, you will see masts and chimneys moving along the horizon, not the hull itself. This phenomenon can only be explained by assuming that the surface of the earth is curved. But it cannot be inferred that the earth is spherical. Imagine another theory called "the egg shape of the earth", which claims that the shape of the earth is like an egg. What can I say to refute this?

In the face of "Earth Ellipsis Theory", the first card I can play is that I can make an analogy between the sun and the moon. "Egg-shaped earth" immediately replied that my own observation could not know that those celestial bodies were spherical. I only know that they are round or flat. I have nothing to say about it. Besides, he will say, why do I think the earth must be the same shape as the sun and the moon? I can't answer that either.

My second card is the shadow of the earth: during the eclipse, the shadow cast by the earth on the moon looks like a round object. But the "egg-shaped earth" will soon ask, how do I know that the eclipse is caused by the shadow of the earth? The answer is, I don't know, I just copied the newspaper articles and popular science pamphlets.

A little confrontation was frustrated, so I played a trump card "Q": expert opinion. The director of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, should be an authority. He told me that the earth is round. "Earth Ellipsis Theory" overwhelmed my "Q" card with his "K" card. Have I checked the words of the director of the Observatory? Besides, do I know how to test it? At this time, I played my "love". Yes, I know a test method. Astronomers can predict solar eclipses, which shows that their views on the solar system are very reliable. Therefore, to my delight, I accept that their argument about the shape of the earth is reasonable.

If the "Earth Ellipsis Theory" retorts-I think he is right-that the ancient Egyptians whose sun revolves around the earth can also predict lunar eclipses, then my "Aisi" card will be destroyed immediately. I only have one card left: sailing. Man can sail around the earth to reach his destination, and the calculation of voyage is based on the assumption that the earth is spherical. I believe that this can completely defeat the "Earth Ellipsis Theory". But even so, he may still have a way to fight back.

From this, I think the earth is round, and its basis is quite unreliable. However, this is very basic knowledge. On most other issues, I have to rely on the expert's theory earlier and have fewer ways to test his conclusion. Most of our knowledge stays at this level. It does not rely on reasoning or experiment, but on authority. But if not, what can we do? The scope of knowledge is so extensive that once it goes beyond its professional scope, experts will become ignorant. For most people, if they are asked to prove that the earth is round, even these rather weak arguments I outlined above are unwilling to provide. They will say at the beginning: Everyone knows that the earth is round. If you ask any more questions, you will be angry. To some extent, Bernard Shaw is right. Now is an age of credulity. Part of the reason is that we have too much knowledge to master now.

Unit 4

On 2001September 1 1 day, a series of suicide attacks occurred in the United States. Foreign hijackers took control of four American Airlines planes, two of which crashed into the World Trade Center, the third rushed into the Pentagon, and the fourth one was said to be planning to attack another government target, but apparently it crashed in a field because of passengers' resistance. This article tells the story of a passenger.

Flight 93: What I can't understand is.

Liz. Gleeck Dan? Zegat

September 9, 2006, 5438+0 is Sunday, which is a beautiful day for the three of us. Amy just 1 1 weeks old, and we like her very much. She was born after three consecutive miscarriages in two years, so it is more precious to us. My husband Jeremy was considering changing jobs. He has been interviewed twice, and he feels quite smooth. It rained on Sunday, and we were lying in our house in northern New Jersey. We looked after Amy with a smile and went to bed early.

The next day, September 10, we were busy. Jeremy will fly from Newark to California on business. I will take Amy North to my parents' home in Windham, new york. So Jeremy can meet us there when he comes back.

That morning, for some reason, he really wanted to take care of Amy. He nursed her, bathed her and dressed her. He packed the luggage of two cars, put Amy in the car seat and kissed her. Then when we drove away, he stood aside and waved goodbye.

When I arrived in Windham, Jeremy called. His flight to San Francisco was cancelled. He won't arrive at his destination at two o'clock in the morning on the next plane. "Damn it," he said. "I want to go home, have a good sleep and get up early tomorrow." He will catch the first flight out of Newark. United airlines flight 93.

