3. The Secret Code

Chapter 3 The Secret Code Brian, Nate, and Lucy came sprinting across the street. Bradley told them what Ellie had said and showed them the note. "The woman dropped it," he said. "What woman?" his brother asked.

第三章密码布赖恩、内特和露西跑过马路。 布拉德利把埃莉说的话告诉了他们，并给他们看了纸条。 “那个女人把它弄掉了，”他说。 “什么女人？”他哥哥问。

Bradley pointed at the two strangers, who were now passing the post office. "The short one is a woman. I saw her lipstick!" Nate squinted. "Or it's a man pretending to be a woman!" he said. "Thieves are so tricky!" "And they both have tans," Bradley added. "I'll bet it's makeup!" Nate said. "To fool the police!" Brian, Nate, and Lucy huddled around Bradley, peering at the paper. WLK N 2 G.L.E.S. E ON WDY 2 D&H N ON FRM LN 2 P "This is just a bunch of initials," Nate said. "It might as well be written in a foreign language!" Lucy took the note from Bradley. "Do you think they're staying at the Shangri-la Hotel?" she said. "I don't think thieves stay at hotels in the same town where they're robbing houses," Nate said. "They just steal stuff, then take off!" "But if they're not staying at the hotel, how did they get this Shangri-la Hotel paper?" Brian

布拉德利指着正在经过邮局的两个陌生人。 “矮的那个是女的。 我看到她的口红了！”内特眯起了双眼。 “或者是一个男人假扮成女人！”他说。 “小偷真狡猾！”“而且他们都晒黑了，”布拉德利补充道。 “我敢打赌是化妆品！”内特说。 “愚弄警察！”布莱恩、内特和露西围着布拉德利，盯着报纸看。 “这只是一堆首字母缩写，”内特说。 “还不如用外语写呢！”露西从布拉德利手里接过纸条。 “你觉得他们会住在香格里拉酒店吗？”她说。 “我不认为小偷会在抢劫的地方住旅馆，”内特说。 “他们只是偷东西，然后就跑了！”“但如果他们不是住在酒店里，他们是怎么拿到香格里拉酒店的文件的？”布莱恩

asked. "Maybe they stole it!" Bradley said. "Mr. Linkletter keeps some on his desk." "What does it mean?" Nate asked. "It's like a word puzzle," Lucy said. "I have a book of these. See, most of the vowels are missing." "The D, H, and P are underlined," Brian said. "But none of the other letters are." "It's a burglar's code," Bradley whispered. "Guys, they're walking toward the bank!" Brian said. "We have to keep following them!" Lucy gave the mysterious note back to Bradley, and he slipped it into his pocket. The four kids followed slowly, keeping the two strangers in sight. "That tall guy is weird," Brian said. "Before, his left leg was limping, but now it's his right leg!" "Are you sure?" Lucy asked. Brian tapped his head. "I never forget a limper!" he said. "Hold it!" Bradley whispered. The kids crouched behind a row of bushes in front of the post office. "They're stopping at the bank!"

问。“也许是他们偷的！”布拉德利说。 “林克莱特先生桌上放着一些。” “这是什么意思？”内特问道。 “这就像字谜游戏。”露茜说。 “我有一本这样的书。看，大部分元音都不见了。” “D、H和P都被划了线，”布莱恩说。 “但是其他的信都不是。” “这是窃贼的密码。”布拉德利低声说。 “伙计们，他们正朝银行走去！”布莱恩说。 “我们必须一直跟着他们！”露西把那张神秘的纸条还给了布拉德利，他把它塞进了口袋。 四个孩子慢慢地跟在后面，不让那两个陌生人看见。 “那个高个子很奇怪，”布莱恩说。 “以前，他的左腿跛行，但现在是他的右腿！”“你确定吗？”露西问。 布莱恩拍了拍他的头。“我从来不会忘记瘸腿！”他说。 “抓住它!”布拉德利低声说。 孩子们蹲在邮局前的一排灌木丛后面。 “他们停在银行了！”

