第一篇 回顾与展望 - the Educator Login page!

Alai laughed, too.On impulse Ender hugged him, tight, almost as if he were Valentine. He even thought of Valentine then andwanted to go home. "I don't want to go," he said.Alai hugged him back. "I understand them, Ender. You are the best of us. Maybe they're in a hurry to teach youeverything.""They don't want to teach me everything," Ender said. "I wanted to learn what it was like to have a friend."Alai nodded soberly. "Always my friend, always the best of my friends," he said. Then he grinned. "Go slice upthe buggers.""Yeah." Ender smiled back.Alai suddenly kissed Ender on the cheek and whispered in his ear. "Salaam." Then, red faced, he turned awayand walked to his own bed at the back of the barracks. Ender guessed that the kiss and the word were somehowforbidden. A suppressed religion, perhaps. Or maybe the word had some private and powerful meaning for Alaialone. Whatever it meant to Alai, Ender knew that it was sacred; that he had uncovered himself for Ender, asonce Ender's mother had done when he was very young, before they put the monitor in his neck, and she had puther hands on his head when she thought he was asleep, and prayed over him. Ender had never spoken of that toanyone, not even to Mother, but had kept it as a memory of holiness, of how his mother loved him when shethought that no one, not even he, could see or hear. That was what Alai had given him: a gift so sacred that evenEnder could not be allowed to understand what it meant.After such a thing nothing could be said. Alai reached his bed and turned around to see Ender. Their eyes heldfor only a moment, locked in understanding. Then Ender left.***第 77 页 共 340 页http://www.en8848.com.cn/ 原 版 英 语 阅 读 网