【正文】 i ns where ri ce grows. At last, the ri ver delta enters the South Chi na Sea. PART2 A NIGH T IN THE MOUNTAINS Although i t was autum n,the snow was al ready begi ni ng to fal l i n Ti ur l egs were so heavy and col d that they fel t l ike bl ocks of ave you ever seen snowmen ride bicycles?That’s what we looked li ke! Al ong the way chi l dren dressed i n l ong wool coats stopped to l ook at us. In the l ate afternoon we found i t was so col d that our water bottl es owever, the l akes shoneli ke gl ass i n the setting sun and l ooked wonderful .Wangwei rode in front of m e as usual. She is very reliable and I knew I didn’t need to encourage her. To climb the mountains was hard work but as we looked around us, we were surpri sed by the vi ew. We seem ed to be abl e to see for m il es. At one poi nt we were so hi gh that we found oursel ves cycli ng through cl ouds. Then we began goi ng down the hi l s. It was great fun especi al y as i t gradual y becam e m uch warm er. In the val eys colourful butterfl i es fl ew around us and we saw m any yaks and sheep eati ng green grass. At thi s poi nt we had to change our caps, coats, gl oves and trousers for Tshi rts and shorts. In the earl y eveni ng we al ways stop to m ake cam p. We put up our tent and then we eat. After supper Wang Wei put her head down on her pil low and went to sl eep but I stayed awake. At mi dnight the sky becam e clearer and the stars grew bri ghter. It was so qui et. There was al most no wi nd—onl y the fl am es of our fire for pany. As I l ay beneath the stars I thought about how far we had al ready travel l ed. We wil l reach Dali i n Yunnan Provi nce soon, where our cousi ns Dao Wei and Yu H ang wil l joi n us. We can hardl y wai t to see them! PART 6 TH E END OF OUR JOUNEY Cam bodi a was i n m any ways simi l ar to Laos, al though i t has twi ce the popul ati on. At another inn, we tal ked wi th a teacher who tol d us that half of the people in her country couldn’t read or write. H er vilage couldn’t even afford to build a school, so she had to teach outsi de under a l arge tent. When we sai d goodbye, we al l felt very l ucky to have studi ed i n col ege. Back on the road, we passed between m any hi l s and forests. Then we cam e to the pl ai ns and entered Phnom Penh, the capi tal of Cam bodi a. In m any ways i t l ooked l i ke Vi enti ane and H o Chi Mi nh Ci t y。 it was a wonderful journey of discovery. The largest dictionary 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 di ctionary cam e from an im portant m eti ng i n Bri tai n i n 1857. Twentytwo years l ater, O xford Uni versi ty asked Jam es Muray to be the editor of i ts new di cti onary. Murray had never been to col ege. At the age of fourteen, he left hi s vil age school i n Scotl and and taught hi msel f whil 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 buil t i n the garden behind hi s house to do hi s work. Part of i t was one m eter 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. 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 letter A! then others went to work wi th Murray, i ncl udi ng hi s two daughters. H e worked on the di cti onary unti l 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 i n twel ve books. And you thought your di cti onary was bi g! Unit 3 JO URNEY DOWN THE M EKO NG PART 1 THE DREAM AND THE PLAN My nam e is Wang Kun. Ever since mi ddl e school , m y si ster Wang Wei and I have dreamed about taki ng a great bi ke tri p. Two years ago she bought an expensi ve mountai n bi ke and then she persuaded m e to buy one. Last year, she vi sited our cousi ns, Dao Wei and Yu H ang at thei r col ege i n Kunm i 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 l ed the Mekong Ri ver in other countri es. Wang Wei soon got them i nterested i n cycl ing too. After graduati ng from col l ege. we fi nal y got the chance to take a bike tri p. I asked m y si ster, Where are we going? It was m y si ster who fi rst had the i dea to cycl e al ong the entire 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 si ster but she has one seri ous short i ng. She can be real y stubborn. Al though she di dn39。t。t care about detail s. So I tol d her that the source of the Mekong i s in 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 mi nd. When I tol d her that our journey woul d begin at an alti 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 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 made up her mi nd, nothi ng can change i t. Fi nal 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 m aps 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 and the water i s cl ear and col d. Then i t begi ns to m ove qui ckly. It be es rapi ds as i t passes through deep val l eys, travel i ng across western Yunnan Provi nce. Som etim es the ri ver be es a waterfal and enters wi de val eys. We were both surpri sed to l earn that half of the ri ver i s i n Chi na. Af