【正文】 even thei r horses were qui t. There were no shouts or peopl e doi ng crazy thi ngs. In al those terri bl e hours I saw not one wom an who cri ed, not one m an who was excited. Before the fires, through the ni ght, thousands and thousands of peopl e who had l ost thei r hom es l eft for safety. Som e were covered in bl ankets. Som etim es whol e fam il i es put everythi ng they owned and coul d save into wagons. They hel ped one another cl imb the high hil l s around the city. Never in al l SanFrsncio’s histroy were her peopl e so ki nd as on that terri bl e ni ght. Uni t 5 Elias’ story My nam e is El i as. I am a por worker i n SouthAfri ca. The tim e when I first m et N el son Mandel a was a very di fi cul t peri od of m y l ife. I was twel ve years ol d. It was i n 1952 and Mandel a was the bl ack lawyer to whom I went for advi ce. H e offered guidance to poor bl ack peopl e on thei r l egal probl ems. He was generous wi th hi s tim e, for whi ch I was grateful. I needed hi s hel p because I had very l i tl e educati on. I began school at si x. The schol where I studi ed for only two years was three kil om eters away. I had to l eave because m y fam il y coul d not conti nue to pay the school fes and the bus fare. I coul d not read or wri te wel . After tryi ng hard, I got a job i n a gol d mi ne. H owever, thi s was a ti me when one had to got to have a passbook to li ve i n Johannesburg. Sadl y I di d not have ways si mi lar to Laos, although i t has twice the popul ati on. At another i nn, we talked wi th a teacher who tol d us that hal f of the peopl e i n her country coul dn’t read or write. H er vil lage coul dn’t even afford to buil d a school , so she had to teach outside under a l arge tent. When we sai d goodbye, we al l fel t very l ucky to have studi ed i n col l ege. Back on the road, we passed between m any hil ls and forests. Then we cam e to the pl ai ns and entered Phnom Penh, the capital of Cam bodi a. In m any ways i t l ooked l i ke Vientiane and H o Chi Mi nh Ci ty。 公司技術(shù)力量雄厚，聘請了 一批優(yōu)秀的在 電力系統(tǒng) 行業(yè)中擔(dān)任 管理 及 技術(shù) 職務(wù)的專業(yè) 人才作為 公司 顧問，常年在公司進行技術(shù)指導(dǎo)和人員培訓(xùn)，并通過對實際工程的精心指導(dǎo)和嚴(yán)格把關(guān)，使公司技術(shù)人員的專業(yè)知識水平得到了快速提升，并從中積累了許多為各級電力系統(tǒng)單位合作的實際經(jīng)驗。 i t al so had wi de strets wi th trees in rows and ol d French houses. Unl ike Vi enti ane, shi ps coul d travel the Mekong Ri ver here. In the center of the city we visi ted the pal ace and a beauti ful 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 ors m ade of sli ver. The next m orni ng our group slept l ate. We were very ti red from the l ong bi ke ri de the day before. Cycl i ng i n the hi l s had been di ffcui l ow our coui ns had the chance to m ake jokes about Wangwei and m e. Perhaps,they sai d, they were the strong ones!We had l unch at a ni ce outdoor cafe, then rode out of the ci ty. Two days l ater we crosed the border into Vietnam. We began to see many more people,but I wasn’t surpri sed . I read i n an atlas before our trip that Vi etnam has alm ost seven ti m es the popul ati on of Cam bodi a. We m et a farm er who gave us directi ons and tol d us that he grows a new ri ce crop four tim es every year so he can feed m ore peopl e al so tol d us that the northern part of hi s country has many m ountai ns and i t i s m uch cool er than here i n the south, where it i s fl at. Al though the fl at delta m ade it easi er for us to cycle. we got warm very qui ckl y. So we drank l ots of water and ate l ots of bananas. Soon the del ta separated i nto ni ne sm al l er ri vers. Two days l ater, after we had passed thousands of ri ce fi el ds, we came to the sea. We were ti red but al so i n hi gh spi ri ts: our dream to cycl e along the Mekong Ri ver had fi nal y e true. Unit 4 A NIGHT THE EARTH DID’T SLEEP Strange thi ngs were happeni ng i n the countri si de of northest H eBei. For there days the water i n the vil lage wel ls rose and fel l, rose and fel . Farm ers noti ced that the wel wal s had deep cracks i n them. A sm el y gas came out of the cracks. In the farm eryards, the chickens and even the pi gs were too nervous to i ce ran out of the fi el ds l ooki ng for pl aces to hi sh j um ped out of their bowl s and ponds. At about 3: 00am on Jul y 28, 1976, som e peopl e saw bri ght li ghts i n the sky. The sound of the pl anes coul d be heard outsi de the ci ty, who thought li ttl e of these events, were asl ep as usual that night. At3: 42 am everythi ng began to shake. It seem ed as i f the worl d was at an end!El even ki lom etres di rectl y bel ow the ci ty the greast earthquake of 20th century had begun. It was fel t in Bei jing, whi ch i s m ore thantwo hundred kil om etres away. O nethird of the nati on felt i t . A huge crack that was ei ght kil om etres l ong and thi rty m etres wi de cut across houses, roads and canal s. Steam burst from hol es in the ground. H ard hil l s of rock becam e ri vers of di rt. In fi fteen terri bl e seconds a l arge lay i n rui ns. The sufferi ng of the peopl e was extrem e. Towthi rds of them di ed or were i njured duri ng the earthquake. Thounds of fam il i es were kil l ed and m any chi dren were left wi thout parents. The num ber of peopl e who were ki l ed or i njured reached m ore than 400, 000. But how coul d the survivors bel ieve it was natural ?Everywhere they l ooked nearl y everything was destroyed. Al l of the city’s hospi tal s, 75% of i ts factori es and buil di ngs and 90% of i ts hom es were gone. Bri cks covered the ground l i ke red autum n l eaves. N o wi nd, however, coul d bel ow they away. Two dams and m ost of the bri dges al so fel or were not safe for travel ing. The rail way tracks were now usel ess pi eces of steel . Tens of thousands of cows woul d never gi ve m il k agai n. H al f a m il li on pi gs and m il li ons of chi ckens were dead. Sand now fil ed the wel s i nstead of water. Peopl e were shoc