【正文】 ter it l eaves China and the hi gh al ti tude, the Mekong be es wi de， brown and warm. As it enters Southeast Asi a, its pace sl ows. It m akes wi de bends or meanders through l ow val eys to the pl ai 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 like! Along the way children dressed in long 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 glass in the setting sun and looked rode in front of me as usual. She is very reliable and I knew I didn’t need to encourage her. To cli m b the mountai ns was hard work but as we l ooked 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 twice the population. At another inn, we talked with a teacher who told 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 outside under a large tent. When we said 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 plains and entered Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. In m any ways i t looked l ike Vientiane and Ho Chi Minh Ci ty。 it was a wonderful journey of discovery. The largest dictionary in the world is 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 m orni ng, 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