古德明《征服英语》之英语军事故事，古德明，香港英语教育作家，他开了一个《征服英语专栏》，在专栏中专门用英语写了世界近代史上的军事小故事，用英语讲述历史中那些惊心动魄的战争。
皇帝和工匠
one day, a roman metalworker proudly presented to emperor tiberius（ 42 bc- ad 37） a cup made from an unknown metal, which in all likelihood was aluminium. to demonstrate the amazing properties of the metal, the metalworker dashed the cup to the ground, denting it badly. he then produced a small hammer and effortlessly knocked out all the dents until the cup appeared as good as new.
tiberius was greatly astonished, but then he had the unfortunate man dragged away and beheaded, and his workplace razed to the ground. he was afraid that the new wonder metal would devalue his fortune in gold and silver.
it was not until the mid-19th century that the secret of aluminium was rediscovered.
