6 Let’s Kill Two

Chapter 6 LET'S KILL TWO Mrs. McDonald checked out of the motel while her husband loaded up the RV and consulted his road atlas. Everybody piled in and Dr. McDonald pulled onto I-294 South. Des Plaines is only about half an hour from downtown Chicago. The kids amused themselves in the back while Mrs. McDonald fired up the GPS. Then she reclined her seat a few inches and began to leaf through an Illinois guidebook. "Look, Ben," Mrs. McDonald said, "the grave of Robert Earl Hughes is in Illinois." "Who was he?" Pep asked, not quite sure she wanted to know the answer. "Robert Earl Hughes was the world's heaviest man," her mother explained. "He weighed over a thousand pounds. Poor guy. He was only thirty-two

麦克唐纳太太结账离开汽车旅馆时，她的丈夫把东西装进了房车，并查阅了他的道路地图。 大家都挤了进来。 麦克唐纳把车开到I-294南。 德斯普兰斯距离芝加哥市中心只有大约半小时的路程。 麦克唐纳太太启动GPS时，孩子们在后面自娱自乐。 然后她把座位向后倾斜了几英寸，开始翻阅一本伊利诺斯州的旅游指南。 “本，你看，”麦克唐纳太太说，“罗伯特·厄尔·休斯的坟墓在伊利诺斯州。” “他是谁？”佩普问，不太确定她是否想知道答案。 “罗伯特·厄尔·休斯是世界上最重的男人，”她的母亲解释说。 “他体重超过一千磅。 可怜的家伙。他只有32岁

when he died. They say he was buried in a grand piano." Unfortunately, the grave site of this amazing man was in Benville, over four hours away. It was tempting to go there, but in life you have to set your priorities. Four hours would be a long drive to see a gravestone, even if it was the gravestone of somebody who was buried in a piano. Equally tempting, at least for Mrs. McDonald, would have been a trip to see the world's largest statue of Abraham Lincoln, in Ashmore, Illinois. And then, of course, there was the Grain Elevator Museum in Atlanta, Illinois. But that was 154 miles away, and in the wrong direction. Nobody had the enthusiasm to drive so far. "It's a shame we're going to miss those grain elevators, Mom," Coke said, sharing a silent giggle with his sister. "They sound really cool."

他死的时候。他们说他被埋在一架大钢琴里。” 不幸的是，这个了不起的人的墓地在本维尔，离这里有四个多小时的路程。 去那里很诱人，但在生活中，你必须分清轻重缓急。 开车四个小时去看墓碑是很长的一段路，即使那是一个被埋在钢琴里的人的墓碑。 同样诱人的是，至少对麦克唐纳夫人来说，去伊利诺斯州的安石看一看世界上最大的亚伯拉罕·林肯雕像。 当然，还有位于伊利诺伊州亚特兰大市的谷物升降机博物馆。 但那是在154英里之外，而且方向不对。 没人有热情开这么远。 “妈妈，我们要错过那些谷物升降机了，真是太遗憾了，”科克说，他和妹妹一起默默傻笑着。 “它们听起来真的很酷。”

None of the McDonalds was conscious of it, but there was one thing they all wanted to see—a city. Ever since they'd left California a week earlier, they had been driving past deserts, prairies, billboards, cornfields, dairy farms, and lots of small towns. They missed the excitement of a city. Soon, the suburbs gave way to office parks, the office parks gave way to the enormous O'Hare Airport, and from Route 90 East the majestic skyline of Chicago came into view. "The Windy City!" Coke proclaimed. "The City of the Big Shoulders," said Dr. McDonald. "That's how Carl Sandburg described it." "Didn't he play for the Cubs?" asked Coke. "That was Ryne Sandberg," Dr. McDonald corrected him. "Carl Sandburg was a poet." "Ha!" Pep proclaimed to her brother. "You don't know everything!" "Okay, here's today's agenda," Mrs. McDonald announced from the front seat. "First, the International Museum of Surgical Science. They

