周恩來巧妙追國寶

有一次，一位外國重要客人訪問我國結(jié)束后在上海一家大飯店的歡送宴會上，被餐桌上擺放的精美“九龍杯”所吸引，可能是因?yàn)橐焉硪?，他乘人不備之際，順手把九龍杯放到了自己的公文包里。這一舉止，被飯店的服務(wù)員看在眼里。全套酒杯只有36只，缺少了一只太可惜。如果直接到外賓的公文包內(nèi)翻取，勢必尷尬，也會造成不良影響，如果時間拖延長了，又怕夜長夢多。正在不知所措之時，飯店經(jīng)理忽然想到周恩來正在上海，便向總理作匯報(bào)，周恩來聽后說：“九龍杯是我們的國寶，不能流失，一定要追回來，而且要不傷感情地追回來。”接著，周恩來問晚上給外賓安排了什么活動，工作人員說有雜技表演。此時，周恩來笑了，說：“這不是很好的機(jī)會嗎？讓外賓欣賞一下中國魔術(shù)師的神奇嘛!”

經(jīng)過安排，策劃了魔術(shù)師巧妙取杯一幕。表演時，只聽一聲槍響，舞臺的桌子上3只九龍杯少了一只，魔術(shù)師指指空缺酒杯的地方，又指指臺下，示意杯子已變到觀眾席上了。正當(dāng)大家驚訝之時，魔術(shù)師走到那位外賓座位前說：“我把九龍杯變到尊貴客人的公文包里了?！蓖赓e不得不打開公文包，讓魔術(shù)師取出九龍杯。此時，場內(nèi)爆發(fā)出了雷鳴般的掌聲，九龍杯終于物歸原主。(史葉)

鄧寶珊投師學(xué)寫信

1949年率部起義的鄧寶珊將軍幼年喪父，因家境貧寒只讀了幾天私塾就失學(xué)了。15歲時他在新疆伊犁當(dāng)兵十分思念家中老母，可是他識字太少，連一封報(bào)平安的家信也不會寫。這時他打聽到駐地附近有一位能斷文識字的老先生就去投師求教。到了老先生家，鄧寶珊恭恭敬敬地說明來意，但這位老先生哼哼唧唧了老半天，始終沒說一個“行”字。這位老先生家里除了他和老伴外，別無他人，鄧寶珊見先生家水缸已空，二話沒說抓起扁擔(dān)就去挑水，水缸擔(dān)滿了便悄聲離去。從這天起，鄧寶珊天天來挑水，卻不提投師的事。這樣一連挑了十幾天水，老先生被感動了，他找出一本《秋水軒尺牘》說：“來吧，就學(xué)這個，學(xué)會一篇背一篇!”過了半個多月，在老先生的指點(diǎn)下，鄧寶珊熟識和背會了書中15篇文章后，便自己動手給家里寄出了第一封信。(散葉)

吳佩孚風(fēng)趣“批示”

北洋軍閥吳佩孚官至直魯豫巡閱使，時稱吳大帥，歷史上他曾干過不少壞事，但他晚年卻能堅(jiān)持民族氣節(jié)，寧死不與日寇合作，不當(dāng)漢奸，最后畫出一個人生亮點(diǎn)；此外，吳佩孚為官清廉，風(fēng)趣幽默，文采飛揚(yáng)，也可圈可點(diǎn)。

某先生曾在別處為官，貪贓枉法搜刮民脂民膏，名聲很臭，得知吳佩孚主政魯豫，便托關(guān)系欲到河南謀個官職。他將報(bào)告呈上，吳佩孚批曰：“豫民何辜？”意思是俺河南老百姓有什么過錯，為什么要忍受這樣的貪官來禍害呢？吳佩孚這種不買推薦者的賬，也不用什么“研究研究、待機(jī)酌辦”之類官話套話敷衍，以老百姓的利益為由斷然拒絕，讓人刮目相看。

他還有一樁風(fēng)趣“批示”是，當(dāng)時德國駐華公使的千金正值妙齡，對吳佩孚無限仰慕，因相思無門，徑直寫信向吳佩孚求婚。吳佩孚不識德文，吩咐秘書譯出呈上，于是那情書便成了公函，吳佩孚依例揮毫批示：“老妻尚在!”以此拒絕了投懷送抱的金發(fā)碧眼的洋妞。(陳魯民)

費(fèi)鞏設(shè)計(jì)“費(fèi)鞏燈”

1940年浙江大學(xué)流徙到遵義，在艱苦的抗日流亡時期，竺可楨邀請費(fèi)鞏擔(dān)任訓(xùn)導(dǎo)長。費(fèi)鞏接受了職位，同時表示：“吾不要訓(xùn)導(dǎo)長的薪俸，仍要教授原薪，一年可省出四五千元錢來，這筆省出的錢可用在學(xué)生物質(zhì)生活的改善上面。”上任后他身體力行，親自動手燒開水為學(xué)生殺臭蟲，學(xué)生宿舍燈光太暗他花精力設(shè)計(jì)了一種亮度大而煙氣小的植物油燈，接著他又拿自己的工資購買玻璃、鐵皮等材料，制作了800多盞分發(fā)到各宿舍，學(xué)生們稱為“費(fèi)鞏燈”。(史葉)