On Tuesday morning, I was trying to open the lid of a box of donuts in the kitchen when I heard my father talking about the World Trade Center. I watched the TV in the living room and saw a fire on the screen from the blackened hole in the silver outer wall of the World Trade Center Building. Then the phone rang and my father said into the microphone, "Oh, thank God, it's you." I ran into the living room. My father turned pale and handed me the microphone. "It's Jeremy," he said.

I grabbed the microphone and said, "Jill."

"Hello," he said. "Listen, there are some bad guys on the plane."

"What?"

"Three guys control the plane. They wore red hair bands and claimed to carry bombs. "

I cried immediately.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you," I said.

"Look on the bright side"

I am shaking and want to throw up, but at the same time, I know I can do my best to help Jeremy.

"I don't think I can leave here alive," he said. Then he said, "I don't want to die." Then he cursed.

"You won't die," I told him. "Jill, put Amy and me in your heart. Just look at the bright side. "

"Very well," he replied.

"Don't think about those bad things," I said.

"You have to promise me that you will live happily in the future," he said. "Amy must know that I love her very much. Whatever decision you make in the future, I will support you. " After a short pause, Jeremy said to me, "A passenger said they were hitting the World Trade Center with a plane. Is it true? "

I stood in the living room watching TV and thought, should I tell him?

"Do they want to blow up this plane or do they want to hit something with it?" He almost yelled at me.

"They won't hit the World Trade Center," I said.

"Why?"

"Because the whole World Trade Center is burning."

He said that about 30 to 35 passengers were rushed to the back of the cabin, but somehow they were left unattended.

"What about the drivers?" I asked. "Have you contacted?"

"No. Those guys just stood up and shouted and rushed into the cockpit. I have never heard of those drivers since. "

Just then, we saw a plane hit the Pentagon on TV. I thought, God bless that's not Jeremy's plane.

I told Jeremy about the new attack, and he swore again. The Pentagon incident may have hit him hard, making him realize that the fate of him and other passengers left in the back of the cabin is entirely in his own hands. "Well, I'm going to vote," he said. "There are three other people as tall as me, and we are going to bomb that guy. Do you think so? "

"Do they have guns?" I asked.

"No, I didn't see the gun. I saw a knife. " He joked, "I have a butter knife for breakfast." After a pause, he said, "I think I can subdue the guy with the bomb." Do you think this is a real bomb? "

"I don't think this is a real bomb. This is a bluff. "

"Yes, I will," said Jill.

"A faint scream"

"I think you must do this," I said to him. "You are strong and brave, and I love you."

"Okay, I'll put down the receiver and get out of here. I'll come back for it, "said Jill. I handed the microphone to my father, ran into the bathroom and threw up on the sink.

My father put the microphone to his ear and couldn't hear anything for two or three minutes. Then he heard a faint scream. They are doing this, he thought. This will inevitably cause noise. About a minute and a half later, there was a deep scream, just like people screaming when riding a roller coaster. Then there is silence.

I sat on the sofa in the living room, feeling weak all over. After a while, I got up and walked to the kitchen, and almost ran into my father coming from the opposite direction. He must have hung up. He is crying. He hugged me. I watched him cry, and I was a little numb.

"Wait a minute, do you think he's dead?" I said.

He couldn't speak, but burst into tears. I asked about five times. Then, when I finally understood, I collapsed to the ground.

Looking for Jeremy

In the next few months, I spent a lot of time looking for Jeremy. Whenever I am in great pain, I often hear his voice comforting me in my ear. I went to where the plane crashed. I wonder what happened on Flight 93 and why Jeremy died.

Now I find that I have changed my mind. Not because I don't want to know what happened, but because I believe I will never really understand the 9 1 1 incident. Has anyone declared war on us for some principle? Or are they jealous? Or do they want to show off their toughness? Are people in our country deviant and have gone too far, hurting people's hearts since ancient times? The world that Jeremy and I are familiar with is just the house we live in, a few places to walk, a few friends and our beloved family. Now it's all over, but no one can really figure out what's going on.

I think Jeremy always thought he was born with a lofty mission. I don't think Jeremy's flight 93 was accidental either. It is not just a coincidence that a passenger who has enough physical ability to thwart terrorist acts happened to take the only flight that was hijacked that day and might have a chance to fight back against the hijackers.

