SPAGBOL

She made good time that night.
The track zoomed¹ along beneath her, tracing slow arcsaround hills, crossing rivers on crumbling² bridges, alwaysheaded toward the sea. Twice it took her through otherRusty ruins, smaller towns further along in their disintegration⁵.
Only a few twisted shapes of metal remained, risingabove the trees like skeletal fingers grasping at the air.
Burned-out groundcars were everywhere, choking thestreets out of town, twisted together in the collisions of theRusties’ last panic.
Near the center of one ruined town, she discoveredwhat the long, flat roller coaster was all about. In a nest oftracks tangled⁶ up like a huge circuit board, she found a fewrotting roller-coaster cars, huge rolling containers full ofRusty stuff, unidentifiable piles of rust³ and plastic. Tallyremembered now that Rusty⁴ cities weren’t self-sufficient,and were always trading with one another, when theyweren’t fighting over who had more stuff. They must haveused the flat roller coaster to move trade from town to town.
As the sky began to grow light, Tally⁷ heard the soundof the sea in the distance, a faint roar coming from acrossthe horizon. She could smell salt in the air, which broughtback memories of going to the ocean with Ellie and Sol asa littlie.
“Cold is the sea and watch for breaks,” Shay’s note read.
Soon, Tally would be able to see the waves breaking on theshore. Maybe she was close to the next clue.
Tally wondered how much time she’d made up withher new hoverboard. She increased its speed, wrapping herdorm jacket around herself in the predawn chill. The trackwas slowly climbing now, cutting through formations ofchalky rock. She remembered white cliffs towering over theocean, swarming⁸ with seabirds nesting in high caves.
Those camping trips with Sol and Ellie felt as if they’dhappened a hundred years ago. She wondered if there wassome operation that could make her back into a littlieagain, forever.
Suddenly, a gap opened up in front of Tally, spanned bya crumbling bridge. An instant later she saw that the bridgedidn’t make it all the way across, and there was no river fullof metal deposits beneath it to catch her. Just a precipitousdrop to the sea.
Tally spun⁹ her board sideways into a skid¹⁰. Her kneesbent under the force of braking, her grippy shoes squealingas they slipped across the riding surface, her body turningalmost parallel to the ground.
148 Scott WesterfeldBut the ground was gone.
A deep chasm¹¹ opened up under her, a fissure¹² cut intothe cliffs by the sea. Boiling waves crashed into the narrowchannel, their whitecaps glowing in the darkness, theirhungry roars reaching her ears. The board’s metal-detectorlights flickered¹³ out one by one as Tally left the splinteredend of the iron bridge behind.
She felt the board lose purchase, slipping downward.
A thought flashed through her mind: If she jumpednow, she could make a grab for the end of the brokenbridge. But then the hoverboard would tumble into thechasm behind her, leaving her stranded¹⁴.
The board finally halted in its slide out into midair, butTally was still descending¹⁵. The last fingers of the crumblingbridge were above her now, out of reach. The board incheddownward, metal-detector lights flickering¹⁶ off one by oneas the magnets lost their grip. She was too heavy. Tallyslipped off the knapsack, ready to hurl¹⁷ it down. But howcould she survive without it? Her only choice would be toreturn to the city for more supplies, which would lose twomore days. A cold wind off the ocean blew up the chasm,goose-pimpling her arms like the chill of death.
But the breeze buoyed¹⁸ the hoverboard, and for amoment she neither rose nor fell. Then the board started toslip downward again. . . .
Tally thrust her hands into the pockets of her jacketand spread her arms, making a sail to catch the wind. AUGLIES 149stronger gust¹⁹ struck, lifting her slightly, taking some weightoff the board, and one of the metal-detector lights flickeredstronger.
Like a bird with outstretched wings, she began to rise.
The lifters gradually regained²⁰ purchase on the track,until the hoverboard had brought her level with the brokenend of the bridge. She coaxed²¹ it carefully back over the cliff’sedge, a huge shiver passing through her body as the boardpassed over solid ground. Tally stepped off, legs shaking.
“Cold is the sea and watch for breaks,” she said hoarsely²².
How could she have been so stupid, speeding up just whenShay’s note said to be careful?
Tally collapsed²³ onto the ground, suddenly dizzy andtired. Her mind replayed the chasm opening up, the wavesbelow smashing indifferently against the jagged rocks. Shecould have been down there, battered²⁴ again and again untilthere was nothing left.
This was the wild, she reminded herself. Mistakes hadserious consequences.
Even before Tally’s heart had stopped pounding, her stomachgrowled.
She reached into her knapsack for the water purifier,which she’d filled at the last river, and emptied the mucktrap.
A spoonful of brown sludge that it had filtered fromthe water glopped out. “Eww,” she said, opening the top topeer in. It looked clear, and smelled like water.
150 Scott WesterfeldShe took a much needed drink, but saved most to makedinner, or breakfast, whatever it was. Tally planned to domost of her traveling at night, letting the hoverboardrecharge in sunlight, wasting no time.
