【正文】 unusual! Wait til l you?re m ore experi enced. First we?l l put you as an assistant to an experi enced journali st. Later you can cover a story and subm it the arti cl e yoursel f. ZY: Wonderful . What do I need to take with m e? I al ready have a notebook and cam era. H X: N o need for a cam era. You?l l have a professi onal photographer with you to take photographs. You?l l fi nd your col l eagues very eager to assi st you, so you m ay be abl e to concentrate on photography l ater if you ?re i nterested. ZY: Thank you. N ot onl y am I i nterested i n photography, but I took an am ateur course at universi ty to update m y ski l s. H X: Good. ZY: What do I need to rem em ber when I go out to cover a story? H X: You need to be curi ous. O nl y i f you ask m any di fferent questi ons wi l you acqui re al the inform ati on you need to know. We say a good journali st must have a good “nose” for a story. That m eans you must be abl e to assess when peopl e are not tel li ng the whol e truth and then try to di scover i t. They m ust use research to i nform them selves of the m i si ng parts of the story. ZY: What shoul d I keep i n m i nd? H X: H ere es m y l ist of dos and don?ts: don?t mi ss your deadl i ne, don?t be rude, don?t tal k too m uch, but m ake sure you l i sten to the i ntervi ewee careful ly. ZY: Why i s li steni ng so im portant? H X: Wel l, you have to l i sten for detail ed facts. Meanwhi l e you have to prepare the next questi on dependi ng on what the person says. ZY: But how can I li sten careful y whil e taki ng notes? H X: Thi s i s a tri ck of the trade. If the i nterviewee agrees, you can use a recorder to get the facts strai ght. It?s al so useful i f a person wants to chal l enge you. You have the evi dence to support your story. ZY: I see! H ave you ever had a case where someone accused your journal i sts of geti ng the wrong end of the sti ck? H X: Yes, but i t was a l ong tim e ago. Thi s i s how the story goes. A footbal l er was accused of taki ng m oney for deli beratel y not scori ng goals so as to l et the other team wi n. We went to intervi ew hi m. H e deni ed taki ng m oney but we were skepti cal. So we aranged an i ntervi ew between the footbal ler and the m an supposed to bri be hi m. When we saw them together we guessed from the footbal l er?s body l anguage that he was not tel li ng the truth. So we wrote an arti cl e suggesti ng he was guil ty. It was a di l emm a because the footbal er coul d have dem anded damages i f we were wrong. H e tri ed to stop us publi shi ng i t but l ater we were proved ri ght. ZY: Wow! That was a real “scop”. I?m l ooki ng forward to m y first assi gnm ent now. Perhaps I?l l get a scoop too! H X: Perhaps you wil l. You never know. GETTING TH E “SCOOP” “qui ck, ” sai d the edi tor. “Get that story ready. We need i t i n this edi ti on to be ahead of the other newspapers. Thi s is a scoop. ” Zou Yang had just e back into the offi ce after an i ntervi ew wi th a fam ous fi lm star. “Di d he real y do that?” asked som eone from the Internati onal N ews Departm ent. “Yes, I?m afrai d he di d, ” Zhou Yang answered. H e set to work. Hi s fi rst task was to wri te hi s story, but he had to do i t careful y. Al though he real ized the m an had been l yi ng, Zhou Yang knew he m ust not acuse him di rectl y. H e woul d have to be accurate, Concise too! He knew how to do that. Months of trai ni ng had taught him to wri te wi th no wasted words or ph rases. H e sat down at hi s puter and began to work. The fi rst person who saw his arti cl e was a seni or edi tor from his departm ent, . He checked the evi dence, read the arti cl e and passed i t on to the copyedi tor. She began to edit the pi ece and desi gn the mai n headl i ne and sm al er heading. “Thi s wi l l l ook very good on the page, ” i ts bi nati on of gases had li ttl e oxygen l eft. Hi t by a l ack of fresh ai r, m y head ached. Just as I tri ed to make the necessary adjustm ent to this new situati on, Wang Pi ng appeared. “Put on this m ask, ” he advi sed. “It?l l m ake you feel m uch beter.” H e handed i t to me and imm ediately huri ed m e through to a sm al l room nearby for a rest. I felt better i n no tim e. Soon I was back on m y feet agai n and flowi ng him to col ect a hoveri ng carri age dri ven by puter. These carri ages float above the ground and by bendi ng or pressi ng down i n your seat, you can m ove swi ftl y. Wang Pi ng fastened m y safety bel t and showed m e how to use i t. Soon I coul d fly as fast as hi m. H owever, I l ost si ght of Wang Pi ng when we reached what l ooked li ke a l arge market because of too m any carri ages flyi ng by i n al di recti ons. He was swept up i nto the centre of them. Just at that m om ent I had a “tim e l ag” fl ashback and saw the area agai n as it had been i n the year AD 2020. I reali zed that I had been transported into the future of what was sti l my hometown! Then I caught sight of Wang Pi ng agai n and fl ew after hi m. Arriving at a strangelooking house, he showed m e i nto a large, bright cl ean room . It had a green wal l, a brown fl oor and soft li ghti ng. Suddenl y the wal l moved –it was made of trees! I found l ater that their leaves provi ded the room with muchneeded oxygen. Then Wang Ping fl ashed a switch on a puter screen, and a tabl e and some chai rs rose from under the fl or as if by magic. “Why not sit down and eat a l ittle?” he sai d. “You may fi nd this di fficult as it i s your fi rst ti me travel tri p. Just rel ax, si nce there is nothing planned on the ti metable today. Tomorrow you?l be ready for som e visi ts. ” Having sai d this, he spread some food on the table, and produced a bed from the floor. After he l eft, I had a brief meal and a hot bath. Exhausted, I sl id into bed and fel l fast asl eep. More news l ater from your loving son, Li Qi ng I