The two strangers put their faces against the bank windows. Then the man in the cowboy hat pulled a notebook and pencil from a pocket in his backpack. He wrote something and put the notebook away. The woman took a picture of the bank. "They're taking more pictures!" Nate said. "We have to do something!" "Like what?" Lucy asked. "All they're doing is looking." "Yeah, looking in bank windows and writing stuff in a notebook and taking pictures," Nate said. "That's what thieves do when they're making a plan!" The bank clock now read three-thirty. "At least the bank is closed," Brian said. "They can't get in." "The doors were locked at Mrs. Wong's house, too," Nate said. "But they still got in!" "We don't know that for sure," Lucy reminded him. "Someone else could have stolen her computer." "They're on the move again," Nate said. "Let's go."

那两个陌生人把脸贴在银行的窗户上。 然后，戴牛仔帽的男人从背包的口袋里掏出一本笔记本和一支铅笔。 他写了些东西，把笔记本收了起来。 那个女人拍了一张银行的照片。 “他们拍了更多的照片！”内特说。 “我们必须做点什么！”“像什么?”露西问。 “他们所做的只是寻找。” “是啊，看银行橱窗，在笔记本上写东西，拍照，”内特说。 “小偷在制定计划时就是这么做的！”银行的时钟现在是三点半。 “至少银行关门了，”布莱恩说。 “他们进不去。”“黄太太家的门也锁着，”内特说。 “但他们还是进来了！”“我们还不能肯定。”露茜提醒他。 “可能是别人偷了她的电脑。” “他们又开始行动了，”内特说。 “我们走吧。”

The kids followed the limping man and the woman in the ski mask farther down Main Street. The strangers stopped in front of the elderlyhousing building. The woman snapped a picture, and the man wrote something in his little notebook. Then they went in.

孩子们跟着那个一瘸一拐戴着滑雪面罩的男人和女人，沿着主街往前走。 陌生人在老人住宅前停了下来。 女人拍了张照片，男人在他的小笔记本上写了些什么。 然后他们进去了。

"Oh my gosh, they're going to rob those old people!" Brian said. "The police station is next door," Bradley said. "Maybe we should tell Officer Fallon what's going on!" "But nothing is going on," Lucy said. "Officer Fallon would get mad if we asked him to arrest two innocent people!" Bradley shook his head. "He'd get madder if they robbed his whole town!" he said. "So what should we do?" Nate asked. "Let's just wait a minute," Brian said. "But if we hear anyone scream, we run to the police station, okay?" They waited, and no one screamed. Three minutes later, an old man and woman came out. They had white hair and walked stooped over. One carried a big shopping bag, and they held on to each other as they walked down the steps. The four kids watched the old couple shuffle down Main Street. At the Shangri-la Hotel, one of them opened the bag, took out a camera, and aimed it at the hotel's entrance.

“哦，天哪，他们要抢劫那些老人！”布莱恩说。 “警察局就在隔壁，”布拉德利说。 “也许我们应该告诉法伦警官发生了什么事！”“可是什么事也没有。”露茜说。 “如果我们让法伦警官逮捕两个无辜的人，他会生气的！”布拉德利摇了摇头。 “如果他们抢劫了他的整个小镇，他会更生气的！”他说。 “那我们该怎么办呢？”内特问道。 “我们就等一会儿，”布莱恩说。 “但如果我们听到有人尖叫，我们就跑到警察局，好吗？”他们等着，没有人尖叫。 三分钟后，一位老人和一位妇女走了出来。 他们满头白发，走起路来弯着腰。 其中一人拎着一个大购物袋，他们手拉手走下台阶。 四个孩子看着那对老夫妇拖着沉重的步子走过大街。 在香格里拉酒店，其中一人打开包，拿出相机，对准酒店的入口。