Chapter 8

Chapter 8 When the kids entered the library, Mrs. Mackleroy was gluing a cover onto a book. "Hi, kids," she said. "Someone loves this book so much they wore the binding right off!" She finished the job, then laid a heavy book on top of the glued one to keep it flat. "There," she said, wiping glue from her fingers. "So how can I help you today?"

当孩子们走进图书馆时，麦克勒罗伊太太正在给一本书粘封面。 “嗨，孩子们，”她说。“有人太喜欢这本书了，他们把封皮都撕掉了!”她完成了工作，然后把一本厚厚的书放在粘好的书上，使它保持平整。 “那里，”她一边说，一边擦去手指上的胶水。 “今天我能帮你什么忙吗?”

"We're looking for information about falcons," Josh told her. Mrs. Mackleroy pointed to the computer table. "Do you know how to do a computer search?" she asked. "Sure, we do it in school all the time," Ruth Rose said. "Come on, guys!" Dink sat at the computer. Josh and Ruth Rose looked over his shoulder. Dink typed in F-A-L-CO- N-S, then hit the "enter" key. A few seconds later, a long list of book titles appeared on the screen.

“我们在找关于猎鹰的信息，”乔希告诉她。 麦克勒罗伊太太指了指电脑桌。 “你知道怎么用电脑搜索吗?”她问。 “当然，我们在学校里经常这样做，”露丝·罗斯说。 “加油，伙计们!”丁克坐在电脑前。 乔希和露丝·罗斯从他的肩膀上看过去。 丁克输入了F-A-L-CO- N-S，然后按了回车键。 几秒钟后，屏幕上出现了一长串书名。

"Geez, there must be fifty books about falcons," Josh said. "Try PEREGRINE," Ruth Rose said. Dink typed in the new word, and the list shortened. The library had four books about peregrine falcons. Dink printed the shorter list, and they took it to Mrs. Mackleroy. "These are in the children's room," she said, making check marks next to two of the titles. The kids found one of the two books. The title was Peregrine Falcons: Royal Raptors. They huddled together on a bench and quickly turned pages. The book talked about how peregrine falcons had nearly been wiped out because of pesticides. They flipped more pages until they came to "Amazing Falcon Facts." "'Peregrine falcons are easy to train,'" Josh read aloud. "And look, it says they mate for life," Ruth Rose added. "Look at fact number seven," Dink said, running his finger down the page. '"Peregrine falcons are among nature's fastest hunters. When

“天哪，肯定有五十本关于猎鹰的书。”乔希说。 “试试PEREGRINE，”露丝·罗斯说。 丁克输入了新单词，列表缩短了。 图书馆有四本关于游隼的书。 丁克把那张较短的单子印了出来，他们把它拿给了麦克勒罗伊太太。 “这些在孩子们的房间里，”她一边说，一边在其中两个标题旁边打勾。 孩子们找到了两本书中的一本。 题目是游隼:皇家猛禽。 他们挤在一张长凳上，迅速翻页。 这本书讲述了游隼是如何因为杀虫剂而几乎灭绝的。 他们又翻了几页，直到看到“神奇的猎鹰真相”。 “‘游隼很容易训练，’”乔希大声读道。 “看，上面说它们终生交配，”露丝·罗斯补充道。 “看看第七个事实，”丁克说着，手指顺着那一页往下滑。 游隼是自然界最快的猎手之一。 当

chasing birds, peregrines have been known to top 200 miles per hour!'" "That's faster than a cheetah!" Josh said. "My dad's car only goes a hundred," Dink said. "Boy, wouldn't it be neat to see peregrine falcons racing." "THAT'S IT!" Ruth Rose yelled. Mrs. Mackleroy tapped her pencil on her desk. "Ruth Rose…" "Sorry," Ruth Rose said. The kids returned the book and hurried outside. "I bet someone is stealing falcons to race them!" Ruth Rose said. "People race dogs and horses, so why not falcons?" "Let's tell Curt," Josh said. "He doesn't even know Flash was stolen again." They called the DEP office from the phone booth in Ellie's Diner. Josh told Curt that someone had broken into the vet's and stolen Flash. Then he told him about what they had learned in the library. A few seconds later, Josh hung up. "He's coming right over." "He is?" Dink said.

