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1、【英文读物】Slow BurnChapter 1 Tell em to look sharp, Bert. This pickups got to be good. Kevin Morrow gulped the last of his coffee and felt its bitter acid gurgle around his stomach. He stared moodily through the plastic port where the spangled skirt of stars glittered against the black satin of endless
2、night and a familiar curve of the space station swung ponderously around its hub.Four space-suited tugmen floated languidly outside the rim. Beyond them the gleaming black and white moonship tugged gently at her mooring lines, as though anxious to be off.Bert Alexander radioed quiet instructions to
3、the tugmen.Why the hell couldnt he stay down there and mind his own business? Kevin growled. McKelvies been after our hide ever since we got the appropriation, and now this. He slapped the flimsy radio-gram.He looked up as the control room hatch opened. Jones came in from the astronomy section.Morni
4、ng, commander, he said. You guys had breakfast yet? Mess closes in 30 minutes. Kevin shook his head.Were not hungry, Bert filled in.You think youve got nerves? Jones chuckled. I just looked in on Mark. Hes sleeping like a baby. You wouldnt think the biggest day of his life is three hours away.McKelv
5、ies coming up to kibitz, Morrow said.McKelvie!The one and only, Bert said. Here, read all about it.He handed over the morning facsimile torn off the machine when the station hurtled over New England at 18,000 miles an hour. The upper half of the sheet bore a picture of the white-maned senator. Clear
6、ly etched on his face were the lines of too many half-rigged elections, too many compromises.Beneath the picture were quotes from his speech the night before.As chairman of your congressional watchdog committee, the senator had said, Ill see that theres no more waste and corruption on this space pro
7、ject. For three years theyve been building a rocketthe moon rocket, they call itout there at the space station.I havent seen that rocket, the senator had continued. All Ive seen is five billion of your tax dollars flying into the vacuum of space. They tell me a man named Mark Kramer is going to fly
8、out in that rocket and circle the moon.But he will fail, McKelvie had promised. If God had intended man to fly to the moon, he would have given us wings to do it. Tomorrow I shall fly out to this space station, even at the risk of my life. Ill report the waste and corruption out there, and Ill repor
9、t the failure of the moon rocket.Jones crumpled the paper and aimed at the waste basket.Pardon me while I vomit, he said.Weve been there, Kevin sighed deeply. I suppose Max Gordon will be happy.Hell wear a hole in his tongue on McKelvies boots, Bert said bitterly.Is it that bad?How else would he get
10、 a first class spacemans badge? Morrow said. He cant add two and two. But if stool pigeons had wings, hed fly like a jet. We cant move up here without McKelvie knowing and howling about it.Dont worry, Jones said, If the moon rocket makes it, public opinion will take care of the senator.If he doesnt
11、take care of us first, Kevin said darkly. Hell be aboard in 15 minutes.Chapter 2 Dawn touched the High Sierras as the station whirled in from the Pacific, 500 miles high.Bert. Get me a radar fix on White Sands.Morrow huddled over the small computer, feeding in radar information as it came from his a
12、ssistant.Rocket away! Blared a radio speaker on the bulkhead. The same message carried to the four space-suited tugmen floating beyond the rim of the wheel, linked with life-lines.Jones watched interestedly out the port.There she is! he yelled.Sunlight caught the ascending rocket, held it in a splas
13、h of light. The intercept technique was routine now, a matter of timing, but for a moment Kevin succumbed to the frightening optical illusion that the rocket was approaching apex far below the station. Then, slowly, the slender cylinder matched velocity and pulled into the orbit, crept to its destin
14、ation.With deceptive ease, the four human tugs attached magnetic shoes and guided the projectile into the space station hub with short, expert blasts of heavy rocket pistols.Take over Bert, Morrow directed, I guess Im the official greeter. He hurried out of the control room, through a short connecti
15、ng tube and emerged floating in the central space surrounding the hub where artificial gravity fell to zero. Air pressure was normal to transfer passengers without space suits.The connecting lock clanked open. The rocket pilot stepped out.He got sick, the pilot whispered to Kevin. I swabbed him off,
16、 but hes hoppin mad.The senators mop of white hair appeared in the port. Kevin braced to absorb a tirade, but McKelvies deep scowl changed to an expression of bliss as he floated weightless into the tiny room.Why, this is wonderful! he sputtered. He waved his arms like a bird and kicked experimentally with a fo
