"Whee-hee!" Mater shouted the next morning as dawn broke over Radiator¹ Springs. "Whee-hoo!"

 

Hearing the whoops² and hollers, Sally drove out of her motel to investigate. She found Mater turning circles and spinning happily on a beautiful newly paved stretch of road. She gasped³.

 

Wow, she thought. Lightning had done an amazing job!

 

"Morning, Sally," Mater called. "Hey, look at this here fancy new road that Lightning McQueen done just made!"

 

Soon the other cars had gathered on the road. Ramone bounced on his hydraulics, getting as low as he could go.

 

"Oooh, Ramone," Flo cooed to her husband, "Mama ain't seen you that low in years."

 

"I haven't seen a road like this in years," Ramone replied.

 

"Well, then," Flo said playfully, "let's cruise, baby."

 

Soon all the cars were out taking a spin on the sleek⁴ new blacktop.

 

"E bellissima!" Luigi cried as he gawked at the road from the front of his store. "It's like it was paved by angels!"

 

"Doc, look at this," Sally said as the gruff old roadster pulled up to the fresh asphalt. "Shoulda tossed him into the cactus⁵ a lot sooner, huh?"

 

Doc grunted⁶. "Well, he ain't finished yet. He's still got a long way to go."

 

"Hey, Luigi!" Lizzie called as she rolled past the tire store. "This new road makes your place look like a dump!"

 

"Ah, the crazy old devil woman—" Luigi said grouchily⁷. But as he looked up at his store, he gasped. "She's-a right!"

 

Doc peered down at the road, inspecting the work closely. "Huh—that punk actually did a good job," he muttered. "Well, now, where the heck is he?" Looking around, he noticed Bessie sitting by the side of the road. Lightning was nowhere in sight.

 

Just then, Doc heard the sound of a race car engine in the distance. He sped off after the noise.

 

"Sheriff," Doc said as he drove up to the cliff edge at Willys Butte, "is he making another run for it?"

 

Sheriff chuckled⁸. "No, no," he explained, "he ran out of asphalt in the middle of the night and asked me if he could come down here. All he's trying to do is make that there turn."

 

Sure enough, Lightning was rounding the same turn that had made him wipe out the day before. Just as he reached it, his tires skidded⁹, and he swerved¹⁰, then crashed. "No, no, no, no!" Lightning cried as he drove back to try again. "Ahh, great! I've done perfect turns on every track I've ever raced on."

 

"Huh," Doc said as he watched Lightning try to make the curve over and over. He smiled a little at the race car's determination. "Sheriff, why don't you go get yourself a quart of oil at Flo's?" the judge suggested. "I'll keep an eye on him."

 

"Well, thanks, Doc," Sheriff said in surprise. "I've been feelin' a quart low." He drove off, leaving Doc to deal with Lightning.

 

Doc watched carefully as Lightning tried the turn again. Sure enough, he wiped out, and he came to a stop, spitting dirt from his grill¹¹.

 

Finally, the old car decided¹² to help out Lightning. "This ain't asphalt, son," Doc explained simply as he rolled up to the race car. "This is dirt."

 

"Oh, great," Lightning snapped. "So you're a judge, a doctor, and a racing¹³ expert?"

 

"I'll put it simple," Doc said patiently. "If you're going hard enough left, you'll find yourself turning right."

 

"Oh, right," Lightning said, his voice dripping with sarcasm¹⁴. "That makes perfect sense. Turn right to go left. Thank you. Or should I say ‘no, thank you,' " he went on, his voice rising in frustration¹⁵, "because in Opposite World, maybe that really means thank you." What does that old car know about racing, anyway? Lightning thought as he took off on the track, throwing plumes¹⁶ of dust all over Doc.

 

Once the dust cleared, Lightning saw that Doc had driven away. Suddenly, he began to wonder if Doc's advice might work. Well, I might as well try it, he thought. Nothing else seems to be helping¹⁷.

 

Lightning sped toward the turn. "Turn right to go left," he said to himself. It didn't make any sense.

 

At the last moment, Lightning turned sharply right—and shot straight over the cliff.

 

"Ooh," he cried as he landed right back in the cacti¹⁸. "Oh, that hurt."

