Part 1 Holston
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Holston was a dozen paces up the hill, still marveling at the bright grass at his feet and the brilliant
intense hunger. At first, he worried he was going too fast, first with the cleaning and now with his
impatient shuffling4 in that cumbersome5 suit. He didn’t want to take it off until he was over the hill,
out of sight, maintaining whatever illusion the walls in the cafeteria held. He focused on the tops of
the skyscrapers6 and resigned himself to slowing down, to calming down. One step at a time. Years
and years of running up and down thirty flights of stairs should have made this nothing.
When did he eat last? Not at all yesterday. Stupid. When did he last use the bathroom? Again, he
couldn’t remember. He might need to get the suit off earlier than he’d hoped. Once the wave of
nausea8 passed, he took a few more steps, hoping to reach the top of the hill before the next bout9 of
pain. He only got another dozen steps in before it hit him, more severe this time, worse than anything
he’d ever felt. Holston retched from the intensity10 of it, and now his dry stomach was a blessing11. He
groaned13. His stomach was burning, his chest on fire. He managed to crawl forward a few feet, sweat
dripping from his forehead and splashing on the inside of his helmet. He saw sparks in his vision; the
entire world went bright white, several times, like lightning strikes. Confused and senseless, he
crawled ever upward, moving laboriously14, his startled mind still focused on his last clear goal:
Again and again, his view shimmered17, his visor letting in a solid bright light before it flickered18
away. It became difficult to see. Holston ran into something before him, and his arm folded, his
shoulder crashing to the ground. He blinked and gazed forward, up the hill, waiting for a clear sight
of what lay ahead, but saw only infrequent strobes of green grass.
And then his vision completely disappeared. All was black. Holston clawed at his face, even as his
stomach tangled19 in a new torturous20 knot. There was a glow, a blinking in his vision, so he knew he
wasn’t blind. But the blinking seemed to be coming from inside his helmet. It was his visor that had
become suddenly blind, not him.
Holston felt for the latches21 on the back of the helmet. He wondered if he’d used up all his air. Was
he asphyxiating23? Being poisoned by his own exhalations? Of course! Why would they give him more
air than he needed for the cleaning? He fumbled24 for the latches with his bulky gloves. They weren’t
meant for this. The gloves were part of his suit, his suit a single piece zipped up twice at the back and
Velcroed over. It wasn’t meant to come off, not without help. Holston was going to die in it, poison
himself, choke on his own gases, and now he knew true fear of containment25, a true sense of being
closed in. The silo was nothing to this as he scrambled26 for release, as he writhed27 in pain inside his
tailored coffin28. He squirmed and pounded at the latches, but his padded fingers were too big. And the
He fumbled for the object and found it: a jagged rock. A tool. Holston tried to calm himself. His
years of enforcing calm, of soothing31 others, of bringing stability to chaos32, came back to him. He
gripped the rock carefully, terrified of losing it to his blindness, and brought it up to his helmet. There
was a brief thought of cutting away his gloves with the rock, but he wasn’t sure his sanity33 or air
would last that long. He jabbed the point of the rock at his armored neck, right where the latch22 should
have been. He heard the crack as it landed. Crack. Crack. Pausing to probe with his padded finger,
retching again, Holston took more careful aim. There was a click instead of a crack. A sliver34 of light
intruded35 as one side of the helmet came free. Holston was choking on his exhalations, on the stale
and used air around him. He moved the rock to his other hand and aimed for the second latch. Two
more cracks before it landed, and the helmet popped free.
Holston could see. His eyes burned from the effort, from not being able to breathe, but he could
see. He blinked the tears away and tried to suck in a deep, crisp, revitalizing lungful of blue air.
What he got instead was like a punch to the chest. Holston gagged. He threw up spittle and
grass and gray skies. No green. No blue. No life.
He collapsed37 to one side, landing on his shoulder. His helmet lay open before him, the visor black
and lifeless. There was no looking through the visor. Holston reached for it, confused. The outside of
the visor was coated silver, the other side was nothing. No glass. A rough surface. Wires leading in
and out of it. A display gone dark. Dead pixels.
