As the probe ship roared through the murky¹ brown sky, WALL · E could feel the force of Earth's gravity on his body, pulling powerfully against the acceleration² of the ship. He tightened³ his grip on the support rod as the ship burst through Earth's atmosphere. The engines slowed down, and WALL · E, now weightless, took in the majestic⁴ splendor⁵ of all the stars sparkling in clear space.

 

The probe ship passed the moon, where WALL · E saw a billboard⁶ reading BNL OUTLET⁷ COMING SOON! It stood in the lunar dust, forgotten long ago.

 

WALL · E blinked hard and recharged his solar panels as the ship zipped past the sun. Traveling quickly into deep space, the ship approached Saturn⁸. WALL · E reached out and ran his hand through the dust and ice particles that made up one of the planet's outer rings. Mesmerized⁹ by the view, he saw a single light growing in the distance. He recognized it from the billboards¹⁰ he had seen on Earth. It was a gigantic luxury-class star liner. It was the Axiom!

 

The Axiom was enormous—wide and tall. At the lowest level, there was a garbage depot¹¹ where the ship's trash was compacted and tossed into space. Just above that stretched loading docks and service-robot corridors. The next three levels were where the passengers lived: the least expensive economy-class units in the middle of the ship; coach class on the level above, with its main concourse (which looked like a huge shopping mall); and the luxury housing units overlooking the lido deck, high above them all.

 

The Captain and his autopilot also had a view of the lido deck from the bridge at the top of the ship. The bridge's control panels could activate¹² practically anything on the Axiom—the Captain could broadcast announcements, adjust the fake sun that shone on the passengers (which gave them a sense of the time of day), and, of course, guide the star liner through space. One day, the Captain would look down on the lido deck and activate the holo-detector, a computer designed to confirm the presence of life on Earth. Then the great machine would rise from its platform and automatically take the ship back home.

 

探测飞船轰鸣着穿越烟笼雾罩的棕色天空，瓦力能感受到地球引力对他身体的影响，它正和飞船的加速度对抗，强有力地把他往下拉。飞船穿越地球大气层的时候他更用力地抓住了支撑杆。飞船引擎降低了速度。瓦力现在处于失重状态，欣赏着明亮太空中群星闪耀的瑰丽景致。

 

探测飞船飞过月球时，瓦力看见了一块广告牌，上面写着：“大卖场直销店即将开业！”它立在月球的灰尘中，早已被遗忘。

 

飞船呼啸着飞过太阳时，瓦力用力眨了眨眼睛，给他的太阳能电池板充电。飞船快速地飞向太空深处，靠近了土星。瓦力向土星的外部一个星环伸出手去，将手穿入构成它的灰尘和冰晶颗粒中。当他因美景而着迷时，他看见远处有一个光点越来越明亮。他在地球上的广告牌上见过这艘巨型豪华星际飞船，他认出它来了。它是“功理”号！

 

“功理”号异常庞大，又高又宽。它的最底层有一个垃圾站，飞船上的垃圾在这里被压缩并被抛入太空。在这一层上面是装卸月台和服务机器人通道。再上面的三层是乘客们居住的地方：经济舱客房位于飞船的中间一层，价格最实惠；二等舱在其上面一层，带有一个中央广场（它看上去就像一个巨型购物中心）；豪华舱客房在客房最高层，俯瞰着泳池甲板。

 

船长和他的自动驾驶仪在飞船顶端的舰桥上也能看见泳池甲板。舰桥上的控制面板可以启动“功理”号上几乎所有东西——船长可以发广播通知，调整照耀乘客们的虚拟太阳（这能让他们知道时刻），当然，还能引导这艘星际飞船在太空中航行。终有一日，船长将俯瞰着泳池甲板，启动全息探测器——一台用于确认地球上存在着生命的电脑。然后，这台超乎寻常的机器将从它的安放平台上升起，自动将飞船开回家。

点击收听单词发音