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Emily Chang
Words Checked: 2125 1
Words in Oxford 3000: 93%
VÉÇàxÇàá 2
Chapter 1 “Who am I?”
5
Chapter 2 Journey to England
6
Chapter 3 Journey to Germany 13
Chapter 4 Journey to China
19
Chapter 5 Journey to Africa
28
Chapter 6 End of the Journey
31
3
My Journey
This is a book about a wind traveling around the world. It has been to Britain, Germany, China, and Africa.
If you are
interested in what the wind has seen, just take a look in this book –My Journey
4
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------------------------------------Something continually.
blows
mildly
and
It blows over the grass, the
ground, the garden, and the treetop.
It
goes through people’s hair mischievously. It loves to play hide-and-seek with everyone, but no one can ever find where it is. It can be touched, but no one can see it.
How
mysterious and occult it is... I do not know where I come from, nor do I know where I will go. “Wind,” I whisper. 5
Who am I?
V{tÑàxÜ E
]ÉâÜÇxç àÉ XÇzÄtÇw
I did not know why I was here.
All I
knew was that, when opening my eyes, I was already in England.
There were
well-dressed
magnificent
people
and
buildings in this country. The world famous Buckingham Palace and Big Ben were down below me. In the palace, the State Rooms form the heart of the working palace and are lavishly furnished with some of the finest treasures from the Royal Collection－ paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Poussin, Canaletto; sculptures by Canova; 6
exquisite examples of Servres porcelain, and some of the finest English and French furniture in the world. Passing through the Ball
Supper
Room,
the
musical
entertainment at Buckingham Palace, I could hear the voices of famous performers, the sounds of the original instruments on show and some of the music specially steeping out the palace was its 39-acre garden, an oasis for wildlife, where visitors
7
can enjoy a garden walk that offers superb views of the Garden Front of the Palace and the 19th-century lake.
Outside the palace,
the streets and the buildings carry the diplomatic
and
symbolize
Great
consular Britain.
flag
which In
the
surrounding area, I could also see the hour bell of the Great Clock of Westminster－ known worldwide as “Big Ben.” Passing by a tour group, a tour guide was introducing the history of the Big Ben. She said, “The tower was begun following the disastrous fire which destroyed the old Palace of 8
Westminster in 1834.
Charles Barry was
given the contract to rebuild the Palace, and his designs included a clock tower.
The
hour bell of Big Ben is eight feet in diameter, weighs thirteen point five tons, and was cast in 1858 by George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell foundry. The style of
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the
building
was
to
be
“Gothic
or
Elizabethan.”” Passing along slowly down the street, a little girl was walking hand in hand with her mother.
She was wearing a
handmade blouse and a nice skirt.
Her
mother was dressed in an elegant outfit with a famous brand necklace.
I could even
smell the mixture of rose and jasmine perfume the mother wore while blowing them.
“Mommy, I can feel something
around me. I feel good and comfortable when it touches my face. the little girl said.
What is that?”
“Sweetheart, that is the 10
wind,� Mommy replied.
Continuing along
the street, I soon arrived at River Thames.
Here I saw people leisurely having their afternoon tea. On the table, there were Chocolate
Truffle
Marquise,
Ultimate
Chocolate Blackout Cake, and Pecan Tart. Cappuccino, Vanilla Latte, and Espresso Macchiato were served.
People chatted
happily and had their tea leisurely. All I could see in this city was the affluence and 11
peace‌ Ooops, the current was moving. I had to go.
Moving to somewhere I did not
know‌
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V{tÑàxÜ F
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And now I was in Germany.
The
Berlin Wall and Branddenburg Gate were in fornt of me. father
Passing by people, I saw a
pointing
to
the
gate
to
his
three-year-old daughter. “Anna, let daddy tells you the history of the Branddenburg Gate.
It is a landmark of Berlin and a
symbol of the German consolidation, and was built from 1789 to 1791 by Carl Gotthard Langhans.
Ten years after the
thirty-year-war, in 1658 it began to extend Berlin into a fortess. 13
In the place of
today’s Brandenburg Gate, a town-gate was established…” “Daddy! You’ve said that many times. Every time we are here, you will repeat that again!
I can even
memorize the words you say,” Anna said. “My dear, it’s an occupational hazard. You know that I am a history teacher,” her father replied.
“Never mind, Daddy.” She
then said, “Let’s take a photo together.” The conversation of the father and daughter made me laugh lightly.
What a responsible
teacher the father was. Even taking a walk with his little daughter, he was still telling 14
the history of the gate.
Continually flying,
I came to the world famous castle－the Neuschwanstein Castle.
Hearing the voices under me, I was curious to know what happened there so I followed the source of the voices. It was the guard of the castle talking to one of the visitors. ‘This is King Ludwig’s magnificent and most famous castle, built in the neo-late 15
Romanesque style.
With its turrets and
mock-medievalism,
its
ranging
from
interior
Byzantine
styles through
Romanesque to Gothic it’s a real fairy-tale fantasy come true.
It was built between
1869 and 1886 for the Bavarian King Ludwig II.
A splendid and imaginative
“fairy-tale castle” high above the Alpsee Lake with the Alps towering above it.
The
best view of the castle and a 45m waterfall is
from
nearby
Mary’s
Bridge
(Marienbrücke), which spans a deep gorge. On the path between this bridge and the 16
castle
is
a
wonderful
view
Hohenschwangau and the Alpsee.”
of “You
guys are lucky,” the guard continued saying. “Why do you say so?” asked the visitor. “Well, because this is the last day that the castle was opened for visitors.
