Young Carl Fredricksen sat in the darkened movie theater, wearing his leather flight helmet. He straightened in his seat as a newsreel flickered¹ onto the screen. The newsreels were Carl's favorite part of going to the movies. They were full of information about people, places, and exciting events going on in the world.

"Movietown News presents … ‘Spotlight on the adventure'!" came the voice of the announcer. "Our subject today: Charles Muntz."

Carl leaned forward. Charles Muntz was a famous adventurer—and Carl's hero.

"The beloved aviation pioneer lands his dirigible, the Spirit of Adventure, in New Hampshire this week, completing a yearlong expedition into the lost world! This lighter-than-air craft was designed by Muntz himself. And what has Muntz brought back this time?"

The black-and-white film showed an enormous blimp landing in an open field. Then Muntz appeared on the screen. He looked tall and handsome in a leather jacket and a flight helmet just like Carl's.

"Adventure is out there!" Muntz exclaimed into the camera. He lowered his goggles² over his eyes and gave a thumbs-up.

Carl lowered his goggles, too, wishing he were a grown-up. Then he could go have some adventures, just like Charles Muntz, traveling all over the world, discovering new things, and bringing back priceless treasures.

"Gentlemen, I give you the Monster of Paradise Falls!" Muntz exclaimed on the movie screen. A curtain next to him dropped, revealing the skeleton of a giant bird. It was Muntz's latest discovery.

"But what's this?" the announcer said. "The National Explorers Society accuses Muntz of fabricating the skeleton!"

Carl watched, horrified³, as the Explorers Society removed Muntz's photo from its Wall of Fame. How can the Explorers Society doubt Muntz? Carl thought. He's the greatest explorer of all!

But Muntz didn't give up. "I promise to capture the beast … alive!" he cried on the flickering⁴ screen. "And I will not come back until I do." Carl smiled as the crowd around him cheered. Adventure is out there, all right, Carl thought. He just knew it.

Later that afternoon, Carl was still thinking about Muntz. He'd written SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE on the side of a balloon, and as he ran, he pretended the balloon was his airship. He buzzed and zoomed⁵, making the kinds of noises he thought a blimp might make.

"Adventure is out there!" said a voice, seemingly from nowhere.

Carl stopped in his tracks. Who said that? he wondered.When he looked up, he realized that he was standing⁶ in front of an abandoned house.

Something creaked. Carl looked up and saw that someone had attached a rope to the weather vane on top of the house. The rope tugged⁷ at the weather vane, turning it.

"Look out!" cried the voice from inside the house. "Mount Rushmore. Must get Spirit of Adventure over Mount Rushmore. Hard to starboard. Hold together, old girl. Whew! How're my dogs doing? Ruff, ruff … ruff! Good boy!"

Carl crept toward the porch. SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE was written across the front door. He squeezed past the door. When he saw what was inside, his eyes widened in surprise. Pictures of Charles Muntz were tacked⁸ to the wall. Adventure gear was everywhere—ropes, a compass, even an old bicycle. A girl stood near the front window, "steering⁹" with the wheel of the upside-down bike. She was wearing a leather helmet like Carl's and looking out the window. "All engines ahead full!" she commanded. "Let's take her up twenty-six thousand feet!"

There was no doubt about it—this girl was playing adventurer, too. Carl turned to get a better look at her collection of Charles Muntz photos and newspaper clippings.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked, suddenly appearing at his side.

Carl let out a yelp¹⁰. He was so surprised that he let go of his balloon.

"Don't you know that this is an exclusive club?" the girl demanded. "Only explorers get in here. Not just any kid off the street with a helmet and a pair of goggles. Do you think you got what it takes? Well, do you?"

Carl stammered¹¹.

"All right, you're in," said the girl. "Welcome aboard." She held out her hand, but Carl didn't take it. He found the girl a bit intimidating¹².

"What's wrong?" she asked, more gently. "Can't you talk? Hey, I don't bite."

The girl took off her helmet and shook out her messy red hair. Buttons and badges? were pinned to the front of her shirt. She unfastened one made out of the cap from a bottle of grape soda¹³. "You and me, we're in a club now," she said, pinning the cap onto Carl's shirt.

Carl smiled, and the girl grinned back. "I saw where your balloon went," she said, looking up toward the second story. "Come on, let's go get it."

The girl quickly walked out of the room, heading for the creaky old staircase in the hallway. Carl didn't move. He was still feeling stunned¹⁴.

Half a second passed. Then the girl popped back in with a quizzical look on her face. Clearly, she was wondering why Carl hadn't followed. Then she grinned, realizing what the problem must be. She had forgotten to introduce herself!

