【正文】 te el ephant. It can onl y be seen outsi de the pal ace on special days. We ate an earl y supper and went to see a great tem pl e wi th floors m ade of sl i ver. The next m orni ng our group sl ept l ate. We were very ti red from the l ong bi ke ri de the day before. Cycli ng i n the hi l s had been di ffcuil ow our couins had the chance to m ake jokes about Wangwei and m e. Perhaps, they sai d,they were the strong ones!We had l unch at a ni ce outdor cafe,then rode out of the ci ty. Two days later we crosed the border into Vietnam. We began to see many more people,but I wasn’t surprised . I read in an atlas before our tri p that Vi etnam has alm ost seven tim es the popul ati on of Cam bodi a. We m et a farm er who gave us di rections and tol d us that he grows a new ri ce crop four tim es every year so he can feed m ore peopl e al so tol d us that the northern part of hi s country has many m ountains and i t i s m uch cool er than here i n the south, where it i s fl at. Although the fl at del ta m ade i t easi er for us to cycl e. we got warm very qui ckl y. So we drank l ots of water and ate lots of bananas. Soon the del ta separated i nto ni ne smal er ri vers. Two days later, after we had passed thousands of ri ce fi el ds, we cam e to the sea. We were ti red but also i n hi gh spiri ts: our dream to cycle al ong the Mekong Ri ver had fi nal ly e true. Uni t 4 A NIGHT THE EARTH DID’T SLEEP Strange things were hapeni ng i n the countri si de of northest H eBei . For there days the water i n the vil l age wel l s rose and fel, rose and fel l. Farm ers noti ced that the wel wal ls had deep cracks i n them . A sm el l y gas cam e out of the cracks. In the farm eryards, the chi ckens and even the pi gs were too nervous to i ce ran out of the fi el ds l ooki ng for pl aces to hi de. fi sh jumped out of thei r bowl s and ponds. At about 3: 00am on Jul y 28, 1976, som e peopl e saw bright l ights i n the sky. The sound of the pl anes coul d be heard outsi de the ci ty, who thought l i tl e of these events, were asl eep as usual that ni ght. At3: 42 am everythi ng began to shake. It seem ed as i f the worl d was at an end!El even kil om etres di rectly bel ow the ci ty the greast earthquake of 20th century had begun. It was fel t i n Beiji ng, which i s m ore thantwo hundred kil ometres away. O nethi rd of the nati on fel t it . A huge crack that was ei ght kil om etres l ong and thi rty m etres wi de cut across houses, roads and canals. Steam burst from hol es i n the ground. H ard hil ls of rock becam e rivers of di rt. In fi ften terri bl e seconds a l arge l ay i n suffering of the peopl e was extreme. Towthirds of them died or were i njured during the earthquake. Thounds of fami lies were kil led and many chidren were left wi thout parents. The number of peopl e who were kil ed or injured reached m ore than 400,000. But how could the survivors believe it was natural?Everywhere they loked nearly everything was destroyed. Al of the city’s hospitals, 75%of i ts factories and buil dings and 90% of its hom es were gone. Bri cks covered the ground like red autum n leaves. No wi nd, however, coul d bel ow they away. Two dam s and most of the bri dges also fel l or were not safe for travel li ng. The rai lway tracks were now usel ess pieces of steel. Tens of thousands of cows i n a box to keep warm. Every morning, Murray got out of bed at five o’clock and worked several hours before breakfast. Often he would work by the candle l ight i nto the eveni ng. Murray hoped to fini sh the new di cti onary in ten years. But after fi ve years, he was sti l addi ng words for the l eter A! then others went to work wi th Murray, i ncl udi ng hi s two daughters. He worked on the di cti onary until he was very ol d. Fortyfour years l ater, i n1928, other edi tors fi ni shed i t. It i ncluded m ore than 15, 000 pages i n twel ve books. And you thought your di cti onary was bi g! Uni t 3 JO URNEY DO WN THE M EKO NG PART 1 THE DREAM AND THE PLAN My nam e i s Wang Kun. Ever si nce mi ddl e schol, m y si ster Wang Wei and I have dream ed about taking a great bi ke tri p. Two years ago she bought an expensi ve mountai n bi ke and then she persuaded m e to buy one. Last year, she vi si ted our cousins, Dao Wei and Yu H ang at thei r col ege i n Kunm i ng. They are Dai and grew up i n western Yunnan Province near the Lancang Ri ver, the Chi nese part of the ri ver that is cal ed the Mekong Ri ver i n other countri es. Wang Wei soon got them i nterested in cycli ng too. After graduating from col l ege. we fi nal y got the chance to take a bi ke tri p. I asked m y si ster, Where are we goi ng? It was m y sister who fi rst had the i dea to cycl e al ong the enti re Mekong Ri ver from where i t begi ns to where it ends. N ow she i s pl anning our schedul e for the tri p. I am fond of m y si ster but she has one seri ous short i ng. She can be real l y stubborn. Al though she di dn39。t know the best way of getti ng to pl aces, she i nsisted that she ani ze the tri p properl y. N ow, I know that the proper way i s al ways her way. I kept aski ng her, When are we l eavi ng and when are we i ng back? I asked her whether she had l ooked at a m ap yet. O f course, she hadn39。t。 m y si ster doesn39。t care about detail s. So I tol d her that the source of the Mekong is i n Qi nghai Provi nce. She gave m e a determi ned l ook—the ki nd that sai d she woul d not change her mi nd. When I tol d her that our journey woul d begin at an alti tude of m ore than 5, 000 m etres, she seem ed to be exci ted about i t. When I tol d her the ai r woul d be hard to breathe and i t woul d be very col d, she sai d i t woul d be an i nteresti ng experi ence. I know m y si ster wel l. O nce she has made up her m i nd, nothi ng can change i t. Final y, I had to gi ve i n. Several m onths before our tri p, Wang Wei and I went to the l i