【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 ance to take a bike trip. I asked my sister, Where are we going? It was my sister who first had the idea to cycle along the entire Mekong River from where it begins to where it ends. Now she is planning our schedule for the trip.I am fond of my sister but she has one serious shorting. She can be really stubborn. Although she didn39。t know the best way of getting to places, she insisted that she organize the trip properly. Now, I know that the proper way is always her way. I kept asking her, When are we leaving and when are we ing back? I asked her whether she had looked at a map yet. Of course, she hadn39。t。 my sister doesn39。t care about details. So I told her that the source of the Mekong is in Qinghai Province. She gave me a determined look—the kind that said she would not change her mind. When I told her that our journey would begin at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres, she seemed to be excited about it. When I told her the air would be hard to breathe and it would be very cold, she said it would be an interesting experience. I know my sister well. Once she has made up her mind, nothing can change it. Finally, I had to give in.　　Several months before our trip,Wang Wei and I went to the library. We found a large atlas with good maps that showed details of world geography. From the atlas we could see that the Mekong River begins in a glacier on a Tibetan mountain. At first the river is small and the water is clear and cold. Then it begins to move quickly. It bees rapids as it passes through deep valleys, travelling across western Yunnan Province. Sometimes the river bees a waterfall and enters wide valleys. We were both surprised to learn that half of the river is in China. After it leaves China and the high altitude,the Mekong bees wide，brown and warm. As it enters Southeast Asia, its pace slows. It makes wide bends or meanders through low valleys to the plains where rice grows. At last, the river delta enters the South China Sea.沿湄公河而下的旅行第一部分 夢想與計(jì)劃　　我的名字叫王坤。從高中起，我姐姐和我就一直夢想作一次偉大的自行車旅行。兩年前，她買了一輛價錢昂貴的山地自行車，然后她還說服我也買了一輛。去年她去看望了我們的表兄弟—在昆明讀大學(xué)的刀偉和宇航。他們是傣族人，在云南省西部靠近瀾滄江的地方長大，湄公河在中國境內(nèi)的這一段叫瀾滄江，流經(jīng)其他國家后就叫湄公河。很快，王薇使表兄弟也對騎車旅行產(chǎn)生了興趣。到大學(xué)畢業(yè)后，我們終于有了作一次騎車旅行的機(jī)會。我問姐姐：“我們要去哪里？”首先想到要沿湄公河從源頭到終點(diǎn)騎車旅行的是我的姐姐。現(xiàn)在，她正為這次旅行制訂計(jì)劃?！　∥液芟矚g我姐姐，但是她有一個嚴(yán)重的缺點(diǎn)，她有時確實(shí)很固執(zhí)。盡管她對到某些地方的最佳路線并不清楚，她卻堅(jiān)持要把這次旅行安排的盡善盡美。現(xiàn)在我知道了這個盡善盡美的方式總是她的方式。我老是問她：“我們什么時候動身？什么時候回來？”我問她是否已經(jīng)看過地圖。當(dāng)然她并沒有看過，我的姐姐是不會考慮細(xì)節(jié)的。于是我告訴她湄公河的源頭在青海省。她給了我一個堅(jiān)定的眼神—這種眼神表明她是不會改變主意的。當(dāng)我告訴她我們的旅行將從5000多米的的高地出發(fā)時，她似乎顯得很興奮。當(dāng)我告訴她那里空氣稀薄，呼吸會很困難，而且天氣會很冷時，她卻說這將是一次很有趣的經(jīng)歷。我非常了解我的姐姐，她一旦下了決心，就什么也不能使她改變。最后，我只好讓步了?！　≡谖覀兟眯星暗膸讉€月，王薇和我去了圖書館。我們找到了一本大型的地圖冊，里面有一些世界地理的明細(xì)圖。我們從圖上可以看到，湄公河源于西藏一座山上的冰川。起初，河很小，河水清澈而冷冽，然后它開始快速流動。它穿過深谷時就變成了急流。流經(jīng)云南西部。有時，這條河形成瀑布進(jìn)入寬闊的峽谷。我們驚奇的發(fā)現(xiàn)這條河有一半是在中國境內(nèi)。當(dāng)流出中國，流出高地后，湄公河就變寬，變暖了。河水也變成了黃褐色。而當(dāng)它進(jìn)入東南亞以后，流速減慢，河水變寬慢慢地穿過低谷，到了長著稻谷的平原。最后，湄公河三角洲的各支流流入中國南海。Reading and discussingJOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONGPART 2 A NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINSAlthough it was autumn, the snow was already beginning to fall in Tibet. Our legs were so heavy and cold that they felt like blocks of ice. Have you ever seen snowmen ride bicycles? That39。s what we looked like! Along the way children dressed in long wool coats stopped to look at us. In the late afternoon we found it was so cold that our water bottles froze. However, the lakes shone like glass in the setting sun and looked wonderful. Wang Wei rode in front of me as usual. She is very reliable and I knew I didn39。t need to encourage her. To climb 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 miles. At one point we were so high that we found ourselves cycling through clouds. Then we began going down the hills. It was great fun especially as it gradually became much warmer. In the valleys colorful butterflies flew around us and we saw many yaks and sheep eating green grass. At this point we had to change our caps, coats, gloves and trousers for Tshirts and shorts.In the early evening we always stop to make camp. We put up our tent and then we eat. After supper Wang Wei put her head down on her pillow and went to sleep but I stayed awake. At midnight the sky became clearer and the stars grew brighter. It was so quiet. There was almost no windonly the flames of our fire for pany. As I lay beneath the stars I thought about how far we had already travelled.We will reach Dali in Yunnan Province soon, where our cousins Dao Wei and Yu Hang will join us. We can hardly wait to see them! Unit 4 EarthquakesA NIGHT THE EARTH DIDN39。T SLEEPStrange things were happening in the countryside of northeast three days the water in the village wells rose and fell, rose and fell. Farmers noticed that the well walls had deep cracks in them. A smelly gas came out of the cracks. In the farmyards, the chickens and even the pigs were too nervous to eat. Mice ran out of the fields looking for places to hide. Fish jumped out of their bowls and ponds. At about 3:00 am on July 28,1976,some people saw bright lights in the sky. The sound of planes could be heard outside the city of Tangshan even when no planes were in the sky. In the city, the water pipes in some buildings cracked and burst. but the one million people of the city, who thought little of these events, were asleep as usual that night.At 3:42 am everything began to shake. It seemed as if the world was at an end! Eleven kilometers directly below the city the greatest earthquake of the 20th century had begun. It was felt in Beijing, which is more than two hundred kilometers away. Onethird of the nation felt it. A huge crack that was eight kilometres long and thirty metres wide cut across houses, roads and canals. Steam burst from holes in the ground. Hard hills of rock became rivers of dir. In fifteen terrible seconds a large city lay in ruins. The suffering of the people was extreme. Twothirds of them died or were left without parents. The number of people who were killed or injured reached more than 400,000.But how could the sur