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

　　

【正文】 talked with a teacher who told us that half of the people in her country couldn’t read or write. Her vilage couldn’t even afford to buil d a school , so she had to teach outsi de under a large tent. When we sai d goodbye, we al l fel t very lucky to have studi ed in col lege. Back on the road, we passed between many hi l s and forests. Then we cam e to the pl ains and entered Phnom Penh, the capi tal of Cambodia. In m any ways it looked l ike Vi entiane and H o Chi Mi nh Ci ty。 i t also had wide streets wi th trees in rows and old French ike Vientiane, ships could travel the Mekong Ri ver the center of the ci ty we vi sited the pal ace and a beautiful whi te el ephant. It can onl y be seen outsi de the pal ace on speci al days. We ate an earl y supper and went to see a great tem pl e wi th fl oors m ade of sl i 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. l i ve in the m ountai ns of the eastern USA speak wi th an ol der ki nd of Engli sh di al ect. When Am ericans m oved from one place to another, they tok thei r di al ects with them. So peopl e from the m ountai ns i n the southeastern USA speak with alm ost the sam e di al ects as peopl e in the northwestern USA. The USA i s a l arge country i n which m any di ferent di al ects are spoken. Al though m any Am eri cans m ove a l ot, they sti l 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 Engli sh 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 whi ch you mi ght fi nd it i nteresting. But i t made readi ng Engl i sh m uch m ore di ffi cult. So di cti onari es were i nvented to encourage everybody to spel l the same. In fact, an Engl ish di cti onary li ke the kind you use today wasn’t made until the time of the late Qing Dynasty. There men did most of the important early work on dictionari es: Sam uel Johnson, N oah Webster, and Jam es Murray. These m en spent nearly al l of their l i ves tryi ng to col l ect words for thei r dictionaries. For them, it wasn’t only a job。 it was a wonderful journey of discovery. The largest dictionary in the world is the O xford Engl i sh Di cti onary, or O ED for short. The i dea for thi s di cti 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 James Murray to be the edi tor of its new dicti onary. 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 hi m the job, Murray had a pl ace bui l t in the garden behi nd hi s house to do hi s work. Part of it was one meter underground. In wi nter i t fel t li ke a barn, he had to wear a heavy coat and put hi s feet 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 candl e li ght 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 stil addi ng 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 unti l he was very ol d. Fortyfour years l ater, i n1928, other editors fi ni shed it. It i ncl uded m ore than 15, 000 pages i n twel ve boks. 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 ddle school, m y sister 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 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 River i n other countri es. Wang Wei soon got them i nterested i n cycli ng too. After graduati ng from col l ege. we final 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 i t ends. N ow she i s pl ani ng our schedul e for the trip. I am fond of my si ster but she has one serious shorti ng. She can be real y stubborn. Al though 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. Now, 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 ooked at a m ap yet. O f course, she hadn39。t。 my si ster doesn39。t care about detai ls. So I tol d her that the source of the Mekong is i n Qi nghai Provi nce. She gave m e a determi ned l ook —the ki nd that sai d she woul d not change her m i nd. 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 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 said i t woul d be an interesti 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 nall y, I had to gi ve i n. Several m onths before our trip, Wang Wei and I went to the li brary. We found a l arge atl as wi th good maps that showed detail s of worl d geography. From the atl as we coul d see that the Mekong Ri ver begi ns i n a gl aci er on a Ti betan m ountai n. At fi rst the ri ver i s sm al l and the water i s cl ear and col d. Then it begi ns to move qui ckl y. It bees rapi ds as i t passes through deep val ey