Reaching into the waterproof²⁵ bag, she pulled out a foodpacket at random²⁶. “‘SpagBol,’” she read from the label, andshrugged. Unwrapped, it looked and felt like a finger-sizeknot of dried yarn²⁷. She dropped it into the purifier, whichmade burbling noises as it came to a boil.
When Tally glanced out at the glowing horizon, hereyes opened wide. She’d never seen dawn from outside thecity before. Like most uglies, she was rarely up earlyenough, and in any case the horizon was always hiddenbehind the skyline of New Pretty Town. The sight of a realsunrise amazed her.
A band of orange and yellow ignited the sky, gloriousand unexpected, as spectacular as fireworks, but changingat a stately, barely perceptible pace. That’s how things wereout here in the wild, she was learning. Dangerous or beautiful.
Or both.
The purifier pinged. Tally opened the top and lookedinside. It was noodles with a red sauce, with small kernelsof soymeat, and it smelled delicious. She looked at the labelagain. “SpagBol . . . spaghetti Bolognese!”
She found a fork in the knapsack and ate hungrily.
With the sunrise warming her and the crash of the sea rumblingbelow, it was the best meal she’d had for ages.
UGLIES 151F F FThe hoverboard still had some charge left, so after breakfastshe decided²⁸ to keep moving. She reread the first few linesof Shay’s note:
Take the coaster straight past the gap,until you find one that’s long and flat.
Cold is the sea and watch for breaks.
At the second make the worst mistake.
If “the second” meant a second broken bridge, Tallywanted to run into it in daylight. If she’d spotted²⁹ the gap asplit second later, she would have ended up so muchSpagBol at the bottom of the cliffs.
But her first problem was getting across the chasm. Itwas much wider than the gap in the roller coaster, definitelytoo far to jump. Walking looked like the only way around.
She hiked inland through the scrubby grass, her legs gratefulfor a stretch after the long night on board. Soon thechasm closed, and an hour later she had hiked back up theother side.
Tally flew much slower now, eyes fixed³⁰ ahead, daringonly an occasional glimpse at the view around her.
Mountains rose up on her right, tall enough that snowcapped their tops even in the early autumn chill. Tally hadalways thought of the city as huge, a whole world in itself,but the scale of everything out here was so much grander.
152 Scott WesterfeldAnd so beautiful. She could see why people used to live outin nature, even if there weren’t any party towers or mansions³¹.
Or even dorms.
The thought of home, however, reminded Tally howmuch her sore muscles would love a hot bath. She imagineda giant bathtub, like they had in New Pretty Town,with whirlpool jets and a big packet of massage³² bubblesdissolving in it. She wondered if the water purifier couldboil enough water to fill a tub, in the unlikely event that shefound one. How did they bathe in the Smoke? Tally wonderedwhat she’d smell like when she arrived, after dayswithout a bath. Was there soap in the survival kit³³?
Shampoo? There certainly weren’t any towels. Tally hadnever realized how much stuff she’d needed before.
The second break in the track came up after anotherhour: a crumbling bridge over a river that snaked downfrom the mountains.
Tally came to a controlled stop and peered over theedge. The drop wasn’t as bad as the first chasm, but it wasstill deep enough to be deadly. Too wide to jump. Hikingaround it would take forever. The river gorge³⁴ stretchedaway, with no easy way down in sight.
“At the second make the worst mistake,” she murmured.
Some clue. Anything she did right now would be a mistake.
Her brain was too tired to handle this, and the boardwas short on power, anyway.
UGLIES 153Midmorning, it was time to sleep.
But first she had to unfold the hoverboard. The Specialwho’d instructed her had explained that it needed as muchsurface area in the sun as possible while it recharged. Shepulled the release tabs, and it came apart. It opened like abook in her hands, becoming two hoverboards, then eachof those opened up, and then those, unfolding like a stringof paper dolls. Finally, Tally had eight hoverboards connectedside-to-side, twice as wide as she was tall, no thickerthan a stiff sheet of paper. The whole thing fluttered in thestiff ocean breeze like a giant kite, though the board’s magnetskept it from blowing away.
Tally laid it flat, stretched out in the sun, where itsmetallic surface turned jet black as it drank in solar energy.
In a few hours it would be charged up and ready to rideagain. She just hoped it would go back together as easily asit had pulled apart.
Tally pulled out her sleeping bag, yanked it out of itspack, and wriggled³⁵ inside, still in her clothes. “Pajamas,”
she added to her list of things she missed about the city.
She made a pillow of her jacket, struggled out of hershirt, and covered her head with it. She could already feel ahint of burn on her nose, and realized she had forgotten tostick on a sunblock patch after daybreak. Perfect. A littlered and flaking³⁶ skin should go quite nicely with thescratches on her ugly face.
Sleep didn’t come. The day was getting warm, and it154 Scott Westerfeldfelt weird³⁷ lying there in the open. The cries of seabirds rangin her head. Tally sighed and sat up. Maybe if she had alittle more to eat.
She pulled out food packets one by one. The labelsread:
SpagBolSpagBolSpagBolSpagBolSpagBol . . .
Tally counted forty-one more packets, enough for threeSpagBols a day for two weeks. She leaned back and closedher eyes, suddenly exhausted³⁸. “Thank you, Dr. Cable.”
A few minutes later, Tally was asleep.

