1、in a box to keep warm. Every morning, Murray got out of bed at five oclock and worked several hours before breakfast. Often he would work by the candle light into the evening. Murray hoped to finish the new dictionary in ten years. But after five years, he was still adding words for the letter A! th
2、en others went to work with Murray, including his two daughters. He worked on the dictionary until he was very old. Forty-four years later, in1928, other editors finished it. It included more than 15,000 pages in twelve books. And you thought your dictionary was big! Unit 3 JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG P
3、ART 1 THE DREAM AND THE PLAN My name is Wang Kun. Ever since middle school, my sister Wang Wei and I have dreamed about taking a great bike trip. Two years ago she bought an expensive mountain bike and then she persuaded me to buy one. Last year, she visited our cousins, Dao Wei and Yu Hang at their
4、 college in Kunming. They are Dai and grew up in western Yunnan Province near the Lancang River, the Chinese part of the river that is called the Mekong River in other countries. Wang Wei soon got them interested in cycling too. After graduating from college.we finally got the chance to take a bike
5、trip. I asked my sister, “Where are we going?“ It was my sister who first had the idea to cycle along the entire Mekong River from where it begins to where it ends. Now she is planning our schedule for the trip. I am fond of my sister but she has one serious shortcoming. She can be really stubborn.
6、Although she didnt know the best way of getting to places, she insisted that she organize the trip properly. Now, I know that the proper way is always her way. I kept asking her, “When are we leaving and when are we coming back?“ I asked her whether she had looked at a map yet. Of course, she hadnt;
7、 my sister doesnt care about details. So I told her that the source of the Mekong is in Qinghai Province. She gave me a determined lookthe kind that said she would not change her mind. When I told her that our journey would begin at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres, she seemed to be excited abo
8、ut it. When I told her the air would be hard to breathe and it would be very cold, she said it would be an interesting experience. I know my sister well. Once she has made up her mind, nothing can change it. Finally, I had to give in. Several months before our trip,Wang Wei and I went to the library
9、. We found a large atlas with good maps that showed details of world geography. From the atlas we could see that the Mekong River begins in a glacier on a Tibetan mountain. At first the river is small and the water is clear and cold. Then it begins to move quickly. It becomes rapids as it passes thr
10、ough deep valleys, travelling across western Yunnan Province. Sometimes the river becomes a waterfall and enters wide valleys. We were both surprised to learn that half of the river is in China. After it leaves China and the high altitude,the Mekong becomes wide，brown and warm. As it enters Southeas
11、t Asia, its pace slows. It makes wide bends or meanders through low valleys to the plains where rice grows. At last, the river delta enters the South China Sea. PART2 A NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS Although it was autumn,the snow was already beginning to fall in Tibet.Our legs were so heavy and cold that
12、they felt like blocks of ice.Have you ever seen snowmen ride bicycles?Thats what we looked like! Along the way children dressed in long wool coats stopped to look at us.In the late afternoon we found it was so cold that our water bottles froze.However,the lakes shonelike glass in the setting sun and
13、 looked wonderful.Wangwei rode in front of me as usual.She is very reliable and I knew I didnt need to encourage her. To climb the mountains was hard work but as we looked around us, we were surprised by the view. We seemed to be able to see for miles. At one point we were so high that we found ours
14、elves cycling through clouds. Then we began going down the hills. It was great fun especially as it gradually became much warmer. In the valleys colourful butterflies flew around us and we saw many yaks and sheep eating green grass. At this point we had to change our caps, coats,gloves and trousers
15、for T-shirts and shorts. In the early evening we always stop to make camp.We put up our tent and then we eat. After supper Wang Wei put her head down on her pillow and went to sleep but I stayed awake. At midnight the sky became clearer and the stars grew brighter. It was so quiet. There was almost
16、no windonly the flames of our fire for company. As I lay beneath the stars I thought about how far we had already travelled. We will reach Dali in Yunnan Province soon, where our cousins Dao Wei and Yu Hang will join us. We can hardly wait to see them! PART 6 THE END OF OUR JOUNEY Cambodia was in ma
