26 Nature Lovers

Chapter 26 NATURE LOVERS As the RV pulled out of the parking lot, Coke and Pep sat in stunned silence. "Wasn't that fun, kids?" Mrs. McDonald rhapsodized. "I had a fabulous time!" "Yeah," Pep said glumly. "Fun." The World of Coca-Cola hadn't been that much fun for Coke, especially when he was nearly shredded into tiny pieces and recycled into lawn furniture. They got on I-75 heading north out of Atlanta and rode it for fifty-eight long miles, then took the exit for Route 140 West. As they were driving through Chattahoochee National Forest—up in the northwest corner of Georgia—the GPS suddenly stopped working.

房车驶出停车场时，可口可乐和佩普呆呆地坐在那里，鸦鸦无声。 “孩子们，是不是很有趣？”麦克唐纳太太兴奋地说。 “我玩得很开心！”“是啊，”佩普闷闷不乐地说。 “有趣。”可口可乐的世界对可口可乐来说并没有那么有趣，尤其是当他几乎被撕成碎片，被回收制成草坪家具的时候。 他们上了75号州际公路，从亚特兰大向北行驶了58英里，然后从140号公路的出口向西行驶。 当他们开车穿过查塔胡奇国家森林（位于乔治亚州西北角）时，GPS突然停止工作了。

NO SIGNAL, it said. Dr. McDonald had a pretty good sense of direction, and he enjoyed reading maps. But like most people, after he got a GPS he became dependent on it. "How are we going to find the campground now?" he asked nobody in particular. "I don't know where I'm going. It's getting dark." "Don't worry, Ben," said Mrs. McDonald. "We'll find the campground. I'll call them on the cell if we have to, and they'll direct us." "This thing is a rip-off," Dr. McDonald said, giving the portable GPS a little slap with his hand. "It's supposed to cover the entire continental United States." Coke and Pep, with problems of their own, hadn't been paying much attention. But when he heard the letters GPS, Coke looked up. "Did you just say the GPS isn't working?" he asked. "It's not getting a signal out here in the boonies," said his father. "It thinks we're in

“没有信号，”它说。麦克唐纳博士有很好的方向感，他喜欢看地图。 但和大多数人一样，在他有了GPS之后，他变得依赖它了。 “我们现在怎么才能找到露营地呢？”他没有特别地问。 “我不知道我要去哪里。 天快黑了。”“别担心，本，”麦克唐纳太太说。 “我们会找到露营地的。 如果有必要，我会打电话给他们，他们会指导我们的。” “这东西简直是敲竹杠。” 麦克唐纳说着，用手轻轻拍打了一下便携式GPS。 “它应该覆盖整个美国大陆。” 可口可乐和佩普都有自己的问题，并没有给予太多关注。 但当他听到GPS这两个字母时，科克抬起头来。 “你刚才是说GPS坏了吗？”他问。 “在这偏僻的地方是收不到信号的，”他父亲说。 “它认为我们进去了

Siberia or someplace." "Dad is worried that we're lost," said Mrs. McDonald. "We're not lost!" shouted Dr. McDonald, who never considered himself lost. Being lost is a sign of weakness. Being lost isn't "manly." Coke and Pep looked at each other. If the GPS in the car wasn't getting a signal, neither would the GPS chip that had been implanted in their scalps. That would mean Evil Elvis wouldn't be able to find them. So they were safe. For a while, anyway. "This is beautiful country out here," Pep noted, gazing at the trees passing by. "Maybe we should stay here for a few days." "Or the rest of our lives," added Coke. They continued on, with Dr. McDonald getting progressively more apprehensive as each mile went by. Then, just when the forest came to an end, Mrs. McDonald noticed a little street sign on the left: SLOPPY FLOYD LAKE ROAD. "Take a left here, Ben!" she said, just before

西伯利亚或者别的什么地方。”“爸爸担心我们迷路了，”麦克唐纳太太说。 “我们没有迷路！” 麦克唐纳，他从不认为自己输了。 迷失是软弱的表现。 迷路不是“男子汉”的表现。可口可乐和佩普面面相觑。 如果车上的GPS没有收到信号，植入他们头皮的GPS芯片也不会收到信号。 那就意味着邪恶猫王找不到他们了。 所以他们是安全的。至少暂时是这样。 “这是一个美丽的国家，”佩普凝视着经过的树木说。 “也许我们应该在这里待几天。” “或者是我们的余生，”可口可乐补充道。 他们继续往前走。 每走一英里，麦克唐纳就越来越担心。 然后，就在森林走到尽头的时候，麦克唐纳太太注意到左边有一个小路牌：邋遢弗洛伊德湖路。 “在这里左转，本！”她说

