river n. natural stream of water flowing to the sea or to a Lakelake. 河流。
happy adj. lucky, feeling pleased. 高兴。
6 飞往月球的宇宙飞船
于是他们等待着。等了又等。瑞拉蜷在她的椅子里睡着了。凯和塞鲁悄悄地谈着什么。塞鲁的哥哥进来一趟又出去了。监狱里的大部分卫兵都和犯人一起逃走了。只有大约七八个人——包括犯人和卫兵，不愿意逃走，于是也到这个房间里一起等待。
10点钟，11点钟。房间里安静极了。塞鲁在房间里走来走去。凯坐在瑞拉身边。塞鲁的哥哥又走了进来。
“已经过了午夜了。”他说。
就在这时，他们听到一阵飞机的轰鸣。凯站起身。“来啊，”他说，“咱们到楼外面去。”
他们悄悄地离开了大楼。这是个漆黑闷热的夜晚。监狱前面没有卫兵，于是他们来到大门口，在那儿等着。突然，他们看到了一架飞机。那是一架小飞机降落在了监狱门前的马路上！
瑞拉抓住凯的手。“你说得对，”她说，“我很抱歉。“
凯笑了。他高兴起来：“没关系，我明白。我非常了解阿岱，而你并不了解他。”
那架飞机停了下来，有人打开了舱门。凯朝飞机跑了过去。
“你们能带多少人？”他喊着，“我们一共12个人。”
“没问题，”有人答道，“快点，宇宙飞船正等着呢。”
12个人都上了那架小飞机，飞机启动了。瑞拉看了看机长。他身材髙大，头发是棕色的。这个人看上去很不错。他是不是那位著名的阿岱司令？
“宇宙飞船在哪儿？”凯问。
“那个旧机场，”那人说，“一股大火正飞速掠过新森林。我想明天之前这火就会烧到基桑加尼西部。好在那个旧机场还能用。”说完，那人注视着凯，脸上带着亲切的笑容。“我的弟弟，”他说，“我的小弟弟，住进了888号监狱！”
“他是你哥哥？阿岱司令？”瑞拉问，“可你从来没跟我说过！”
凯笑了。“以前没人知道，”他说，“可是现在——现在没关系了。大家都可以知道。”
小飞机在城南的旧机场降落了。
“咱们要小心，”阿岱说，“可不能在出发之前中了别人的枪子儿。”
宇宙飞船笼罩在一片黑暗中。大家迅速跳下飞机朝飞船跑去。很快，飞船离开了地球，大家俯视着下面这颗燃烧着的星球。他们看到了非洲上空的黑烟，以及黑烟下面到处肆虐着的愤怒的火红烈焰。
“大火很快就会把森林烧毁。”塞鲁说。
阿岱把手搭在凯的臂膀上。“扎达克的事真让我难过。”他说。
“我曾希望他再等等，”凯说，“我本来想让他和你谈谈。”
阿岱神情悲切。“他不想让我送死，”他低声说，“他是个好人。可现在他死了。”
“还有，高格要到火星去。”塞鲁船长说。
“火星？他疯了！火星还不能住人。”阿岱说。
“可高格要去，他马上就要出发了。”塞鲁说，“跟我们讲讲月亮部族吧。它还不成形，你还需要很多钱。”
“不，我不需要，”阿岱说，“月亮部族已经准备就绪。我要更多的钱是为了扎达克：我想给他钱解决雨水的问题。可是高格不听；他要把地球所有的钱都用在去火星的宇宙飞船上。”
“我不想离开地球。”瑞拉忧伤地说。她感到又累又恐惧。
阿岱对瑞拉温和地笑了笑。“没有人愿意离开地球，”他说，“可是现在我们最好的家园在月亮下面。等着看吧。月亮部族是个美丽迷人的国家，有河流，有雨水，也有森林和鲜花，还有楼房——以及第一座城镇。你很快就可以再回到地球去。然后带更多的人到月亮部族去。我们都想帮助地球，因为它是我们的第一个家。我理解你。同时，你也一定会在月亮下面生活得愉快的。”
突然，有人喊了一声：“快看月亮！”
透过飞船的窗子，他们看到了眼前的月球：冰冷，皎洁，美丽；而在月亮下面，他们看到了月亮部族！
Exercises
A Checking your understanding
Chapter 1 Who said these words in the chapter?
1 'There are big holes in the AOL and they're getting bigger."
2 'We would like you to talk to Earth Commander."
3 'Adai's there now, Commander of the Moon colony, under the Moon."
4 'This is my first ship for two years!"
5 'Zadak? Commander of Australia? He's famous!"
Chapter 2 Which person in the chapter...
1 ... phoned Commander Zadak in Australia?
2 ... opened the door of the train?
3 ... drove the taxi in front of the train and stopped?
4 ... looked at the numbers in Kiah's book?
5 ... was going to talk to Gog about rain?
Chapter 3 Write answers to these questions.
1 What is Gog always talking about?
2 Who came into the office at nearly twelve o'clock?
3 What did Bel carry?
4 What things were on Gog's big table?
5 Who began to laugh?
Chapter 4 Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?
1 There were no guards at the gate of prison 888.
2 Zadak talked to Rilla and Kiah in prison.
3 Zadak wanted Adai to die, too.
4 Bel's cat jumped at Zadak.
5 Gog shot Zadak.
Chapter 5 Who said these words in the chapter?
1 'Tell me about Kiah. When did you first meet him?"
2 'I'm going to leave this dead planet!"
3 'Let's get out of here."
4 'I phoned Adai before I came here."
5 'Gog's guards are all afraid—afraid of the fires, afraid of the people."
Chapter 6 Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?
1 Most of the prison guards ran away.
2 The captain of the plane was the famous Commander Adai.
3 Commander Adai did not know Kiah.
4 Nobody in the spaceship saw the dark smoke over Africa.
5 Gog wanted all Earth's money for the spaceship to Mars.
B Working with language
1 Use these words to join the two sentences together.
and then because but
1 The guard opened the gate. Zadak went in.
2 A lot of prisoners slept on the floor. There were no beds or chairs.
3 'I talk to Gog about the AOL. He never listens."
4 'All these people are in prison. Gog doesn't like them."
5 Zadak smiled. His blue eyes were cold.
6 The cat jumped at Zadak. Zadak hit the cat.
2 Put these sentences in the right order. Then check your order with Chapter 6.
1 Soon, the spaceship left Earth.
2 The twelve people got into the little plane.
3 Quietly, they left the building and waited at the gate.
4 Next, the plane came down at the old airport, south of the town.
5 The plane came down on the road in front of the prison.
6 Quickly, everyone jumped down from the plane and ran across to the spaceship.
C Activities
1 You are a TV news reporter. Interview Gog, or Adai.
2 Write about a person that you like in the story.
