【正文】 wo days’ travel, the gi rls began to real ize that Canada i s quite em pty. At school, they had l earned that m ost Canadi ans li ve wi thi n a few hundred kil om etres of the USA border, and Canada’s popul ati on i s onl y sli ghtl y over thi rty m il i on, but now they were amazed to se such an em pty country. They went through a wheatgrowi ng provi nce and saw farm s that covered thousands of acres. Afrer di ner, they were back i n an urban area, the busy port ci ty of Thunder Bay at the top of the Great Lakes. Because of the Great Lakes, they l earned, Canada has m ore fresh water than any other country in the worl d. In fact, i t has onethi rd of the worl d’s total fresh water, and much of i t i s i n the Great Lakes. That ni ght as they sl ept, the trai n rushed across the top of Lake Superi or, through the great forests and southward towads Toronto. “The True North” from Toronto to Montreal The next m orning the bushes and m apl e trees outsi de thei r wi ndow were red, gol d and orange, and there was frost on the ground, confi rmi ng that fal l had arri ved i n Canada. Around noon they ari ved in Toronto, the bi gest and m ost weal thy city i n Canada. They were not l eavi ng for Montreal until l ater, so they went on a tour of the ci ty. They went up the tal CN Tower and l ooked acros the l ake. In the di stance, they coul d see the Mi sty cl oud that rose from the great N i agara Fal s, whi ch is on the south si de of the l ake. The water fl ows into the N iagara Ri ver and over the fal ls on its way to the sea. They saw the covered stadi um , hom e of several fam ous basketbal team s. As they wal ked north from the harbour area, Li Dai yu sai d, “Li n Fang, one of my m other’s old schoolm ates, li ves here. I shoul d phone her from a telephone booth. ” They m et Li n Fei around dusk i n downtown Chi natown, one of the three i n Toronto. O ver di nner at a restaurant cal ed The Pi nk Pearl, the cousins chatted wi th Lin Fei , who had m oved to Canada m any years earl i er. “We can get good Cantonese food here, ” Lin Fei tol d them, “ because m ost of the Chinese peopl e here e from South Chi na, especi al l y H ong Kong. It’s too bad you can’t go as far as Ottawa, Canada’s capi tal . It’s approxim atel y four hundred kil om eters northeast of Toronto, so i t woul d take too l ong. ” The trai n l eft l ate that ni ght and arri ved i n Montreal at dawn the next morning. At the station, peopl e everywhere were speaki ng French. There were sighs and ads i n French, but som e of them had Engli sh words i n smal er l eters. “We don39。t l eave until thi s eveni ng, ” sai d Li u Qi an. “Let’s go downtown. Old Montreal i s close to the water. ” They spent the afternoon i n l ovel y shops and visi ting artists i n their workplaces beside the water. As they sat in a Buffet restaurant looking over the broad St Lawrence River, a young man sat down wi th them . “H el lo, m y name i s Henri. I’m a student at the uni versity nearby,” he said,” and I was wonderi ng where you are from.” The girl s told him they were on a trp across Canada and that they had onl y on day in Montreal. “That39。s too bad,” he sai d. “Montreal is a city wi th wonderful restaurants and cl ubs. Most of us speak both Engli sh and French, but the city has French cul ture and traditi ons. We l ove good coffee, good bread and good music.” That night as the transfer was speeding al ong a chance to make a tri p i nto space wi th m y friend Li Yanpi ng, an astronom er. We vi si ted the m oon i n our spaceshi p! Before we l eave, Li Yanping expl ai ned to m e that the forece of the gravi ty woul d change three ti m es on our journey and that the fi rst change woul d be the m ost powerful . Then we were off. As the rocket rose i nto the ai r, we were pushed back i nto our seats because we were tryi ng to escape the pul of the earth’s gravi ty. It was so hard that we coul d not say anythi ng to each other. Gradual y the wei ght l essened and I was abl e to tal k to hi m. “ Why i s the spaceshi p not fal i ng back to the earth? O n the earth i f I fal l from a tree I wil l fal l to ground. ” I asked. “ We are too far from the earth now to feel i ts pul, “ he expl ai ned, “ so we feel as i f there is no gravi ty at al. When we get cl oser to the m oon, we shal feel its gravity pul i ng us, but i t wi l not be as strong a pul l as the earth’s. “ I cheered up imm edi atel y and fl oated wei ghtl esl y around i n our spaceshi p cabi n watchi ng the earth be e sm al l er and the m oon l arger. When we got there, I wanted to expl ore i mm edi atel y. “ Com e on, ” I sai d. “ If you are ri ght, m y m as wi l be l ess than on the earth because the m oon is sm al l er and I wi l be abl e to m ove m ore freel y. I mi ght even grow tal er i f I stay here l ong enough. I shal certai nl y weigh l ess!” I l aughed and cli mbed down the steps from the spaceshi p. But when I tri ed to step forward, I found I was carri ed twi ce as far as on the earth and fel l over. “ O h dear, ” I cri ed, “ wal ki ng does need a bi t of practi ce now that gravi ty has changed. ” After a whil e I got the hang of i t and we began to enjoy oursel ves. Leavi ng the m oon’s gravi ty was not as pai nful as l eavi ng the earth’s. But returni ng to the earth was very fri ghteni ng. We watched, amazed as fi re broke out on the outsi de of the spaceship as the earth’s gravi ty increased. Agai n we were pushed back hard i nto our seats as we cam e back to l and. “ That was very exhausti ng but very exciti ng too, ” I sai d. “N ow I know m uch m ore about gravi ty! Do you thi nk we coul d bisi t som e stars next tim e?” “O f course,” he sm il ed, “ whi ch star woul d you l i ke to go to?” Caught by a bl ack hol e The spaceship warned Li Yanpi ng and m e to be ready as we were approachi ng the “black hol e”. We coul d see som e fai nt l i ghts around what l ooked li ke an em pt