In the darkness, the toxic¹ urchins³ glowed and sparked ominously⁴. "I want to go home!" Squishy cried.

"On your marks!" the Greek Council vice⁵ president said. "Get set!"

Mike glared at Sulley, and Sulley glared right back as all the teams shifted in place, ready to race. The rest of the Oozmas were behind them, but Mike and Sulley didn't even notice. This was a grudge⁶ match between the two of them.

"GO!" the vice president yelled.

"AHHHH!" Art shouted, charging into the tunnel first. Surprised, the Oozmas and the other teams followed. Art immediately hit a glow urchin² and screamed as it sparked and shocked him over and over. "Whoa!" Art yelled. His leg began to swell⁷ from the stings.

Then Squishy howled as the urchins stung him, and he stumbled. The PNKs leaped over the falling Oozmas and moved up behind Mike and Sulley.

Mike and Sulley were running neck and neck, carefully navigating⁸ the stinging urchins. "That as fast as you can go?" Mike yelled at Sulley.

"Just getting started!" Sulley yelled back as they entered the portion of the dark tunnel with hanging blue urchins.

"Uh, guys!" Don called out from the rear. "We're falling behind a little. FELLAS?"

A swinging urchin hit Sulley's arm, and Mike gained the lead. But Sulley put his head down and ran forward, taking hit after hit. He caught up to Mike and ran past him. He could see the ROR team ahead.

Just when Sulley reached his former brothers, he stumbled and fell. The RORs left him in the dust. "Later, loser," Chet said as Sulley got up with a growl⁹.

Mike suddenly ran past Sulley, but Sulley wasn't about to give up. He barreled through the urchins, taking shock after shock. But it was the RORs who came out of the tunnel first. The crowd cheered as the council president announced, "Roar Omega Roar wins the event!"

Mike and Sulley leaped across the finish line at the same time, still furious at each other. The crowd was laughing. A photographer called out, "Way to blow it, Oozmas!"

"Hey, second place isn't bad," Mike shouted back defensively.

Then he heard the council president say, "Second place, Jaws¹⁰ Theta Chi!"

"What?" Sulley cried in disbelief.

One of the fans yelled, "Your whole team has to cross the finish line!"

"Oh no," Sulley moaned. The last time he'd seen the Oozmas, they were sprawled¹¹ across the tunnel floor.

"Third place, EEKs," said the council vice president. "Fourth place, PNKs ... fifth place, HSS ... and in last place, Oozma Kappa!"

"No, no!" Mike gasped¹², and then turned to see the last of the bruised¹³ and battered¹⁴ Oozmas finally cross the finish line.

"Oozma Kappa has been eliminated!" the Greek Council president announced.

Near panic, Mike stepped back and accidentally bumped into Dean Hardscrabble.

This time she gave him a satisfied grin. "Don't look so surprised, Mr. Wazowski," she said. "It would have taken a miracle for you to stay in."

Mike was nodding numbly¹⁵ when the council president suddenly said, "Attention, everyone, we have an announcement! Jaws Theta Chi has been disqualified. The use of illegal protective gel is cause for elimination¹⁶."

"What? It's moisturizer!" said Big Red, one of the Jaws Theta Chi brothers. The crowd watched as a referee¹⁷ wiped a wad of goop off his arm and then poked¹⁸ him with an urchin. Zap! Big Red's arm swelled¹⁹ up like a balloon.

"It's a miracle! Oozma Kappa is back in the games!" the vice president announced.

Dean Hardscrabble's grin vanished. She glared at Mike. "Your luck will run out eventually," she told him, and stormed out of the sewer²⁰.

Mike looked at Sulley. Then he looked at the rest of the Oozmas, who were swollen²¹, bruised, and waving at him pathetically. "This is going to be harder than I thought," he muttered.

