"Chirrrp!" A little cockroach¹ jumped happily onto WALL · E's shoulder. As the toxic² winds began to pick up speed, WALL · E and his only companion motored bouncily toward home. WALL · E's treads were wearing thin, and the cockroach held on bravely as they crossed the rough terrain³.

 

Over miles of desolate⁴ waste, WALL · E saw buildings and highways and rolled across the remains⁵ of broken bridges. Everything was branded with the same logo: BUY-N-LARGE. BnL had its stamp on everything. The mega-superstore had once overseen⁶ almost all operations on the planet.

 

As WALL · E hurried onward⁷, he rolled over an old newspaper. TOO MUCH TRASH! EARTH COVERED! BNL CEO DECLARES GLOBAL EMERGENCY! the headline proclaimed. WALL · E did not notice.

 

He passed a salvage⁸ yard full of other rusted⁹ WALL · E units, shut down long ago. The cockroach watched eagerly as WALL · E stopped to examine something of interest on one of the old units—its treads.

 

The treads were thick bands of rubber, built to protect the WALL · E units' metallic¹⁰ wheels like giant tires. This old unit's treads were in much better shape than WALL · E's.

 

WALL · E quickly switched his old pair for the newer ones as the cockroach chirped¹¹ and jumped excitedly. Then, moving on, WALL · E felt the cockroach settling happily on his shoulder, enjoying the new, smoother ride.

 

WALL · E rolled past a BnL billboard¹², activating¹³ its holo-graphic message as he moved. The image buzzed to life. Several loudspeakers began broadcasting the chipper voice of a human announcer, recorded centuries ago.

 

"Too much garbage in your face?

 

There's plenty of space out in space!

 

BnL star liners leaving each day.

 

We'll clean up the mess while you're away!"

 

WALL · E headed across a bumpy¹⁴ freeway over-pass, activating another ancient billboard. Through the smoggy haze¹⁵, the image of a sparkling BnL star liner flashed onto the screen. Its happy passengers appeared to be enjoying all the amenities¹⁶ of a luxury cruise ship.

 

"The jewel of the BnL fleet: The Axiom!" the announcer's voice boomed. "Spend your five-year cruise in style ..." But the people had been gone from Earth far longer than five years.

 

"The Axiom!" the voice exclaimed proudly. "Putting the ‘star' in ‘executive star liner.'"

 

The wind was starting to howl now. WALL · E squinted¹⁷ and turned on a set of tiny windshield wipers to clean the lenses of his eyes. Looking across a bay that had dried up long ago, he saw a battered¹⁸ old BnL truck. WALL · E's spirits rose.

 

“吱吱—”一只小蟑螂快乐地跳上瓦力的肩膀。携带有毒物质的风加速了，瓦力载着他唯一的伙伴，颠簸着朝家驶去。瓦力的履带越磨越薄，他们穿越这个崎岖的地带时小蟑螂勇敢地抓紧他。

 

隔着几英里荒芜的垃圾堆，瓦力看见了一排排大楼和一条条公路。他慢慢行驶过残存的断损桥梁。所有物品都打着同样的商标：大卖场。大卖场在任何事物上都打上了它的印记。这家巨型超市曾经几乎掌管着这个星球上所有的业务。

 

当瓦力向前赶路的时候，他的履带压过一张旧报纸，上面的标题写着：“垃圾太多！地球已被覆盖！大卖场首席执行官宣称全球告急！”瓦力没有留意。

 

他路过一个早就关闭了的废品回收场，里面满是其他生锈的地球垃圾分装装置。蟑螂关切地看着瓦力停下来检视其中一个旧装置上某个让他感兴趣的东西—它的履带。

 

这些履带由厚橡胶带制成，就像巨型轮胎一样，用于保护地球垃圾分装装置的金属轮子。这具旧装置的履带状态要比瓦力的好得多。

 

伴随着蟑螂的吱吱声与兴奋的跳跃，瓦力快速地将自己的旧履带换成了较新的那对。然后，瓦力继续前行时，感觉到蟑螂愉快地歇在他肩上，享受这段更平稳的新旅程。

 

瓦力从一块大卖场广告牌前驶过，他的移动触发了它所储存的全息影像信息。几个扬声器开始播放几个世纪前录制的一位人类播音员爽朗的话音，生动的影像伴着这阵热闹浮现。

 

“垃圾太多，束手无策？

 

“在太空中还有充足的空间！

 

“大卖场星际航班每日出航。

 

“我们将在您离开期间，把垃圾清理干净！”

 

瓦力沿着一条颠簸的高架快速公路行驶，激活了另一块古老的广告牌。一艘闪闪发光的大卖场星际飞船的影像穿过浓浓的雾霾闪现在屏幕上，船上的乘客们正在愉快地享受着豪华邮轮上的各种便利设施。

 

“大卖场舰队中的珍宝：‘功理’号！”播音员低沉的声音响起，“享受五年的太空奢华之旅……”但这些人离开地球的时间已经远远不止五年。

 

“‘功理’号！”播音员骄傲地大声说道，“高级星际航空公司的星级航班。”

 

此时风开始咆哮。瓦力眯起眼睛，打开一对微型雨刮器来清洁他作为眼睛的镜头。他向一片早已干涸的海湾的另一侧望去，看见一辆破旧的大卖场旧货车。瓦力的情绪变得高昂起来。

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