17 An Extremely Large Ball of Twine

Chapter 17 An Extremely Large Ball of Twine "I bet you guys can't name three things invented in Nebraska," Coke asked the family. "No, but I'm sure you can," his sister replied. "Kool-Aid, CliffsNotes, and Eskimo Pies!" Coke proclaimed. "Ugh," Pep groaned. "How can you possibly know that?" Mrs. McDonald asked. "No clue," Coke replied. "Stuff just sticks in my head. I can't help it." Mrs. McDonald took secret delight in the fact that Coke seemed to take after her. Maybe, she thought, after she retired from writing Amazing but True, Coke might take it over. They both seemed to have a love for useless information.

“我敢打赌，你们说不出内布拉斯加州发明的三种东西，”科克问这家人。 “不，但我相信你能，”他妹妹回答。 “酷爱饮料、悬崖笔记和爱斯基摩派！”可口可乐宣布。 “啊，”佩普呻吟道。“你怎么可能知道呢？”麦克唐纳太太问。 “不知道，”可口可乐回答。“我脑子里一直都是东西。 我没办法。”麦当劳太太暗自高兴，因为可口可乐似乎很像她。 她想，也许在她不再写《惊人但真实》之后，可口可乐会接手。 他们俩似乎都对无用的信息情有独钟。

Dr. McDonald didn't even hear what Coke had said. He was so tired from driving at this point that he could barely stay awake. He decided not to search for a campground to spend the night. He pulled off I-80 at the first exit, headed for the first pair of golden arches he could find, and parked in the corner of the McDonald's lot. He figured it was probably illegal to leave an RV overnight at a fast-food restaurant, but he did it, anyway. It's smarter to pay for a parking ticket than to fall asleep behind the wheel at seventy miles per hour. Go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/). Click Get Directions. In the A box, type Kimball NE. In the B box, type Cawker City KS. Click Get Directions. The sleep did everyone good, and there was no ticket on the windshield in the morning. As a way of saying thank you, it was Egg McMuffins

麦克唐纳医生甚至没有听到可口可乐说了什么。 这时他开车太累了，几乎无法保持清醒。 他决定不找露营地过夜。 他在I-80号公路的第一个出口下了车，朝他能找到的第一对金色拱门走去，把车停在麦当劳停车场的角落里。 他觉得把房车停在快餐店过夜可能是违法的，但他还是这么做了。 付罚单比以每小时70英里的速度在方向盘后面睡着要聪明得多。 进入谷歌Maps （http://maps.google.com/）。 点击“获取路线”。在A框中，输入Kimball NE。 在B框中，输入考克城KS。 点击“获取路线”。大家都睡得很好，第二天早上挡风玻璃上也没有罚单了。 为了表示感谢，我点了鸡蛋松饼

for everybody. Mrs. McDonald took out her laptop and plotted the route to Cawker City, Kansas, home of the largest ball of twine in the world. It would be almost six hours of straight driving, she figured. When breakfast was done and the RV was gassed up, they were back on I-80. "Any of you guys ever heard of Carhenge?" Mrs. McDonald asked, looking in her Nebraska guidebook. "It's a replica of Stonehenge but with cars," Coke said, recalling a magazine article he'd seen while he and his mom were getting an oil change at Jiffy Lube. "Some guy half buried a bunch of old cars on his farm and welded them together to look like Stonehenge in England." "How do you remember stuff like that?" Pep asked, incredulous. "It's not that I remember so much," Coke replied. "It's that you remember so little." "Where is this Carhenge?" Dr. McDonald asked.

