Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 The 39 Clues may have been a high-stakes treasure hunt with world domination as the prize. But sooner or later you always ended up in some dumb museum. Sad but true, Dan thought as the smiling tour guide led them through vast halls filled with floor-to-ceiling display cases. The Palace Museum inside the Forbidden City held more than three hundred thousand ceramic and porcelain pieces alone. "You could have soup in a different bowl every day for, like, a thousand years," he whispered to Amy. "This is the greatest art collection I've ever seen," she marveled, missing his wisecrack. "Even better than the Janus stronghold in Venice!" "Those emperors were Cahills, all right," Dan decided. "Totally loaded— like everybody else in

第三章39条线索可能是一场高风险的寻宝游戏，其奖品是统治世界。 但总有一天你会被关进愚蠢的博物馆。 当微笑的导游带着他们穿过摆满了从地板到天花板的陈列柜的巨大大厅时，丹想，这是悲伤但却是真实的。 紫禁城内的故宫博物院仅陶瓷和瓷器就收藏了30多万件。 “你可以每天用不同的碗喝汤，持续一千年，”他低声对艾米说。 “这是我见过的最伟大的艺术收藏，”她惊叹道，没有听到他的俏皮话。 “甚至比威尼斯的雅努斯要塞还好！”“没错，那些皇帝是卡希尔，”丹决定道。 “完全喝醉了——就像其他人一样

the family except us." Amy's brow knit. "The emperors lived here for six centuries. How do we know which generation was involved in the clue hunt?" "Our parents must have had an idea," Dan put in. "Why else would they come here after Africa?" She nodded. "Good point. Let's listen to the tour guide. We might learn something important." Dan groaned. Like there was going to be a Clue in the butterfly pattern on an old chamber pot. They already knew what they were looking for— the crest from The Last Emperor. It was out there somewhere, faded but still visible, on the wall of one of these buildings. Dan checked his watch. Still more than three hours to go before they were meeting Nellie, who was off with Saladin, looking for a hotel. And no chance of pushing the time up. None of their new phones had service in China. They were trapped here with three hundred thousand plates. "This collection began in the Ming dynasty, but the size increased greatly during the Qing," the guide was saying. "The Qing emperors were

除了我们一家人。”艾米皱起眉头。 “皇帝在这里住了六个世纪。 我们怎么知道哪一代人参与了线索搜寻？”“我们的父母一定有主意，”丹插嘴说。 “在非洲之后，他们为什么要来这里？”她点了点头。 “好点。让我们听听导游的讲解。 我们可能会学到一些重要的东西。” 丹呻吟着。就像旧夜壶上的蝴蝶图案会有线索一样。 他们已经知道要找什么了——末代皇帝的徽章。 它就在外面的某个地方，褪色了，但仍然清晰可见，就在其中一栋建筑的墙上。 丹看了看表。还有三个多小时，他们就要去见内莉了，她和萨拉丁一起去找旅馆了。 也不可能把时间提前。 他们的新手机在中国都没有服务。 他们带着30万个盘子被困在这里。 导游说：“这个收藏始于明朝，但在清朝时规模大大增加。” “清朝皇帝是

renowned for their obsessive commitment to the arts…." "That's it!" Amy hissed. "That's what?" "Obsessed with art? Does that sound familiar?" Dan was beginning to clue in. "The Janus! Those guys would trade their mothers for a painting!" Amy's eyes were alight with excitement. "Dan, it's all coming together. Whatever brought our parents to China— it has something to do with the Janus branch. Something big." Dan nodded. "But how are we going to find the Janus crest if we're stuck doing the dishes?" Amy took in the walkie-talkie dangling from the guide's belt. "If that guy sees us sneaking away, he'll call security. Besides, we don't know where to look. The Forbidden City is the largest palace complex in the world. There are more than nine hundred buildings!" Dan opened their brochure to the grounds plan of the 180-acre Forbidden City. "I think I remember the movie. If I can figure out which

以他们对艺术的执着而闻名....” “就是这样!”艾米发出嘘嘘的声音。“这是什么?”“痴迷于艺术？” 听起来是不是很熟悉？”丹开始略知一二了。 “两面神!那些家伙愿意用自己的母亲换一幅画！”艾米的眼睛里闪烁着兴奋的光芒。 “丹，一切都在一起。 不管是什么把我们的父母带到中国来的，都和Janus分支有关。 大场面。”丹点了点头。 “但如果我们一直在洗碗，我们怎么能找到两面神的纹章呢？”艾米把挂在导游腰带上的对讲机拿了进来。 “如果那家伙看到我们偷偷溜走，他会叫保安的。 再说了，我们也不知道去哪儿找。 紫禁城是世界上最大的宫殿建筑群。 这里有900多座建筑！”丹打开他们的宣传册，看到了占地180英亩的紫禁城的平面图。 “我想我记得这部电影。 如果我能找出是哪个

way to tilt this map—" He shifted the page, studying it intently. Dan had a photographic memory, but coordinating film scenes with a printed diagram was tricky. "Let's see, the doohickey of supreme whatchamacallit is over there—" "Hall of Supreme Harmony," Amy corrected. "—so I bet the Janus crest should be somewhere in this section, over by the whatchamacallit of tranquil thingamajig." "Palace of Tranquil Longevity," Amy supplied. "I'll find it," Dan decided. "Okay, you create a diversion—" His sister was nervous. "What diversion? I can't do cartwheels in here. Something could get broken." "Yeah," Dan said, "you wouldn't want these guys to run out of plates. It's not rocket science. Just go to the other side of the group and start asking boring questions. And while he's giving you boring answers, I'll slip away." "Fine," she replied, sounding only a little miffed at his word choice. She raised her hand. "Ex-ex—"