麦当劳的所有人都没有意识到这一点，但他们都想看到一样东西——一座城市。 自从他们一周前离开加州以来，他们已经开车经过了沙漠、大草原、广告牌、玉米地、奶牛场和许多小镇。 他们怀念城市的热闹。 很快，郊区被办公园区所取代，办公园区被巨大的奥黑尔机场所取代，从90号公路向东望去，芝加哥雄伟的天际线映入眼帘。 “风城！”可口可乐宣布。 “大肩膀之城，”他说。 麦当劳。“卡尔·桑德伯格就是这么描述的。” “他不是为小熊队打球吗？”科克问。 “那是雷恩·桑德伯格。” 麦克唐纳纠正了他。“卡尔·桑德伯格是个诗人。” “哈!”佩普对她哥哥说。 “你不是什么都知道！”“好了，这是今天的日程安排，”麦克唐纳夫人在前排宣布。 “首先是国际外科科学博物馆。 他们

have antique instruments that doctors used to drill holes in skulls, and they also have some skulls with holes drilled into them. And get this—they've got a copy of the death mask of Napoleon! It will be perfect for Amazing but True." "That place sounds gross, Mom," Pep commented, despite her fascination with morbid things. It was Pep, after all, who'd convinced the family to visit the Donner Party exhibit back in Nevada—which was all about cannibals. "Second, the Museum of Science and Industry," Mrs. McDonald continued. "They have an exhibit called Body Slices. It says here they have male and female cadavers, each cut into half-inch slices and preserved between sheets of glass." "Ugh!" said Pep, despite her obvious fascination. "That is disgusting, Mom. We don't want to look at that stuff!" "Well, the good news is, you don't have to," Mrs. McDonald said cheerfully. "I'm going to look at that stuff." "Where are the rest of us going?" asked Pep.

有医生用来在头骨上钻孔的古董仪器，也有一些头骨上有钻孔。 还有这个——他们有一幅拿破仑死亡面具的复制品！这对《惊人但真实》来说再合适不过了。” “那个地方听起来很恶心，妈妈，”佩普评论道，尽管她对病态的东西很着迷。 毕竟，是佩普说服这家人去参观内华达州的唐纳派对展览的——那是关于食人族的。 “第二，科学与工业博物馆，”麦克唐纳夫人接着说。 “他们有一个名为‘身体切片’的展览。 这里说他们有男性和女性的尸体，每具尸体都被切成半英寸的薄片，保存在玻璃片之间。” “啊！”佩普说，尽管她显然很着迷。 “太恶心了，妈妈。我们不想看那些东西！”“好吧，好消息是，你不必这么做，”麦克唐纳太太高兴地说。 “我要去看看那些东西。” “我们其他人要去哪里？”佩普问。

Dr. McDonald leaned over, pulled three tickets out of the glove compartment, and waved them in the air. "Wrigley Field, baby!" he yelled. "We're going to see the Cubs play?" asked Coke excitedly. "All right!" Dr. McDonald dropped his wife off at the Loop in downtown Chicago and proceeded up North Lake Shore Drive until he found a parking lot that would admit recreational vehicles and wasn't too far from the ballpark. They got out and walked the rest of the way to the corner of North Clark Street and West Addison.

麦克唐纳医生俯下身，从仪表盘里拿出三张票，在空中挥舞着。 “瑞格利球场，宝贝！”他喊道。 “我们要去看小熊队的比赛？”可口可乐兴奋地问。 “好吧!”麦克唐纳把妻子送到芝加哥市中心的卢普大道（Loop），然后沿着北湖岸大道（North Lake Shore Drive）行驶，直到找到一个可以停放休闲车辆的停车场，而且离棒球场不远。 他们下了车，走完了剩下的路，来到了北克拉克街和西艾迪生街的拐角处。

"This is historic ground," Dr. McDonald said, throwing an arm around each of his children. "It's one of the oldest Major League ballparks still standing. Babe Ruth hit his famous 'called shot' home run here back in 1932, you know." "Can we get cotton candy?" asked Pep, no big fan of baseball. "Sure," her dad replied. "As far as I'm concerned, it's still your birthday today." The game had already started, so they rushed inside to find their seats on the third-base side. Dr. McDonald bought cotton candy for both twins and pointed out the distinctive ivy-covered outfield

“这是一个具有历史意义的地方。” 麦克唐纳一边说，一边搂着他的两个孩子。 “这是美国职业棒球大联盟现存最古老的球场之一。 你知道，贝比·鲁斯1932年在这里打出了他著名的‘叫球’全垒打。” “我们能买棉花糖吗？”佩普问，他不是棒球迷。 “当然，”她爸爸回答。“在我看来，今天仍然是你的生日。” 比赛已经开始了，所以他们冲进去在三垒那边找座位。 麦克唐纳博士给两个双胞胎买了棉花糖，并指出了独特的常青藤覆盖的外场