2 The Time-A-Tron

Chapter 2 THE TIME-A-TRON Andrew and Judy followed Uncle Al down the rocky path. As they got closer to the mushroom, they saw it was actually an inflatable dome. Uncle Al went to a square little box on the wall of the dome and spoke into it. "Good golly Miss Molly" he said, and part of the wall swung open. Inside was a small, empty room. Hanging from the ceiling was a giant spiderweb. "How do you like my burglar alarm system?" asked Uncle Al. "If someone tries to get in without the password, the Catch-O-Matic web flops down and holds them here."

安德鲁和朱迪跟着阿尔叔叔走下布满岩石的小路。 当他们靠近蘑菇时，他们发现它实际上是一个充气的圆顶。 艾尔叔叔走到圆顶墙上的一个方形小盒子前，对着它说话。 “天哪，莫丽小姐。”他说，一堵墙打开了。 里面是一间空荡荡的小房间。 天花板上挂着一张巨大的蜘蛛网。 “你觉得我的防盗警报系统怎么样？”艾尔叔叔问。 “如果有人试图在没有密码的情况下进入，Catch-O-Matic网就会掉下来，把他们困在这里。”

Uncle Al grinned at Andrew and Judy. "I got the idea when you guys were trapped in the spiderweb in Mrs. Scuttle's bathroom." Andrew and Judy looked at each other and smiled. Uncle Al opened a door at the end of the little room. HNNNNNNNNNNNNN… Now Andrew didn't just hear the humming sound. He could feel it, too. The door led into a huge room. In the middle of the room was an enormous egg-shaped object. It almost touched the ceiling! Andrew's eyes grew wide. "Wowzers schnauzers!" he said. "Is that—" "The Time-A-Tron!" said Uncle Al proudly. The top half of the egg was a clear dome. The bottom half was silver. The whole thing sat on a silver cone that floated off the ground.

艾尔叔叔对安德鲁和朱迪咧嘴一笑。 “当你们被困在斯卡托太太浴室的蜘蛛网里时，我想到了这个主意。” 安德鲁和朱迪面面相觑，笑了。 艾尔叔叔打开了小房间尽头的一扇门。 现在安德鲁听到的不只是嗡嗡的声音。 他也能感觉到。这扇门通向一个大房间。 房间中央有一个巨大的蛋形物体。 它几乎碰到天花板了！安德鲁睁大了眼睛。 “沃茨雪纳瑞！” “那是——”“时间战神！”阿尔叔叔自豪地说。 蛋的上半部分是一个透明的圆顶。 下半部分是银的。 整个东西放在一个银色的圆锥体上，这个圆锥体漂浮在地面上。

"Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "It looks like a cooking timer! We have a little one just like it in our kitchen." "How does the Time-A-Tron work?" Andrew asked Uncle Al.

“奶酪露易丝！”朱迪说。 “它看起来像一个烹饪计时器！”我们的厨房里有一只和它一模一样的小家伙。” “时间战神是怎么工作的？”安德鲁问艾尔叔叔。

Uncle Al scratched his chin. "Do you know about the speed of light?" "Yup," said Judy. "That's how far light can travel in a second." meep… "One hundred and eighty-six thousand miles in one second!" said Thudd. "That's right!" said Uncle Al. "If you traveled at the speed of light, in just one second you could cross the United States seventy-five times! "Some people think that light is the fastest thing in our universe. But there is something that can travel faster than light." "What?" asked Andrew. meep… "Tachyon!" said Thudd. "Huh?" said Judy. "TACK-ee-on" flashed across Thudd's screen. "Right," said Uncle Al. "Tachyons are extremely tiny. They're much smaller than atoms. "Traveling faster than light does strange things. It may even allow us to travel through time. The Time-A-Tron is fueled by tachyons."