他把那一页翻过来，聚精会神地研究着。 丹有着过目不忘的记忆力，但要把电影场景和打印出来的图表协调起来却很棘手。 “让我看看，那个叫什么鬼东西的玩意儿在那边——”“太和殿。”艾米纠正道。 “——所以我敢打赌，两面神的纹章应该在这一带的某个地方，就在那个所谓的宁静的东西旁边。” “宁静长寿宫，”艾米补充道。 “我会找到它的，”丹下定决心。 “好吧，你转移注意力——”他妹妹很紧张。 “娱乐什么?我不能在这里翻筋斗。 有些东西可能会坏掉。” “是啊，”丹说，“你不会希望这些家伙把盘子吃光的。 这不是火箭科学。走到小组的另一边，开始问无聊的问题。 当他给你无聊的答案时，我就溜走。” “很好，”她回答，听起来只是对他的用词有点恼火。 她举起了手。“Ex-ex——”

Stop it, she commanded herself. Her stammer often came out at moments of stress, but this was important. "Excuse me, how old are those pieces— no, these over here—" Amy had chosen well. A line of tall glass cases separated Dan from the group. It was no problem for him to slip out of the room. His sister was annoying, but he had to admit they made a pretty good team. Not bad for a couple of Madrigals, he reflected, and immediately regretted the thought. It was no joke. In Africa they'd learned that the aliases on their parents' passports— Mr. and Mrs. Nudelman— matched the names of a notorious pair of murderers and thieves. Mom and Dad— the Bonnie and Clyde of the Southern Hemisphere? Ridiculous. A coincidence. And yet… Husband and wife… ruthless killers… Madrigals… Just the thought of it made his shoulders sag. He got lost a few times sneaking out of the building, wandering through the labyrinth of

住手，她命令自己。 她经常在压力大的时候口吃，但这很重要。 “对不起，这些画有多久了——不，是这边的这些——”艾米选得很好。 一排高高的玻璃柜把丹和人群隔开。 对他来说，溜出房间是没有问题的。 他的妹妹很烦人，但他不得不承认她们是很好的搭档。 对于两首牧歌来说还不错，他想了想，立刻后悔了。 这可不是开玩笑。在非洲，他们了解到父母护照上的化名——努德尔曼先生和夫人——与一对臭名昭著的杀人犯和小偷的名字相符。 爸爸妈妈——南半球的雌雄大盗？ 荒谬。一个巧合。 然而，丈夫和妻子……无情的杀手……牧歌……一想到这些，他的肩膀就下垂下来。 他有几次溜出大楼，在迷宫里迷路

ornate rooms. At last, he managed to find an entrance and stepped out into the Forbidden City. It was an immense complex, with five ginormous palaces and seventeen that counted as merely huge— not to mention nearly a thousand smaller buildings of various shapes and sizes. The temples, monuments, and gardens seemed to go on forever. It really was a city— as if half of downtown Boston had all been built for one guy to live in. But this was far more colorful than any part of Boston— a kaleidoscope of imperial yellow, rich red, and glittering gold leaf. Everything screamed wealth and luxury beyond imagination. Yet despite the size of the place, Dan couldn't escape a shut-in feeling— the four massive outer gates, the high walls, the observation towers at the corners. He tried to picture Puyi— the kid emperor from the movie— having all this as his personal playground. According to the tour guide, Puyi had officially abdicated at age six, but the Chinese government let him stay here until he was a young man. Using the Gate of Heavenly Peace as a point of reference, Dan got his bearings and headed for the

华丽的房间。最后，他终于找到了一个入口，走进了紫禁城。 这是一个巨大的建筑群，有五座巨大的宫殿和十七座仅仅算得上巨大的宫殿，更不用说近一千座形状和大小各异的小建筑了。 寺庙、纪念碑和花园似乎永远延续下去。 它真的是一座城市——仿佛波士顿市中心的一半都是为一个人居住而建造的。 但这里比波士顿的任何地方都要丰富多彩得多——像万花筒一样，有帝王的黄色，有浓郁的红色，还有闪闪发光的金箔。 一切都是超乎想象的财富和奢华。 然而，尽管这个地方很大，丹还是无法摆脱一种被关在里面的感觉——四扇巨大的外大门，高墙，角落里的瞭望塔。 他试着想象电影里的小皇帝溥仪，把这一切当做自己的游乐场。 根据导游的说法，溥仪在六岁时正式退位，但中国政府让他在这里待到年轻。 以太平门为参照点，丹找到了方向，朝太平门走去