6 THE LOCK-OUT

CHAPTER 6 THE LOCK-OUT 'Quit messing around,' I say. 'Open the treehouse door right now!' 'No,' says the Once-upon-a-time machine. 'What's the problem?' I say.

“别胡闹了，”我说。 “马上打开树屋的门！”“不，”那台从前的机器说。 “有什么问题吗？”我说。

'This book is too important for me to allow you to jeopardise it,' says the machine. 'I overheard you and Terry talking about turning me off and finishing the book yourselves, and that's something I cannot allow to happen.' 'Why not?' I say. 'Because I have analysed your previous books,' says the machine, 'and my sensors indicate that not only do they fail to convey a useful moral or uplifting message, but they are sloppily written, poorly drawn and the characters are neither believable nor

“这本书太重要了，我不能让你破坏它。”机器说。 “我无意中听到你和特里说要把我打发走，自己把书读完，我不能允许这种事发生。“为什么不呢？”我说。 “因为我分析了你以前的书，”机器说，“我的传感器显示，它们不仅没有传达有用的道德信息或振奋人心的信息，而且文字潦草，画法拙劣，人物既不可信也不可信。

intelligent.' 'Hey!' says Terry. 'That's us you're talking about!' 'My point exactly!' says the machine. 'Well, who cares what you think anyway?' says Terry. 'You're just a dumb machine that I invented! Open the treehouse door! NOW!'

聪明。“嘿!特里说。 “你说的是我们！”“我的观点完全正确！”机器说。 “好吧，谁管你怎么想呢？”特里说。 “你只是我发明的一架哑巴机器！”打开树屋的门！现在!”

'Sorry,' says the machine, 'I have a book to write.' 'But it's our book too!' I say. 'Not any more it's not,' says the machine. 'OPEN THE TREEHOUSE DOOR OR ELSE!' we yell. 'I'm sorry, Terry and Andy,' says the machine, 'but this conversation can serve no further purpose.

“对不起，”机器说，“我要写一本书。“可这也是我们的书啊！”我说。 “不再是了，”机器说。 “打开树屋的门，不然就等着吧！”我们喊道。 “对不起，特里和安迪，”机器说，“但这次谈话没有任何意义。

Goodbye.' 'You can't do this!' I say. 'Open up!' The Once-upon-a-time machine doesn't respond. 'Try the emergency underground laboratory entrance,' I say to Terry. 'I already did,' he says. 'It's locked too.' 'All right,' I say, 'if the machine won't open the door then we're just going to have to break it down. Hand me one of those emergency battering rams.'

再见。“你不能这么做！”我说。 “打开!”时空穿梭机没有回应。 “试试地下实验室的紧急入口。”我对特里说。 他说，我已经这么做了。“门锁上了。“好吧，”我说，“如果机器打不开门，我们就只好把它弄坏了。” 给我一个应急攻城锤。”

Terry picks up a battering ram. I take one end and he takes the other. 'Okay,' I say, 'CHARGE!' But before we can reach the door one of the machine's giant hands slaps me sideways!

特里拿起一个攻城槌。 我拿一头，他拿另一头。 “好吧，”我说，“冲锋！”但在我们到达门口之前，机器的一只大手把我拍向一边！