19 Process of Elimination

Chapter 19 Process of Elimination As soon as Coke got back to the RV, he wrote out the new cipher for his sister. "Numbers?" she asked. "Now we've got to figure out numbers?" "You're the queen of the ciphers," he replied. "I'm sure you'll figure it out." Pep looked at the cipher for a few minutes. It was incomprehensible. The only pattern she could recognize was that the top row had higher numbers than the bottom row. Whoever was tormenting them with these ciphers was making each one harder than the last. Finally, she decided the best thing to do would be to sleep

科克一回到房车，就给妹妹写了新的密码。 “数字？”她问。“现在我们还得算数字？”“你是密码女王，”他回答说。 “我相信你会想出办法的。” 佩普看了几分钟密码。 这是不可理解的。她能认出的唯一规律是，上面那一行的数字比下面那一行的高。 用这些密码折磨他们的人一个比一个难。 最后，她决定最好的办法就是睡觉

on it. Maybe the answer would come to her in the middle of the night like the last time. It didn't. Breakfast was cold cereal eaten out of cardboard bowls with plastic spoons. Nothing fancy. Everybody was anxious to get up to Darwin, Minnesota, and see the largest—or maybe second largest—ball of twine in the world. As they were getting ready to leave the campground, Mrs. McDonald suggested they all go out to the movies that evening. She had checked the internet and seen that there was a theater in Litchfield, just a few miles from Darwin. Dr. McDonald pulled the RV onto Interstate 35 heading north toward Minneapolis. They had only driven a few miles down the road when he snapped his fingers. Go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/).

在上面。也许她会像上次一样在半夜里想出答案。 它没有。早餐是用硬纸板碗和塑料勺子吃的冷麦片。 没有什么幻想。每个人都急切地想去明尼苏达州的达尔文，看看世界上最大的，或者可能是第二大的麻线球。 当他们准备离开露营地时，麦克唐纳夫人建议他们晚上一起出去看电影。 她在网上查了一下，发现离达尔文只有几英里的利奇菲尔德有一家剧院。 麦克唐纳医生把房车停在35号州际公路上向北开往明尼阿波利斯。 他们沿着这条路只开了几英里，他就打了个响指。 进入谷歌Maps （http://maps.google.com/）。

Click Get Directions. In the A box, type Owatonna MN. In the B box, type Darwin MN. Click Get Directions. "We forgot to do a dump back at the campground!" he exclaimed. "The holding tank is filled to the brim!" "I'll do it today, Dad," Coke said. "I promise." "You'd better!" To get to Darwin, you drive up I-35, and before you get to Minneapolis, you jump on I494 briefly and then west on the smaller Route 12. From there, it's about an hour—a straight shot into Darwin. The town looked a little like Cawker City, Kansas, where the other giant ball of twine was located. Small-town America. Driving down the main street, they started to see signs: The Twine Ball Inn. Twine Ball Antique Shop. Souvenir Twine Balls Sold Here. Dr. McDonald made a left onto First Street. He drove by a park and a water tower, and then they saw a large gazebo

点击“获取路线”。在A框中，输入Owatonna MN。 在B框中，输入Darwin MN。 点击“获取路线”。“我们忘了在露营地拉屎了！”他叫道。 “储气罐满了！”“我今天就去，爸爸，”可口可乐说。 “我保证。”“你最好!”要去达尔文，你要沿着I-35号公路行驶，在你到达明尼阿波利斯之前，你要在I494号公路上短暂停留，然后向西走较小的12号公路。 从那里出发，大约一个小时就能直达达尔文。 这个小镇看起来有点像堪萨斯州的考克城，另一个巨大的线球就在那里。 美国的一个小镇。沿着主要街道行驶，他们开始看到了招牌：Twine Ball Inn。 麻线球古董店。纪念品麻线球在此出售。 麦克唐纳医生向左转进入第一街。 他开车经过一个公园和一座水塔，然后他们看到了一个大凉亭

