1、THE CITY of EMBER* “Thanks to full-blooded characters every bit as compellingas the plot, Lina and Doons search parallels the universaladolescent quest for answers.“ -Publishers Weekly, Starred* “Well-paced, this contains a satisfying mystery, abreathtaking escape over rooftops in darkness, a harrow
2、ingjourney into the unknown, and cryptic messages for readersto decipher. The setting is well realized with the constraints oflife in the city intriguingly detailed. The likable protagonistsare not only courageous but also believably flawed by humanpride, their weaknesses often complementing each ot
3、her ininteresting ways.“ -Kirkus Reviews, Starred* “While Ember is colorless and dark, the book itself is richwith description. DuPrau uses the puzzle, suspenseful action,and lots of evil characters to entice readers into the story.They will find the teen characters believable and gutsy. Partmystery
4、, part adventure story.“-Voice of Youth Advocates, Starred“Rather than bogging down in explanations of how Embercame to be and how it functions, DuPrau allows the events ofthe story to convey the necessary information. Even the deviceof a hidden letter, complete with missing words, is used withsuch
5、disarming forthrightness that readers will be eagerlydeciphering it right alongside Doon and Lina.“-The Horn Book MagazineDoon reached INTO the bag and took out the lastscrap of paper. He paused a minute, pressing it tightlyin his hand.“Go on,“ said the mayor. “Read.“Unfolding the paper, Doon read:
6、“Messenger.“ Hescowled, crumpled the paper, and dashed it to thefloor.Lina gasped; the whole class rustled in surprise.The mayor took a short breath and blinkedfuriously. “Disgraceful,“ he said, glaring at Doon.“A childish display of temper! Students should be glad to work for their city. Ember will
7、 prosper if all .citizens . do . their . best.“But Ember is not prospering!“ Doon cried. “Everything is getting worse and worse!“Silence!“ cried the mayor.“The blackouts!“ cried Doon. “The lights go outall the time now! And the shortages, theres shortagesof everything! If no one does anything about
8、it, somethingterrible is going to happen!“Lina listened with a pounding heart. Could thingsreally be as bad as he said?Also by Jeanne DuPrauTHE PEOPLE OF SPARKSTHE CITY OF EMBERJeanne DuPrauRANDOM HOUSE NEW YORKMy thanks to the friends who read and commented helpfully on my manuscriptSusie Mader, Pa
9、trick Daly, Andrew Ranter, Charlotte Muse, Sara Jenkins,Mary Dederer, and Bat Can. My gratitude to my agent, Nancy Gallt, who broughtThe City of Ember into the light, and my editor, Jim Thomas, who made itthe best book it could be. And my love and thanks to my mother,my first and best writing teache
10、r.Text copyright 2003 by Jeanne DuPrau.Jacket design and map by Chris Riety.All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.Published in the United States by Random House Childrens Books,a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canadaby Random
11、House of Canada limited, Toronto.Originally published in hardcover by Random House, Inc., in 2003.First paperback edition May of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:DuPrau, Jeanne.The city of Ember/by Jeanne DuPrau.p. cm.summary: In the year 241, twelve-year-old Una trades jobs on Assignment Da
12、y to be amessenger, to run to new places in her beloved but decaying city, perhaps even toglimpse Unknown Regions.ISBN 0-375-82273-9 (trade) - ISBN 0-375-92274-1 (lib. bdg.) -ISBN 0-375-82274-7 (pbk.)1. Fantasy. I. Tide. PZ7.D927 Ci 2003 Fie-dc21 2002010239Printed in the United States of America 10
13、9876543kANDOM house and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, IncContentsThe Instructions 11. Assignment Day 42. A Message to the Mayor 173. Under Ember 404. Something Lost, Nothing Found 545. On Night Street 706. The Box in the Closet 847. A Message Full of Holes 938. Explorations 113
14、9. The Door in the Roped-Off Tunnel 12110. Blue Sky and Goodbye 13211. Lizzies Groceries 14012. A Dreadful Discovery 15513. Deciphering the Message 16614. The Way Out 17815. A Desperate Run 19316. The Singing 21317. Away 22618. Where the River Goes 23819. A World of Light 25020. The Last Message 258
15、The InstructionsWhen the city of Ember was just built and not yetinhabited, the chief builder and the assistant builder,both of them weary, sat down to speak of the future.“They must not leave the city for at least two hundredyears,“ said the chief builder. “Or perhaps twohundred and twenty.“Is that
16、 long enough?“ asked his assistant.“It should be. We cant know for sure.“And when the time comes,“ said the assistant,“how will they know what to do?“Well provide them with instructions, of course,“the chief builder replied.“But who will keep the instructions? Who can wetrust to keep them safe and s
17、ecret all that time?“The mayor of the city will keep the instructions,“said the chief builder. “Well put them in a box with atimed lock, set to open on the proper date.“1“And will we tell the mayor whats in the box?“ theassistant asked.“No, just that its information they wont need andmust not see un
