雙語讀電影 《賽車總動員》第10章 :不過，遲到總比不到好！

“Gentlemen, this will be a one-lap race,” Sheriff announced as the whole town assembled at Willys Butte to watch the action. “You will drive to Willys Butte, go around Willys Butte, and come back. There will be no bumpin’, no cheatin’, no spittin’, no bitin’, no road rage, no maimin’, no oil slickin’, no pushin’, no shovin’, no backstabbin’, no road-hoggin’, and no lollygaggin’.”

Lightning was hardly listening. “Speed,” he said to himself. “I am speed.”

“Gentlemen,” announced Sheriff, “start your engines.”

Doc’s engine turned over slowly, coughing and sputtering. With a smug laugh, Lightning started his own engine. It roared dangerously.

“Great idea, Doc,” Sally muttered to herself. “Now the road will never get done.”

Luigi dropped the flag, and Lightning took off like a rocket. The town cheered as he sent up a cloud of dust behind his rear tires. But when the dust cleared, everyone saw that Doc was still standing at the starting line!

“Doc, the flag means ‘go,’ ” Luigi explained.

Doc didn’t move.

“Uh, Doc?” Ramone said slowly. “What are you doing, man?”

“Oh, dear,” Doc said in a flat voice. “It would seem I’m off to a poor start. Well, better late than never.” He turned to the rusty tow truck. “Come on, Mater. You got your tow cable?”

“Well, yeah,” Mater said as he and Doc rolled along the track, far behind Lightning. “I always got my tow cable. Why?”

“Oh,” Doc said, “just in case.”

Curious, the other cars followed Doc and Mater.

Lightning was flying along the road, showing off his incredible speed. “I am speed,” he said to himself, taking the turn as he rounded the turn on the dirt track. “Nothing can stop me now. I’m halfway to California—”

Whoa! The turn was tight, and before he could register what was happening, Lightning had lost control, dropping off a low cliff and landing hard in the sand below.

“Ooh, man!” Ramone said, wincing at the sight of Lightning. The race car was wedged in a grove of sharp cacti. “Ow!”

“Whoa … ,” Fillmore agreed. “Bad trip, man.”

Lightning revved his engine, but it was no use. He couldn’t move.

Mater giggled.

“You drive like you fix roads … ,” Doc said as Lightning spun his wheels. “… lousy.” The judge turned to the tow truck. “Have fun fishing, Mater.”

As Doc drove away, Mater cast down his towline and dragged Lightning up the hill by his rear axle. “I’m startin’ to think he knowed you was gonna crash,” Mater said to the race car.

“Thank you, Mater,” Lightning said gratefully as the tow truck pulled him back onto the track.

Radiator Springs was turning out to be harder to leave than he’d ever expected.

“I can make a little turn on dirt, you think? No!” Lightning grumbled late that night as he scraped off the asphalt he had poured over the broken road. “And now I’m a day behind. I’m never gonna get out of here.”

“Hey,” Ramone called as Lightning muttered to himself, “you need a new paint job, man.”

“No, thank you,” Lightning said automatically. He didn’t have time for a new paint job; he needed to fix that road! He couldn’t believe he had lost a race to an old grandpa car!

“How about some organic fuel?” Fillmore suggested hopefully.

Lightning sighed. “Pass.”

“Whoo!” Flo said, eyeing Lightning. “Watchin’ him work is makin’ me thirsty. Anybody else want something to drink?”

“Nah, not me, Flo,” Mater said. “I’m on one of them there special diets. I’m a pre-sisional instrument of speed and aero-matics.”

Lightning grumbled on. “ ‘You race like you fix roads … ,’ ” he mimicked, mocking Doc’s insult. “I’ll show him. I will show him.” He grunted, throwing himself into his work. Soon he had finished the scraping. He hooked himself up to Bessie and started repaving.

Splat!

“Aww, great!” Lightning shouted as he tried to shake off the tar Bessie had squirted all over him. “I hate it, hate, hate, hate, hate it!”

But no matter how much he hated it, Lightning kept on working all through the night.