Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 The Great Wall. Even seeing it from the bus, Amy had been unable to appreciate its vastness. It had been built as protection from the Mongols, its ribbon cutting clear across ancient China's vast northern frontier. Now, walking along the ramparts of the Badaling section, Amy could see why even the Mongol hordes had thought twice before trying to attack this place. For starters, the Wall was thick— the top was as wide as the living room of their apartment back in Boston. That meant the Chinese could pack it with soldiers. There were towers every half mile or so. These served as observation posts, barracks, armories, and storehouses for supplies. The defenders could live on the Wall indefinitely. It was also high— at least thirty feet at Badaling. Any attacking army would have to climb

第十五章长城 即使在公共汽车上看到它，艾米也无法欣赏它的浩瀚。 它是为了抵御蒙古人的入侵而修建的，它的丝带横跨了古代中国广阔的北方边境。 现在，沿着八达岭段的城墙走着，艾米明白了为什么即使是蒙古部落在试图攻击这个地方之前也会三思而后行。 首先，长城很厚——顶部有他们在波士顿公寓的客厅那么宽。 这就意味着中国人可以把士兵装进去。 每隔半英里左右就有一座塔。 它们被用作观察站、兵营、军械库和补给库。 守军可以无限期地住在长城上。 它也很高——在八达岭至少有30英尺高。 任何进攻的军队都必须爬上去

that distance through a barrage of arrows and boiling oil. Dan should see this, she reflected. Arrows and boiling oil were just his speed. Yet it wasn't only the Wall's military history that made her think of her brother. Rarely did a full minute pass without her recalling their ugly fight in Tiananmen Square. And now Dan was gone. Well, not exactly. He hadn't vanished into thin air. She knew who he was with, if not where he was. An unpleasant memory returned— the murky picture of a slimy ridged body and long reptilian tail. An eighteen-foot Nile crocodile, viewed by moonlight. Jonah Wizard could not be trusted. No Cahill could. It had been more than two days since she'd last seen her brother. Their longest separation since the day Mom brought the little dweeb home from the hospital to ruin her life. Now it was starting to sink in that, without Dan, she had no life. She thought back to their grandmother's funeral, the day when she and Dan had first

这段距离是通过一连串的箭和沸腾的油。 丹应该看到这一点，她想。 箭和滚烫的油正是他的速度。 然而，让她想起哥哥的不仅仅是柏林墙的军事历史。 几乎每过一分钟，她就会想起他们在天安门广场上的丑陋争吵。 现在丹走了。嗯，不完全是。 他并没有凭空消失。 她知道他和谁在一起，即使不知道他在哪里。 一段不愉快的记忆又回来了——那是一幅模糊的画面：黏糊糊的脊状身体和长长的爬行动物尾巴。 月光下18英尺长的尼罗河鳄鱼。 巫师约拿不可信。 卡荷尔不能。自从她上次见到她哥哥已经有两天多了。 自从妈妈把小笨蛋从医院带回家毁了她的生活之后他们最长的分离。 现在她开始明白，没有丹，她就没有生活。 她回想起祖母的葬礼，她和丹第一次做爱的那天

learned about the search for the 39 Clues. They may have signed on as a sort of tribute to Grace, but, by the time the hunt had taken them to Paris, both believed with all their hearts that the contest was the most important thing on the face of the earth. With each passing hour, Amy was becoming increasingly convinced that the whole business meant less than nothing if she couldn't get her brother back. Where are you, Dan? Is this my fault? Are you so mad that you're never coming back? She recalled his exact words: I hate you! It didn't get much clearer than that. She couldn't blame him for hating her for what she'd said about Mom and Dad. In a weird way, she was almost proud of him for defending them when she couldn't. To be relieved their parents were dead. The mere fact that she could think such a thing was like a business card with MADRIGAL printed on it. "I can't put you down, Saladin, so stop asking," Nellie was muttering irritably. "It's too crowded.

知道了寻找39条线索的事 他们可能是为了向格蕾丝致敬而签名的，但是，当狩猎把他们带到巴黎的时候，他们都全心全意地相信这场比赛是地球上最重要的事情。 随着时间的流逝，艾米越来越相信，如果她不能把哥哥找回来，这件事就等于没有意义。 你在哪里，丹？这是我的错吗？ 你是不是因为再也不回来而生气？ 她回忆起他的原话：我恨你！没有比这更清楚的了。 她不能怪他因为她说了爸爸妈妈的坏话而恨她。 以一种奇怪的方式，她几乎为他感到骄傲，因为他在她不能保护他们的时候保护了他们。 他们的父母去世了，这让他们松了口气。 她能想到这样的事情，这本身就像一张印有《牧歌》的名片。 “我不能让你失望，萨拉丁，所以别再问了。”内莉烦躁地嘟囔着。 “太拥挤了。

