STORIES ABOUT FAMOUS PERSONS

汪飛

A story About Mozar t

One day Mozart saw an old man playing the violin at the street corner. He found that the old man was playing one of his compositions（樂曲）. The old man played for some time，but the cap in front of him was still empty—nobody put any money into the cap. Mozart asked the old man，“ Do you often play compositions by Mozart？” The old man answered. “ Now everybody knows Mozart and likes his compositions. ”“Do you make a living by playing the violin？”

The old man said he did. Mozart took over the violin from the old man and began to play.

He played so well that all the passers？鄄by stopped to listen to the wonderful music and soon the old man felt surprised that the man could play so well. He asked Mozart，“Who are you，sir？”“A poor musician like you. ”Then Mozart gave the violin to the old man and went away.

Mark Twain in the Train

Mark Twain，the famous American writer，was once traveling in France. He went ty train to Dijon （a place in France）. He was very tired and wanted to sleep. He asked the conductor to wake him up when the train came to Dijon.

But first he explained that he was a very heavy sleeper. “I may possibly protest（抗議） loudly when you try to wake me up，” he said to the conductor. “But don？蒺t take any notice of what I say. Just put me off the train anyway. ”

Then Mark Twain went to sleep. Later，when he woke up it was night time and the train had reached Paris already. He realized at once that the conductor had forgotten to wake him up at Dijon. He was so angry that he ran up to the conductor and began to shout at him.

“I have never been so angry in my life. ” Mark Twain said.

The conductor looked at him calmly（平靜地）. “You are not half so angry as the American whom I put off the train just now at Dijon.”he said.

How Da Vinci Taught Drawing

A young man came to the great artist da Vinci. He wanted to learn drawing.

Da Vinci gave him an egg to draw. The young man worked quickly and showed it to the artist. “Draw it again，” said da Vinci. The young man drew another egg. When da Vinci asked him to do it the third time，the young man felt unhappy. “ I can finish drawing an egg in two minutes. Why do you keep me waiting？ Please teach me how to draw. ”

Da Vinci smiled and said，“Yes，you can. But it takes years to draw a perfect （完美的）egg. ”

Edison？蒺s Childhood

Thomas Edison was a famous American inventor. When he was a child，he was always trying out new ideas. His parents loved him very much. They called him Tom. Young Tom was in school for only three months. At school he liked asking his teacher many questions. Most of the questions were not about his lessons. His teacher thought he wasn？蒺t clever and told his mother to take him out of school.

Edison？蒺s mother had to teach him herself. Edison learnt very quickly. He read a lot. Later he became very interested in science and invented many important things.

Edison？蒺s ？搖Marriage（婚禮）

After marriage Edison took his new wife to the new house he had bought at 97 Wright Street，in New York. As soon as they were in the house alone together for the first time，Edison began to think about a problem he was having with one of his inventions. He told Mary ，his new wife，that he had to go to his office，but would soon return. Mary didn？蒺t want to be angry with him by asking him not to go. So，married only for one hour，the new husband ran to his business.

Mary spent her first day as a wife alone，fearful and tearful. Late at night Joseph Mussay，one of Edison？蒺s friends and workers，came to the office.

“Why are you here ，Tom？ ” Mussay shouted at Edison.

“What time is it？”Edison asked.

“It is twelve at night，”Mussay answered.

“I must go home，”said Edison.

Only then did he realize that he was married that day.