Chapter 3

Chapter 3 The three kids stood frozen as the elevator door slid shut again. For a minute, no one moved. Then Ruth Rose reached over and punched the UP button for the elevator. "What're you doing!" Josh squeaked. "Following the ghost," she said.

电梯门再次关上时，三个孩子僵立在那里。 一时间，谁也没动。 然后露丝·罗斯伸手按下电梯的向上按钮。 “你在干什么!”Josh发出“吱吱”的响声。 “跟着鬼，”她说。

"Are you crazy?" Josh said. "What if ghosts don't like kids?" "Gee, Josh," Dink said. "I thought you didn't believe in ghosts." "Unless I see one with my own eyes," Josh said, "and I just did! Let's get out of here!" The elevator door opened. "Too late, Josh," Dink said. He and Ruth Rose pulled Josh into the elevator with them. Dink pushed the button marked 2. "We'll check each floor," he said. When the door opened on the second floor, the hallway was empty. "Two more floors," Ruth Rose said, pushing the number 3 button. But they didn't see the ghost on the third or fourth floor, either. "There are no more floors," Dink said, looking at the panel of buttons. "Good, let's go home!" Josh said. "What's this one for?" Ruth Rose asked, pointing to a black button without a number. "Maybe you push it for emergencies," Dink said.

“你疯了吗?”杰克说。 “如果鬼魂不喜欢孩子怎么办?”“嘿，乔希，”丁克说。 “我还以为你不相信有鬼呢。” “除非我亲眼看到，”乔希说，“我刚刚看到了!我们离开这里吧!”电梯门开了。 “太迟了，乔希。”丁克说。 他和露丝·罗斯一起把乔什拉进了电梯。 丁克按了2号按钮。 “我们会检查每一层，”他说。 当二楼的门打开时，走廊里空无一人。 “再上两层楼，”露丝·罗斯说着，按下了3号按钮。 但他们也没有看到三楼或四楼的鬼魂。 “没有更多的楼层了，”丁克看着按钮面板说。 “好，我们回家吧!”杰克说。 “这是干什么用的?”露丝·罗斯指着一个没有数字的黑色按钮问道。 丁克说:“也许你在紧急情况下才推它。”

She shook her head. "Nope. This red one says EMERGENCY." Dink shrugged. "There's only one way to find out," he said. He pushed the black button. The elevator creaked, then slowly started moving up. "I'm having a nightmare," Josh mumbled. "I'm not really chasing a ghost around a hotel. Any minute, I'm gonna wake up in bed!" "Don't worry Josh," Ruth Rose said with a grin. "I'll protect you." The elevator stopped with a gentle thud. When the doors opened, the ghost was waiting for them. "It followed us!" Josh screamed, jumping behind Ruth Rose. "No, you followed me!" the ghost said. "What do you want?"

她摇了摇头。“不。 这个红色的写着紧急情况。” 丁克耸耸肩。“只有一个办法能弄清楚，”他说。 他按下了黑色的按钮。 电梯嘎吱嘎吱地响了一声，然后慢慢地开始上升。 “我做噩梦了。”乔希咕哝道。 “我并不是真的在酒店里追鬼。 我随时都可能在床上醒来!”“别担心，乔希，”露丝·罗斯笑着说。 “我会保护你的。”电梯砰的一声停了下来。 当门打开时，鬼魂正在等着他们。 “它跟着我们!”乔希尖叫着，跳到露丝·罗斯身后。 “不，你是跟着我来的!” “你想要什么?”

Behind the white figure, a door opened. A stooped, gray-haired man stepped into the hall. The ghost pointed a thin finger at the kids. "They followed me up here, Ebenezer." The man chuckled and shuffled toward the open elevator. "Well, perhaps we should keep them!"

在那个白色身影后面，一扇门打开了。 一个弯腰驼背、头发花白的男人走进大厅。 鬼魂用瘦削的手指着孩子们。 “他们跟踪我到这里来了，埃比尼泽。” 那人咯咯地笑着，拖着脚步走向开着的电梯。 “好吧，也许我们应该留着它们!”

