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PRETTY BORING
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“I think you’re ready.”
Tally1 cruised to a stop—right foot down, left foot up,bend the knees.
“Ready for what?”
Shay drifted slowly past, letting the breeze tug2 heralong. They were as high up and far out as hoverboardswould go, just above treetop level, at the edge of town. Itwas amazing how quickly Tally had gotten used to being uphigh, with nothing but a board and bracelets3 between herand a long fall.
The view from up here was fantastic. Behind them thespires of New Pretty Town rose from the center of town,and around them was the greenbelt, a swath of forest thatseparated the middle and the late pretties from the youngsters.
Older generations of pretties lived out in the suburbs,hidden by the hills, in rows of big houses separated bystrips of private garden for their littlies to play in.
Shay smiled. “Ready for a night ride.”
“Oh. Look, I don’t know if I want to cross the riveragain,” Tally said, remembering her promise to Peris. Sheand Shay had shown each other a lot of tricks over the lastthree weeks, but they hadn’t been back into New PrettyTown since the night they’d met. “Until we get turned, ofcourse. After last time, the wardens4 are probably all—”
“I wasn’t talking about New Pretty Town,” Shay interrupted.
“That place is boring, anyway. We’d have to sneakaround all night.”
“Okay. You mean just board around Uglyville.”
Shay shook her head, still coasting gradually away onthe breeze.
Tally shifted her weight on the board uncomfortably.
“Where else is there?”
Shay put her hands in her pockets and spread her arms,turning her dorm’s team jacket into a sail. The breeze pulledher farther away from Tally. By reflex, Tally tipped her toesforward so that her board would keep up.
“Well, there’s out there.” Shay nodded at the open landbefore them.
“The suburbs? That’s dullsville.”
“Not the burbs. Past them.” Shay slid her feet in oppositedirections, to the very edges of the board. Her skirt caught thecool evening wind, which tugged5 her away even faster. She wasdrifting toward the outer edge of the greenbelt. Off-limits.
Tally planted her feet and dipped the board, and pulledup next to her friend. “What do you mean? Outside the citycompletely?”
UGLIES 47“Yeah.”
“That’s crazy. There’s nothing out there.”
“There’s plenty out there. Real trees, hundreds of yearsold. Mountains. And the ruins. Ever been there?”
Tally blinked. “Of course.”
“I don’t mean on a school trip, Tally. You ever beenthere at night?”
Tally brought her board to a sharp halt. The Rusty6 Ruinswere the remains7 of an old city, a hulking reminder8 of backwhen there’d been way too many people, and everyone wasincredibly stupid. And ugly. “No way. Don’t tell me you have.”
Shay nodded.
Tally’s mouth dropped open. “That’s impossible.”
“You think you’re the only one who knows goodtricks?”
“Well, maybe I believe you,” Tally said. Shay had thatlook on her face, the one Tally had learned to watch out for.
“But what if we get busted9?”
Shay laughed. “Tally, there’s nothing out there, like youjust said. Nothing and no one to bust10 us.”
“Do hoverboards even work out there? Does anything?”
“Special ones do, if you know how to trick them, andwhere to ride. And getting past the burbs is easy. You takethe river the whole way. Farther upstream it’s white water,too rough for skimmers.”
Tally’s mouth dropped open again. “You really havedone this before.”
48 Scott WesterfeldA gust11 of wind billowed in Shay’s jacket, and she slidfarther away, still smiling. Tally had to lean her board intomotion again to stay within earshot. A treetop brushed herankles as the ground below them started to rise.
“It’ll be really fun,” Shay called.
“Sounds too risky12.”
“Come on. I’ve been wanting to show you this since wemet. Since you told me you crashed a pretty party—andpulled a fire alarm!”
Tally swallowed, wishing she’d told the whole truthabout that night—about how it had all just sort of happened.
Shay seemed to think she was the world’s biggestdaredevil now. “Well, I mean, that alarm thing was partly anaccident. Kind of.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“I mean, maybe we should wait. It’s only a couple ofmonths now.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Shay said. “A couple of months andwe’ll be stuck inside the river. Pretty and boring.”
Tally snorted. “I don’t think it’s exactly boring, Shay.”
“Doing what you’re supposed to do is always boring. Ican’t imagine anything worse than being required to have fun.”
“I can,” Tally said quietly. “Never having any.”
“Listen, Tally, these two months are our last chance todo anything really cool. To be ourselves. Once we turn, it’snew pretty, middle pretty, late pretty.” Shay dropped herarms, and her board stopped drifting. “Then dead pretty.”
UGLIES 49“Better than dead ugly,” Tally said.
Shay shrugged13 and opened her jacket into a sail again.
They weren’t far from the edge of the greenbelt now. SoonShay would get a warning. Then her board would tattle.
“Besides,” Tally argued, “just because we get the operationdoesn’t mean we can’t do stuff like this.”
“But pretties never do, Tally. Never.”
Tally sighed, tipping her feet again to follow. “Maybethat’s because they have better stuff to do than kid tricks.
Maybe partying in town is better than hanging out in abunch of old ruins.”