阿尔叔叔挠了挠下巴。 “你知道光速吗？”“是的，”朱迪说。 “这就是光在一秒钟内能传播的距离。” “一秒钟十八万六千英里！” “没错！”阿尔叔叔说。 “如果你以光速旅行，你可以在一秒钟内穿越美国75次！”“有些人认为光是我们宇宙中最快的东西。 但是有一种东西可以比光速还快。” “什么？”安德鲁问。“超光速粒子！” “嗯？”朱迪说。泰德的屏幕上闪过一声“加油”。 “好的，”阿尔叔叔说。“超光速子非常小。 它们比原子小得多。 “比光还快的旅行会产生奇怪的事情。 它甚至可以让我们穿越时间。 时空创是由超光速粒子驱动的。”

Andrew squinted at the Time-A-Tron. There was a blur in the middle of it. "Why does the middle of the Time-A-Tron look fuzzy?" he asked. "That's because of the Fast-Fins," said Uncle Al. "They're moving so quickly you can't see them. The tachyons get the Fast-Fins spinning faster than the speed of light and then…" Andrew started walking toward the back of the Time-A-Tron. "Andrew!" said Uncle Al. "Don't touch anything!" "I won't," said Andrew. "But when can we try it?" "The Fast-Back button is finally working," said Uncle Al. "But the Fast-Forward button is causing trouble. You and Judy can help me with that tomorrow. But only if you promise to follow my instructions exactly." "We will!" said Andrew. Judy shook her head. "Andrew, you've messed up every invention you've ever touched," she said.

安德鲁眯起眼睛看着时间战神。 中间有一片模糊。 “为什么《时空争霸》中间的画面看起来模糊？”他问道。 “那是因为快鳍，”阿尔叔叔说。 “它们移动得太快了，你根本看不见它们。 超光速粒子让快鳍旋转得比光速还快，然后……”安德鲁开始朝时间战神的后面走去。 “安德鲁！”艾尔叔叔说。“不要碰任何东西！”“我不会的。”安德鲁说。 “但我们什么时候能试一试呢？”“快回键终于起作用了，”艾尔叔叔说。 “但是‘快进’键正在制造麻烦。 你和朱迪明天可以帮我。 但前提是你保证严格按照我的指示去做。” “我们会的！”朱迪摇了摇头。 “安德鲁，你把你碰过的每一项发明都搞砸了，”她说。

"Look what happened with the Atom Sucker. You got us shrunk smaller than a fly's eye!" "That wouldn't have happened if you hadn't sneezed," said Andrew. Judy put her hands on her hips. "And what about when you broke the destination dial off the Water Bug? We ended up sinking to the deepest place in the world!" "But we saved the giant squid!" said Andrew. "Come on, guys, don't argue," said Uncle Al. "Why don't you go back to the cabin and get ready for bed? Make yourselves some hot chocolate. I'll be back in ten minutes." Outside the laboratory, the moon was full and bright. The moonlight made the strange rocks look even stranger. When they got back to the cabin, they washed up and got into their pajamas. Judy put on her bathrobe, too. Just like his regular clothes, Andrew's pajamas had lots of pockets, and the pockets were full of stuff.

“看看原子吸盘发生了什么。 你把我们缩得比苍蝇的眼睛还小！”“如果你没有打喷嚏，就不会发生这种事。”安德鲁说。 朱迪把手放在屁股上。 “那你把水虫的目的地表盘弄坏了呢？” 我们最后沉到了世界上最深的地方！”“但是我们救了大乌贼！”安德鲁说。 “好了，伙计们，别吵了，”阿尔叔叔说。 “你为什么不回小屋去准备睡觉呢？” 给自己弄点热巧克力吧。 我十分钟后回来。” 实验室外面，月亮又圆又亮。 月光使那些奇怪的岩石显得更奇怪了。 当他们回到小木屋时，他们洗了澡，穿上了睡衣。 朱迪也穿上了她的浴袍。 就像他平时穿的衣服一样，安德鲁的睡衣有很多口袋，口袋里装满了东西。