Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 Dan felt cheated. Nellie and Amy had convinced him that he had to come to Romeo and Juliet because it would be a good place to look for a Clue. "It's about feuding families," Nellie had said. "Don't you think that's related?" Besides, the two had told him, the play would be exciting. "Back in Shakespeare's day, theater wasn't seen as high class and literary and all that," Amy had said, practically reading the words right from the computer screen. "It was meant to appeal to common people. On the same level as the other big entertainment in Elizabethan London— bear baiting." "What's bear baiting?" Dan had asked. Amy had put her hands over Saladin's ears before answering.

丹觉得受骗了。 内莉和艾米说服了他，他必须来罗密欧与朱丽叶，因为那是一个寻找线索的好地方。 “这是关于家族不和的故事，”内莉说。 “你不觉得这有关系吗？”此外，那两个人告诉过他，这出戏会很精彩。 “在莎士比亚的时代，戏剧并不被认为是高级的、文学的之类的东西，”艾米说，几乎是直接从电脑屏幕上读出来的。 “这是为了吸引普通人。 和伊丽莎白时代伦敦的另一项大娱乐活动——诱熊一样。” “什么是熊饵？”丹问。 艾米在回答之前用手捂住了萨拉丁的耳朵。

"Oh, it was awful," she said. "They'd chain up a bear and then let a bunch of other animals— usually dogs—attack. Everybody would watch to see if the bear killed the dogs or the dogs killed the bear." "Sounds like Survivor," Nellie said. Her face turned grim. "Or this clue hunt." "Well, anyhow," Amy said quickly. "There are sword fights in Romeo and Juliet. Two or three of them. You'll love those." So now Dan had been sitting in the Globe Theatre for what felt like hours, and he was bored out of his mind. Sure, there'd been a sword fight. One. But Dan had missed most of it because he was leaning over to Amy and asking, "Wait—what are they fighting about? Just because the one guy bit his thumb at the other guy? What's wrong with that?" "It was a terrible insult in Shakespeare's time," Amy had explained. "Well, then—can I bite my thumb at Isabel Kabra the next time I see her?" Just then the sword fight had ended. And ever

“哦，太可怕了，”她说。 “他们会把熊拴起来，然后让一群其他动物——通常是狗——攻击。 每个人都会看是熊杀了狗还是狗杀了熊。” “听起来像《幸存者》，”内莉说。 她的脸变得阴沉起来。“或者是寻找线索。” “好吧，不管怎样，”艾米赶紧说。 “《罗密欧与朱丽叶》里有剑斗。 两三个。你会喜欢的。” 现在丹已经在环球剧院里坐了几个小时了，他觉得无聊透了。 当然，有过一场剑斗。 一个。但丹错过了大部分，因为他俯身向艾米问道：“等等——他们在吵什么？” 就因为一个人咬了另一个人的大拇指吗？ 这有什么不对吗？”“在莎士比亚的时代，这是一种严重的侮辱，”艾米解释说。 “那么，下次见到伊莎贝尔·卡布拉时，我能朝她咬拇指吗？”就在这时，剑战结束了。 和以往

since, the play had mostly been people saying sappy things about love. Now the girl, Juliet, was standing on a balcony that jutted out above the stage. "O Romeo, Romeo," she sighed. "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" Dan dug his elbow into Amy's side. "What's her problem— is she blind?" Dan asked. "Can't she see that Romeo dude on the stage right below her?" "It's supposed to be nighttime," Amy whispered. "It's dark, and he's hiding." "He's not hiding very well," Dan said. "Anyhow, 'wherefore' means 'why,' not 'where,'" Amy said. That was crazy. "Wherefore" sure sounded like it was supposed to mean "where." Dan's opinion of Shakespeare was sinking lower and lower. "But—" Dan began. "Shh," Amy hissed. "I want to hear this." She settled back, a dreamy look on her face. Beside her, Nellie looked every bit as rapt.

从那以后，这出戏主要是人们说一些关于爱情的多愁善感的话。 现在，这个名叫朱丽叶的女孩正站在舞台上方突出的阳台上。 “啊，罗密欧，罗密欧，”她叹息道。 “你为什么是罗密欧？”丹用胳膊肘顶着艾米的侧身。 “她怎么了——她瞎了吗？”丹问道。 “难道她看不见舞台上那个叫罗密欧的家伙就在她下面吗？”“现在应该是晚上，”艾米低声说。 “天很黑，他躲起来了。” “他藏得不太好，”丹说。 “不管怎么说，‘why’指的是‘why’，而不是‘where’，”艾米说。 这太疯狂了。“为什么”听起来应该是“在哪儿”的意思 丹对莎士比亚的评价越来越低了。 “可是——”丹开口了。“嘘，”艾米嘶嘶地说。 “我想听听这个。”她向后一靠，脸上露出梦幻般的神情。 在她身边，内莉也同样全神贯注。