"My name's Ellie," she said cheerfully. Carl's face turned bright red as she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the hall.

Together the two picked their way up the stairs. Carl followed Ellie, careful to tread in her exact footsteps. He didn't want to fall through the rotten wood.

At the top, Ellie took Carl's hand and helped him over the last step. Carl blushed, but Ellie didn't notice. "There it is," she said, pointing to the balloon. Unfortunately, it was floating in a room that didn't have a floor. A single beam stretched across the empty space.

Carl gulped¹⁵. It was a twelve-foot drop to the floor below.

"Well, go ahead," Ellie urged.

Carl screwed up his courage and stepped onto the beam. He took another step, inching forward. He was halfway¹⁶ across when he felt the beam splinter. He had just enough time to see the shocked look on Ellie's face before he fell.

Carl propped¹⁷ up the flashlight with his good arm. He was trying to read in bed, but it wasn't too comfortable. He'd broken his arm when he had fallen off the beam in Ellie's clubhouse.

The curtains fluttered like ghosts as a breeze blew gently across the room. A blue balloon with a stick tied to the end floated in through Carl's window. Carl let out a shriek¹⁸ and jumped, banging his arm against the side table. "Ow!"

A head of messy red hair popped in through the window. "Hey, kid!"

Carl shrieked¹⁹ again and hit himself in the face with his cast. "Ow!"

"Thought you might need a little cheerin' up," Ellie said as she climbed through the window. She joined Carl under the tent he had made with his blankets. "I got something to show you. I am about to let you see something I have never shown to another human being. Ever. In my life." She added, "You'll have to swear you will not tell anyone."

Carl nodded, wide-eyed.

"Cross your heart. Do it."

Carl crossed his heart, and Ellie nodded, satisfied.

"My adventure book," Ellie said, pulling out her home-made scrapbook. She turned to the first page—a photo of Charles Muntz. "You know him. Charles Muntz … explorer. When I get big, I'm going where he's going—South America." She pointed²⁰ to a map that was pasted into the book. "It's like America, but south. Wanna know where I'm gonna live? Paradise Falls. ‘A land lost in time.' " She pointed to a beautiful photo of a tepui, a steep, rugged²¹ mountain with a flat top. She had drawn²² a picture of her clubhouse sitting on the tepui, next to the falls. "I ripped this right out of a library book. I'm gonna move my clubhouse there and park it right next to the falls. Who knows what lives up there! And once I get there …" She flipped²³ through the book until she came to a page marked STUFF I'M GOING TO DO. After that, all the pages were blank. "Well, I'm saving these pages for all the adventures I'm gonna have," Ellie explained. "Only, I just don't know how I'm gonna get to Paradise Falls."

Carl glanced up at the shelf that held his collection of toy blimps. His blue balloon floated beside them. Ellie followed his gaze.

"That's it!" she cried. "You can take us there in a blimp! Swear you'll take us. Cross your heart! Cross it! Cross your heart."

Carl crossed his heart.

Ellie heaved a sigh of relief. "Good. You promised. No backing out."

Carl shook his head. No way would he back out. This girl was a real adventurer. Look at what had happened today! Carl had spent ten minutes with her, and he'd already had the biggest adventure of his life. If she said she was going to South America, then Carl wanted to go along.

"Well, see you tomorrow, kid!" Ellie chirped²⁴ happily as she headed toward the window and climbed out. "Bye. Adventure is out there!" She poked²⁵ her head back in."You know, you don't talk very much. I like you!" With those parting words, Ellie disappeared into the night.

Carl stared at the empty window for a moment."Wow," he said, resting his cheek against the top of the balloon.

His balloon popped, as if it completely agreed with him.

 

昏暗的电影院里坐着一个头戴皮革头盔名叫卡尔·费迪逊的小男孩。这时，屏幕一闪，跳出一则新闻，他不由得挺直了身板。到电影院看新闻短片，是小卡尔的一大乐趣。因为这些新闻短片融汇了世界各地的风土人情，讲述着激动人心的重大事件。

“您正在收看的是‘影城新闻’隆重推出的《聚焦探险》节目！”影厅里响起了播音员的声音，“今天我们的主角是：查尔斯·蒙兹。”

卡尔把身子向前倾了倾。查尔斯·蒙兹不仅是一位著名的探险家，在卡尔心中，他更是一位伟大的英雄。

“本周，我们敬爱的航空先驱乘着他的飞船‘探险精神号’在新罕布什尔州着陆了，完成了在遗失世界为期一年的探险！我们现在看到的这架航空器是蒙兹自行设计的，它比空气还要轻。那么，蒙兹这次归来给我们带来了什么东西呢？”

