第一篇 回顾与展望 - the Educator Login page!

"No."So they had removed Graff from his post at Battle School solely to accompnany Ender to his next assignment.How important am I, he wondered. And like a whisper of Peter's-voice inside his mind, he heard the question,How can I use this?He shuddered and tried to think of something else. Peter could have fantasies about ruling the world, but Enderdidn't have them. Still, thinking back on his life in Battle School, it occurred to him that although he bad neversought power, he had always had it. But he decided that it was a power born of excellence, not manipulation. Hehad no reason to be ashamed of it. He had never, except perhaps with Bean, used his power to hurt someone.And with Bean, things had worked well after all. Bean had become a friend, finally, to take the place of the lostAlai, who in turn took the place of Valentine. Valentine, who was helping Peter in his plotting. Valentine, whostill loved Ender no matter what happened. And following that train of thought led him back to Earth, back to thequiet hours in the center of the clear water ringed by a bowl of tree-covered hills. That is Earth, he thought. Not aglobe thousands of kilometers around, but a forest with a shining lake, a house hidden at the crest of the hill, highin the trees, a grassy slope leading upward from the water, fish leaping and birds strafing to take the bugs thatlived at the border between water and sky. Earth was the constant noise of crickets and winds and birds. And thevoice of one girl, who spoke to him out of his far-off childhood. The same voice that had once protected himfrom terror. The same voice that he would do anything to keep alive, even return to school, even leave Earthbehind again for another four or forty or four thousand years. Even if she loved Peter more.His eyes were closed, and he had not made any sound but breathing; still, Graff reached out and touched hishand across the aisle. Ender stiffened in surprise, and Graff soon withdrew, but for a moment Ender was struckwith the startling thought that perhaps Graff felt some affection for him. But no, it was just another calculatedgesture. Graff was creating a commander out of a little boy. No doubt Unit 17 in the course of studies includedan affectionate gesture from the teacher.The shuttle reached the IPL satellite in only a few hours. Inter-Planetary Launch was a city of three thousandinhabitants, breathing oxygen from the plants that also fed them, drinking water that had already passed throughtheir bodies ten thousand times, living only to service the tugs that did all the oxwork in the solar system and theshuttles that took their cargos and passengers back to the Earth or the Moon. It was a world where, briefly, Enderfelt at home, since its floors sloped upward as they did in the Battle School.Their tug was fairly new; the IF was constantly casting off its old vehicles and purchasing the latest models. Ithad just brought a vast load of drawn steel processed by a factory ship that was taking apart minor planets in the第 259 页 共 340 页http://www.en8848.com.cn/ 原 版 英 语 阅 读 网