【正文】 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 ing back? I asked her whether she had l ooked at a m ap yet. O f course, she hadn39。t。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。 i t al so had wi de streets wi th trees in rows and ol d French houses. Unli ke Vi enti ane, shi ps coul d travel the Mekong River the center of the ci ty we vi si ted the palace and a beauti ful whi te el ephant. It can onl y be sen outsi de the pal ace on speci al days. We ate an earl y supper and went to see a great tem ple with fl oors m ade of sli 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 hil l s had been di fcuil t. N ow our coui ns 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 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 wasn’t surprised . I read in an atlas before our tri p that Vi etnam has al m ost seven tim es the popul ati on of Cam bodi a. We m et a farm er who gave us di recti ons and tol d us that he grows a new ri ce crop four ti m es every year so he can feed more peopl e al so tol d us that the northern part of hi s country has m any m ountai ns and i t is m uch cool er than here i n the south, where i t i s fl at. Al though the fl at del ta m ade i t easi er for us to cycl e. we got warm very qui ckly. So we drank l ots of water and ate l ots of bananas. Soon the delta separated i nto ni ne sm al l er ri vers. Two days l ater, after we had passed thousands of ri ce fi el ds, we cam e to the sea. We were tired but al so i n hi gh spi ri ts: our dream to cycl e along the Mekong Ri ver had fi nal y e true. Unit 4 A NIGHT THE EARTH DID’T SLEEP Strange thi ngs were happeni ng i n the countri si de of northest H eBei. For there days the water i n the vi l age wel s rose and fel l, rose and fel . Farm ers noticed that the wel l wal s 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 ice ran out of the fi el ds looki 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,some peopl e saw bri ght l i ghts i n the sky. The sound of the pl anes coul d be heard outsi de the ci ty, who thought l ittl e of these events, were asl eep as usual that ni ght. At3: 42 am everythi n