Shay’s eyes flashed. “Or maybe when they do theoperation—when they grind and stretch your bones to theright shape, peel off your face and rub all your skin away,and stick in plastic cheekbones so you look like everybodyelse—maybe after going through all that you justaren’t very interesting anymore.”
Tally flinched14. She’d never heard the operationdescribed that way. Even in bio class, where they went intothe details, it didn’t sound that bad. “Come on, we won’teven know it’s happening. You just have pretty dreams thewhole time.”
“Yeah, sure.”
A voice came into Tally’s head: “Warning, restrictedarea.” The wind was turning cold as the sun dropped.
“Come on, Shay, let’s go back down. It’s almost dinner.”
Shay smiled and shook her head, and pulled off her50 Scott Westerfeldinterface ring. Now she wouldn’t hear the warnings. “Let’sgo tonight. You can ride almost as well as me now.”
“Shay.”
“Do this with me. I’ll show you a roller coaster.”
“What’s a—”
“Second warning. Restricted area.”
Tally stopped her board. “If you keep going, Shay, you’llget busted and we won’t be doing anything tonight.”
Shay shrugged as the wind tugged her farther away.
“I just want to show you something that’s my idea offun, Tally. Before we go all pretty and only get to haveeverybody else’s idea of fun.”
Tally shook her head, wanting to say that Shay hadalready taught her how to hoverboard, the coolest thingshe’d ever learned. In less than a month she’d come to feellike they were best friends. Almost like when she’d metPeris as a littlie, and they’d known instantly they’d betogether forever. “Shay . . .”
“Please?”
Tally sighed. “Okay.”
Shay dropped her arms and dipped her toes to bringthe board to a halt. “Really? Tonight?”
“Sure. Rusty Ruins it is.”
Tally told herself to relax. It wasn’t that big a deal, really. Shebroke rules all the time, and everyone went to the ruins once ayear on school trips. It couldn’t be dangerous or anything.
Shay zoomed15 back from the edge of the belt, swoopingUGLIES 51up beside Tally to put her arm around her. “Wait until yousee the river.”
“You said it’s got white water?”
“Yeah.”
“Which is what?”
Shay smiled. “It’s water. But much, much better.”



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 tally Gg1yq     
n.计数器,记分,一致,测量;vt.计算,记录,使一致;vi.计算,记分,一致
参考例句:
  • Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
  • The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。
2 tug 5KBzo     
v.用力拖(或拉);苦干;n.拖;苦干;拖船
参考例句:
  • We need to tug the car round to the front.我们需要把那辆车拉到前面。
  • The tug is towing three barges.那只拖船正拖着三只驳船。
3 bracelets 58df124ddcdc646ef29c1c5054d8043d     
n.手镯,臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The lamplight struck a gleam from her bracelets. 她的手镯在灯光的照射下闪闪发亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • On display are earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from jade, amber and amethyst. 展出的有用玉石、琥珀和紫水晶做的耳环、项链和手镯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 wardens e2599ddd0efb9a7622608a7c43692b1e     
n.看守人( warden的名词复数 );管理员;监察员;监察官
参考例句:
  • Air raid wardens in tin hats self-importantly stalked the streets. 空袭民防队员戴着钢盔神气活现地走在街上昂首阔步。 来自辞典例句
  • The game wardens tranquillized the rhinoceros with a drugged dart. 猎物保护区管理员用麻醉射器让犀牛静了下来。 来自辞典例句
5 tugged 8a37eb349f3c6615c56706726966d38e     
v.用力拉,使劲拉,猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. 她拽了拽他的袖子引起他的注意。
  • A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 他的嘴角带一丝苦笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 rusty hYlxq     
adj.生锈的;锈色的;荒废了的
参考例句:
  • The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
  • I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用,我的法语又荒疏了。
7 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
8 reminder WkzzTb     
n.提醒物,纪念品;暗示,提示
参考例句:
  • I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
  • It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知,她才付应该交的房租。
9 busted busted     
adj. 破产了的,失败了的,被降级的,被逮捕的,被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了!
  • It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。
10 bust WszzB     
vt.打破;vi.爆裂;n.半身像;胸部
参考例句:
  • I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
  • She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。
11 gust q5Zyu     
n.阵风,突然一阵(雨、烟等),(感情的)迸发
参考例句:
  • A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来,把前门关上了。
  • A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。
12 risky IXVxe     
adj.有风险的,冒险的
参考例句:
  • It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险,但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
  • He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。
13 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 flinched 2fdac3253dda450d8c0462cb1e8d7102     
v.(因危险和痛苦)退缩,畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He flinched at the sight of the blood. 他一见到血就往后退。
  • This tough Corsican never flinched or failed. 这个刚毅的科西嘉人从来没有任何畏缩或沮丧。 来自辞典例句
15 zoomed 7d2196a2c3b9cad9d8899e8add247521     
v.(飞机、汽车等)急速移动( zoom的过去式 );(价格、费用等)急升,猛涨
参考例句:
  • Traffic zoomed past us. 车辆从我们身边疾驰而过。
  • Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停,喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》


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