He threw up again. Wiping his mouth feebly, looking down the hill, he saw the world with his
naked eyes as it was, as he’d always known it to be. Desolate38 and bleak39. He let go of the helmet,
dropping the lie he had carried out of the silo with him. He was dying. The toxins40 were eating him
from the inside. He blinked up at the black clouds overhead, roaming like beasts. He turned to see
how far he had gotten, how far it was to the crest15 of the hill, and he saw the thing he had stumbled
into while crawling. A boulder41, sleeping. It hadn’t been there in his visor, hadn’t been a part of the lie
on that little screen, running one of the programs Allison had discovered.
rock, and he could no longer support his head. He curled up in pain from the slow death overtaking
him, holding what remained of his wife, and thought, with his last agonizing44 breath, what this death
of his must look like to those who could see, this curling and dying in the black crack of a lifeless
What would they see, anyone who had chosen to watch?
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收听单词发音
![收听单词发音](/template/default/tingnovel/images/play.gif)
1
pang
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n.剧痛,悲痛,苦闷 | |
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2
writhing
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(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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3
cramp
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n.痉挛;[pl.](腹)绞痛;vt.限制,束缚 | |
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4
shuffling
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adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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5
cumbersome
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adj.笨重的,不便携带的 | |
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6
skyscrapers
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n.摩天大楼 | |
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7
winced
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赶紧避开,畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
nausea
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n.作呕,恶心;极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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9
bout
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n.侵袭,发作;一次(阵,回);拳击等比赛 | |
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10
intensity
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n.强烈,剧烈;强度;烈度 | |
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11
blessing
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n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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12
abdomen
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n.腹,下腹(胸部到腿部的部分) | |
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13
groaned
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v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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14
laboriously
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adv.艰苦地;费力地;辛勤地;(文体等)佶屈聱牙地 | |
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15
crest
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n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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16
cresting
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n.顶饰v.到达山顶(或浪峰)( crest的现在分词 );到达洪峰,达到顶点 | |
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17
shimmered
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v.闪闪发光,发微光( shimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
flickered
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(通常指灯光)闪烁,摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
tangled
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adj. 纠缠的,紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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20
torturous
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adj. 痛苦的 | |
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21
latches
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n.(门窗的)门闩( latch的名词复数 );碰锁v.理解( latch的第三人称单数 );纠缠;用碰锁锁上(门等);附着(在某物上) | |
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22
latch
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n.门闩,窗闩;弹簧锁 | |
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23
asphyxiating
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v.渴望的,有抱负的,追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的现在分词 );有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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24
fumbled
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(笨拙地)摸索或处理(某事物)( fumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 乱摸,笨拙地弄; 使落下 | |
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25
containment
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n.阻止,遏制;容量 | |
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26
scrambled
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v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
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27
writhed
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(因极度痛苦而)扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
coffin
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n.棺材,灵柩 | |
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29
smothered
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(使)窒息, (使)透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 ); 覆盖; 忍住; 抑制 | |
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30
bent
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n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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31
soothing
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adj.慰藉的;使人宽心的;镇静的 | |
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32
chaos
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n.混乱,无秩序 | |
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33
sanity
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n.心智健全,神智正常,判断正确 | |
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34
sliver
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n.裂片,细片,梳毛;v.纵切,切成长片,剖开 | |
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35
intruded
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n.侵入的,推进的v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 );把…强加于 | |
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36
lining
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n.衬里,衬料 | |
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37
collapsed
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adj.倒塌的 | |
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38
desolate
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adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂 | |
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39
bleak
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adj.(天气)阴冷的;凄凉的;暗淡的 | |
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40
toxins
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n.毒素( toxin的名词复数 ) | |
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41
boulder
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n.巨砾;卵石,圆石 | |
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42
flaking
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刨成片,压成片; 盘网 | |
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43
brittle
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adj.易碎的;脆弱的;冷淡的;(声音)尖利的 | |
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44
agonizing
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adj.痛苦难忍的;使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦;折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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45
standing
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n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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