 

有毒的刺刺球在黑暗中闪烁着不祥的光芒，史乖宝哭喊道：“我想回家！”

“各就各位！”希腊议会的副会长宣布，“预备！”

所有的队伍都已各自就位，准备出发。麦克瞪了一眼毛怪，毛怪也马上回瞪了一眼麦克。OK会的其他队员站在他们后面，可麦克和毛怪都没有注意他们。这可是一场两人恩怨的角逐。

“出发！”副会长喊道。

“啊啊啊！”阿拱大喊着第一个冲进管道，OK会和其他队的成员都被阿拱吓了一跳，紧紧地跟在他后面。刚一进去，阿拱就碰到了发光的刺刺球。刺刺球不断地闪光，不断地刺到他身上，疼得他“啊哦”大叫起来，他的腿也因为被刺到，都肿了起来。

接着，史乖宝同样被刺刺球刺得哇哇大叫，一个踉跄摔倒在地上。粉红美少女队跃过摔倒的OK会队员一路向前追去，直逼麦克和毛怪。

麦克和毛怪并驾齐驱，小心翼翼地避开刺刺球。“这就是你的最快速度？”麦克朝毛怪喊道。

“这不过是热身而已！”毛怪也对麦克大喊道。他们一边喊着，一边跑入了下一赛段，在这一赛段中，蓝色的刺刺球都悬挂在漆黑的管道上方。

“喂！伙计们！”老唐在后面喊道，“我们有点儿落后了吧，兄弟们？”

一个荡来荡去的刺刺球突然刺到了毛怪的胳膊，麦克暂时获得了领先。但毛怪立刻低下头朝前面狂奔，尽管一路上不断被刺刺球刺到，最终还是赶超了麦克。他看到精吓会队就在前面。

眼看着就要追上精吓会队了，可毛怪突然被绊倒在地上。他一边怒吼着一边爬起来，只见精吓会队扬尘而去，他们队中的喳喳还扭头对毛怪喊道：“再见啦，失败的家伙！”

麦克突然超过了毛怪，可毛怪不会就这样放弃。他飞奔着穿过刺刺球阵，任凭它们一下又一下刺在自己身上。但是，最终还是精吓会队夺得了第一名。议会会长宣布道：“精吓会队在本轮胜出！”人群瞬间沸腾起来。

麦克和毛怪同时跃过了终点线，直到这一刻，他们还在生对方的气。围观的人群大笑起来，一位摄影师朝他们喊道：“OK会，你们太烂了！”

“嘿，第二名也不错啊。”麦克反击道。

接着他就听到议会的会长宣布：“第二名，健将兄弟会队！”

“什么？”毛怪难以置信地大声喊道。

一位粉丝告诉他们：“你们得整个团队都冲过终点才行！”

“不是吧！”毛怪抱怨道。他想起自己之前看到OK会的其他成员时，他们都还四仰八叉地躺在下水道地面上。

“第三名，熔岩城队！”议会的副会长宣布道，“第四名，美少女队！第五名，黑丝丝队！最后一名，OK会队！”

“不，不！”麦克倒抽了一口气。接着，他转过头，只见最后的几个OK会成员姗姗来迟，总算是越过了终点，一个个都鼻青脸肿的。

“OK会队被淘汰！”希腊议会会长宣布道。

麦克开始慌了，他往后退了几步，一不小心撞到了郝刻薄院长身上。

这一次，院长对着麦克满意地笑了笑，说道：“别这么吃惊，华斯基先生。你们要是能赢，那得是个多大的奇迹啊。”

麦克麻木地点着头。突然，会长宣布道：“大家请注意！宣布一项通知！健将兄弟会队被取消参赛资格，因为他们违规使用了防护胶作弊。”

健将兄弟会的大红怪反驳道：“什么？那是润肤膏！”众目睽睽之下，一位裁判走上前，从他的胳膊上刮下了一堆黏糊糊的东西，然后用刺刺球刺了他一下。糟糕！大红怪的胳膊立刻像个气球一样肿了起来。

“奇迹发生了！”副会长宣布道，“OK会队继续参加比赛！”

郝刻薄院长脸上的笑容消失了，她瞪着麦克说：“你们不会一直都这么走运的。”说完，她怒气冲冲地离开了下水道。

麦克看看毛怪，又看看OK会的其他队员。他们一个个又青又肿，可怜地挥着手。“比赛没我想象的那么简单。”麦克喃喃低语道。

点击收听单词发音