A Little Boat Under the Microscope

One quiet summer afternoon, Xiao Ming was using a microscope in his school's science lab to examine a pond-water sample. When he focused the lens on a drop of water, he was astonished to discover an entirely new world. Paramecia swam like little boats, their cilia waving in the water. Amoebas constantly changed shape, extending pseudopods to swallow food. Flagellates darted around, propelled by their long, slender flagella. A ciliate eagerly guided a paramecium through a "forest of algae," where it met all kinds of microbial neighbors. Xiao Ming looked up from the microscope, stunned to discover that a single drop of water held such a lively ecosystem. The tiny organisms depended on one another, maintaining the balance of nature. This science lesson taught him that the world invisible to the naked eye is just as full of wonders.