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THE RUSTY RUINS
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A few blank windows stared down on them in silence fromthe husks of the giant buildings. Any glass had long sinceshattered, any wood had rotted, and nothing remained butmetal frames, mortar1, and stone crumbling2 in the grip ofinvading vegetation. Looking down at the black, emptydoorways, Tally3’s skin crawled with the thought of descendingto peer into one.
The two friends slid between the ruined buildings, ridinghigh and silent as if not to disturb the ghosts of the deadcity. Below them the streets were full of burned-out carssqueezed together between the looming4 walls. Whateverhad destroyed this city, the people had tried to escape it.
Tally remembered from her last school trip to the ruins thattheir cars couldn’t hover5. They just rolled along on rubberwheels. The Rusties had been stuck down in these streetslike a horde6 of rats trapped in a burning maze7.
“Uh, Shay, you’re pretty sure our boards aren’t suddenlygoing to conk out, right?” she called softly.
“Don’t worry. Whoever built this city loved to wastemetal. They aren’t called the Rusty8 Ruins because some guycalled Rusty discovered them.”
Tally had to agree. Every building sported jagged spursof metal sticking from its broken walls, like bones juttingfrom a long-dead animal. She remembered that the Rustiesdidn’t use hoverstruts; every building was squat9, crude, andmassive, and needed a steel skeleton to keep it from fallingdown.
And some of them were so huge. The Rusties didn’t puttheir factories underground, and they all worked togetherlike bees in a hive instead of at home. The smallest ruinhere was bigger than the biggest dorm in Uglyville, biggereven than Garbo Mansion10.
Seeing them now, at night, the ruins felt much morereal to Tally. On school trips, the teachers always made theRusties out to be so stupid. You almost couldn’t believepeople lived like this, burning trees to clear land, burningoil for heat and power, setting the atmosphere on fire withtheir weapons. But in the moonlight she could imaginepeople scrambling11 over flaming cars to escape the crumblingcity, panicking in their flight from this untenable pileof metal and stone.
Shay’s voice pulled Tally from her reverie. “Come on, Iwant to show you something.”
Shay cruised to the edge of the buildings, then out overthe trees.
“Are you sure we can—”
62 Scott Westerfeld“Look down.”
Below, Tally saw metal glinting through the trees.
“The ruins are much bigger than they let on,” Shay said.
“They just keep that part of the city standing12 for schooltrips and museum stuff. But it goes on forever.”
“With lots of metal?”
“Yeah. Tons. Don’t worry, I’ve flown all over the place.”
Tally swallowed, keeping an eye out for signs of ruinbelow, glad that Shay was moving at a nice, slow speed.
A shape emerged from the forest, a long spine13 that rose and felllike a frozen wave. It led away from them, off into the darkness.
“Here it is.”
“Okay, but what is it?” Tally asked.
“It’s called a roller coaster. Remember, I told you I’dshow you one.”
“It’s pretty. But what’s it for?”
“For having fun.”
“No way.”
“Yeah, way. Apparently14, the Rusties did have some fun.
It’s like a track. They would stick ground cars to it and goas fast as they could. Up, down, around in circles. Likehoverboarding, without hovering15. And they made it out ofsome really unrusty kind of steel—for safety, I guess.”
Tally frowned. She’d only imagined the Rusties workingin the giant stone hives and struggling to escape on thatlast, horrible day. Not having fun.
UGLIES 63“Let’s do it,” Shay said. “Let’s roller coaster.”
“How?”
“On your board.” Shay turned to Tally and said seriously,“But you’ve got to go fast. It’s dangerous unless you’rereally moving.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.”
Shay turned away and sped down the roller coaster, flyingjust above the track. Tally sighed and leaned hard afterher. At least the thing was metal.