讓人忘不掉的侍者

秦二世胡亥雖然聽命于趙高指鹿為馬，但終被趙高逼宮自殺。這位年僅23歲的皇帝臨死之前，身邊還站立著一位侍者，這時已經(jīng)不糊涂的二世抱怨說：“你們?yōu)槭裁床辉琰c(diǎn)告訴我趙高是個壞蛋？”這位處亂不驚的侍者平靜地答：“我平時就因?yàn)椴桓艺f話，所以才活到了今天。如果我早告訴你，現(xiàn)在就不會有人陪你了?！?/p>

從此，秦二世常被后人忘記，但那個侍者卻讓人怎么也忘不掉。(李興濂)

Literary Anecdotes

Retrieving a Lost Treasure by Magic

A precious dragon cup went missing after a state banquet at a hotel restaurant. It turned out that a foreign VIP， probably in his intoxication， had put the cup away in his attaché case. The restaurant waiters saw what the guest had done， but dared not stop him from carrying it away for fear of creating a diplomatic incident. The dragon cup was very precious and was a set of 36 cups. It was out of the question to speak to the VIP about the cup. The situation was reported to premier Zhou Enlai. Zhou instructed that the state treasure must be retrieved without hurting any goodwill. After learning that an acrobat show was to be staged in the wake of the banquet， the premier smiled and decided to let the guest know the amazing power of Chinese magic. At the show， a magician made one of the three cups on the stage vanish into the thin air and then indicated that the cup had gone into the possession of someone in the audience. The magician walked off the stage to the foreign VIP， saying that the cup was in his attach?case. The audience was surprised and then burst into applauding when they saw the foreigner got the cup out of the case and handed it over to the magician. It was indeed a magic moment.

General Learned How to write

General Deng Baoshan defected to the Communists with his army in 1949. How he learned to write in his teenage years is an interesting little story. He had come from a poor family. After the death of his father， the boy dropped out of the school. When he became a soldier at the age of fifteen in Xinjiang， he missed his mother very much. He wanted to write to his mother， but the young soldier was illiterate. After learning that there was a scholar living in the neighborhood of the barracks， the teenage soldier decided to learn how to write from the old man. He visited the scholar and explained his situation. But the scholar mumbled with excuses. Deng found the old man and his wife lived alone， without anyone else taking care of them. So he decided to do something for them. He carried water and filled the big urn for the old couple. From that day on， he paid daily visit to the house and carried water for the couple without mentioning that he wanted to be a pupil. After a dozen days， the master finally changed his mind and gave the young solder a textbook on letter writing and taught him the first lesson. The master instructed him to recite each text after he had learned it. After memorizing all the fifteen lessons successfully， the young soldier was able to write his first letter home.

Warlord's Amusing Comments

Wu Peifu (1874-1939) was one of the northern warlords which ruled China for a short period of time before 1927. Unlike other warlords， Wu was a warlord with a background of accredited scholar and his life stories spark much debate among historians. For example， he killed communists， but he refused to cooperate with the Japanese invaders. And unlike other warlords， he was an honest soldier and official. During the decades of his military and government career， he never amassed wealth by venal means.

One day Wu Peifu received an official document that recommended a man for a job in Henan Province which was under the jurisdiction of Wu at that time. Wu knew the man was notorious for his venal misdeeds as a corrupt official somewhere else and Wu realized that the man must have bribed some people to have this document sent to him for appointment. Wu refused to appoint the man and wrote on the file， \"What did the people in Henan do to deserve such a punishment?\"

The daughter of a German diplomat in Beijing admired Wu so much that she one day wrote him a love letter. After receiving the letter， Wu asked his secretary to translate the letter into Chinese. The translated letter was then presented together with other official files. Wu wrote his comment on the translation: \"My old wife is still with me.\"

Fei Gong Lamp

During World War II， Zhejiang University had to vacate from Hangzhou and went on a long journey to avoid the Japanese troopers. In 1940， the university ended up in Zunyi in southwestern China's Guizhou Province. Fei Gong was at that time a professor with the university. The university president Zhu Kezhen appointed Fei dean of students. Fei accepted the appointment， but he would not accept the salary that came with the new appointment. He said he would be satisfied with a much less salary as a professor so that about 5，000 dollars saved per year could be used to help students. Fei did his best to help students ease the difficult living conditions. For example， he boiled water for students to kill bedbugs in their mats. He also designed an oil lamp that used edible oil so efficiently that it was bright but emitted little smoke. At his own expenses， Fei made over 800 lamps and distributed them to student dormitories. Students called the lamp Fei Gong lamp.

The Silent Attendant

Hu Hai was the second emperor of the Qin Dynasty. Na?ve， ignorant and young， he was a puppet under the control and manipulation of Zhao Gao， the evil rime minister. One day the prime minister decided to find out how much the court officials feared him. He showed a deer at the court and asked the court officials what it was. Those who said it was a deer were later all killed. Those who said it was a horse or did not comment kept their jobs. The prime minister later decided to force the 23-year-old emperor to commit suicide. At the last moment of his life， the young emperor was left alone with a young attendant. The emperor complained to the young attendant why no one had told him before that the prime minister was an evil man. The attendant replied， \"I am alive today because I did not dare to say anything. If I had told you the truth， you would be alone now.\" The piteous second emperor of the Qin Dynasty is not mentioned very much today， but the anonymous attendant who kept mum to survive is sometimes remembered.

(Translated by David)