18、til the box opens of its own accord.“So the first mayor will pass the box to the nextmayor, and that one to the next, and so on downthrough the years, all of them keeping it secret, all thattime?“What else can we do?“ asked the chief builder.“Nothing about this endeavor is certain. There may beno on
19、e left in the city by then or no safe place for themto come back to.“So the first mayor of Ember was given the box,told to guard it carefully, and solemnly sworn tosecrecy. When she grew old, and her time as mayor wasup, she explained about the box to her successor, whoalso kept the secret carefully
20、, as did the next mayor.Things went as planned for many years. But the seventhmayor of Ember was less honorable than the oneswhod come before him, and more desperate. He wasill-he had the coughing sickness that was common inthe city then-and he thought the box might hold asecret that would save his
21、life. He took it from its hidingplace in the basement of the Gathering Hall andbrought it home with him, where he attacked it with ahammer.But his strength was failing by then. All he managedto do was dent the lid a little. And before he could2return the box to its official hiding place or tell his
22、successorabout it, he died. The box ended up at the backof a closet, shoved behind some old bags and bundles.There it sat, unnoticed, year after year, until its timearrived, and the lock quietly clicked open.3CHAPTER 1Assignment DayIn the city of Ember, the sky was always dark. The onlylight came fr
23、om great flood lamps mounted on thebuildings and at the tops of poles in the middle of thelarger squares. When the lights were on, they cast a yellowishglow over the streets; people walking by threwlong shadows that shortened and then stretched outagain. When the lights were off, as they were betwee
24、nnine at night and six in the morning, the city was sodark that people might as well have been wearingblindfolds.Sometimes darkness fell in the middle of the day.The city of Ember was old, and everything in it,including the power lines, was in need of repair. Sonow and then the lights would flicker
25、and go out.These were terrible moments for the people of Ember.As they came to a halt in the middle of the street orstood stock-still in their houses, afraid to move in the4utter blackness, they were reminded of something theypreferred not to think about: that someday the lightsof the city might go
26、out and never come back on.But most of the time life proceeded as it alwayshad. Grown people did their work, and younger people,until they reached the age of twelve, went toschool. On the last day of their final year, which wascalled Assignment Day, they were given jobs to do.The graduating students
27、 occupied Room 8 of theEmber School. On Assignment Day of the year 241,this classroom, usually noisy first thing in themorning, was completely silent. All twenty-fourstudents sat upright and still at the desks they hadgrown too big for. They were waiting.The desks were arranged in four rows of six,
28、onebehind the other. In the last row sat a slender girlnamed Lina Mayfleet. She was winding a strand of herlong, dark hair around her finger, winding andunwinding it again and again. Sometimes she pluckedat a thread on her ragged cape or bent over to pull onher socks, which were loose and tended to
29、slide downaround her ankles. One of her feet tapped the floorsoftly.In the second row was a boy named DoonHarrow. He sat with his shoulders hunched, his eyessqueezed shut in concentration, and his hands claspedtightly together. His hair looked rumpled, as if hehadnt combed it for a while. He had dar
30、k, thick5eyebrows, which made him look serious at the best oftimes and, when he was anxious or angry, cametogether to form a straight line across his forehead. Hisbrown corduroy jacket was so old that its ridges hadflattened out.Both the girl and the boy were making urgentwishes. Doons wish was very
31、 specific. He repeated itover and over again, his lips moving slightly, as if hecould make it come true by saying it a thousand times.Lina was making her wish in pictures rather than inwords. In her minds eye, she saw herself runningthrough the streets of the city in a red jacket. She madethis pictu
32、re as bright and real as she could.Lina looked up and gazed around the schoolroom.She said a silent goodbye to everything that had beenfamiliar for so long. Goodbye to the map of the city ofEmber in its scarred wooden frame and the cabinetwhose shelves held The Book of Numbers, The Book ofLetters, a
33、nd The Book of the City of Ember. Goodbyeto the cabinet drawers labeled “New Paper“ and “OldPaper.“ Goodbye to the three electric lights in theceiling that seemed always, no matter where you sat,to cast the shadow of your head over the page youwere writing on. And goodbye to their teacher, MissThorn
