【導(dǎo)讀】liveinthemountainsoftheeasternUSAspeakwithanolderkindofEnglishdialect.WhenAmericansmovedfromoneplacetoanother,theytooktheirdialectswiththem.SopeoplefromthemountainsinthesoutheasternUSAspeakwithalmostthesamedialectsaspeopleinthenorthwesternUSA.TheUSAisalargecountryinwhichmanydifferentdialectsarespoken.AlthoughmanyAmericansmovealot,theystillrecognizeandunderstandeachother’sdialects.THEOXFORDENGLISHD

　　

【正文】 eath the stars I thought about how far we had al ready travel ed. We wi l reach Dal i n Yunnan Province soon, where our cousi ns Dao Wei and Yu H ang wi l join us. We can hardl y wait to see them! PART 6 TH E END OF OUR JOUNEY Cam bodi a was i n many ways sim il ar to Laos, al though it has twi ce the popul ati on. At another inn, we talked with a teacher who told us that half of the people in her country couldn’t read or write. Her village couldn’t even afford to build a schol, so she had to teach outside under a large tent. When we said godbye, we al l fel t very l ucky to have studi ed i n col ege. Back on the road, we passed between many hi l s and forests. Then we came to the plains and entered Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. In m any ways i t looked l ike Vientiane and Ho Chi Minh Ci ty。 it al so had wi de streets wi th trees in rows and old French houses. Unli ke Vientiane, ships coul d travel the Mekong River the center of the city we visited the pal ace and a beautiful whi te elephant. It can onl y be seen outside the palace on special days. We ate an early supper and went to see a great temple with fl oors made of sl iver. The next morning our group sl ept late. We were very tired from the l ong bike ri de the day before. l i ve in the m ountai ns of the eastern USA speak with an ol der ki nd of Engli sh di al ect. When Am eri cans m oved 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 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. Although many Americans move a lot, they still recognize and understand each other’s dialects. TH E O XFO RD EN GLISH DICTION ARY You m ay thi nk that Engl i sh di ctionari es have ben used for m any, m any centuri es. The spel i ng of Engl i sh has al ways been a probl em but it was m ore of a probl em i n the days before a di cti onary. Then peopl e coul d spel word i n di fferent ways whi ch you m i ght fi nd i t i nteresti ng. But i t m ade readi ng Engli sh m uch m ore di fi cul t. So di cti 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 m en did m ost of the im portant earl y work on di cti onari es: Sam uel Johnson, N oah Webster, and Jam es Murray. These men spent nearly al of their lives trying to colect words for their dictionaries. For them, it wasn’t only a job。 it was a wonderful journey of di scovery. The l argest di cti onary i n the worl d i s the O xford Engl ish Dicti onary, or O ED for short. The i dea for thi s di ctionary cam e from an im portant m eeti ng in 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 its new di ctionary. Muray had never been to col l ege. At the age of fourteen, he l eft hi s vil l age schol i n Scotl and and taught him sel f whi l e worki ng i n a bank. Later he becam e a great teacher. After O xford gave him the job, Murray had a pl ace bui lt 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 his fet in a box to keep warm. Every morning, Muray 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 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 etter A! then others went to work with Murray, i ncl udi ng hi s two daughters. H e worked on the di cti onary until he was very ol d. Fortyfour years l ater, in1928, other edi tors fi ni shed i t. It i ncl uded m ore than 15, 000 pages in twel ve books. And you thought your di cti onary was bi g! Unit 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 m i 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 ountain bi ke and then she persuaded m e to buy one. Last year, she vi si ted our cousi ns, Dao Wei and Yu Hang 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 Ri ver, the Chi nese 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 i n cycli ng too. After graduati ng from col 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 my si ster who fi rst had the i dea to cycl e along the enti re Mekong Ri ver from where i t begi ns to where i t ends. N ow she is pl anni ng our schedul e for the tri p. I am fond of m y sister but she has one seri ous short ing. She can be real l y stubborn. Although she di dn39。t know the best way of getti ng to pl aces, she i nsi sted that she ani ze the tri p properl y. N ow, I know that the proper way is 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 oked at a m ap yet. Of course, she hadn39。t。 my si ster doesn39。t care about detai ls. So I tol d her that the source of the Mekong i s i n Qi nghai Provi nce. She gave m e a determ ined 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 begi n at an al ti tude of m ore than 5, 000 m etres, she seem ed to be excited about i t. When I tol d her the ai r woul d be hard to breathe and it 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 l. O nce she has m ade up her mi nd, nothi ng can change i t. Fi nal ly, I had to give i n. Several m onths before our tri p, Wang Wei and I went to the li brary. We found a