众所周知，游隼追逐鸟类的速度高达每小时200英里!“那比猎豹还快!”杰克说。 “我爸爸的车只能跑一百英里，”丁克说。 “天哪，看游隼比赛不是很好吗?” “就是这样!”露丝·罗斯喊道。 麦克勒罗伊太太用铅笔敲了敲桌子。 “对不起，”露丝·罗斯说。 孩子们还了书，急忙跑出去了。 “我敢打赌有人在偷猎鹰比赛!”露丝·罗斯说。 “人们比赛狗和马，为什么不比赛猎鹰呢?”“我们告诉科特吧，”乔希说。 “他甚至不知道闪电侠又被偷了。” 他们从埃莉餐厅的电话亭给警察局打了电话。 乔什告诉科特有人闯进兽医诊所偷走了闪电侠。 然后他告诉他他们在图书馆学到的东西。 几秒钟后，乔希挂了电话。 “他马上就来。”“他是?”丁克说。

"Yeah," Josh said. "And while we're waiting, I could use a pistachio cone!" Ruth Rose ordered her usual: strawberry. Dink got his favorite, butter crunch. The kids sat in a booth and worked on their cones. "You know, I've been thinking," Ruth Rose said between licks. "Who besides us knew that Flash was at the vet's?" Dink and josh looked at her. "Well, Mrs. Wong knew," Dink said. "For sure, she didn't break in and steal Flash!" Josh said. "And Doc Henry knew, but I don't think it's him, either," Dink said. Ruth Rose glanced at her friends. "Who else?" "Grace Lockwood!" Josh said. "Don't forget about Curt," Dink said. "We told him that Flash was at Doc Henry's." Josh shook his head. "It's Curt's job to protect wildlife." Just then, Curt Striker walked into the diner. He ordered a cup of coffee, then slid into the booth. "So you kids have been doing some detective work, eh?" he said.

“是的，”乔希说。“在我们等待的时候，我想要一个开心果蛋筒!”露丝·罗斯点了她的老菜:草莓。 丁克买了他最喜欢的黄油脆饼。 孩子们坐在一个摊位上摆弄着他们的蛋筒。 “你知道，我一直在想，”露丝·罗斯在舔人的间隙说。 “除了我们，还有谁知道法什在兽医那里?”丁克和乔希看着她。 “嗯，黄太太知道，”丁克说。 “可以肯定的是，她没有闯进来偷走闪电侠!”杰克说。 “亨利医生知道，但我也不认为是他，”丁克说。 露丝·罗斯瞥了她的朋友们一眼。 “还有谁?”“恩典洛克伍德!”杰克说。 “别忘了科特，”丁克说。 “我们告诉他闪电侠在亨利医生家。” 乔希摇了摇头。“保护野生动物是柯特的工作。” 就在这时，柯特·斯特莱克走进了餐厅。 他点了一杯咖啡，然后溜进隔间。 “那么，你们这些孩子一直在做一些侦探工作，是吗?”他说。

"Someone stole Flash right out of the vet's place!" Ruth Rose told Curt. "I know," Curt said. "Josh told me on the phone. But who's Flash?" She grinned. "The falcon! We named him that because he eats so fast." "So what's this about racing falcons?" Curt said, looking at Josh. "Well, we read that peregrine falcons can fly 200 miles an hour!" Josh said. "So we thought someone might be training them to race." Curt sipped his coffee. "Racing falcons, eh? That's an interesting idea." "Could someone make money racing falcons," Dink asked Curt, "like in a horse race?" Curt nodded slowly. "Yes, I guess they could." He finished his coffee. "Tell you what, let me run your idea by a few of my contacts. Meanwhile, let's just keep this between us, okay?" "Do you really think you can find out who took the falcons?" Ruth Rose said. Curt slid out of his seat. "You can count on it," he said.

“有人把闪电侠从兽医那里偷走了!”露丝·罗斯告诉科特。 “我知道，”柯特说。乔希在电话里告诉我。 可是谁是闪电侠?”她咧嘴一笑。 ““猎鹰”!我们给他起这个名字是因为他吃得太快了。” “那么猎鹰比赛是怎么回事呢?”柯特看着乔希说。 “嗯，我们读到游隼每小时能飞200英里!”杰克说。 “所以我们认为可能有人在训练它们参加比赛。” 柯特呷了一口咖啡。“猎鹰赛跑，嗯?” 这是个有趣的想法。” 丁克问柯特:“有人能像赛马那样用猎鹰赚钱吗?”科特慢慢地点了点头。 “是的，我想他们可以。” 他喝完了咖啡。“这样吧，让我跟我的几个熟人谈谈你的想法。 与此同时，这件事你知我知，好吗?”“你真的认为你能找出是谁带走了猎鹰吗?”露丝·罗斯说。 柯特从座位上滑了起来。 “你可以放心，”他说。