Dan glanced around. It seemed like every single other person in the theater was staring up at Juliet with that same goofy expression that Amy and Nellie had. Even the people standing in the middle of the theater where there wasn't a roof, where the rain was pouring right down on their heads. Amy had said that those people were called groundlings, and they didn't have a roof over their heads because this theater was supposed to be historically accurate, as much like theaters back in Shakespeare's time as possible. Dan thought that if he'd been standing in the rain watching a stupid play about love, he wouldn't have minded a little historical inaccuracy to keep his head dry. Dan's attention wandered further. He looked toward the top of the theater, three stories up. He and Amy and Nellie had seats off to the side, near the stage, so he had a good view of the ring of thatched roof that protected everyone who wasn't a groundling. Amy had told him it was the only thatched roof in London— and it was allowed only because they'd used special flame-retardant

丹环顾四周。似乎剧院里的每一个人都带着和艾米和内莉一样的傻乎乎的表情盯着朱丽叶。 甚至那些站在剧院中央没有屋顶的人，雨水倾泻在他们的头上。 艾米说过，这些人被称为接地气的人，他们没有屋顶，因为这个剧院应该是准确的历史，就像莎士比亚时代的剧院一样。 丹想，如果他是站在雨中看一部关于爱情的愚蠢的戏剧，他不会介意有一点历史上的不准确，以保持头脑清醒。 丹的注意力又转移了。 他朝三层楼高的剧院顶楼望去。 他和艾米、内莉的座位靠一边，离舞台很近，所以他能很好地看到茅草屋顶的环形，这保护了每个非舞女。 艾米告诉他，这是伦敦唯一的茅草屋顶，因为他们使用了特殊的阻燃剂

thatch. The original Globe Theatre had burned to the ground. Another fire, Dan thought. Probably set by feuding Cahills even way back in the 1600s. Dan's stomach churned. This had been happening to him ever since Jamaica, ever since he'd watched an innocent man die. Dan had gone into shock right afterward, but since then he'd worked very hard to convince Nellie and Amy he was back to normal. I am, Dan told himself. Except when he thought about Lester too much, or when he remembered how dangerous the Clue hunt was. Then his stomach churned and his vision blurred and his mind blanked and he wasn't sure if he was going to throw up or faint or just start screaming and screaming and screaming…. Dan forced himself to focus very intently on the thatch. Maybe there was a Clue hidden up there and he would see it while Nellie and Amy were watching the play.

浓密的头发。原来的环球剧院被烧成了灰烬。 又是一场火，丹想。 可能早在17世纪就与卡希尔斯发生了宿怨。 丹的胃翻腾起来。自从牙买加，自从他看到一个无辜的人死去，这种事就一直发生在他身上。 丹随后就休克了，但从那以后，他一直努力让内莉和艾米相信他已经恢复正常了。 是的，丹告诉自己。除了当他太想念雷斯脱，或者当他想起寻找线索有多危险的时候。 然后他的胃翻涌，他的视线模糊，他的头脑一片空白，他不确定他是否会呕吐或晕倒或只是开始尖叫，尖叫，尖叫.... 丹强迫自己全神贯注地盯着茅草屋顶。 也许那里藏着一条线索，他会在内莉和艾米看戏的时候看到它。

A hand appeared in the section of thatch Dan was staring at. Dan jerked back and blinked hard. Was he hallucinating? Imagining Lester reaching up out of the quicksand all over again? Dan made himself look again. He wasn't hallucinating. There was a hand holding on to the thatch. While Dan watched, a dark figure appeared behind the hand: Somebody was holding on and peering over the peak of the roof section directly opposite the stage. Two more dark-clad heads appeared beside the first. Dan tugged on Amy's arm. He reminded himself not to act like he'd just thought he was hallucinating a dead man's hand. "You didn't tell me there were going to be ninjas!" he said excitedly. "What are you talking about? There aren't ninjas in Romeo and Juliet!" Amy said. "Sure there are," Dan said. "Look!" He pointed toward the back section of roof. "How soon until they rappel down onto the stage?"

一只手出现在丹盯着的茅草屋顶上。 丹猛地往后退缩，使劲眨着眼睛。 他产生幻觉了吗？想象一下莱斯特再次从流沙中伸出手来？ 丹强迫自己又看了一遍。 他没有产生幻觉。有一只手抓住茅草顶。 当丹注视着的时候，一个黑影出现在那只手的后面：有人正抓住那只手，从舞台正对面的屋顶顶端往外张望。 在第一个人的旁边又出现了两个黑衣头。 丹拽着艾米的胳膊。他提醒自己不要表现得好像他刚刚看到了死人的手。 “你没告诉我会有忍者！”他兴奋地说。 “你在说什么？” 《罗密欧与朱丽叶》里没有忍者！”艾米说。 “当然有，”丹说。 “看!”他指着屋顶的后面部分。 “他们还要多久才能爬上舞台？”