Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 Another vital document; another foreign language. "It isn't German," Nellie announced. "No?" Amy was flustered. "I just assumed, because we're in Austria — uh, what is it then?" Their Salzburg hotel room was small and not very nice. Dan was convinced that the management used low-wattage lightbulbs so that the guests wouldn't notice what a dump they were staying in. The au pair squinted at the document. "Italian, I think. Not one of my languages." The Cahills regarded her blankly. This was the first time Nellie had been unable to act as their translator. "So how do you know it's Italian?" asked Dan. "Spanish and Italian aren't too different. And this word — Venezia. I'm pretty sure that's

第十一章另一份重要文件；又是一门外语。 “这不是德语，”内莉宣布。 “没有吗?”艾米慌了。“我只是假设，因为我们在奥地利——嗯，那是什么？”他们在萨尔茨堡的旅馆房间很小，也不太好。 丹确信管理人员使用低瓦数的灯泡，这样客人就不会注意到他们住的地方有多脏。 互惠生眯着眼睛看那份文件。 “我想是意大利人。不是我的语言。” 卡希尔一家茫然地看着她。 这是内莉第一次不能充当他们的翻译。 “那你怎么知道它是意大利语？”丹问。 “西班牙语和意大利语差别不大。 还有这个词——威尼斯。 我很确定那是

Venice, which is in Italy." Amy indicated the date — 1770. "Mozart would have been fourteen years old. Don't you remember the museum exhibits? He performed all across Italy around then. His father took him on tour." "So this is" — Dan frowned — "an eighteenth-century concert poster, starring Mozart?" "In Venice," Amy finished. "That's where the next clue must be hidden." Nellie grinned. "I always wanted to go to Venice. It's supposed to be the romance capital of the world." "Sweet," put in Dan. "Too bad your date is an Egyptian Mau on a hunger strike." The au pair sighed. "Better than an eleven-year-old with a big mouth." The drive to Venice took more than five hours. Sharing the backseat with Saladin, Dan nearly went out of his mind. He wasn't a fan of long car rides to begin with. And the frustration of begging the cat to eat was infuriating and worrisome at the

威尼斯，在意大利。” 艾米指出日期是1770年。 莫扎特那时已经14岁了。 你不记得博物馆的展品了吗？ 当时他在意大利各地演出。 他父亲带他去旅游了。” “所以这是”——丹皱起眉头——“一张18世纪音乐会的海报，由莫扎特主演？”“在威尼斯，”艾米说完。 “下一条线索肯定就藏在那里。” 内莉咧嘴一笑。“我一直想去威尼斯。 它应该是世界浪漫之都。” “太好了，”丹插嘴说。“可惜你的约会对象是一个绝食的埃及茂人。” 互惠生叹了口气。“比一个11岁大嘴巴的孩子好。” 开车去威尼斯花了五个多小时。 和萨拉丁坐在后座上，丹几乎失去了理智。 他一开始就不喜欢长途汽车旅行。 乞求猫吃东西的挫败感让人愤怒和担忧

same time. They had so little left of their grandmother. They owed it to Grace to take proper care of her beloved pet. To add to his discomfort, there was also a long, severe lecture from his sister, reminding him of the grave importance of their quest and how much was at stake. "The wisecracks aren't helping, Dan! You have to grow up and take this more seriously!" "Seriously?" he echoed. "We're already up to our ears in serious! What we need is to lighten up a little! The next clue could be right in front of your nose, but you don't see it because you're too busy being serious!" "Cut it out!" Nellie bellowed. "You're going to put us in the ditch! They drive the speed of light on these autostradas!" "You drive the speed of light backing out of the driveway," Dan countered. "I'm not kidding! As long as I'm babysitting"— she glowered at Dan—" au pairing — you two are going to have to get along. I can handle the craziness; I can handle your nut-job relatives; I can

同样的时间。他们的祖母所剩无几了。 他们有责任好好照顾她心爱的宠物。 更让他不安的是，他妹妹还严厉地训斥了他一顿，提醒他这次探索的重要性，以及其中的利害关系。 “这些俏皮话没有用，丹！”你得成熟点，认真对待这件事！”“真的吗？”他重复道。 “我们已经忙得不可开交了！”我们需要的是放松一点！下一个线索可能就在你的鼻子前面，但你没有看到它，因为你太忙着认真了！”“别闹了！”内莉大声。 “你要把我们扔进沟里！”他们在高速公路上以光速行驶！”“你以光速倒车离开车道，”丹反驳道。 “我不是在开玩笑！只要我还在照看孩子，”她怒视着丹，“你俩就得好好相处。 我能应付这种疯狂；我可以对付你那些疯子亲戚；我可以

even handle you disappearing for hours on end. But not the fighting. Understand? You're on the same team. Act like it." Silence fell, and the argument was over as abruptly as it had begun. With the peace came a release of the tension of their Salzburg adventure. Nellie could almost feel the siblings rebooting, steeling themselves for the dangers that might lie ahead. They were Cahills, all right. Probably the only two decent human beings in the whole brood. Finally, they approached Venice and the coast. But before they'd even reached the city limits, traffic on the autostrada slowed to a crawl. "Aw!" Dan glared at the back of his sister's head in the passenger seat. Amy barely even noticed the slowdown. She was studying the Mozart concert announcement and had been since Austria. "What are you doing? Learning Italian by osmosis?" She ignored the joke. "There's a name on here I can't figure out. Who's Fidelio Racco?" "Another musician?" Nellie suggested. Amy shook her head. "Mozart and his sister

