"Taobao in English":

1, Can you drink wine from an empty bottle? Long long ago, there was a rich man, he always thought about how to reduce servants' salary. One day he got an idea, and told servants: “You work for me for the whole one year, at the end of year, I will arrange you a task, if you can fulfill it, you not only get the salary, but double. However, if you can't fulfill it, you will not get your salary. You know, I like clever servant, so try to be clever.” In fact, it is a trick to servants. No one can get any salary since that time. When a young boy heard about it, he came and asked to work for the rich man. The rich man was so glad and repeated his rule to the boy, and he was sure that the boy was a fool, he could get nothing at the end of year. On new year eve, the rich man called the boy and said: “Now, it's time, here is your task: go and buy me a bottle of wine. I will pay you twice when you finish it.” However, he just gave the boy an empty bottle, but without money. The little boy said: “Sir, could you give me money for the wine?” The rich man laughed: “Buy wine with money, everyone can do, if you can buy wine without money you are clever.” The boy said nothing when he heard it but left with the bottle. The rich man thought in his mind: “Foolish boy, he will never come back and ask for money. I saved money again.” To his surprise, the boy came back after a while and smiled to the rich man: “Sir, my task finished.”But when the rich man checked the bottle, it was still empty, he got angry and said: “How can I drink from empty bottle?”The boy replied calmly:”Sir, everyone can drink from full bottle, if you can drink from empty bottle, you are clever. You should be a clever master first, right?” 2, What does snow look like? 1600 years ago, a little girl named Xie Daoyun, who was a very talented girl. Her uncle was the famous minister Xie An. In a heavy snowing day, Xie An with his niece Xie Daoyun and his nephew Xie Lang were enjoying the snow scene together. Xie An was so delighted with the snow, he said happily: “It is great to have snow, having such a beautiful view, could you tell me what snow looks like, let's see who can have a better answer.” As soon as knowing his uncle meant to test them, Xie Lang answered first: “The snow looks like sprinkling salt in sky.” Xie An shook his head and said: “Good, but snow flower dancing in the sky, it is elegant light and agile, salt not like that exactly.” Xie Lang had nothing to say about it. Just at that time, Xie Daoyun replied: “It is better to compare snow to catkin flying in the sky.” Xie An was very glad with her answer. When Xie Daoyun grew up, she became a famous poet. 3, How did the young girl rescue her father when he should be cut feet according to law? The story happened in Han dynasty about 2,000 years ago, there was a doctor named Chunyu Yi, who was accused by a businessman for making mistakes in curing patient. He would be punished by sending to Changan (Capital of China in that days) and having his feet cut. Before leaving, he said sadly to his 5 daughters: “What a pity, I don't have a boy, when something happened, no one can help me.” The girls was too sorrow and cry, just the youngest girl Ti Ying felt both sorrowful and angry. She wondered: “Why girls are so useless?” She suggested to go to Changan with her father, other family members tried to stop her but failed. 4, The biggest pear should be for your elder brother or you? Do you think the Biggest Pear Should be for Your elder Brother or You? Let's see what the 4 year old boy did. Kong Rong, a young boy who was both intelligent and diligent when he was young. He could recite lots of poems even when he was 4 years old. He was not only famous for his talent but also for his etiquette. One day, his father bought some pears, and picked up the biggest and best one for Kong Rong. To his surprise, Kong Rong refused it and picked the smallest one instead. When asked the reason, Kong Rong answered: “I am a younger child, so I should choose smaller one, the bigger ones leave for my elder brothers.” His father was really glad with him, and the story of Kong Rong shares pears was spread from generation to generation. It was a very good example for kids. 5, Can you get to know an elephant’s weight if you lived in 1,700 years ago? If you lived in 1700 years ago, there was no modern tool at that times, do you know how to weigh an elephant? Let's see what this little boy did. 1700 years ago, it was the time of Three Kingdoms Period in China. One day, the king of Wu country Sun Quan gave Cao Cao an elephant as a present. Because Cao Cao lived in north of China, he never see an elephant before, he was shocked by its size and weight and would like to know the weight of the elephant. So his ministers discussed together, someone offered his tailor-made scale, but it was broken as soon as the elephant got up on it. Someone suggested cutting the elephant into small pieces and weigh each piece, then calculate the whole weight. However, others thought it was cruel to kill the elephant just in order to know its weight, and Cao Cao liked the lovely appearance of him, and did not want to kill him either. Just at that time, Cao Chong, the 7 years old son of Cao Cao got an idea, he suggested driving the elephant to a ship and mark how deep the ship sank, then driving the elephant back, and put stones on the ship until the ship sank to the mark, at last, weigh the stones. In this way you can get the elephant weight without hurting him. It was a clever way to get to know an elephant weight in 1700 years ago. Of course, we have so many modern tools and no need to do like that, while, we have to say that Cao Chong was a smart boy.