黑白电影屏幕上，一架巨大的飞船在一片开阔的空地着陆了。这时，蒙兹出现在了屏幕上。他身穿皮夹克，头戴一顶和卡尔一样的飞行头盔，看起来高大英俊。

“探险就要开始了！”蒙兹对着镜头欢呼道。他把眼镜从头顶拉下来架在眼睛上，并竖起了大拇指。

卡尔也把眼镜从头顶拉了下来，他多么渴望自己现在已经长大成人了啊！那样的话，他就可以去探险了，可以像查尔斯·蒙兹一样周游世界，探寻新鲜事物，发掘无价珍宝。

“先生们，我带来了天堂瀑布里的怪物！”蒙兹在电影屏幕上高声宣布。这时，他身旁的幕帘落了下来，一副巨型大鸟的骨架呈现在人们眼前。这就是蒙兹的新发现。

“但这是什么？”播音员发出疑问，“全国探险家协会指控蒙兹伪造生物骨架！”

卡尔专注地看着，吓了一跳，因为他看到探险家协会把蒙兹的照片从荣誉墙上摘了下来。探险家协会怎么能怀疑蒙兹？卡尔心想。他可是世界上最伟大的探险家！

但蒙兹没有放弃。“我保证捉到这个怪物……而且是捉活的！”在闪烁的屏幕上，蒙兹叫道，“不然，我誓不返回！”周围的人群欢呼起来，卡尔脸也露出了微笑。好啊，探险就要开始了，卡尔默默地对自己说。他就知道会这样。

那天下午的晚些时候，卡尔仍然心心念念地想着蒙兹。他在一只气球的一侧写了“探险精神号”五个大字，把它想象成自己的飞船，跟着气球奔跑起来。他一边奔跑，一边模仿着飞行器的声音，嘴里“嗡嗡”地响着。

“探险就要开始了！”不知从哪里传来一个声音。

他停下脚步，惊讶地想：谁在说话？他抬头望去，发现自己正站在一座废弃的房子前面。

有什么东西在“嘎吱”作响。卡尔抬起头，看见那座房子顶部的风向标上系着一根绳子。风向标受到绳子的牵引，呼呼地转着。

“小心！”房子里传来叫喊声。“前面就是拉什莫尔山。要让‘探险精神号’越过拉什莫尔山。很难向右转舵。坚持啊，姑娘。唷！我的狗还好吗？汪，汪……汪！好样的！”

卡尔悄悄走向门廊，看见前门上写着“探险精神号”五个大字。他挤进了门，走到里面。看到里面的东西后，他惊讶地睁大了双眼。他看到墙上贴着许许多多查尔斯·蒙兹的照片。而且，探险装备无处不在——绳索、指南针，甚至还有一辆旧自行车。一个女孩站在前窗旁，“驾驶”着一辆倒置自行车的车轮。她戴着一顶和卡尔一样的皮革头盔，望着窗外。“所有引擎，全速前进！”她命令道，“让她上升到二万六千英尺的高空！”

毫无疑问，这个女孩也在玩探险家游戏。卡尔转过身调了个位置，这样就能更好地欣赏女孩收藏的查尔斯·蒙兹的照片和剪报了。

“你在干什么？”女孩突然出现在他身旁，冷不丁问道。

卡尔发出一声尖叫。他倍感惊讶，不由得松开了手中的 气球。

“难道你不知道这是一个会员专属俱乐部吗？”女孩盘问道，“只有探险家才能来这里，不是大街上任何带着头盔和眼镜的小孩就能随随便便进来的。你明白了吗？听明白了吗？”

卡尔被吓得话都不会说了。

“算了，反正你也进来了，”女孩说，“欢迎登船。”她伸出手，但卡尔并没有伸手握住。他总觉得那个女孩看起来有点儿吓人。

“怎么了？”女孩的语气变得柔和起来，轻声问道，“你不会讲话啦？嘿，我不咬人。”

女孩摘下头盔，摇了摇自己乱蓬蓬的红头发。她的衬衫前面别着许多纽扣和徽章。她摘下了一个用葡萄汽水瓶盖做成的徽章。“你和我，现在是同一个俱乐部的成员了。”说着，她就把这枚瓶盖徽章别在了卡尔的衬衫上。

卡尔笑了笑，女孩也笑起来。“我知道你的气球飞哪去了，”她抬头望了望二楼，说道，“来吧，我们去把它找回来。”

