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1、【英文读物】The PioneersChapter 1 Gradually he became aware of resilient rubber and plastic supporting him. He lay on his back, heels together and toes lopped outward, elbows crowding uncomfortably into his ribs. His body shifted. The month-long hibernation was over.A delicious feeling of completenessof a
2、chievementswept over him. He, Dorav Brink, had escaped from the endless boredom and idleness of Earths mechanized domes, after all. Here on Sulle II there would be adventure and work in plenty.His eyes opened. In the soft yellowish light which flooded the small square room, he saw a dozen other couc
3、hes, similar to that on which he lay. Most of them were occupied. His gaze probed the huddled figures searching for the girl Rea.He had met her aboard the space lighter enroute to the interstellar liner that was to carry them to Sulle II. Then they had been given their preliminary capsules of iberno
4、 and he remembered no more.Iberno hits some people that waywith others it takes five or six capsules to put them into the death-like cataleptic state required for star hopping.He saw her! Third couch to the right of his own. He stood up carefully, balancing on rubbery legs, and his hand went up to t
5、he constriction binding his skull. What was this? Goggles! Brinks fingers curled about the flexible band securing them. He tugged.Stop that, Brink!Brinks hand fell away. He recognized the voice of Len Daniels, the recruiter for this illegal voyage here to Sulle II.Want to lose your eyesight, Brink?
6、demanded the dapper little man. We warned you of the danger. For at least ten days your eyes must remain protected.The little gray-haired man wore no glasses, he had acquired an immunity to the sunlight of Sulle II from former voyages, but his naturally pink-and-white complexion was a sickly yellow.
7、Their voices roused the other colonists, and now Daniels moved among them, his soft full voice admonishing and sympathetic.A coarse-haired giant of a man, dark hair graying at the temples of his ruddy outsize features, clamped Brinks fist with a huge hand.Names Bryt Carby, he said, his voice ridicul
8、ously shrill.Im Dorav Brink. His eyes slid toward the tall slenderness of Rea Smyt.Air dont taste much different from back home, Brink.Brink made a wry face. After breathing spacer air and being doped with iberno for months could we tell the difference?Carby laughed in agreement. But Senior Daniels,
9、 and Brink wanted to grin at the respectful term used by the big, slow speaking man, Senior Daniels says that Sulle II is like Earth in almost every respect.He would! And possibly it is. According to him even the animals resemble our own planets.Once, and Carby grinned widely, I ate a bit of cooked
10、native meat. Ten credits it cost me. After that the protein packets and yea-steaks sickened me.I tried it once too, Carby, but it cost me fifteen credits. And thats the way Daniels and his company will get back the thousand credits we owe them for the trip. Brink laughed. With food that we raise and
11、 meat that we kill, Carby. Daniels flies it to Earth and smuggles it into the domes as native to Earth. His profit must be enormous.Carby frowned and rubbed a stubby finger across the bridge of his huge nose. And Brink edged away from his neighbor toward the slim tallness of Rea Smyt. Chapter 2 Atte
12、ntion all of you! Len Daniels had climbed atop a sturdy metal table.On the bulletin board just behind me the Commission has posted a list of your assignments and partners for the current year. Some of you will remain here in Low Park to work off your indebtedness, and others will be sent out to Midd
13、le Park and Devils Elbow.Something in the agents tone, a touch of ironic amusement or arrogance, perhaps, angered Brink. But he kept his lips shut. In the ancient records that he had studied in the long idle years back there in York Dome, he had read of serfdom and slavery. He could afford to wait a
14、nd learn if what he feared was true. After all, they were many light years from home and at Daniels mercyfor the moment at least.After you have paired up and found the locations assigned you go to Warehouse Seven and draw your rations and tools. Your plastic tents will serve for shelter even in wint
15、er, but my advice to you is to build with logs.The little man smiled a trifle grimly as he studied them.I would advise you to hunt game and raise crops as quickly as possible, he added. Supplies and tools are expensive to freight out here to Sulle II. They will cost you five hundred more credits.The
16、 colonists faces paled and their eyes were sick. Brink smiled grimly as he watched. Well theyd asked for it. Most of them were regretting their decision to abandon the ease and plenty of the giant domes already, but they had no choice now. Uncertainly they crowded about the bulletin board, and paired up as the directive indicated.Brink found himself with a partner name
