13 The Loud Family

Chapter 13 THE LOUD FAMILY "Eeeekkk!" Pep screamed. "It's them!" Coke turned to grab for the door handle. It was locked. They were trapped. Again. "Well… well… well," said Mrs. Higgins. The bowler dudes smiled and laughed their stupid laughs. Each of them had a club, like the kind policemen carry. They hit the clubs rhythmically into the palm of one hand. "How did you get in here?" Pep demanded. "The question isn't how we got in here," Mrs. Higgins replied. "The question is how are you going to get out?" "Good one, Mrs. H.," the mustachioed bowler dude said, chuckling. Coke looked around quickly. They were at the very top of the pyramid-shaped building. He could

第13章吵闹的家庭Pep尖叫。 “这是他们!”可乐转身去抓门把手。 门锁上了。他们被困住了。 再一次。“好吧……好吧……好吧，”希金斯太太说。 那些玩保龄球的家伙笑了，傻乎乎地笑了起来。 他们每人都拿着一根警棍，就像警察随身携带的那种。 他们有节奏地把球杆打在一只手掌上。 “你是怎么进来的?”Pep要求。 “问题不在于我们是怎么进来的，”希金斯太太回答。 “问题是你怎么出去？”“干得好，H太太，”那个蓄着大胡子的保龄球手笑着说。 可口可乐迅速环顾四周。 他们站在金字塔形建筑的最顶端。 他可以

see the Lake Erie waterfront and the sky through the glass windows surrounding them on all sides. The only exit was locked. They were outnumbered. He had no weapons, while both of the bowler dudes had clubs. There was an electric guitar sitting in a stand on the floor. But what was he going to do, hit somebody over the head with it? It was a bad situation. Pep couldn't help but marvel at Mrs. Higgins. One day she was working as a paid assassin for Dr. Warsaw. The next day she managed to get a job working in the public relations department of the Chicago Cubs. And now she had somehow talked her way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Maybe she was right—she did have good people skills. "That wasn't very nice what you kids did at Wrigley Field," Mrs. Higgins said, wagging a finger at them. "The fans were very upset that the Cubs forfeited the game." "It was your fault!" Pep shouted. "You told us there was a bomb in the dugout! You gave us those

透过四周的玻璃窗，可以看到伊利湖的滨水区和天空。 唯一的出口被锁上了。他们寡不敌众。 他没有武器，而两个玩保龄球的家伙都有棍棒。 地板上的架子上放着一把电吉他。 但他要怎么做，用它打别人的头吗？ 这是一个糟糕的情况。佩普不禁对希金斯太太感到惊奇。 有一天，她作为一名受雇的刺客为奥巴马医生工作。 华沙。第二天，她设法在芝加哥小熊队的公共关系部找到了一份工作。 现在，不知怎么的，她已经进入了摇滚名人堂。 也许她是对的——她确实有很好的人际交往能力。 “你们这些孩子在瑞格利球场的所作所为可不太好，”希金斯太太对他们摇着手指说。 “小熊队输掉了比赛，球迷们非常难过。” “是你的错！”Pep喊道。 “你告诉我们战壕里有炸弹！”你给了我们这些

T-shirts! You almost got us killed!" "I'll try harder this time." "Good one, Mrs. H.," said the clean-shaven bowler dude. Both bowler dudes laughed and slapped the clubs into their palms. There would be no way to overpower them. "What are you going to do now," Coke asked, "blow up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?" "Heavens no!" Mrs. Higgins replied. "I love rock and roll. Put another dime in the jukebox, baby!" One of the bowler dudes flipped a switch on the control panel, and heavy metal music filled the studio. "Ah, Megadeth," Mrs. Higgins said. "My favorite slash metal band. And I can really relate to this album—Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good." The bowler dudes chuckled. "Good one, Mrs. H.," they both said. "Stop saying that!" Mrs. Higgins scolded them. "It's annoying."

t恤!你差点害死我们！”“这次我会更加努力的。” “干得好，H太太，”那个刮得干干净净的保龄球手说。 两个玩保龄球的家伙都笑了，把球棒拍在手掌上。 没有办法打败他们。 “你现在打算做什么，”可口可乐问道，“炸掉摇滚名人堂吗？”“天不!”希金斯太太回答。 “我喜欢摇滚。再往点唱机里放一毛钱，宝贝！”其中一个玩保龄球的家伙拨动了控制面板上的开关，重金属音乐充满了录音室。 “啊，麦格戴斯，”希金斯太太说。 “我最喜欢的斜杠金属乐队。 我真的能和这张专辑产生共鸣——《杀人是我的事，生意很好》。” 那些玩保龄球的家伙咯咯地笑了。 “说得好，H太太，”他们俩都说。 “别再说了！”希金斯太太责备他们。 “这是烦人。”

"Yes, Mrs. H." "You kids like loud rock music, don't you?" she asked sweetly. "I'll just turn this up a little." She turned a dial on the control panel, and the music got louder. Both bowler dudes took earplugs out of their pockets and stuck them in their ears. "You're smart kids," Mrs. Higgins continued. "I'm sure you know that sound travels in waves through the air. You can't see them, but you can feel the vibrations." "We don't need your boring science lesson," Coke spat. "You're right, Coke," she agreed. "I don't want to bore you. I want to kill you." "Good one—" "Shut up!" Mrs. Higgins hollered at the bowler dude, causing him to stop talking instantly. "I told you we shouldn't have come in here!" Pep said to her brother, tears running down her face. "You should listen to me for a change!" "Don't bicker, kids," Mrs. Higgins said. "It will all be over soon."

