【正文】 s noti ced that the wel wal ls had dep cracks in them. A smel y gas cam e out of the cracks. In the farmeryards, the chickens and even the pigs were too nervous to ce ran out of the fi el ds looking for pl aces to hi de. fi sh jumped out of their bowls and about 3: 0am on July 28,1976, some people saw bri ght l ights i n the sky. The sound of the pl anes could be heard outside the city, who thought li tle of these events,were asl ep as usual that night. At3:42 am everythi ng began to seemed as i f the world was at an end!Eleven kil om etres directl y bel ow the city the greast earthquake of 20th century had begun. It was fel t in Bei ji ng, whi ch i s m ore thantwo hundred ki l om etres h l ive i n the mountai ns of the eastern USA speak wi th an older ki nd of Engli sh di al ect. When Ameri cans moved from one pl ace to another, they took their di al ects wi th them . So peopl e from the m ountai ns i n the southeastern USA speak with almost the sam e di al ects as peopl e i n the northwestern USA. The USA i s a l arge country in which many di fferent dialects are spoken. Although many Americans move a lot, they stil recognize and understand each other’s dialects. TH E O XFO RD EN GLISH DICTION ARY You m ay think that Engl ish di cti onari es have been used for m any, m any centuri es. The spel li ng of Engl ish has al ways been a probl em but i t was m ore of a probl em i n the days before a dicti onary. Then peopl e coul d spel l word i n di fferent ways which you m ight fi nd i t interesting. But it m ade reading Engli sh m uch m ore diffi cul t. So dicti onari es were i nvented to encourage everybody to spell the same. In fact, an English dictionary like the kind you use today wasn’t made until the time of the late Qing Dynasty. There men did most of the important earl y work on dicti onari es: Sam uel Johnson, N oah Webster, and Jam es Muray. These men spent nearly all of their lives trying to collect words for their dictionaries. For them, it wasn’t only a job。 it was a wonderful journey of discovery. The l argest di ctionary in the worl d is the O xford Engli sh Di cti onary, or O ED for short. The i dea for this di ctionary cam e from an important meeti ng i n Bri tai n i n 1857. Twentytwo years l ater, O xford University asked Jam es Murray to be the editor of i ts new di ctionary. Muray had never been to col lege. At the age of fourten, he l eft his vil age schol in Scotl and and taught himsel f whil e worki ng in a bank. Later he becam e a great teacher. After O xford gave him the job, Murray had a pl ace built i n the garden behi nd hi s house to do hi s work. Part of it 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 his fet in a box to kep warm. Every morning, Muray got out of bed at five o’clock and worked several hours before breakfast. O ften he woul d work by the candl e li ght into the eveni ng. Muray hoped to fi ni sh the new di cti onary i n ten years. But after fi ve years, he was stil l addi ng words for the l etter 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 old. Fortyfour years l ater, i n1928, other edi tors fi nished i t. It incl uded m ore than 15, 000 pages i n twel ve books. And you thought your di ctionary was bi g! Unit 3 JOURNEY DOWN THE M EKO NG PART 1 THE DREAM AND THE PLAN My nam e is Wang Kun. Ever si nce m i dl e schol, my sister Wang Wei and I have dream ed about taki ng a great bi ke trip. Two years ago she bought an expensive mountai n bike and then she persuaded me to buy one. Last year, she vi si ted our cousi ns, Dao Wei and Yu H ang at their col ege i n Kunm ing. They are Dai and grew up i n western Yunan Provi nce near the Lancang Ri ver, the Chi nese part of the river that is cal led the Mekong Ri ver i n other countri es. Wang Wei son got them interested in cycl ing to. After graduati ng from col lege. we fi nal y got the chance to take a bi ke trip. I asked m y si ster, Where are we goi ng? It was my sister who first had the i dea to cycl e al ong the entire Mekong River from where i t begins to where it ends. N ow she i s pl aning our schedule for the tri p. I am fond of m y si ster but she has one seri ous short ing. She can be real ly stubborn. Al though she didn39。t。t care about detai ls. So I tol d her that the source of the Mekong is i n Qinghai Provi nce. She gave m e a determi ned l ook—the ki nd that sai d she woul d not change her m ind. When I tol d her that our journey woul d begin at an al ti tude of m ore than 5, 00 m etres, she seem ed to be exci ted about it. 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. Once she has m ade up her m ind, nothi ng can change i t. Fi nal y, I had to gi ve i n. Several m onths before our trip,Wang Wei and I went to the l ibrary. We found a large atlas with god maps that showed detai ls of worl d geography. From the atl as we coul d se that the Mekong River begins i n a gl aci er on a Ti betan mountain. At fi rst the ri ver is sm al l and the water is clear and col d. Then i t begins to m ove qui ckl y. It be es rapi ds as i t passes through dep val eys, travel ing across western Yunan Provi nce. Sometim es the river be es a waterfal l and enters wi de val eys. We were both surpri sed to learn that half of the ri ver i s 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 makes wi de bends or m eanders through l ow val eys to the plains where rice grows. At l ast, the ri ver delta enters the South China Sea. PART2 A NIGH T IN TH E MOUNTAINS Although it was autum n, the snow was already begi nni ng to fal l i n ur l egs were so heavy and col d that they fel t li ke bl ocks of