It also turned out to be a great ride. It was like a hoverboardcourse made solid, complete with tight, bankedturns, sharp climbs followed by long drops, even loops thattook Tally upside down, her crash bracelets16 activating17 tokeep her on board. It was amazing what good shape it wasin. The Rusties must have built it out of something special,just as Shay had said.
The track went much higher than a hoverboard couldgo on its own. On the roller coaster, hoverboarding reallywas like being a bird.
It wound around in a wide, slow arc, circling backtoward where they’d started. The final approach began witha huge climb.
“Take this part fast!” Shay shouted over her shoulder asshe zoomed18 ahead.
Tally followed at top speed, rocketing up the spindlytrack. She could see the ruins in the distance: broken, black64 Scott Westerfeldspires against the trees. And behind them, a moonlit glimmerthat might have been the sea. This was really high!
She heard a scream of pleasure as she reached the top.
Shay had disappeared. Tally leaned forward to speed up.
Suddenly, the board dropped out from under her. Itsimply fell away from her feet, leaving her flying throughmidair. The track below her had disappeared.
Tally clenched19 her fists, waiting for the crash braceletsto kick in and haul her up by her wrists. But they hadbecome as useless as the board, just heavy strips of steeldragging her toward the ground. “Shay!” she screamed asshe fell into blackness.
Then Tally saw the framework of the roller coasterahead. Only a short segment was missing.
Suddenly, the crash bracelets pulled her upward, andshe felt the solid surface of the hoverboard coming up fromunder her feet. Her momentum20 had carried her to the otherside of the gap! The board must have sailed along with her,just below her feet for those terrifying seconds of free fall.
She found herself cruising down the track, to where Shaywas waiting at the bottom. “You’re insane!” she shouted.
“Pretty cool, huh?”
“No!” Tally yelled. “Why didn’t you tell me it was broken?”
Shay shrugged21. “More fun that way?”
“More fun?” Her heart was beating fast, her visionstrangely clear. She was full of anger and relief and . . . joy.
“Well, kind of. But you suck!”
UGLIES 65Tally stepped from the board and walked across thegrass on rubbery legs. She found a broken stone big enoughto sit on, and lowered herself shakily onto it.
Shay jumped off her board. “Hey, sorry.”
“That was horrible, Shay. I was falling.”
“Not for long. Like, five seconds. I thought you saidyou’d bungee jumped off a building.”
Tally glared at Shay. “Yeah, I did, but I knew I wasn’tgoing to splat.”
“True. But, you see, the first time someone showed methe roller coaster, they didn’t tell me about the gap. And Ithought it was pretty cool, finding out that way. Best time’sthe first time. I wanted you to feel it too.”
“You thought falling was cool?”
“Well, maybe at first I was pretty angry. Yeah, I definitelywas.” Shay smiled broadly. “But I got over it.”
“Give me a second on that one, Skinny.”
“Take your time.”
Tally’s breathing slowed, and her heart graduallystopped trying to beat its way out of her chest. But herbrain stayed as clear as it had for those seconds of free fall,and she found herself wondering who had found the rollercoaster first, and how many other uglies had come heresince. “Shay, who showed you all this? ““Friends, older than me. Uglies like us, who try to figureout how stuff works. And how to trick it.”
Tally looked up at the ancient, serpentine22 shape of the66 Scott Westerfeldroller coaster, the vines crawling up its framework. “I wonderhow long uglies have been coming here.”
“Probably a long time. You pass along stuff. You know,one person figures out how to trick their board, the nextfinds the rapids, the next makes it to the ruins.”
“Then somebody gets brave enough to jump the gap inthe roller coaster.” Tally swallowed. “Or jumps it accidentally.”
Shay nodded. “But they all get turned pretty in the end.”
“Happy ending,” Tally said.
Shay shrugged.
“How do you know it’s called a ‘roller coaster,’ anyway?
Did you look it up somewhere?”
“No,” Shay said. “Someone told me.”
“But how’d they know?”