Jeremy died at 3 1. I have been married to him for five years, and I have been with his daughter for less than three months. But I think we are very happy. There is nothing unfinished between me and him. He always tries to bring everything we need to Amy and me. Sometimes, when I look carefully and listen carefully, I can still feel that he is by my side, guiding the progress of my life.

Unit 5

Can doctors lie to patients? Should the doctor tell the patient that he is terminally ill? These questions seem simple, but it is not so simple to give a satisfactory answer.

To lie or not to lie —— A doctor's question

Sisera? Bok

Should doctors lie for the benefit of patients-to speed up the recovery of patients or not to let patients know that death is coming? Like law, government and other industries, the medical industry often seems to pay little attention to honesty. What is important is other things, such as we should try to avoid the blow caused by terrible news, or we should consider keeping the promise of confidentiality, or we need to expose corruption or promote the public interest.

For example. A 46-year-old man had a routine physical examination before going on holiday with his family. Although he felt good about himself, the doctor found that he had some kind of cancer and would die within six months. What should the doctor tell him at this time? Is it best to tell him the truth? If he asks about the test results, should the doctor deny that he is sick? Should we minimize the severity of the disease? Should we at least hide the truth until his family vacation is over?

Doctors are often faced with such an urgent choice. From time to time, they think that it is necessary to lie for the patient's own benefit. In their view, this kind of lie is completely different from selfish lies.

The results show that most doctors are convinced that seriously ill patients don't want to know their real condition. If they tell the truth, they may completely lose hope, and as a result, they will recover more slowly or deteriorate faster, or even commit suicide. As a physician wrote, "our profession has traditionally adhered to a creed, that is,' doing as little harm as possible', which is better than the virtue of telling the truth for the sake of telling the truth."

With such guidelines, some doctors may gradually get used to using deceptive practices that they think are likely to be beneficial and "harmless" to patients. They may prescribe countless placebos, say some unsubstantiated words of encouragement and distort the severity of the disease, especially for those patients who are terminally ill and dying.

But now some people have begun to present evidence that this kind of deception is to bring benefits to patients, which is false. The results show that, contrary to what many doctors think, most patients really want to know the real situation, even seriously ill. When they learned that the doctor had not told them the truth, they felt that they had been played. We also know that telling patients the real situation properly can help them to fight the disease, help them to endure pain better, reduce medication, and even recover faster after surgery.

Lies not only can't provide the kind of "help" that people who advocate "good faith" deception hope, but also infringe on the personal freedom of patients, making them unable to make informed choices about their health, including the first choice of whether to see a doctor. We are becoming more and more aware of what kind of misfortune patients will suffer during their illness without knowing or being told the truth.

In particular, the dying patients, who are most likely to be deceived and kept in the dark, can't make all kinds of relevant choices before they die: whether to stay in the hospital or have surgery, where to spend the rest of their lives with whom, how to deal with their own affairs and then die.

Lies can also hurt liars, damage their honesty and ultimately their credibility. Lies can also hurt their colleagues. Because patients suspect cheating, the work of many doctors who are very honest with patients is also affected. The distrust of patients increases the number of medical lawsuits, which leads to the increase of "defensive diagnosis and treatment" for doctors to avoid risks, which is harmful to the whole medical cause.

Fierce conflicts are emerging. The patient began to learn to ask the truth. According to the provisions of patients' rights, doctors should inform patients of their condition and alternative treatment plans. Many doctors try their best to provide this information to patients. However, even in the most considerate hospitals, doctors who believe in "merciful" deception continue their traditional and ancient practices. Colleagues may disagree, but avoid expressing objections publicly. Nurses may hate being involved in deceiving patients day after day, but they feel powerless to resist.

It is necessary to have an open debate on this issue in time. Not only in the medical industry, but also in other industries, practitioners constantly find themselves in a dilemma that seems to be unable to avoid serious consequences without cheating. However, the public has every reason to be wary of professional deception, because it is particularly easy to be deeply rooted, spread and grow, and damage trust. No matter in the field of medicine, law, government agencies or social sciences, we should not get any comfort from the old saying that "those who don't know don't harm".