【正文】 imb the mountains was hard work but as we looked around us, we were surprised by the view. We seemed to be able to see for miles. At one point we were so high that we found ourselves cycling through clouds. Then we began going down the hills. It was great fun especially as it gradually became much warmer. In the valleys colourful butterflies flew around us and we saw many yaks and sheep eating green grass. At this point we had to change our caps, coats,gloves and trousers for Tshirts and shorts. Several months before our trip,Wang Wei and I went to the library. We found a large atlas with good maps that showed details of world geography. From the atlas we could see that the Mekong River begins in a glacier on a Tibetan mountain. At first the river is small and the water is clear and cold. Then it begins to move quickly. It bees rapids as it passes through deep valleys, travelling across western Yunnan Province. Sometimes the river bees a waterfall and enters wide valleys. We were both surprised to learn that half of the river is in China. After it leaves China and the high altitude,the Mekong bees wide，brown and warm. As it enters Southeast Asia, its pace slows. It makes wide bends or meanders through low valleys to the plains where rice grows. At last, the river delta enters the South China Sea. my sister doesn39。t know the best way of getting to places, she insisted that she organize the trip properly. Now, I know that the proper way is always her way. I kept asking her, When are we leaving and when are we ing back? I asked her whether she had looked at a map yet. Of course, she hadn39。My name is Wang Kun. Ever since middle school, my sister Wang Wei and I have dreamed about taking a great bike trip. Two years ago she bought an expensive mountain bike and then she persuaded me to buy one. Last year, she visited our cousins, Dao Wei and Yu Hang at their college in Kunming. They are Dai and grew up in western Yunnan Province near the Lancang River, the Chinese part of the river that is called the Mekong River in other countries. Wang Wei soon got them interested in cycling too. After graduating from finally got the chance to take a bike trip. I asked my sister, Where are we going? It was my sister who first had the idea to cycle along the entire Mekong River from where it begins to where it ends. Now she is planning our schedule for the trip.Unit 3 Murray had never been to college. At the age of fourteen, he left his village school in Scotland and taught himself while working in a bank. Later he became a great teacher. After Oxford gave him the job, Murray had a place built in the garden behind his house to do his work. Part of it was one meter underground. In winter it felt like a barn, he had to wear a heavy coat and put his feet in 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 candle light into the evening. Murray hoped to finish the new dictionary in ten years. But after five years, he was still adding words for the letter A! then others went to work with Murray, including his two daughters. He worked on the dictionary until he was very old. Fortyfour years later, in1928, other editors finished it. It included more than 15,000 pages in twelve books. And you thought your dictionary was big!until the time of the late Qing Dynasty. There men did most of the important early work on dictionaries: Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, and James Murray. These men spent nearly all of their lives trying to collect words for their dictionaries. For them, it wasn’t only a job。 it was a wonderful journey of discovery. The largest dictionary in the world is the Oxford English Dictionary, or OED for short. The idea for this dictionary came from an important meeting in Britain in 1857. Twentytwo years later, Oxford University asked James Murray to be the editor of its new dictionary.JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONGPART 1 THE DREAM AND THE PLAN I am fond of my sister but she has one serious shorting. She can be really stubborn. Although she didn39。t。t care about details. So I told her that the source of the Mekong is in Qinghai Province. She gave me a determined look—the kind that said she would not change her mind. When I told her that our journey would begin at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres, she seemed to be excited about it. When I told her the air would be hard to breathe and it would be very cold, she said it would be an interesting experience. I know my sister well. Once she has made up her mind, nothing can change it. Finally, I had to give in.PART2 A NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS In the early evening we always stop to make put up our tent and then we eat. After supper Wang Wei put her head down on her pillow and went to sleep but I stayed awake. At midn