they reached the intersection. She knew she was right, because three miles down the road, nestled in a picturesque little valley near Summerville, Georgia, was the campground where she had made a reservation for the night—James H. "Sloppy" Floyd State Park. "This is the place," Mrs. McDonald said as she hopped out of the RV. "Sloppy Floyd State Park?" asked Pep. "What's up with that?" "He was a Georgia politician," Coke inexplicably remembered from an article he had read in Newsweek. "He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from to 1953 to 1974." "You have no right to know that!" Pep shouted. "Nobody should know that kind of stuff!" "I thought everybody knew that," Coke replied. Dr. McDonald found the registration office

他们到达了十字路口。 她知道自己是对的，因为沿着这条路走三英里，在佐治亚州萨默维尔附近一个风景如画的小山谷里，有一个露营地，她在那里预订了今晚的住宿。 “邋遢的”弗洛伊德州立公园。 “就是这个地方，”麦克唐纳太太跳下房车时说。 “邋遢弗洛伊德州立公园？”佩普问。 “这是怎么回事？”“他是乔治亚州的政治家，”可口可乐莫名其妙地想起他在《新闻周刊》上读到的一篇文章。 “他从1953年到1974年在乔治亚州众议院任职。” “你没有权利知道这些！”Pep喊道。 “没人应该知道这种事！”“我以为每个人都知道，”可口可乐回答说。 麦克唐纳医生找到了登记处

and parked the RV. It was getting late and everyone was tired, so the McDonalds just had a quick snack instead of dinner and got ready for bed. Knowing they were out of GPS range, Coke and Pep were able to sleep easy. There would be no middle-of-the-night visitors wearing Elvis masks or bowler hats. No secret messages to decode. No traps or large objects falling on top of them from high places. "They can't find us here," Coke said to his sister just before dropping off to sleep. In the morning, Mrs. McDonald made pancakes for everyone and they ate outside at a picnic table. Camping in a state park is a little different from the usual RV campground. More trees. More nature. Fewer people. "Isn't it beautiful here?" Mrs. McDonald said, taking in a deep breath of clean air. "So quiet and peaceful." "Do we have to leave right away?" asked Pep. "Can't we stay here awhile?"

把房车停好。天色已晚，每个人都累了，所以麦当劳的人只吃了一份快餐而不是晚餐，然后准备睡觉。 知道自己不在GPS的范围内，可口可乐和佩普可以安心睡觉了。 不会有戴着猫王面具或圆顶礼帽的半夜访客。 没有秘密信息需要解码。 没有陷阱或从高处落下的大型物体。 “他们在这里找不到我们，”科克在睡着之前对妹妹说。 早上，麦当劳太太为每个人做了煎饼，他们在外面的野餐桌上吃饭。 在州立公园露营与通常的房车露营地有点不同。 更多的树。更自然。更少的人。 “这儿是不是很美？”麦克唐纳太太深吸了一口干净的空气说。 “好安静，好安宁。”“我们必须马上离开吗？”佩普问。 “我们不能在这儿待一会儿吗？”

"Yeah, we should move here permanently," said Coke. "Actually, your mother and I thought it would be fun to do a little birding here before we got back on the road. The state park is known for birding." "Hunting for birds?" said Coke. "Cool. Do we eat what we kill?" "Birding is not hunting," said Mrs. McDonald sternly. "You watch the birds. Through binoculars." I should mention here that Coke knew perfectly well that birding did not mean hunting and killing birds. Sometimes he just liked saying obnoxious things to annoy his parents. I'm sure you can relate. "Watching birds?" he asked. "What's the point of that?" "To appreciate the beauty of our winged friends," his father explained. "I'd rather appreciate the taste of my winged friends," said Coke.

“是的，我们应该永久搬到这里，”可口可乐说。 “实际上，你妈妈和我认为在我们上路之前，在这里观鸟会很有趣。 这个州立公园以观鸟而闻名。” “猎鸟？”可口可乐说。 “酷。我们吃我们杀的东西吗？”“观鸟不是打猎，”麦克唐纳太太严厉地说。 “你看着鸟儿。通过双筒望远镜。” 这里我要提一下，科克非常清楚，观鸟并不意味着猎杀鸟类。 有时他只是喜欢说一些令人讨厌的话来惹恼他的父母。 我相信你能理解。“看鸟？”他问。 “这有什么意义？”“为了欣赏我们有翅膀的朋友们的美丽，”他的父亲解释说。 “我宁愿欣赏我的有翅膀的朋友的味道，”可口可乐说。