covered by Plexiglas panels. "Thar she blows!" Coke yelled. Dr. McDonald went a block farther, turned the corner, and parked the RV on a side street. "Be careful now," Coke whispered to his sister as he grabbed their backpacks. "Something's gonna happen here for sure. Something bad. We've got to stop it. Keep your eyes open." "But we don't know when," Pep whispered back. "It may not even be today." They walked around the corner and joined the group of people mingling around the ball of twine. It was, of course, enormous—just about filling the gazebo. "Behold," Mrs. McDonald said. "The largest ball of twine in the world!" But once you've seen one gigantic ball of twine, you've pretty much seen 'em all. It was still interesting to look at, but some of the novelty had worn off. "It looks pretty much like the other one," noted Dr. McDonald. "I can't believe we drove

由有机玻璃板覆盖。 “她在吹！”可口可乐喊道。 麦克唐纳医生又走了一个街区，拐了个弯，把房车停在一条小街上。 “小心点，”可口可乐一边抓起他们的背包，一边小声对妹妹说。 “这里肯定会发生一些事情。 坏的东西。我们必须阻止它。 睁大你的眼睛。”“但我们不知道什么时候。”佩普小声回答。 “甚至可能不是今天。” 他们走到拐角处，加入了一群围着麻线球的人。 当然，它是巨大的——几乎填满了凉亭。 “看，”麦克唐纳太太说。 “世界上最大的麻线球！”但一旦你看到一个巨大的线球，你就几乎看到了所有的线球。 它看起来仍然很有趣，但一些新鲜感已经消失了。 “它看起来和另一个很像。” 麦当劳。“我不敢相信我们开车了

so far out of our way to see this." "I think this one is a little bigger than the one in Kansas," Pep said. "It was definitely worth the trip." "Think of it this way, Dad," Coke said. "Now we've seen the two biggest balls of twine in the world! How many people can say that?" Dr. McDonald shook his head sadly and went to sit on a bench nearby to read a book. He had seen enough giant balls of twine to last a lifetime. Mrs. McDonald seemed to be just as fascinated with the Darwin twine ball as she had been with the one in Cawker City. She insisted on reading every pamphlet and the wall plaque about the ball's history. Apparently, a few years before Frank Stoeber started rolling his ball of twine in Kansas, a farmer named Francis A. Johnson began rolling one in Darwin. Johnson even used a crane so he could lift the ball to continue rolling it properly. For years, the two men had a sort of long

这离我们看到这个太遥远了。” “我认为这个比堪萨斯州的那个要大一点，”佩普说。 “这绝对值得一游。” “这样想吧，爸爸，”科克说。 “现在我们看到了世界上最大的两个线球！”有多少人能这么说？”博士。 麦克唐纳伤心地摇了摇头，走到旁边的长凳上坐下看书。 他看了一辈子的大麻线球看得够多了。 麦克唐纳太太似乎对达尔文麻线球着迷，就像她对考克城的麻线球着迷一样。 她坚持要读每一本关于舞会历史的小册子和墙上的牌匾。 显然，在弗兰克·斯特伯开始在堪萨斯州滚麻线球的几年前，一位名叫弗朗西斯·a·斯特伯的农民。 约翰逊开始在达尔文制造一个。 约翰逊甚至用了起重机，这样他就可以举起球，继续正确地滚动它。 多年来，这两个人一直有一种长久的

distance dueling-twine-ball race going as their respective balls got bigger and bigger. After Frank Stoeber died in 1974, you would have thought Francis Johnson would have claimed victory and retired. But he kept right on going, rolling twine four hours a day, every day, until he died in 1989. By that time, his twine ball was 17,900 pounds and thirteen feet in diameter. Mrs. McDonald went across the street to interview some locals about the twine ball. Coke and Pep walked among the crowd looking for suspicious characters.

随着各自的球越来越大，距离决斗线球比赛正在进行。 Frank Stoeber于1974年去世后，你可能会认为Francis Johnson会宣布胜利并退休。 但他坚持不懈，每天卷四小时麻线，直到1989年去世。 那时，他的麻线球重17900磅，直径13英尺。 麦克唐纳太太到街对面去采访一些当地人关于麻线球的事。 可口可乐和佩普在人群中寻找可疑人物。