“This guy knows a lot of stuff. Tricks, stuff about theruins. He’s really cool.”
Something about Shay’s voice made Tally turn and takeher hand. “But he’s pretty now, I guess.”
Shay pulled away and bit a fingernail. “No. He’s not.”
“But I thought all your friends—”
“Tally, will you make me a promise? A real promise.”
“Sure, I guess. What kind of promise?”
“You can never tell anyone what I’m about to show you.”
“It doesn’t involve free fall, does it?”
“No.”
“Okay. I swear.” Tally held up her hand with the scarshe and Peris had made. “I’ll never tell anyone.”
UGLIES 67Shay looked into her eyes for a moment, searchinghard, then nodded. “All right. There’s someone I want youto meet. Tonight.”
“Tonight? But we won’t get back into town until—”
“He’s not in town.” Shay smiled. “He’s out here.”

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 mortar 9EsxR     
n.灰浆,灰泥;迫击炮;v.把…用灰浆涂接合
参考例句:
  • The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
  • The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。
2 crumbling Pyaxy     
adj.摇摇欲坠的
参考例句:
  • an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
  • The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。
3 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。
4 looming 1060bc05c0969cf209c57545a22ee156     
n.上现蜃景(光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼)v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近
参考例句:
  • The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看,在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望
5 hover FQSzM     
vi.翱翔,盘旋;徘徊;彷徨,犹豫
参考例句:
  • You don't hover round the table.你不要围着桌子走来走去。
  • A plane is hover on our house.有一架飞机在我们的房子上盘旋。
6 horde 9dLzL     
n.群众,一大群
参考例句:
  • A horde of children ran over the office building.一大群孩子在办公大楼里到处奔跑。
  • Two women were quarrelling on the street,surrounded by horde of people.有两个妇人在街上争吵,被一大群人围住了。
7 maze F76ze     
n.迷宫,八阵图,混乱,迷惑
参考例句:
  • He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
  • She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时,她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。
8 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。
9 squat 2GRzp     
v.蹲坐,蹲下;n.蹲下;adj.矮胖的,粗矮的
参考例句:
  • For this exercise you need to get into a squat.在这次练习中你需要蹲下来。
  • He is a squat man.他是一个矮胖的男人。
10 mansion 8BYxn     
n.大厦,大楼;宅第
参考例句:
  • The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
  • The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。
11 scrambling cfea7454c3a8813b07de2178a1025138     
v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞
参考例句:
  • Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发,冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
13 spine lFQzT     
n.脊柱,脊椎;(动植物的)刺;书脊
参考例句:
  • He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
  • His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。
14 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
15 hovering 99fdb695db3c202536060470c79b067f     
鸟( hover的现在分词 ); 靠近(某事物); (人)徘徊; 犹豫
参考例句:
  • The helicopter was hovering about 100 metres above the pad. 直升机在离发射台一百米的上空盘旋。
  • I'm hovering between the concert and the play tonight. 我犹豫不决今晚是听音乐会还是看戏。
16 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》
17 activating 948eea612456562bf255d3a9c59c40a3     
活动的,活性的
参考例句:
  • "I didn't say we'd got to stop activating the masses! “我并没说就此不发动! 来自子夜部分
  • Presumably both the very small size and activating influence of fluorine atoms contribute to this exception. 这大概是由于氟原子半径小和活性高这两个原因的影响,氟原子对这种例外做出了贡献。
18 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》
19 clenched clenched     
v.紧握,抓紧,咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
  • She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上,以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
20 momentum DjZy8     
n.动力,冲力,势头;动量
参考例句:
  • We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
  • The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。
21 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》
22 serpentine MEgzx     
adj.蜿蜒的,弯曲的
参考例句:
  • One part of the Serpentine is kept for swimmers.蜿蜒河的一段划为游泳区。
  • Tremolite laths and serpentine minerals are present in places.有的地方出现透闪石板条及蛇纹石。


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