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 college, we 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.
我叫王坤。从中学开始，我姐姐王伟和我就梦想着进行一次伟大的自行车旅行。两年前她买了一辆昂贵的山地自行车，然后她说服我买了一部。去年，她拜访了我们的堂兄弟道伟和余杭，他们在昆明读大学。他们是傣族，在云南省西部靠近澜沧江的地方长大，澜沧江中的中国部分在其他国家被称为湄公河。王伟很快也让他们对自行车感兴趣。大学毕业后，我们终于有机会骑自行车旅行。我问我姐姐：“我们要去哪里？”，我姐姐第一个想到骑自行车沿着整个湄公河从起点到终点。现在她正在计划我们的旅行日程。
I am fond of my sister but she has one serious shortcoming. She can be really stubborn. Although she didn’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 coming back?" I asked her whether she had looked at a map yet. Of course she hadn’t; my sister doesn’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 than5,000 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.
我喜欢我姐姐，但她有一个严重的缺点。她真的很固执。虽然她不知道去哪里的最佳方式，但她坚持要妥善安排这次旅行。现在我知道正确的方式永远是她的方式。我一直问她，“我们什么时候离开，什么时候回来？”我问她是否看过地图。当然，她没有；我姐姐不在乎细节。所以我告诉她湄公河的源头在青海省。她坚定地看了我一眼，说她不会改变主意。当我告诉她我们的旅程将从5000多米的高度开始时，她似乎对此感到兴奋。当我告诉她空气会很难呼吸，而且会很冷时，她说这将是一次有趣的经历。我很了解我姐姐。一旦她下定决心，什么也改变不了。最后，我不得不让步。
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 becomes rapids as it passes through deep valleys, travelling across western Yunnan Province. Sometimes the river becomes a water fall and enters wide valleys. We were both surprised to learn that half of the fiver is in China. After it leaves China and high altitude, the Mekong becomes 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 fiver delta enters the South China Sea.
旅行前几个月，我和王伟去了图书馆。我们发现了一个大地图册，上面有很好的地图，显示了世界地理的细节。从地图集上我们可以看到，湄公河发源于一座藏山上的冰川。起初，这条河很小，水又清澈又冷。然后它开始快速移动。当它穿过深谷，穿越云南省西部时，它变成了急流。有时河水会变成瀑布，流入宽阔的山谷。我们都很惊讶地得知这条河有一半在中国。离开中国高海拔后，湄公河变得宽阔、棕色和温暖。当它进入东南亚时，其速度减慢。它通过低谷弯曲或蜿蜒到水稻生长的平原。最后，流经三角洲进入中国南海。