17、ny ways similar to Laos, although it has twice the population. At another inn, we talked with a teacher who told us that half of the people in her country couldnt read or write. Her village couldnt even afford to build a school, so she had to teach outside under a large tent. When we said goodbye, w
18、e all felt very lucky to have studied in college.Back on the road, we passed between many hills and forests. Then we came to the plains and entered Phnom Penh,the capital of Cambodia. In many ways it looked like Vientiane and Ho Chi Minh City; it also had wide streets with trees in rows and old Fren
19、ch houses.Unlike Vientiane, ships could travel the Mekong River here.In the center of the city we visited the palace and a beautiful white elephant. It can only be seen outside the palace on special days. We ate an early supper and went to see a great temple with floors made of sliver. The next morn
20、ing our group slept late. We were very tired from the long bike ride the day before. Cycling in the hills had been diffcuilt.Now our couins had the chance to make jokes about Wangwei and me. Perhaps,they said,they were the strong ones!We had lunch at a nice outdoor cafe,then rode out of the city. Tw
21、o days later we crossed the border into Vietnam. We began to see many more people,but I wasnt surprised .I read in an atlas before our trip that Vietnam has almost seven times the population of Cambodia. We met a farmer who gave us directions and told us that he grows a new rice crop four times ever
22、y year so he can feed more people.He also told us that the northern part of his country has many mountains and it is much cooler than here in the south,where it is flat.Although the flat delta made it easier for us to cycle.we got warm very quickly.So we drank lots of water and ate lots of bananas.S
23、oon the delta separated into nine smaller rivers.Two days later,after we had passed thousands of rice fields,we came to the sea. We were tired but also in high spirits:our dream to cycle along the Mekong River had finally come true. Unit 4 A NIGHT THE EARTH DIDT SLEEP Strange things were happening i
24、n the countriside of northest HeBei.For there days the water in the village wells rose and fell, rose and fell.Farmers noticed that the well walls had deep cracks in them. A smelly gas came out of the cracks. In the farmeryards,the chickens and even the pigs were too nervous to eat.mice ran out of t
25、he fields looking for places to hide.fish jumped out of their bowls and ponds.At about 3:00am on July 28,1976,some people saw bright lights in the sky.The sound of the planes could be heard outside the city,who thought little of these events,were asleep as usual that night. At3:42 am everything bega
26、n to shake.It seemed as if the world was at an end!Eleven kilometres directly below the city the greast earthquake of 20th century had begun. It was felt in Beijing,which is more thantwo hundred kilometres away. One-third of the nation felt it .A huge crack that was eight kilometres long and thirty
27、metres wide cut across houses,roads and canals.Steam burst from holes in the ground. Hard hills of rock became rivers of dirt. In fifteen terrible seconds a large lay in ruins.The suffering of the people was extreme. Tow-thirds of them died or were injured during the earthquake.Thounds of families w
28、ere killed and many chidren were left without parents. The number of people who were killed or injured reached more than 400,000. But how could the survivors believe it was natural?Everywhere they looked nearly everything was destroyed. All of the citys hospitals,75%of its factories and buildings an
29、d 90%of its homes were gone. Bricks covered the ground like red autumn leaves. No wind, however,could below they away. Two dams and most of the bridges also fell or were not safe for travelling. The railway tracks were now useless pieces of steel. Tens of thousands of cows in a box to keep warm. Eve
30、ry morning, Murray got out of bed at five oclock and worked several hours before breakfast. Often he would work by the candle light into the evening. Murray hoped to finish the new dictionary in ten years. But after five years, he was still adding words for the letter A! then others went to work wit
31、h Murray, including his two daughters. He worked on the dictionary until he was very old. Forty-four years later, in1928, other editors finished it. It included more than 15,000 pages in twelve books. And you thought your dictionary was big! Unit 3 JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG PART 1 THE DREAM AND THE PL
32、AN My name is Wang Kun. Ever since middle school, my sister Wang Wei and I have dreamed about taking a great bike trip. Two years ago she bought an expensive mountain bike and then she persuaded me to buy one. Last year, she visited our cousins, Dao Wei and Yu Hang at their college in Kunming. They
33、are Dai and grew up in western Yunnan Province near the Lancang River, the Chinese part of the river that is called the Mekong River in other countries. Wang Wei soon got them interested in cycling too. After graduating from college.we finally got the chance to take a bike trip. I asked my sister, “