1 zoomed   

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》

2 crumbling   

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 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

4 rusty   

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。

5 disintegration   

n.分散，解体

参考例句：

• This defeat led to the disintegration of the empire.这次战败道致了帝国的瓦解。
• The incident has hastened the disintegration of the club.这一事件加速了该俱乐部的解体。

6 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

7 tally   

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。

8 swarming   

密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。
• The beach is swarming with bathers. 海滩满是海水浴的人。

9 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

10 skid   

v.打滑 n.滑向一侧；滑道 ，滑轨

参考例句：

• He braked suddenly,causing the front wheels to skid.他突然剎车，使得前轮打了滑。
• The police examined the skid marks to see how fast the car had been travelling.警察检查了车轮滑行痕迹，以判断汽车当时开得有多快。

11 chasm   

n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突

参考例句：

• There's a chasm between rich and poor in that society.那社会中存在着贫富差距。
• A huge chasm gaped before them.他们面前有个巨大的裂痕。

12 fissure   

n.裂缝；裂伤

参考例句：

• Though we all got out to examine the fissure,he remained in the car.我们纷纷下车察看那个大裂缝，他却呆在车上。
• Ground fissure is the main geological disaster in Xi'an city construction.地裂缝是西安市主要的工程地质灾害问题。

13 flickered   

（通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The lights flickered and went out. 灯光闪了闪就熄了。
• These lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have gone mad. 这些灯象发狂的交通灯一样不停地闪动着。

14 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

15 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

16 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。

17 hurl   

vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂

参考例句：

• The best cure for unhappiness is to hurl yourself into your work.医治愁苦的最好办法就是全身心地投入工作。
• To hurl abuse is no way to fight.谩骂决不是战斗。

18 buoyed   

v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• Buoyed by their win yesterday the team feel confident of further success. 在昨天胜利的鼓舞下，该队有信心再次获胜。
• His encouragement buoyed her up during that difficult period. 他的鼓励使她在那段困难时期恢复了乐观的情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 gust   

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。

20 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

21 coaxed   

v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱

参考例句：

• She coaxed the horse into coming a little closer. 她哄着那匹马让它再靠近了一点。
• I coaxed my sister into taking me to the theatre. 我用好话哄姐姐带我去看戏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

22 hoarsely   

adv.嘶哑地

参考例句：

• "Excuse me," he said hoarsely. “对不起。”他用嘶哑的嗓子说。
• Jerry hoarsely professed himself at Miss Pross's service. 杰瑞嘶声嘶气地表示愿为普洛丝小姐效劳。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

23 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

24 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

25 waterproof   

n.防水材料；adj.防水的；v.使...能防水

参考例句：

• My mother bought me a waterproof watch.我妈妈给我买了一块防水手表。
• All the electronics are housed in a waterproof box.所有电子设备都储放在一个防水盒中。

26 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

27 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

28 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

29 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

30 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

31 mansions   

n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Fifth Avenue was boarded up where the rich had deserted their mansions. 第五大道上的富翁们已经出去避暑，空出的宅第都已锁好了门窗，钉上了木板。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Oh, the mansions, the lights, the perfume, the loaded boudoirs and tables! 啊，那些高楼大厦、华灯、香水、藏金收银的闺房还有摆满山珍海味的餐桌！ 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

32 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

33 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

34 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

35 wriggled   

v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）

参考例句：

• He wriggled uncomfortably on the chair. 他坐在椅子上不舒服地扭动着身体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A snake wriggled across the road. 一条蛇蜿蜒爬过道路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

36 flaking   

刨成片，压成片； 盘网

参考例句：

• He received ointment for his flaking skin. 医生给他开了治疗脱皮的软膏。
• The paint was flaking off the walls. 油漆从墙上剥落下来。

37 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

38 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。