英文美文 · 第二十二辑

Long ago, a river ran through the north of China. Its water was yellow, because it carried soil from the mountains. People called it the Yellow River. They built homes beside it. They grew food in its rich soil. They wrote their first songs about it. One of the oldest cultures in the world began here, on this one river. Today, the Yellow River is still called the mother river of China. When you see it, you are looking at where a country began.

China has a very long river. It is called the Yangtze. It runs for more than six thousand kilometers, from high mountains to the sea. Along its way, it passes big cities, old towns, and green farms. Millions of people drink its water and travel on it every day. Boats carry food, machines, and stories up and down the river. It is like a long road on water. One river, and half a country lives beside it. The Yangtze is not just water. It carries a whole nation.

There is a place in China so high that it is called the roof of the world. It is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The sky there looks very close. The air is thin and clean. Snow lies on the mountains all year. From this high land, many great rivers begin. They flow down and give water to the whole country. Few people live there, but they take good care of the land. When you stand on the roof of the world, you can almost touch the sky. And it is right here, in China.

Some paintings are on paper. This one is on the land. In Guilin, the mountains rise beside a green river. They are tall, round, and covered with soft mist. People sail on the river and look at the hills. It feels like walking inside a Chinese painting. For hundreds of years, poets wrote about Guilin. They said its water and mountains are the best under heaven. Today, visitors come from all over the world to see it. When you are there, you understand why. This is China's beauty, and it is real.

More than six hundred years ago, people built a huge palace in Beijing. Today we call it the Palace Museum. It has almost ten thousand rooms. Red walls and golden roofs go on and on. For hundreds of years, twenty-four emperors lived and worked there. Everything in it was made by hand, without big machines. Year after year, people took care of it. Wars came and went, but the palace stood. Now, children walk through its gates and look up. Six hundred years have passed. And it is still standing, right in the heart of China.

Long ago, a great emperor was buried under a hill in China. He did not want to be alone. So an army was made for him, out of clay. There are thousands of soldiers, each with a different face. Some stand, some kneel, and some hold horses. Then they were hidden under the ground. For more than two thousand years, no one saw them. Farmers found them again in 1974. Now they stand in a great hall, and the whole world comes to see. They are quiet, still, and proud. They still stand guard.

In the desert of Dunhuang, there is a place full of art. It is called the Mogao Caves. Long ago, people cut hundreds of caves into the rock. Inside, they painted walls with flying dancers, flowers, and bright colors. Some caves took many years to finish. Day after day, artists worked in the dark, with only a little light. They did it not for money, but for their faith. Today, over a thousand years later, the colors are still there. People from everywhere come to see this great treasure of China.

More than two thousand years ago, a river in Sichuan often flooded. A man had a smart idea. He did not build a big wall to stop the water. Instead, he let the river split into two. One part flowed to the farms, and one part flowed on. It was simple, and it worked. The people built it with stones and wood. No cement, no steel. And here is the amazing part: after 2,300 years, it still works today. It is a gift from long ago, and we are still using it.

In the north of China, there is a mountain called Taihang. Long ago, the people below it had almost no water. Their crops died. Their wells ran dry. So they made a decision. They would cut a canal through the mountain, and bring water from far away. They had no big machines. They used hammers, chisels, and their own hands. It took ten years. When the water finally came, the whole valley ran out to see. They did not move the mountain. But they opened a road right through it. With their hands.

Long ago, a place in the north of China was cold, windy, and full of sand. It was almost a desert. Nothing could grow there. Then some people came. They were young, and they had one job: to plant trees. The first year, most of the trees died. The next year, they planted again. They did this for more than fifty years. Parents planted, then their children, then their children's children. Today, that land is a huge green forest. Three generations, one forest. That is what people can do when they never give up.

There is a railway in China that runs higher than any other in the world. It goes from Xining to Lhasa, on the roof of the world. The air there is thin, and the land is frozen. Many people said it was impossible. But the workers did it. They worked in great cold and thin air, and they kept going. Now the train climbs to over five thousand meters. Outside the window there is only snow, lakes, and sky. It is the highest railway on earth. And it is in China.

In the past, many people in China did not have enough rice to eat. A scientist wanted to help. His name was Yuan Longping. He spent his whole life in the rice fields, under the hot sun. He tried again and again, and failed many times. But he never stopped. At last, he grew a new kind of rice that could feed many more people. Because of his work, China could feed itself. People call him the father of hybrid rice. He was a quiet man with dirty shoes. But he fed a billion people.