【正文】 stern Yunnan Provi nce. Som etim es the ri ver be es a waterfal and enters wi de val eys. We were both surpri sed to learn that half of the river i s i n China. After it l eaves Chi na and the high al ti tude, the Mekong be es wi de， brown and warm. As it enters Southeast Asi a, its pace sl ows. It m akes wi de bends or m eanders through l ow val eys to the pl ai ns where ri ce grows. At last, the ri ver del ta enters the South Chi na Sea. PART2 A NIGH T IN TH E MOUNTAINS Al though it was autum n, the snow was al ready begi nni ng to fal i n Ti bet. O ur l egs were so heavy and col d that they felt l i ke blocks of i ce. Have you ever seen snowmen ride bicycl es?That’s what we l ooked like! Al ong the way chil dren dressed in l ong wool coats stopped to l ook at us. In the l ate afternoon we found i t was so col d that our water bottl es froze. .H owever, the l akes shonel i ke gl ass i n the setti ng sun and l ooked wonderful. Wangwei rode in front of me as usual .She is very reliable and I knew I didn’t ned to encourage her. To cl im b 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 mi les. i denti ty? O nl y tim e wil l tel. STAN DARD EN GLISH AN D DIALECTS What is standard Engli sh? Is i t spoken i n Bri tai n, the US, Canada, Austral i a, Indi a and N ew Zealand? Beli eve i t or not, there i s no such thi ng as standard Engli sh. Many people bel i eve the Engl i sh spoken on TV and the radi o i s standard Engli sh. Thi s i s because in the earl y days of radio, those who reported the news were expected to speak excel l ent Engl ish. However, on TV and the radi o you wi l hear di fferences i n the way peopl e speak. When peopl e use words and expressions different from the “standard l anguage”, it is cal l ed a dial ect. American English has many di alects, especi al y the Mi dwestern, southern, Afri can Am eri can and Spani sh di al ects. Even i n som e parts of the USA, two people from neighbouri ng towns speak a l ittl e di fferentl y. Am eri can Engli sh has so m any di al ects because peopl e have e from al over the worl d. Geography al so pl ays a part i n m aki ng di al ects. Som e peopl e who l ive i n the m ountai ns of the eastern USA speak wi th an ol der ki nd of Engl i sh di al ect. When Am eri cans m oved from one pl ace to another, they took thei r di alects wi th them . So peopl e from the m ountains i n the southeastern USA speak wi th alm ost the sam e di al ects as peopl e i n the northwestern USA. The USA i s a l arge country i n whi ch many di fferent di al ects are spoken. Al though m any Am eri cans m ove a l ot, they stil l recognize and understand each other’s dial ects. TH E O XFO RD EN GLISH DICTION ARY You may thi nk that Engl i sh dicti onaries have been used for m any, m any centuri es. The spel li ng of Engli sh has al ways been a problem but i t was m ore of a probl em in the days before a di cti onary. Then peopl e coul d spel l word i n di fferent ways whi ch you mi ght fi nd i t i nteresting. But i t m ade readi ng Engl i sh m uch m ore di ffi cult. So di cti onari es were i nvented to encourage everybody to spel the sam e. In fact, an Engl ish dictionary like the kind you use today wasn’t made until the time of the l ate Qing Dynasty. There men did most of the i m portant earl y work on di cti onari es: Sam uel Johnson, Noah Webster, and Jam es Murray. These m en spent nearl y al of thei r li ves tryi ng to col ect words for their dictionaries. For them, it wasn’t onl y a job。 it was a wonderful journey of discovery. The l argest dictionary in the worl d i s the O xford Engli sh Di cti onary, or O ED for short. The i dea for thi s di cti onary cam e from an i m portant m eeti ng i n Bri tai n i n 1857. Twentytwo years l ater, O xford Uni versity asked Jam es Murray to be the edi tor of i ts new di cti onary. Murray had never been to col ege. At the age of fourteen, he l eft hi s vi l age school i n Scotl and and taught him self whil e working i n a bank. Later he became a great teacher. After O xford gave him the job, Murray had a pl ace buil t i n the garden behi nd hi s house to do hi s work. Part of i t was one m eter underground. In wi nter i t fel t l i ke a barn, he had to wear a heavy coat and put hi s fet i n a box to keep warm. Every morning, Murray got out of bed at five o’cl ock and worked several hours before breakfast. Often he woul d work by the candl e li ght i nto the eveni ng. Murray hoped to fi ni sh the new di cti onary i n 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 big! Uni t 3 JO URNEY DOWN THE M EKO NG PART 1 THE DREAM AND THE PLAN My name i s Wang Kun. Ever si nce mi ddl e school, m y si ster Wang Wei and I have dreamed about taki ng a great bike tri p. Two years ago she bought an expensi ve m ountai n bi ke and then she persuaded m e to buy one. Last year, she vi si ted our cousi ns, Dao Wei and Yu H ang at thei r col l ege i n Kunmi ng. They are Dai and grew up i n western Yunnan Provi nce near the Lancang River, the Chinese part of the ri ver that i s cal ed the Mekong Ri ver i n other countri es. Wang Wei soon got them i nterested in cycli ng too. After graduati ng from col l ege. we fi nal y got the chance to take a bi ke tri p. I asked my si ster, Where are we goi ng? It was m y si ster who first had the i dea to cycl e al ong the enti re Mekong Ri ver from where i t begi ns to where i t ends. Now she is pl anni ng 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 y stubborn. Al thou