“是的，h太太。”“你们这些孩子喜欢喧闹的摇滚乐，是吗？”她温柔地问道。 “我把声音调大一点。” 她转动了控制面板上的一个刻度盘，音乐变得更响了。 两个玩保龄球的人都从口袋里掏出耳塞塞进耳朵里。 “你们是聪明的孩子，”希金斯太太继续说。 “我相信你知道声音在空气中以波的形式传播。 你看不见它们，但你能感觉到振动。” “我们不需要你无聊的科学课，”可口可乐说。 “你说得对，科克，”她同意道。 “我不想让你厌烦。 我想杀了你。”“好样的——”“闭嘴！”希金斯太太对那个打保龄球的家伙大喊大叫，使他立刻停止了说话。 “我告诉过你我们不该进来的！”佩普对弟弟说，眼泪顺着她的脸流了下来。 “你应该改变一下，听我的！”“别吵了，孩子们，”希金斯太太说。 “很快就会结束的。”

She turned the dial again, and the music got louder. "The human ear is a marvelous organ, isn't it?" Mrs. Higgins said. "Sound waves enter the outer ear like a funnel, and they shoot through the ear canal to vibrate the eardrum." "We don't care what you have to say!" Pep yelled. But Mrs. Higgins kept right on going. "There are three tiny bones in your middle ear, and they intensify the vibrations and deliver them to the inner ear. That's where the cochlea is. It looks like a little clamshell, and it's filled with fluid. The sound waves make the fluid move. There are thousands of tiny hairlike cells in there that connect to the acoustic nerve, which sends electro-chemical signals to the brain. And that's how you hear things. Isn't that interesting?" "No!" Coke shouted over the music. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry," Mrs. Higgins said. "I was boring you again, wasn't I?" She turned the dial, and the volume went up some more. The music had became uncomfortably

她又转动了一下转盘，音乐变得更响了。 “人的耳朵是个神奇的器官，不是吗？”希金斯太太说。 “声波像漏斗一样进入外耳，它们通过耳道发射，振动鼓膜。” “我们才不管你要说什么呢！”Pep喊道。 但希金斯太太继续往前走。 “在你的中耳里有三块小骨头，它们加强振动并将它们传递到内耳。 这就是耳蜗的位置。 它看起来像一个小翻盖，里面充满了液体。 声波使液体流动。 那里有成千上万的微小的毛发状细胞与听神经相连，听神经向大脑发送电化学信号。 这就是你听到声音的方式。 这不是很有趣吗？”“不!”科克在音乐声中喊道。 “哦，非常抱歉，”希金斯太太说。 “我又让你厌烦了，是不是？”她拨动了拨号盘，音量又调大了一些。 音乐变得不舒服了

loud. "Turn it down," Pep said, putting her hands over her ears. "Did you say turn it up?" asked Mrs. Higgins, giving the dial another twist. "Sure." "No, I said turn it down!" "Can't hear you," shouted Mrs. Higgins. "It's quite noisy in here." "Turn it down!" Coke screamed. Mrs. Higgins turned the dial the other way, and the volume went down so low that the music could barely be heard. The twins took their hands off their ears. "But Coke," Mrs. Higgins said, "I thought you liked your music loud." "Not that loud," he replied. "You know all about decibel levels, right?" Mrs.Higgins asked. "The sound of human breathing is about ten decibels." She turned up the volume on the control panel slightly. Megadeth's "The Skull Beneath the Skin" was playing.

大声。“关小点声，”佩普用手捂住耳朵说。 “你是说调大一点吗？”希金斯太太问，又拧了一下拨号盘。 “当然。”“不，我说的是关小点声！”“听不见，”希金斯太太喊道。 “这里太吵了。” “关小点声！”可口可乐尖叫。 希金斯太太把拨号盘转到另一边，音量降得很低，几乎听不见音乐。 那对双胞胎把手从耳朵上移开。 “可是可乐，”希金斯太太说，“我还以为你喜欢大声听音乐呢。” “不要那么大声，”他回答。 “你很了解分贝水平，对吧？”Mrs.Higgins问道。 “人类呼吸的声音大约是10分贝。” 她把控制面板上的音量调大了一点。 当时正在播放Megadeth的《The Skull under The Skin》。