Listening2. Listen to the tape and tick the statement telling the main idea of the dialogue.(p23)A.A girl from Laos told Wang Kun about how Laotians use the Mekong River.B.A girl told Wang Kun about what they would see along the Mekong river.C.A girl from Laos told Wang Kun about how important and beautiful the Mekong is.3. Listen again and complete the passageThe Mekong is the most important river in Laos. It even _on the national _ of the country. Laotian people use the river for _, _ and _ goods and people around the country. appearsflagtransportingwashingfishingThey call the Mekong “the _ of Laos”, but in Tibet people call it “the water of the _”. If you follow the river in Laos, you can visit temples, caves and a _. At night, you can sleep in some small _ by the river.searockswaterfallvillagesOn the way to meet their cousins, the two travellers see a girl (G) walking along the road. Wan Kun (WK) stops to speak to her. Listening Text(p23)WK: Hello! G: Hello! Are you travelers? Where are you going? WK: Yes, we are. Were following the Mekong River from its start to where it joins the sea. Weve been all through China and now we are going to follow the river in Laos. G: I come from Laos. Thats our most important river. Do you know that it even appears on our national flag.WK: Really? G: Yes. We use the river for everything including washing, fishing and moving things around the country. We would be lost without it. Its better than a road.WK: Well, I suppose thats why Ive seen boats going up and down- theyre transporting goods and people. G: Yes. We call it “the sea of Laos” because it is so useful and we are not close to the see.WK: How interesting! In Tibet the river was called “The water of the rocks” and in Vietnam it is known as “the river of the nine dragons”. Those names sound so beautiful.G: Well, the Mekong River is very beautiful, especially when it enters Laos from Tibet. It goes through so many lovely places with mountains and thick forests. The scenery can take you breath away.WK: I never realized that! In Tibet it was all waterfalls and rapids.G: There are other beautiful sights along the Mekong River in our country. They include temples, caves and a waterfall. It is a protected area so you know its very special.WK: Can we sleep by the river?G: Yes, of course you can. They are many small villages along the river. You can stay there if you wish. They fish in the river and you can eat some wonderful soup there.WK: Weve already seen many different kinds of animals, plants and birds along the riverbank. We were happy to see them.G: Well, there are many other things to discover about the Mekong River in Laos.WK: Thank you so much for telling us so many things. Goodbye.G: Goodbye. Laos Tibet Vientiane Vietnam plains border village candles lights truck ducks chickens2. Listen and tick the words you hear on the tape.(p55)3. Listen again and answer these questions in pairs.(p55)1. Which border of Laos is made by the Mekong River?Most of its western border is made by the Mekong River.2. What did Wang Kun and his sister see when they cycled across the plains?As they cycled across the plains where rice grew, they saw many low mountains covered in trees.3. Which is the best season to travel to Laos? Why?Autumn was the best season to travel to Laos. Because it was cool and dry at that time so there was no need to worry about floods along the river.4. What did the river sound like?5. How did they go to Vientiane after lunch?We met Dao Wei and Yu Hang in Dali. They were glad to join us for the second week of our journey down the great river. Before we set out, we went to a small outdoor cafe and told them about what we had seen in Tibet. Listening Text(p55)Along the way, children dressed in long wool coats stopped to look at us. I told them how it was so cold in the late evening that the water in our bottles froze. The lakes shone like glass in the moonlight. Few trees could be seen. I said we were so high in the mountains that we cycled through clouds. In the valleys, colorful butterflies flew around us. We saw many yaks and sheep eating green grass. That night we were too tired to make camp, so we slept in an inn for truck drivers. They told us many wonderful stories about life in this part of China. The next day we went across the border into Laos. Most of its western border is made by the Mekong River. Laos, we learned, has the smallest number of people of any country in Southeast Asia. Much of the world knows little about it. As we cycled across the plains where rice grew, we could see many low mountains covered in trees. We had planned our trip well. We were told that autumn was the best time to be traveling here and it was true. It was cool and dry so there was no need to worry about floods along the river.