"NO!" Josh yelled from behind Ruth Rose. "Please let us go! If you kill me, I'll be grounded for sure!" Dink stared at the figure in white. Where had he seen that face before? Suddenly he remembered. She was the woman in the picture on Mr. Linkletter's desk! Dink stepped out of the elevator. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Spivets," he said. "I'm Dink Duncan and these are my friends Josh and Ruth Rose." "How d'you do," the man said, peering at Dink. His eyes were the color of blueberries. "You must be the three children our nephew told us about." Josh peeked at Mrs. Spivets from behind Ruth Rose. "You mean she's not the ghost?" he asked. "Of course I'm not the ghost!" Mrs. Spivets said. "Ebenezer, shall we invite these three in for cookies?" "Of course, my love." The old man smiled at the kids. "Come along, kid-dos!" The kids followed Mr. and Mrs. Spivets through a small hallway and into an old-fashioned parlor. Sunlight poured into the room. Through tall windows, the kids could see treetops across Main Street.

“不!”乔希在露丝·罗斯身后喊道。 “请让我们走吧!”如果你杀了我，我肯定会被禁足的!”丁克盯着那个穿白衣服的人。 他以前在哪儿见过那张脸? 突然他想起来了。她就是Linkletter先生办公桌上照片里的那个女人!丁克走出电梯。 “你好，斯比韦茨先生和太太。”他说。 “我是丁克·邓肯，这是我的朋友乔希和露丝·罗斯。” “你好，”那人盯着丁克说。 他的眼睛是蓝莓的颜色。 “你们一定就是外甥告诉我们的那三个孩子吧。” 乔希从露丝·罗斯后面偷看了一眼斯比薇茨太太。 “你是说她不是鬼魂?”他问。 “我当然不是鬼!”斯比薇太太说。 “埃比尼泽，我们能请这三个人进来吃饼干吗?”“当然，亲爱的。” 老人对孩子们微笑。 “来吧，孩子们!”孩子们跟着斯比韦茨夫妇穿过一条小走廊，走进一间老式的客厅。 阳光照进房间。 透过高高的窗户，孩子们可以看到主街对面的树梢。

Dink looked around the room. The walls were covered with paintings, and he'd never seen so many books! Mrs. Spivets came in carrying a tray. "Please sit," she told the kids. She handed each of them a glass of milk. Her husband bustled in with a cookie jar shaped like a rooster. He pulled off the rooster's head. "Cookie?" he said. Each of the kids took one cookie. "Now then," Mr. Spivets said as he sat next to his wife, "what are you kids up to?" "We read about the ghost in the newspaper," Ruth Rose said. "And we came to see it," Dink said. "But we didn't!" Josh added. "Then Mr. Linkletter told us how the ghost is ruining the hotel's business," Ruth Rose continued. "So we've decided to investigate!" Mrs. Spivets stared at the kids. "Investigate?" she said. "Like detectives?" "Right," Dink said. "Did you see the ghost?" he asked Mrs. Spivets. She looked at her husband. "No, but we've heard it, haven't we, dear?"

丁克环顾了一下房间。 墙上挂满了画，他从来没见过这么多书!斯比薇太太端着一个托盘走了进来。 “请坐，”她对孩子们说。 她递给他们每人一杯牛奶。 她的丈夫拿着一只公鸡形状的饼干罐匆匆走进来。 他把公鸡的头扯下来。 “饼干?”他说。每个孩子拿了一块饼干。 “好了，”斯比韦茨坐在妻子身边说，“你们这些孩子在干什么?”“我们在报纸上看到了关于鬼魂的报道，”露丝·罗斯说。 “我们就是来看的，”丁克说。 “但是我们没有!”杰克说。 “然后林克莱特先生告诉我们鬼魂是如何毁了旅馆的生意的，”露丝·罗斯接着说。 “所以我们决定调查一下!”斯比薇太太盯着孩子们。 “调查?”她说。“就像侦探吗?”“好的，”丁克说。 “你看见鬼了吗?”他问斯比薇太太。 她看着她的丈夫。 “没有，不过我们听说过，是不是，亲爱的?”