Chapter 1

FRANK EINSTEIN and the ANTIMATTER MOTOR

弗兰克·爱因斯坦和反物质发动机

1 EXACTLY 48 HOURS/2 ROTATIONS OF THE EARTH EARLIER... Night. Darkness. Flash! A bright bolt of lightning splits the dark and flickers over the skylight. Frank Einstein looks up from his work. He

正好比地球早转48小时/2圈… 的夜晚。黑暗。闪光!一道明亮的闪电划破黑暗，在天窗上方闪烁。 弗兰克·爱因斯坦从工作中抬起头来。 他

counts out loud, "One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand three. One thousand four. One thousand five—" Craack boom! The sound-wave vibration of the thunder rattles the old iron-framed windows of Frank's workshop and science laboratory.

大声数着，“一千零一个。 一千零二。一千零三。 2004年。2005年——“啪！砰！”雷声的声波震动震动着弗兰克的车间和科学实验室的旧铁框窗户。

"Five seconds between light and sound for every mile... One mile away," Frank calculates, using the difference between the almost-instant speed of light and the much slower speed of sound. "Right on time." "Are you sure this will work?" asks Watson, pulling on long yellow rubber dishwashing gloves to protect himself. "Because, man, this seems pure crazy." "It's perfect," Frank answers. "Perfect my mom and dad are gone again on one of their travel-hot-spot trips. Perfect Grampa Al let me set up my lab in his garage and use all his great repair-shop junk. And perfect we can use this lightning to supercharge my SmartBot to life and win the Midville Science Prize." Lightning flashes. Thunder booms. "That hundred-thousand cash prize will pay off all Grampa Al's bills. And the SmartBot

“每英里光和声音之间有5秒的间隔…… “一英里之外，”弗兰克计算出，他用的是近乎瞬时的光速和慢得多的声速之间的差异。 “很准时。”“你确定这能行吗？”沃森问，戴上长长的黄色橡胶洗碗手套来保护自己。 “因为，伙计，这看起来太疯狂了。” “太完美了，”弗兰克回答。 “太好了，我爸妈又去旅游热点了。 完美的阿尔爷爷让我在他的车库里建了我的实验室，用了他所有很棒的修理店的旧东西。 我们可以利用这种闪电给我的智能机器人充电，赢得米德维尔科学奖。” 闪电。雷声繁荣。 “那十万现金奖将支付爷爷所有的账单。 智能机器人

will help us invent anything else we want." Frank secures the final copper wire in his SmartBot's brain. "What could go wrong?" "Well, remember that time we were making race cars—" Frank holds out his hand like a doctor in an operating room. "Vacuum switch!" "—and you bolted the jet engine onto the baby stroller—" "GPS unit!" "—and you decided it would be more 'fuel efficient' without the brakes?" "Skull piece!" "I can show you the scar." "Skull piece!" Watson looks around the workbench covered with the bits and parts of twenty years' worth of mechanical, electrical, and

会帮助我们发明任何我们想要的东西。” 弗兰克把最后一根铜线固定在智能机器人的大脑里。 “会出什么问题呢？”“嗯，还记得那次我们在制造赛车吗？”弗兰克伸出手来，就像手术室里的医生一样。 “真空开关!”“你还把喷气发动机固定在婴儿车上——”“GPS装置！”“你认为没有刹车会更省油吗？”“头骨片!”“我可以给你看伤疤。” “头骨片!”沃森环视了一下工作台，工作台上堆满了二十年来的机械、电气和仪器的零配件

plumbing repairs. He picks up a shiny metal piece with two slots. "You mean this toaster thing?" Flash! Frank looks up at the skylight and counts, "One thousand one. One thousand—" Boom!

管道维修。他拿起一块有两个凹槽的闪亮金属。 “你是说这个烤面包机吗？”闪光!弗兰克抬头看着天窗，数了数：“一千一。 一千——“轰！”