We will
close it tomorrow because it is already November.
The castle needs to be cleaned
during December and then will open again next year.”
“Anyway, I hope you will
enjoy your trip inside the castle.
It may
take about thirty-five minutes to walk, about 170 steps up and down,” said the guard. 17
“Thanks, I am sure I will enjoy that!” answered the visitor. In this country, what I saw was the peace and what I felt was the happiness of the people.
The atmosphere
in Germany was the same as in England.
I
felt happy in these countries and wanted to stay forever. moving again.
However, the current was That made me fly to
another unknown country… Where was the next stop?
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V{tÑàxÜ G
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This was a country almost stretching across a half of the hemisphere, China.
The Great Wall! The first thing I saw in China, enlisting in the World Heritage.
It
was just like a gigantic dragon that winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains
and
plateaus
stretching
approximately 6,700 kilometers from east to 19
west of China.
There were climbers
talking about the Great Wall, let’s listen. “…history of more than two thousand years!” one of the climbers, Joe said. “Yeah, and do you know the history of the Wall?” Max said. “I do! I do!” I wanted to say something, but I could not do it.
They
could not hear me, for I was but a wind. I then sighed lightly and listened to them. “The Great Wall was originally built in the Spring, Autumn, and Warring States Periods as a defensive fortification by the three states: Yan, Zhao and Qin. 20
It began as
independent walls for different states when it was first built, and did not become the “Great” wall until the Qin Dynasty. Emperor Qin Shihuang succeeded in his effort to have the walls joined together to fend off the invasions form the Huns in the north after the unification of China. Since then, the Great Wall has served as a monument of the Chinese nation throughout history.” “What I know about is the construction of the Wall,” the other one said. “The construction of the Great Wall, was drawn heavily on the local resources for 21
construction materials, was carried out in line with the local conditions under the management and responsibility system. A great army of manpower composed of soldiers, prisoners, and local people, built the wall.” “Yeah, I know that.
And what
I want to honor is that the construction result demonstrates the manifestation of the wisdom and tenacity of the Chinese people.” said.
“I am proud to be Chinese,” Max
“Me, too!” Joe replied.
the wind direction changed.
Suddenly,
So, I flew to
the capital of China, Beijing, and saw the 22
Forbidden City, which was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of Tiananmen Square.
Rectangular in shape, it is the world’s largest
palace
complex
seventy-four hectares.
and
covers
I flew into the
Forbidden City and saw it divided into two sections.
The southern section, or the 23
Outer Court, which consists of five halls was used for ceremonial purposes. It was also the place where the emperor exercised his supreme power over the nation. The northern section, or the Inner Court was where the emperor lived with this royal family,
served
maid-servants.
by
eunuchs
and
At first, I was amazed by
the luxury and the size of the whole palace. While passing through the red city wall, I saw the considerable skills in building the Forbidden City.
The angular shape of the
wall totally frustrates attempts to climb it. 24
The bricks were made from white lime and glutinous rice while the cement was made from glutinous rice and egg whites. incredible
materials
extraordinarily strong.
make
the
These wall
Umm‌ Something
smelt so good that I decided to follow the smell!
The smell came from a traditional
Chinese cuisineďź?Peking Duck.
A family was happily having the delicious meal. However, I seemed to hear a soft 25
cry behind the restaurant. It was a little girl with her mother, sitting hopelessly behind the restaurant.
They were begging
for some food to eat! It came as a shock to me since I have never seen the situation like this. In China, I learnt another kind of life people lived.
Not all of the people lived
happily without worry.
The sight of the
mother and the daughter I saw on the street was not new to most of the Chinese people. What was even worse, depauperation was not the only problem.
Some people were
taken in because they were not so 26
knowledgeable.
How sad it was!
Feeling
sorry for them, somehow, the direction of wind changed again. another place‌
27
I had to move to
V{tÑàxÜ H
]ÉâÜÇxç àÉ TyÜ|vt
This is Africa. Sad to say, what I saw were only wars and famine.
Hundreds of
millions of people are still underfed although there is more than enough food to go round. Children cried for help; adults were lost in abstraction and hopelessly stared at the sky. pesticides,
Though fertilizers,
high-yielding
seeds
and
mechanization have boosted crop yields, meat
and
fish
production
also
has
quadrupled, doom-laden statistics on soil erosion, declining fish stocks, deforestation, 28
nitrate pollution and genetic diversity are raising fears for the future. Africa always faced the prospect of widespread famine as eleven million people suffer server food shortages.
Some of the worst-affected
districts are in the south.
People in this
country struggled with their lives.
They
were starved and had no food to eat; clean water was even hard to find for them to drink!
Wars in Africa were frequent.
I
saw people fighting each other violentlyďź? just to grab as much food as they could.
A
lot of people died of hunger. Daring not to 29
watch further (It was too sad to watch that sight), I flew away as fast as I could. Again, I flew and flew and flew, without any specific destination.
30
V{tÑàxÜ I
XÇw Éy à{x ]ÉâÜÇxç
Since I have been to different countries, different cities, I saw a lot.
There was not
only affluence, but effluence in the world. There
were
advanced
and
developed
countries, but there were more poor areas－ or even worse, they were not yet developed. People say that I am free, yes, I am free. However, I cannot stay in the places I love. I have to see something I do not want to see. I have to keep moving and moving, without stopping. “Is that good?” some people ask me.
“I do not know” I whisper, “because 31
that is my fate.�
32
My Journey
This is a book about a wind traveling around the world. It has been to Britain, Germany, China, and Africa.
If you are
interested in what the wind has seen, just take a look in this book – My Journey.
33