15 X Marks the Spot

Chapter 15 X MARKS THE SPOT If you recall from the first Genius Files book, Coke and Pep received a bunch of mysterious messages that appeared to have no common connection. But actually those messages led them to their climactic confrontation with Dr. Warsaw at The House on the Rock in Wisconsin. In the second book, it also seemed as though the ciphers had nothing in common, but in the end they all referred to items inside the National Museum of American History, where the twins encountered the deranged teenager Archie Clone. Once again, in the third book, the ciphers seemed to be completely incomprehensible, until the twins finally realized that they all had

如果你还记得《天才档案》（Genius Files）第一本书中的内容，可口可乐和佩普收到了一堆神秘的信息，这些信息似乎没有共同的联系。 但实际上，这些信息导致了他们与Dr。 华沙在威斯康辛州的岩石上的房子。 在第二本书中，这些密码似乎也没有任何共同之处，但最终它们都指向美国国家历史博物馆内的物品，双胞胎在那里遇到了精神错乱的少年克隆阿奇。 同样，在第三本书中，这些密码似乎完全无法理解，直到双胞胎最终意识到他们都理解了

something to do with Graceland, Elvis Presley's mansion in Memphis, Tennessee. That's where Evil Elvis/Aunt Judy was waiting to ambush them. But what could these two new messages possibly mean? Pep turned to a blank page in her notepad and wrote them out in her neat handwriting: 1. I WILL MEET YOU IN LLANO ESTACADO 2. A PIECE OF THE BLARNEY STONE Dr. and Mrs. McDonald came back from the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce, where they had lodged a formal complaint about the dangerous conditions at the fake Eiffel Tower. "What did you say?" Pep asked. "I told them a dead cow fell out of the Eiffel Tower and almost landed on my son," said Dr. McDonald. "And what did they say?" asked Pep. "They just laughed," said Mrs. McDonald.

与“雅园”有关，这是埃尔维斯·普雷斯利在田纳西州孟菲斯的豪宅。 那就是邪恶猫王/朱迪阿姨埋伏的地方。 但这两条新信息可能意味着什么呢？ 佩普翻到记事本的空白页上，用她整洁的笔迹写下了这些话： 我们在大庄园2号见。 一块巧言石。 和麦克唐纳夫人从拉马尔县商会回来了，他们在那里就假埃菲尔铁塔的危险条件提出了正式投诉。 “你说什么？”Pep问道。 “我告诉他们，一头死牛从埃菲尔铁塔上掉了下来，差点砸到我儿子。” 麦当劳。“他们说了什么？”佩普问。 “他们只是笑，”麦克唐纳太太说。

"They thought it was funny." It was, in an odd sort of way. After the family had gotten over the initial shock of what had happened, they were even able to joke about it. "Hey, what has four legs and goes 'moo— thud'?" asked Pep. "What?" "A cow falling on Coke's head." Back in the car, the McDonalds were heading south and west. It would be almost two hours to Dallas, mainly along I-30. They stopped for lunch at a little diner in Greenville, but the parents spent most of the time arguing over what they were going to do for the rest of the day. "It says here that the first 7-Eleven opened in Dallas in 1927," said Mrs. McDonald. "But the Slurpee wasn't invented until fifty years later." "Please don't tell me they have a Slurpee museum in Dallas," Dr. McDonald said, groaning. "I will have lost all faith in humanity."

“他们觉得这很有趣。” 是的，以一种奇怪的方式。 当家人从最初的震惊中恢复过来后，他们甚至还能拿这件事开玩笑。 “嘿，什么东西有四条腿还会发出‘哞’的声音？”佩普问。 “什么?”“一头母牛落在可乐的头上。” 回到车里，麦当劳正朝南和向西走。 到达拉斯大约需要两个小时，主要沿着I-30公路行驶。 他们在格林维尔的一家小餐馆停下来吃午饭，但父母大部分时间都在争论今天剩下的时间要做什么。 “这里说，第一家7- 11便利店于1927年在达拉斯开业，”麦克唐纳夫人说。 “但是思乐冰是五十年后才被发明出来的。” “请别告诉我达拉斯有思乐冰博物馆。” 麦克唐纳呻吟着说。“我将对人性失去信心。”