对于每一个人。麦克唐纳夫人拿出她的笔记本电脑，画出了去堪萨斯州考克城的路线，那里有世界上最大的线球。 她估计，这差不多要连续开六个小时的车。 吃完早餐，给房车加满油后，他们又回到了80号州际公路上。 “你们有人听说过卡亨日吗？”麦克唐纳太太看着她的内布拉斯加州旅游指南，问道。 “这是巨石阵的复制品，但有了汽车，”科克回忆起他和妈妈在捷飞润滑油公司换油时看到的一篇杂志文章。 “有人把一堆旧车半埋在他的农场里，然后把它们焊接在一起，看起来像英国的巨石阵。” “你是怎么记住这些东西的？”佩普怀疑地问。 “并不是我记得那么多，”可口可乐回答说。 “是你记得太少了。” “卡亨日在哪里？”博士。 麦当劳问道。

"Two hours north and east of here," Mrs. McDonald replied, "in Alliance, Nebraska." Dr. McDonald thought it over. They could stay on course and make it to the largest ball of twine in the world by late afternoon, or they could drive two hours out of their way to see a bunch of cars stuck in the dirt. It was a tough decision. "Tell you what," he said. "Next summer we'll go to England, and I'll take you to the real Stonehenge." "Deal!" everyone agreed. They continued along I-80, passing the small towns of Big Springs, Roscoe, and Paxton. They stopped for lunch in North Platte, home of the Fort Cody Trading Post, one of the largest souvenir shops in America. Standing outside was a gigantic Buffalo Bill, and inside there was a two-headed calf in a display case and a giant fiberglass buffalo. Anyone who can drive by that without stopping for a look has no sense of adventure.

“从这里往北往东走两小时，”麦克唐纳太太回答说，“在内布拉斯加州的阿莱恩。” 麦克唐纳医生想了想。 他们可以沿着路线行驶，在下午晚些时候到达世界上最大的麻线球，或者他们可以开两个小时的车去看一堆陷在泥里的汽车。 这是一个艰难的决定。“告诉你吧，”他说。 “明年夏天我们去英国，我带你去真正的巨石阵。” “成交！”大家都同意。他们继续沿着I-80公路行驶，经过了大斯普林斯、罗斯科和帕克斯顿等小镇。 他们在北普拉特停下来吃午饭，这里是美国最大的纪念品商店之一科迪堡贸易站的所在地。 外面站着一头巨大的野牛比尔，里面的陈列柜里放着一头双头小牛，还有一头巨大的玻璃纤维水牛。 任何开车经过而不停下来看一眼的人都没有冒险意识。

It would be another 213 miles to Cawker City. But they were getting close now. Dr. McDonald pushed the gas pedal a little harder. The vast grasslands and treeless plains passing by made it seem as if the RV was moving in slow motion. Near Elm Creek, Nebraska, Dr. McDonald pulled off the highway to head south on Route 183. "Something tells me we're in Kansas," Coke said suddenly. "What tells you?" asked Pep.

离考克城还有213英里。 但他们现在离目标越来越近了。 麦克唐纳医生把油门踩得更紧了一点。 一望无际的草原和光秃秃的平原从眼前掠过，房车似乎在慢动作行驶。 在内布拉斯加州的榆树溪附近。 麦克唐纳驶离高速公路，沿着183号公路向南行驶。 “直觉告诉我我们在堪萨斯，”科克突然说。 “什么告诉你的？”佩普问。

"That tells me!" Then everybody saw the sign in the distance that read... Hooting, hollering, and cheering erupted from the RV as they crossed the state line. "Did you know that the state song of Kansas is 'Home on the Range'?" Coke announced. "Big deal," Pep replied. "Ball of twine, here we come!" The road was more narrow and gentler. Dr. McDonald eased off the gas to slow down and take in the scenery. They were in the country now, passing farms and churches, houses, and ball fields. "This is the real America," Dr. McDonald said, glancing from side to side as he drove. "The

“这告诉了我！”然后大家看到远处的牌子上写着…… 当他们越过州界时，房车里爆发出一阵叫喊、喊叫和欢呼。 “你知道堪萨斯州的州歌是‘牧场上的家’吗？”可口可乐宣布。 “有什么大不了的，”佩普回答。“麻线团，我们来了！”这条路比较窄，也比较平缓。 麦克唐纳医生松开油门，放慢车速，欣赏风景。 他们现在在乡下，经过农场、教堂、房屋和球场。 “这才是真正的美国。” 麦克唐纳一边开车一边左右扫视着说。 “