【正文】 These m en spent nearl y al of thei r li ves tryi ng to coll ect words for their dictionaries. For them, it wasn’t onl y a job。 m y si ster doesn39。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. O f course, she hadn39。 i t al so had wi de streets wi th trees i n rows and ol d French houses. Unl i ke Vi enti ane, shi ps coul d travel the Mekong Ri ver here. In the center of the ci ty we vi si ted the pal ace and a beauti ful white 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 sl ept l ate. We were very ti red from the l ong bi ke ri de the day before. Cycli ng i n the hil l s had been di ffcuil ow our couins 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 nice 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 peopl e,but I wasn’t surprised . I read in an atlas before our tri p that Vietnam has alm ost seven tim es the popul ati on of Cam bodi a. We m et a farm er who gave us di recti ons and tol d us that he grows a new ri ce crop four ti m es every year so he can feed m ore peopl e. He al so tol d us that the northern part of hi s country has m any m ountai ns and it i s m uch cool er than here i n the south, where it i s fl at. Although the fl at del ta m ade i t easi er for us to cycl e. we got warm very quickl 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 cam e to the sea. We were ti red but also i n hi gh spiri ts: our dream to cycl e al ong the Mekong Ri ver had fi nal y e true. Uni t 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 vi l age wel s rose and fel , rose and fel. Farm ers noti ced that the wel wal l s had deep cracks in them. A smel y gas cam e out of the cracks. In the farm eryards, the chi ckens and even the pi gs were too nervous to ce ran out of the fi el ds l ooki ng for pl aces to hi de. fi sh jum ped out of thei r bowl s and ponds. At about 3: 00am on Jul y 28, 1976, some people saw bright l ights i n the sound of the planes could be heard outside the ci ty,who thought l ittle of these events,were asl ep as usual that night. At3:42 am everythi ng began to seemed as if the worl d was at an end!El even kil om etres di rectl y below the city the greast earthquake of 20th century had begun. It was fel t i n Beiji ng, which is m ore thantwo hundred ki lometres until the ti m e of the l ate Qi ng Dynasty. There m en di d 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 m en spent nearl y al of their lives trying to col ect words for their dictionaries. For them, it wasn’t onl y a job。 m y si ster doesn39。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. O f course, she hadn39。until the ti m e of the l ate Qi ng Dynasty. There m en di d 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 m en spent nearl y al of thei r li ves tryi ng to coll ect words for their dictionaries. For them, it wasn’t onl y a job。 it was a wonderful journey of discovery. The l argest dicti onary in the worl d i s the O xford Engl i sh Di cti onary, or O ED for short. The i dea for thi s dicti 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 Jam es Murray to be the edi tor of i ts new di cti onary. Murray had never been to col l ege. At the age of fourteen, he l eft his vi l age school i n Scotland and taught him self whi l e working i n a bank. Later he became a great teacher. After O xford gave him the job, Murray had a pl ace buil t i n the garden behi nd hi s house to do his work. Part of i t was one m eter underground. In winter i t fel t l ike a barn, he had to wear a heavy coat and put his feet in a box to kep warm. Every morning, Murray 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 li ght i nto the eveni ng. Murray hoped to fi nish the new di cti onary i n ten years. But after fi ve years, he was stil l adding 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 until he was very ol d. Fortyfour years later, i n1928, other edi tors fi ni shed i t. It i ncluded m ore than 15, 000 pages i n twel ve books. 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 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 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 in western Yunan Provi nce near the Lancang Ri ver, the Chi nese part of the ri ver that i s cal l ed the Mekong Ri ver in other countri es. Wang Wei soon got them i nterested i n cycl i ng too. After graduati ng from col ege. we fi nal y got the chance to take a bi ke trip. I asked m y siste