"They don't, but at the Baylor University Medical Center, they have bronze-coated replicas of the hands of famous people like Louis Armstrong, Winston Churchill, Joe DiMaggio, and Walt Disney," Mrs. McDonald said. "That could be pretty interesting to see, don't you think?" "Those could be anybody's hands in bronze," scoffed Dr. McDonald. "I don't need to see that." "Hey, the world's largest patio chair is in Dallas!" Mrs. McDonald said more excitedly. "It's in front of a furniture store." "I'm not driving to Dallas to look at a chair," Dr. McDonald said, "and that's final." Listening to the two of them go at it was like watching two great tennis players whack a ball back and forth. Coke and Pep's parents hardly ever fought back home, but they seemed to bicker a lot in the car. Maybe it had something to do with being so close together in a confined space, and

“他们没有，但在贝勒大学医学中心，他们有路易斯·阿姆斯特朗（Louis Armstrong）、温斯顿·丘吉尔（Winston Churchill）、乔·迪马吉奥（Joe DiMaggio）和沃尔特·迪斯尼（Walt Disney）等名人的青铜手复制品，”麦克唐纳夫人说。 “这可能很有趣，你不觉得吗？”“这可能是任何人的青铜手，”他嘲笑道。 麦当劳。“我不需要看那个。” “嘿，世界上最大的露台椅在达拉斯！”麦克唐纳太太更兴奋地说。 “在一家家具店的前面。” “我不会开车去达拉斯看一把椅子，”他说。 麦克唐纳说，“这就是最终结果。” 听他们俩争吵就像看两个伟大的网球运动员来回击球一样。 寇克和佩普的父母回家后几乎从不吵架，但他们在车里似乎经常吵架。 也许这跟在一个狭小的空间里靠得太近有关

having to make important decisions quickly. In any case, Dr. and Mrs. McDonald finally hit on something they both wanted to see in Dallas—the Sixth Floor Museum. "What's that?" asked Pep. "The Sixth Floor Museum chronicles the assassination and legacy of John F. Kennedy," said her all-knowing brother. You're probably aware that President Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas on November 22, 1963—a tragedy that shook the nation to its core. People who were alive that day remember exactly where they were when they heard the news that the president had been shot. When they reached Dallas, Dr. McDonald drove up Elm Street on the western edge of the historic district downtown and parked the car behind an early 20th-century warehouse that used to be known as the Texas School Book Depository. Shots rang out from the sixth floor of the building on that day in 1963. Today, the

必须快速做出重要决定。 无论如何，麦克唐纳医生和夫人终于找到了他们都想在达拉斯看的东西——六楼博物馆。 “那是什么？”佩普问。六楼博物馆记录了约翰·F·肯尼迪遇刺事件及其遗产。 肯尼迪，"她那无所不知的哥哥说。 你可能知道肯尼迪总统于1963年11月22日在达拉斯被枪杀，这是一场震撼整个国家的悲剧。 那天还活着的人都清楚地记得，当他们听到总统被枪杀的消息时，他们在哪里。 当他们到达达拉斯时。 麦克唐纳沿着历史悠久的市中心西部边缘的榆树街行驶，把车停在一个20世纪初的仓库后面，这个仓库曾经被称为德克萨斯学校图书仓库。 1963年的那一天，枪声从这栋大楼的六楼响起。 今天,

sixth and seventh floors are a museum jammed with exhibits about the assassination, and about Kennedy himself. Photography was not permitted in the museum, but Mrs. McDonald took notes for Amazing but True. What the twins found most interesting was the window where the sniper's nest and rifle were found after the assassination. They could look out and see Dealey Plaza, where the president's motorcade passed. As Coke and Pep peered out that window, a guard informed them that there's an X painted on the street at the exact spot where the president was hit. "I can't see the X," Coke said. "That's because that tree is in the way," the guard told him. "Well, if the tree is in the way, how could Lee Harvey Oswald possibly have shot the president from this window?" asked Coke, quite proud of himself for personally debunking the notion that Oswald was the lone gunman. "The tree was a lot shorter in 1963," the

六楼和七楼是一个博物馆，里面摆满了关于刺杀和肯尼迪本人的展品。 博物馆内不允许摄影，但麦克唐纳夫人为《惊人但真实》做了笔记。 这对双胞胎最感兴趣的是暗杀后发现狙击手巢穴和步枪的窗户。 他们可以看到迪利广场，总统的车队从那里经过。 当可口可乐和佩普向窗外张望时，一名警卫告诉他们，在总统被击中的确切地点，街道上画着一个X。 “我看不到X，”可口可乐说。 “那是因为那棵树挡道了。”卫兵告诉他。 “嗯，如果这棵树挡着路，李·哈维·奥斯瓦尔德怎么可能从这扇窗户向总统开枪呢？”科克问道，他对自己亲自推翻了奥斯瓦尔德是唯一枪手的说法感到非常自豪。 “这棵树在1963年要矮得多，”他说