 

第二天，水箱温泉镇的天刚蒙蒙亮，板牙就喊起来：“哇哦！哇哈！”

 

莎莉听到板牙的喊叫后，从自己的旅馆出来一探究竟。看到板牙正在新柏油马路上开心地转圈，她惊讶不已。

 

哇，她想。麦坤做了一件了不起的工作。

 

板牙喊道：“早上好啊，莎莉，嘿，看看闪电麦坤刚刚修好的新 路吧！”

 

其他居民很快也都聚集到了这条路上。雷蒙尽量放低自己的底盘，借助液压装置，在路上蹦跳起来。

 

芙蓉温柔地对老公说：“哦，雷蒙，妈妈都好些年没看见你这样了。”

 

“我也好些年没看到这样好的路了。”雷蒙回答。

 

芙蓉顽皮地说：“那么，宝贝，来吧！我们去兜兜风吧！”

 

很快，所有的车都走出来，在光滑的黑色新路面上转起圈来。

 

卡布呆呆地看着自己店前的路，激动得哭了起来，天啊，真漂亮！“简直就像天使铺的一样！”

 

脾气粗暴的蓝天博士走近刚铺的路面，莎莉对他说：“博士，看，应该早点儿让他去尝尝仙人掌的。是吧？”

 

博士嘟哝了一声：“别这么早下定论，他还没把路修完。他还有很长的路要修。”

 

“喂，卡布！”荔枝婆经过轮胎店时说，“跟这新路比起来，你的店就像一个垃圾堆！”

 

卡布生气地说：“啊，真是个疯狂邪恶的老女人……”但是，当他抬头看到自己的店时，他不禁倒吸了一口气。“她说得对！”

 

博士弯下腰来，仔细检查新修的路，他自言自语起来：“那小子果然干得不错。见鬼，他去哪儿了？”他环顾四周，只看见贝西坐在路边，却没看到麦坤的身影。

 

正在那时，博士听到远处传来赛车发动机的声音。他朝着声音的方向寻去。

 

博士追到威利岗边缘问：“警长，麦坤又打算逃跑了？”

 

警长笑着说：“没，没有。”他解释说：“昨天晚上他修到半夜没柏油了，就问我能否到这儿来。他只想完成那个转弯。”

 

警长说得对，麦坤正试着完成前一天失败的那个转弯。他一到要转的时候，轮胎就开始打滑，身体随之转向，接着就掉下去。“不，不不不！啊，真糟！赛场上每个弯我都转得很完美。”麦坤抱怨着，然后开回去重新再来。

 

“额！”博士望着一遍遍练习转弯的麦坤说。面对麦坤表现出的意志力，他报以微笑。法官提议：“警长，你要不要去芙蓉的店里喝杯汽油？我来盯着他。”

 

警长惊讶地说：“那好吧，博士，我是感觉有点饿了。”他随即走开，将麦坤留给博士看管。

 

博士仔细看着麦坤的又一次尝试。当然，他又失败了。他停了下来，尾气管里喷出烟尘。

 

最后，博士决定帮助麦坤走出困境。他来到赛车面前，向麦坤简单解释：“小子，这不是柏油路，是泥土路。”

 

麦坤不屑一顾：“哦，你说得对，这么说你不仅是法官、博士，还是赛车专家喽？”

 

博士耐心地说：“简单地说，如果你使劲往左打方向，你的车子会往右转。”

 

麦坤讽刺地说：“很好，你说得很有道理。向右转，向左跑。谢谢！也许我该说‘不，谢谢’。”他提高声调继续说：“因为在相反的世界，不谢就是谢谢的意思。”这个老头才不懂得什么比赛。于是，麦坤从赛道走开，扬起的灰尘弥漫在博士头顶。

 

灰尘散去后，麦坤看见博士已经走了。突然，他意识到博士的建议也许是对的。好吧，我不妨再试试。他想，也没别的好法子了。

 

麦坤加速开到拐角处。“向右转才能向左跑？”他喃喃自语，这听上去不合常理。”

 

最后一刻，麦坤突然向右急转弯，车身直接冲出了悬崖。

 

“哦，”麦坤再次落入仙人掌丛中，疼得直叫，“哎呀，真疼。”

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