When my son Gene was about 12 years old, I started helping him learn to work. I bought twenty chickens and asked him to 1 them. I told him that they would be his own chickens and we would 2 the eggs from him. However he would have to buy chicken feed with the money he made from the eggs. Whatever money was left over would be his 3. Gene was excited thinking he would make lots of money 4.
After several weeks' successful 5 ， I began to notice that egg production was going down. I said nothing about it. Then one night Gene told me he didn't have 6 money to buy the feed. He said the chickens had never missed a meal and he could not figure out why some of them had stopped 7 eggs.
Then I asked him if he had 8 the amount of feed he had given the chickens. He was 9. It was like he did not think 10 would ever know what he had done. After a long 11 he said yes. He thought he would make more money if he gave them 12 food. I asked him, "Did you fool the chickens?"
I was just astonished (震惊）at the question in my own 13. I was dumbfounded (惊呆）at the meaning of it. Yes, you can fool everyone else 14 you cannot "fool the chickens", because 15, you will find out as the saying goes "What goes around comes around" .
