Li Daiyu and her cousin Liu Qian were on atrip to Canada to visit their cousins in Montreal on the Atlantic coast.Rather than take the aeroplane all the way,they decided to fly to Vancouver andthen take the train from west to east across Canada.The thought that they could cross the whole continent was exciting.
Their friend ,Danny Liu ,was waiting at the airport.He was going totake them and theirbaggage to catch “The true north”,the cross – Canada train.On the way to the station,hechatted about their trip.“You ‘re going to seesome great scenery.Going eastward,you’ll pass mountains and thousands oflakes and forests as well as wide rivers ands large cities.Some people havethe idea that you can cross Canadain less than five days,but they forget the fact that Canada is 5,500kilometres from coast to coast.Here in Vancouver,you’re in Canada’s warmestpart .People say it is Canada’smost beautiful city,surrounded by mountains and the Pacific Ocean.Skiing in the Rocky Mountains and sailing in the harbour make Vancouver one of Canada’s most popular cities tolive in.Its population is increasing rapidly.The coast there that the treesare extremely tall,some measuring over 90 meters.”
That afternoon aboard the train,thecousins settled down in their seats.Earlier that day,whrn they crossed the Rocky Mountains,they managed to catch sight ofsomemountain goats and even a grizzly bear and an eagle.Their next shop was Calgary,which is famousfor the CalgaryStampede.Cowboys from all over the world come to compete in theStampede.Many of them have a gift for riding wild horses and can withinthousandsof dollars in prizes.
After two days’ travel,the girls began to realize that Canada is quite empty.At school,they had learnedthat most Canadians live within a few hundred kilometres of the USA border,and that Canada’s population is only slightly over thirty million,but now they were amazed to see covered thousandsof aces.After dinner,they were back in an urban area,the busy port city of Thunder Bay at the top of the Great Lakes.Because of the Great Lakes,theyleared,Canadahas more fresh water than any other country in the world.In fact,it hasone-third of the world’s total fresh water,and much of it is the Great Lakes.
That night as they slept,the train rushed across the top of Lake Superior,through the great forests and southward towards Toronto.