You'll get lost." "Mrrp," Saladin complained. Crowded. Amy shuddered. Was it ever! Their bus had turned out to be one of hundreds. Near the main parking area, tourists had swarmed like a plague of locusts among guides, souvenir vendors, and security guards. And the stuff! The Wall itself might have been an unspoiled ancient wonder, but beside it the goods for sale would have filled fifty malls— paper cuttings ranging from postcard size to large murals; intricate carvings from walnut shells; pictures made of seashells and feathers; silk kites, toys, figurines; traditional Chinese puzzle boxes by the thousands. Some of it was beautiful folk art; some of it was cheap junk. All of it had throngs of customers lined up with credit cards and fistfuls of yuan. The crush made Tiananmen Square seem empty by comparison. Amy had very nearly lost it. Only the refrain in her head had kept her focused: Jonah draws a crowd… find Jonah and you've found Dan…. But so far, the crowds had been sightseers, not Wizard fans. Around here, the Great Wall outdrew teenage moguls, even the wonderful and

你会迷路的。”“哼，”萨拉丁抱怨道。 拥挤。艾米战栗。真的吗？他们乘坐的公共汽车原来是数百辆中的一辆。 在主停车场附近，游客像蝗虫一样挤在导游、纪念品小贩和保安中间。 还有那些东西！长城本身可能是一个未被破坏的古代奇迹，但在它旁边出售的商品将填满50个商场——从明信片大小的剪纸到大型壁画；核桃壳的复杂雕刻；用贝壳和羽毛做的画；丝绸风筝、玩具、小雕像；成千上万的中国传统拼图盒 其中一些是美丽的民间艺术；其中一些是廉价的垃圾。 所有这些店都挤满了拿着信用卡和大把人民币排队的顾客。 相比之下，拥挤的人群使天安门广场显得空荡荡。 艾米几乎失去了它。 只有脑海里的副歌让她保持专注：乔纳吸引了一群人……找到乔纳，你就找到了丹.... 但到目前为止，人群都是观光客，而不是巫师队的粉丝。 在这里，长城吸引了十几岁的大人物，甚至是奇妙的和

celebrated Wiz. Nellie peered over the parapet at the purple-tinged mountain vista that seemed to go on forever. "Pretty slick. From here you could spot an invading army twenty miles away. Are you sure those emperors were Janus? This place has Lucian written all over it." Amy shook her head. "Way back then there was no Lucian or Janus. The Wall was started two thousand years before Gideon Cahill was even born." The au pair shot her a cockeyed smile. "I forgot that there are still a few things on this planet you Cahills haven't had a hand in." The sun was low in the sky now, and she had to squint to see the next tower. "Looks like a big mob ahead. Maybe it's God's gift to hip-hop." Amy nodded but said nothing. To her, the setting sun meant only one thing: They had been wandering around the Wall all afternoon, with no sign of Jonah— or Dan. They raced along the ancient battlement— this stretch arduously uphill. Nellie set Saladin down,

著名的奇才。内莉隔着护墙凝视着那紫色的山景，那景色似乎永远延伸不下去。 “相当吸引人。从这里你可以看到20英里外的侵略军。 你确定那些皇帝就是杰纳斯吗？ 这地方到处都是卢西安的痕迹。” 艾米摇了摇头。“那时候还没有卢西恩或雅努斯。 长城在吉迪恩·卡荷尔出生前两千年就开始了。” 互惠生对她歪歪扭扭地笑了笑。 “我忘了在这个星球上还有一些事情是你们卡希尔没有插手的。” 太阳已经落山了，她必须眯着眼睛才能看到下一座塔。 “看来前面有一大群暴徒。 也许这是上帝给嘻哈的礼物。” 艾米点点头，但什么也没说。 对她来说，夕阳只意味着一件事：他们整个下午都在长城附近徘徊，没有约拿或丹的踪影。 他们沿着古老的城垛奔跑——这是一段艰难的上坡路段。 内莉放下萨拉丁，

and the cat, happy to stretch his legs, bounded beside them. Puffing hard, they caught up to the horde assembled outside the tower— a Brazilian tour group. "Jo-Jo—?" This time Amy's stammer had as much to do with breathlessness as the presence of a large group of people. "Jonah Wizard," Nellie finished, scooping Saladin back into her arms. "Have you seen him?" "The Wiz?" The tour guide brightened. "He is here? I read his O Filho Da Gangsta bedtime stories to my nieces in S.o Paolo." Nellie was totally disgusted. "No matter where you go, or who you meet, it's all Jonah, all the time." "But," Amy added, barely able to lift her gaze from the cobblestones, "when you really need him, he's nowhere." The au pair recognized the hopelessness in the girl's voice. "Okay," she said, taking charge. "We're tired. It's time to admit that we're not going to find Dan today. We have to figure out where we're going to sleep so we'll be fresh to take up

猫高兴地伸伸腿，在他们身边蹦蹦跳跳。 他们使劲喘着气，赶上了聚集在塔外的一大群人——一个巴西旅行团。 “乔乔——吗?”这一次，艾米的口吃既与一大群人在场有关，也与呼吸困难有关。 “巫师约拿，”内莉说完，把萨拉丁抱回怀里。 “你见过他吗？”“奇才?”导游高兴起来。 “他在这儿？”我在圣保罗给我的侄女们读他的《黑帮老大》睡前故事。” 内莉完全被恶心到了。 “无论你去哪里，或者你遇到谁，每时每刻都是约拿。” “但是，”艾米补充说，她的目光几乎无法从鹅卵石上移开，“当你真正需要他的时候，他却无处可寻。” 互惠生听出了女孩声音里的绝望。 “好吧，”她说，开始负责。 “我们很累。是时候承认我们今天找不到丹了。 我们得想好睡觉的地方，这样才能精神抖擞