34、Where are we going?“ It was my sister who first had the idea to cycle along the entire Mekong River from where it begins to where it ends. Now she is planning our schedule for the trip. I am fond of my sister but she has one serious shortcoming. She can be really stubborn. Although she didnt know th
35、e best way of getting to places, she insisted that she organize the trip properly. Now, I know that the proper way is always her way. I kept asking her, “When are we leaving and when are we coming back?“ I asked her whether she had looked at a map yet. Of course, she hadnt; my sister doesnt care abo
36、ut details. So I told her that the source of the Mekong is in Qinghai Province. She gave me a determined lookthe kind that said she would not change her mind. When I told her that our journey would begin at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres, she seemed to be excited about it. When I told her the
37、 air would be hard to breathe and it would be very cold, she said it would be an interesting experience. I know my sister well. Once she has made up her mind, nothing can change it. Finally, I had to give in. Several months before our trip,Wang Wei and I went to the library. We found a large atlas w
38、ith good maps that showed details of world geography. From the atlas we could see that the Mekong River begins in a glacier on a Tibetan mountain. At first the river is small and the water is clear and cold. Then it begins to move quickly. It becomes rapids as it passes through deep valleys, travell
39、ing across western Yunnan Province. Sometimes the river becomes a waterfall and enters wide valleys. We were both surprised to learn that half of the river is in China. After it leaves China and the high altitude,the Mekong becomes wide，brown and warm. As it enters Southeast Asia, its pace slows. It
40、 makes wide bends or meanders through low valleys to the plains where rice grows. At last, the river delta enters the South China Sea. PART2 A NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS Although it was autumn,the snow was already beginning to fall in Tibet.Our legs were so heavy and cold that they felt like blocks of i
41、ce.Have you ever seen snowmen ride bicycles?Thats what we looked like! Along the way children dressed in long wool coats stopped to look at us.In the late afternoon we found it was so cold that our water bottles froze.However,the lakes shonelike glass in the setting sun and looked wonderful.Wangwei
42、rode in front of me as usual.She is very reliable and I knew I didnt need to encourage her. To climb the mountains was hard work but as we looked around us, we were surprised by the view. We seemed to be able to see for miles. At one point we were so high that we found ourselves cycling through clou
43、ds. Then we began going down the hills. It was great fun especially as it gradually became much warmer. In the valleys colourful butterflies flew around us and we saw many yaks and sheep eating green grass. At this point we had to change our caps, coats,gloves and trousers for T-shirts and shorts. I
44、n the early evening we always stop to make camp.We put up our tent and then we eat. After supper Wang Wei put her head down on her pillow and went to sleep but I stayed awake. At midnight the sky became clearer and the stars grew brighter. It was so quiet. There was almost no windonly the flames of
45、our fire for company. As I lay beneath the stars I thought about how far we had already travelled. We will reach Dali in Yunnan Province soon, where our cousins Dao Wei and Yu Hang will join us. We can hardly wait to see them! PART 6 THE END OF OUR JOUNEY Cambodia was in many ways similar to Laos, a
46、lthough it has twice the population. At another inn, we talked with a teacher who told us that half of the people in her country couldnt read or write. Her village couldnt even afford to build a school, so she had to teach outside under a large tent. When we said goodbye, we all felt very lucky to h
47、ave studied in college.Back on the road, we passed between many hills and forests. Then we came to the plains and entered Phnom Penh,the capital of Cambodia. In many ways it looked like Vientiane and Ho Chi Minh City; it also had wide streets with trees in rows and old French houses.Unlike Vientiane
48、, ships could travel the Mekong River here.In the center of the city we visited the palace and a beautiful white elephant. It can only be seen outside the palace on special days. We ate an early supper and went to see a great temple with floors made of sliver. The next morning our group slept late.
49、We were very tired from the long bike ride the day before. Cycling in the hills had been diffcuilt.Now our couins had the chance to make jokes about Wangwei and me. Perhaps,they said,they were the strong ones!We had lunch at a nice outdoor cafe,then rode out of the city. Two days later we crossed the border into Vietnam. We began to see many more people,but I wasnt surprised .I read in an atlas before our trip that Vietnam has almost seven times the population of Cambodia.
