Customs officers are not always strong in judgement. When you are going through the Green Channel and have nothing to declare, you are often made to feel guilty, for they may stop you for inspection. But a real smuggler, however,is never troubled by such feelings,even if he has five hundred gold watches hidden in his suitcase.

Recently, when I returned from abroad, a particularly officous young Customs officer clearly regarded me as a smuggler.

"Have you anything to declare?" He gazed at me and asked.

"No."I answered confidently.

"Could I open your suitcase?" He asked.

"Of course." I answered unwillingly.

Then he went through my case carefully. All the things were soon in a terrible mess. I got angry but i could do nothing.Suddenly, i saw the officer's face light up. He had found a bottle in my case and he pounced on it with delight.

"Perfume,en?" He said sarcasticaly,"Perfume is not exemp from import duty, you should have declared."

"But it is not perfume, it is hair gel." I explained rapidly.

But he was still sceptical about it, so I persuaded him to smell it.

As soon as he had opened the bottle, he was greeted by a funny smell. I eventrally made him believe that I was telling the truth.

A few minutes later, I was able to hurry away with precious chalk marks on my baggage.

Cats always fascinate human beings. Sometimes they can be friendly and affectionate towards humans, but they never become submissive like dogs and horses. They lead mysterious lives of their own. As a result, humans have learned to respect feline independence.

Most people are intrested in the popular belief that cats have nine lives. Cats can survive in the falls from great heights is sopported by enough facts.

Recently, a study of 132 cats was made by New York Animal Medical Centre.All these cat had fallen off high buildings, yet only eight of them died fromshock or inguries. One cat fell 32 storeys, yet only suffered from a broken tooth.

In a long drop, cats reach speeds of 60 miles an hour and more. They behave like well-trained paratroopers, they strech out their legs like flying squirrels. Because this can increas their air-resistance and reduce the shock of impact when they hit the ground.

After many years of hard work, Mr Taylor succeeded in opening a jewellery shop of his own.

The first day of opening,he went to his shop early, his assistants had been working busily for hours and had only just finished. Now diamand neaklaces and rings had been beautifully arranged on a background of black velvet. At that time of the morning, there were not many shops open, the whole street was very quiet. When Mr Taylor gazed at the display,he felt very proud.Then he went back into his his shop.

But the silence suddenly was broken. Alarge car with its headlight on and its horn braring rushed into the street and stopped outside the shop. Two men, their faces covered with black stacking jumped out and smashed the window. One of thieves was struck by a heavy status, but he was too busy grabbing the diamands to notice any pain.The raid lasted three minutes, for the thieves scrambled back into the car and it moved off at a fantaxtic speed. Just as it was leaving , Mr.Taylor rushed out and ran after it throwing ashtrays and vases,but it was too late to stop the thieves. They had got away with thousands of pounds worth of diamands.

Some time ago, an American team explored a temple which stands in an ancient city on the Agean island of Kea.

The archaeologists discovered some interesting things. This dity at one time must have been prosperous,for it enjoyed a high level of civilization.All the houses were built of stone.The rooms were very large and the walls were decorated beautifully. To their surprise, the city was even equipped with a drainage system,for a great many clay piples were found beneath the narrow streets.

The temple was used as a place of worship from the fifteenth century BC until Roman time.On entering one of the most sacred rooms,the archaeologists found clay fragments of fifteen statues.Each of these represented a goddess and they at one time had been painted. The body of one statue was found among remains dating from the fifteenth century BC,but its missing head happened to be among remains of the fifth century BC. When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments carefully, they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a very modern looking woman. She looked old but was very graceful.

So far,the archaeologists have been unable to discover her identity.