34、, who had finished her Last Day of Schoolspeech, wishing them luck in the lives they wereabout to begin. Now, having run out of things to say,she was standing at her desk with her frayed shawl6clasped around her shoulders. And still the mayor,the guest of honor, had not arrived.Someones foot scraped
35、 back and forth on thefloor. Miss Thorn sighed. Then the door rattled open,and the mayor walked in. He looked annoyed, asthough they were the ones who were late.“Welcome, Mayor Cole,“ said Miss Thorn. Sheheld out her hand to him.The mayor made his mouth into a smile. “MissThorn,“ he said, enfolding
36、her hand. “Greetings.Another year.“ The mayor was a vast, heavy man, so bigin the middle that his arms looked small and dangling.In one hand he held a little cloth bag.He lumbered to the front of the room and facedthe students. His gray, drooping face appeared to bemade of something stiffer than ord
37、inary skin; it rarelymoved except for making the smile that was on it now.“Young people of the Highest Class,“ the mayorbegan. He stopped and scanned the room for severalmoments; his eyes seemed to look out from farback inside his head. He nodded slowly. “AssignmentDay now, isnt it? Yes. First we ge
38、t our education.Then we serve our city.“ Again his eyes moved backand forth along the rows of students, and again henodded, as if someone had confirmed what hedsaid. He put the little bag on Miss Thorns deskand rested his hand on it. “What will that servicebe, eh? Perhaps youre wondering.“ He did hi
39、s smile7again, and his heavy cheeks folded like drapes.Linas hands were cold. She wrapped her capearound her and pressed her hands between her knees.Please hurry, Mr. Mayor, she said silently. Please just letus choose and get it over with. Doon, in his mind, wassaying the same thing, only he didnt s
40、ay please.“Something to remember,“ the mayor said, holdingup one finger. “Job you draw today is for threeyears. Then, Evaluation. Are you good at your job?Fine. You may keep it. Are you unsatisfactory? Is therea greater need elsewhere? You will be re-assigned. It is extremely important,“ he said, ja
41、bbing his finger at theclass, “for all. work . of Ember . to be done. Tobe properly done.“He picked up the bag and pulled open the drawstring.“So. Let us begin. Simple procedure. Come upone at a time. Reach into this bag. Take one slip ofpaper. Read it out loud.“ He smiled and nodded. Theflesh under
42、 his chin bulged in and out. “Who cares tobe first?“No one moved. Lina stared down at the top of herdesk. There was a long silence. Then Lizzie Bisco, oneof Linas best friends, sprang to her feet. “I would liketo be first,“ she said in her breathless high voice.“Good. Walk forward.“Lizzie went to st
43、and before the mayor. Because ofher orange hair, she looked like a bright spark next tohim.8“Now choose.“ The mayor held out the bag withone hand and put the other behind his back, as if toshow he would not interfere.Lizzie reached into the bag and withdrew a tightlyfolded square of paper. She unfol
44、ded it carefully. Linacouldnt see the look on Lizzies face, but she couldhear the disappointment in her voice as she read outloud: “Supply Depot clerk.“Very good,“ said the mayor. “A vital job.“Lizzie trudged back to her desk. Lina smiled ather, but Lizzie made a sour face. Supply Depot clerkwasnt a
45、 bad job, but it was a dull one. The SupplyDepot clerks sat behind a long counter, took ordersfrom the storekeepers of Ember, and sent the carriersdown to bring up what was wanted from the vast networkof storerooms beneath Embers streets. Thestorerooms held supplies of every kind-canned food,clothes
46、, furniture, blankets, light bulbs, medicine, potsand pans, reams of paper, soap, more light bulbs- everything the people of Ember could possibly need.The clerks sat at their ledger books all day, recordingthe orders that came in and the goods that went out.Lizzie didnt like to sit still; she would
47、have been bettersuited to something else, Lina thought-messenger,maybe, the job Lina wanted for herself. Messengers ranthrough the city all day, going everywhere, seeingeverything.“Next,“ said the mayor.9This time two people stood up at once, OrlyGordon and Chet Noam. Orly quickly sat down again,and
48、 Chet approached the mayor.“Choose, young man,“ the mayor said.Chet chose. He unfolded his scrap of paper. “Electricianshelper,“ he read, and his wide face broke into asmile. Lina heard someone take a quick breath. Shelooked over to see Doon pressing a hand against hismouth.You never knew, each year
49、, exactly which jobswould be offered. Some years there were several goodjobs, like greenhouse helper, timekeepers assistant, ormessenger, and no bad jobs at all. Other years, jobs likePipeworks laborer, trash sifter, and mold scraper weremixed in. But there would always be at least one or twojobs for electricians helper. Fixing the electricity wasthe most important job in Ember, and more peopleworked at it than at anything else.Orly Gordon was next. She got the job of buildingrepair assistant, which wa