甚至能忍受你连续消失几个小时。 但不是打架。明白吗? 你们是一伙的。表现得像个孩子。” 沉默下来了，争论结束得和开始时一样突然。 随着和平的到来，他们在萨尔茨堡冒险的紧张气氛也得到了缓解。 内莉几乎能感觉到兄妹俩在重新启动，为即将到来的危险做好准备。 没错，他们是卡希尔家的人。 可能是这一窝里唯一两个正派的人。 最后，他们接近了威尼斯和海岸。 但在他们到达城市边界之前，高速公路上的交通慢得像爬行一样。 “啊!”丹在副驾驶座位上瞪着妹妹的后脑勺。 艾米几乎没有注意到减速。 从奥地利开始，她就一直在研究莫扎特音乐会的通告。 “你在干什么？”潜移默化地学习意大利语？”她没有理会这个笑话。 “这上面有个名字我想不起来。 谁是费德里奥·拉科？”“另一个音乐家吗?”内莉建议。 艾米摇了摇头。莫扎特和他的妹妹

were a package deal. I never read anything about a third performer on their tours." "Well, if it really is a concert poster," Dan mused, "maybe this Racco guy is like a promoter." His sister thought it over. "It makes sense. Not a promoter like they have today. But back then, visiting musicians gave private shows at rich people's mansions. Maybe Fidelio Racco hosted Mozart and Nannerl. I wonder if we can find out where he lived." "No problem," Dan said sarcastically. "Just look him up in the 1770 phone book. Piece of cake." "This is Italy," Nellie reminded him. "It's 'piece of tiramisu' here. Mmm, gotta get some. Our exit," she added, roaring off the highway, past a sign marked VENEZIA, onto a wide boulevard. They pulled up behind a television mobile unit with familiar markings. Dan pointed. "Check it out — Eurotainment TV. Those are the guys who threw that bash for Jonah Wizard in Vienna." Suddenly, the Eurotainment van squealed left across two busy lanes and made a sharp turn,

我们是一揽子交易。我从来没有读到任何关于他们巡演的第三个表演者的报道。” “好吧，如果这真的是一张演唱会海报，”丹若有所思地说，“也许这个叫拉科的家伙就像一个推广人。” 他妹妹想了想。 “这是有道理的。不像现在的推广商。 但那时候，来访的音乐家会在富人的豪宅里举行私人演出。 也许菲德里奥·拉科邀请了莫扎特和纳内尔。 我想知道我们是否能找到他住的地方。” “没问题，”丹讽刺地说。 “只要在1770年的电话簿上查一下他就行了。 小菜一碟。”“这是意大利，”内莉提醒他。 “这简直就是‘提拉米苏’。 嗯，我得买点。我们的出口，”她补充道，咆哮着离开高速公路，经过一个标有威尼斯的标志，进入一条宽阔的林荫大道。 他们把车停在一辆带有熟悉标志的电视移动装置后面。 丹指出。“看看吧——娱乐电视。 就是他们在维也纳为《巫师约拿》举办了舞会。” 突然，那辆娱乐车尖叫着向左穿过两条繁忙的车道，急转弯，

tailing a silver stretch limo. Nellie leaned on the horn and barked, "Maniac!" "Follow him!" Amy said urgently. "Why?" "Do it!" she insisted. The wheel just a blur in her hands, the au pair managed to weave in and out of moving traffic, falling in behind the mobile unit. "Rock on!" cheered Dan. "Paparazzi chase!" He was right. The limo was trying to get away from Eurotainment TV. But the van driver refused to be shaken. Behind this high-speed game of cat and mouse rattled the Fiat, passing cars, running lights, and swerving around hapless pedestrians. "When I talked about seeing Venice, this was so not what I had in mind!" complained Nellie, hunched over the dashboard. "I wonder who's in the car — Brad and Angelina? Prince William?" "Keep going!" urged Amy. "I have a sneaking suspicion I know exactly who it is." It happened in the blink of an eye. The limo was speeding toward a bridge, with the mobile

尾随一辆银色加长豪华轿车。 乃利靠在喇叭上叫道：“疯子！”“跟着他!”艾米急切地说。 “为什么?”“照做！”她坚持说。 轮盘在她的手中变得模糊起来，互惠生设法在来往的车流中穿梭，落在移动设备的后面。 “加油！”丹欢呼道。“狗仔队追!”他是对的。 那辆豪华轿车正试图远离娱乐电视。 但货车司机拒绝动摇。 在这场猫捉老鼠的高速游戏背后，菲亚特发出嘎嘎声，驶过的汽车，闯灯，以及在倒霉的行人周围转弯。 “当我说到去威尼斯的时候，这根本不是我想要的！”内莉俯身看着仪表板抱怨道。 “不知道谁在车里——布拉德和安吉丽娜？” 威廉王子吗?”“继续走！”艾美催促道。 “我暗自怀疑，我知道他是谁。” 一眨眼的功夫就发生了。 那辆豪华轿车正带着手机向一座桥疾驰而去