【正文】 el Johnson, N oah Webster, and Jam es Murray. These m en spent nearl y al of their lives trying 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 dicti onary in the worl d i s the O xford Engl i sh Di cti onary, or O ED for short. The i dea for thi s dicti onary came from an im portant m eeti ng i n Bri tai n i n 1857. Twentytwo years l ater, O xford Uni versi ty asked Jam es Murray to be the edi tor of i ts new di cti onary. Murray had never been to col l ege. At the age of fourteen, he l eft his vi l age school i n Scotland and taught him self whi l 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 his work. Part of i t was one m eter underground. In winter i t fel t l ike a barn, he had to wear a heavy coat and put his feet in a box to kep warm. Every morning, Murray got out of bed at five o’cl ock and worked several hours before breakfast. O ften he woul d work by the candl e li ght i nto the eveni ng. Murray hoped to fi nish the new di cti onary i n ten years. But after fi ve years, he was stil l adding words for the l etter A! then others went to work wi th Murray, i ncl uding hi s two daughters. H e worked on the di cti onary until he was very ol d. Fortyfour years later, 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 school, m y si ster Wang Wei and I have dream ed about taki ng a great bi ke 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 in western Yunan Provi nce near the Lancang Ri ver, the Chi nese part of the ri ver that i s cal l ed the Mekong Ri ver in other countri es. Wang Wei soon got them i nterested i n cycl i ng too. After graduati ng from col ege. we fi nal y got the chance to take a bi ke trip. I asked m y sister, 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 River from where it begi ns to where i t ends. N ow she i s pl anni ng our schedul e for the tri p. I am fond of m y sister but she has one seri ous short i ng. She can be real y stubborn. Al though she di dn39。t。t care about detail s. So I tol d her that the source of the Mekong i s i n Qi nghai Province. She gave m e a determ i 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 al ti tude of m ore than 5, 000 metres, she seem ed to be exci ted about i t. When I tol d her the air 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 nteresting experi ence. I know m y si ster wel . O nce she has m ade up her m i nd, nothi ng can change i t. Fi nal l y, I had to gi ve i n. Several months before our tri p,Wang Wei and I went to the l i brary. We found a l arge atl as with god m aps that showed detai l s of worl d geography. From the atl as we coul d see that the Mekong River begi ns i n a glaci er on a Ti betan m ountai n. At fi rst the ri ver i s smal and the water is cl ear and col d. Then i t begi ns to m ove quickl y. It be es rapi ds as i t pases through deep val l eys, travel i ng across western Yunnan Provi nce. Som etim es the ri ver be es a waterfal l and enters wi de val leys. We were both surpri sed to l earn that hal f of the ri ver is i n Chi na. After i t l eaves Chi na and the hi gh al ti tude, the Mekong be es wi de， brown and warm. As it enters Southeast Asi a, i ts pace sl ows. It m akes wi de bends or m eanders through l ow val l eys to the pl ai ns where ri ce grows. At l ast, the ri ver del ta enters the South Chi na Sea. PART2 A NIGH T IN TH E MOUNTAINS Al though i t was autumn, 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 fel t li ke bl ocks of ave you ever seen snowmen ride bicycl es?That’s what we looked l ike! Al ong the way chil dren dressed in l ong wol coats stopped to look 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 i n front of me as usual. She i s very reli abl e and I knew I di dn’t need to encourage her. To climb the mountains was hard work but as we l ooked around us, we were surprised by the view. We sem ed to be abl e to see for mi l es. At one poi nt we were so hi gh that we found oursel ves cycl ing through cl ouds. Then we began goi ng down the hi l s. It was great fun especi al l y as i t gradual y becam e m uch warm er. In the val l eys col ourful butterfli es fl ew around us and we saw m any yaks and sheep eating green grass. At thi s poi nt we had to change our caps, coats, gl oves and trousers for Tshi rts and shorts. In the earl y eveni ng we al ways stop to m ake cam put up our tent and then we eat. After super Wang Wei put her head down on her pi l ow and went to sl ep but I stayed awake. At m i dni ght the sky becam e cl earer and the stars grew bri ghter. It was so qui et. There was al m ost no wind—onl y the fl am es of our fire for pany. As I lay beneath the stars I thought about how far we had al ready travel l ed. We wil l reach Dali i n Yunnan Provi nce soon, where our cousi ns Dao Wei and Yu H ang wil l joi n us. We can hardl y wai t to see them! PART 6 TH E END OF OUR JOUNEY Cam bodi a was i n m any ways simi l ar to Laos, al though i t has twi ce the popul ati on. At another inn, we tal ked wi th a teacher who tol d us that hal f of the peopl e in her country coul dn’t read