女孩快步走出房间，朝走廊里那个年久失修的楼梯走去。但卡尔还站在原地，他受到了惊吓，还没有回过神来。

眨眼工夫，女孩突然折了回来，一脸疑惑。很显然，她想知道卡尔为什么没有跟上来。意识到了问题所在，她笑了笑，原来她竟然忘了介绍自己！

“我叫艾莉。”女孩兴高采烈地说。说着，她抓起卡尔的手，把他拉进了走廊。这一举动使卡尔满脸通红。

他们一起走上楼梯。卡尔小心翼翼地跟在艾莉后面，一步一步地紧跟着。他可不想从这些破旧的木板上掉下去。

到达顶楼时，艾莉伸出手，把卡尔拉上最后一级台阶。卡尔的脸又红了，可艾莉并没有注意到。“在那儿。”艾莉指着那个气球说。只可惜，这个房间没有地板，只有一条独木板悬空横跨两端，而气球就这样飘浮在上空。

卡尔倒吸了一口气：这里离地面足足有12英尺高。

“好了，去拿吧。”艾莉催促道。

卡尔鼓起勇气，踏上那条木板。接着他又向前移动了一步。走到一半时，木板突然裂开了。而在掉下去之前，他只够瞥见艾莉震惊的脸。

卡尔用自己那只没受伤的胳膊举着手电筒。他试着躺在床上看书，但感觉不太舒服。他从艾莉俱乐部的木板上摔下来时，摔断了一只胳膊。

一阵微风轻轻吹过房间，窗帘像鬼魂一样飘动，一只系着木棍的蓝色气球从卡尔的窗户飘了进来。卡尔发出一声尖叫，吓得从床上跳了起来，胳膊撞到了旁边的桌子。他痛呼一声：“哎哟！”

突然，窗外钻进来了一个顶着乱蓬蓬红发的小脑袋：“嘿，小家伙！”

卡尔再次尖叫起来，惊慌中挥动的拳头竟打在了自己脸上，他痛得大叫：“哎哟！”

“我估计你想要点好玩的东西吧。”艾莉说着就从窗户爬了进来，钻进了卡尔用毯子支起的帐篷。艾莉说：“我给你看样东西吧，这个东西我从来没给别人看过呢，从来没有。”她又补充道，“你要发誓不准告诉别人哦。”

卡尔点了点头，睁大了眼睛。

“发誓。发啊。”

卡尔发过誓，艾莉满意地点了点头。

“这是我的探险书。”艾莉边说边拿出了她自制的剪贴簿。她翻到了第一页，上面是查尔斯·蒙兹的照片。“你认识他吧。查尔斯·蒙兹……是个探险家。等我长大了，我也要去他去过的地方——南美洲。”她指了指粘在这本书中的一幅地图说道，“它和美洲的形状很像，但是是在南部。想知道我打算住在哪儿吗？天堂瀑布：‘即将消失的土地’。”她指着特普伊山的美丽照片，那山陡峭崎岖，却有一个平整的山顶。她把她的俱乐部画在了特普伊山的山顶，紧挨着瀑布。“这是我从图书馆的书上撕下来的。我要把我的俱乐部搬到那儿去，就搬到瀑布旁边。天知道上面还住着些什么！我一搬过去……”她翻了翻这本书，在标有“心愿单”的那一页停了下来。在这后面，所有的页面都是空白的。“好吧，我要为以后的探险经历留些位置，”艾莉解释道，“只是我不知道要怎样去天堂瀑布。”

卡尔抬头望向斜上方的架子：上面放着他收集的玩具飞船，而他的蓝色气球飘浮在那些飞船旁边。艾莉顺着他的目光看了看。

“就是它了！”她喊道。“你可以用这种小型飞船带我们去那儿！发誓你会带我们去。发誓！发啊！快点儿发誓。”

卡尔在胸前画了十字，许下誓言。

艾莉松了口气，说道：“好了。你发过誓的哦。不准反悔。”

卡尔摇了摇头。他决不会反悔。这个女孩是个真正的探险家。瞧瞧今天都发生了什么！卡尔只和她在一块儿待了十分钟，却已经度过了他一生中最大的探险。如果她说要去南美洲，卡尔一定会跟着去。

“好了，明天见，小家伙！”艾莉一边开心地说着，一边走向窗户，慢慢爬了出去。“再见。探险就要开始了！”忽然，她又把头伸了进来，对卡尔说：“知道吗，虽然你话不多，但我喜欢你！”说完这些，艾莉就消失在了夜色中。

卡尔盯着空荡荡的窗户看了一会儿，然后把脸搁在气球顶部，发出了一声感叹：“哇哦！”

“砰”的一声，气球爆了，仿佛是对卡尔心中所想表示完全赞成。

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