20 Vegas, Baby!

Chapter 20 VEGAS, BABY! When she didn't hear any hooting and hollering from the backseat, Mrs. McDonald turned around to look behind her. "Coke, aren't you going to shout 'Woo-hoo!' and share some Nevada trivia with us?" she asked. "Woo-hoo," he mumbled, with a total lack of enthusiasm. "What's the matter, son?" Dr. McDonald asked. "Not feeling well?" In fact, Coke wasn't feeling well at all. Thanks to the incident at Hoover Dam— combined with all the other incidents—he was beginning to show classic signs of depression, or maybe learned helplessness. It had finally sunk in with Coke—this is what life was going to be like from now on. Every couple of days, some

第二十章维加斯，宝贝！当她没有听到从后座传来的喊叫声时，麦克唐纳太太转过身去看了看身后。 “可乐，你不打算喊‘哇嗬！“和我们分享一些内华达州的琐事吧？”她问道。 “呜——呜。”他咕哝着，完全没有热情。 “怎么了，儿子？”博士。 麦当劳问道。“不舒服？”事实上，可口可乐一点也不舒服。 由于胡佛大坝的事件，加上其他所有的事件，他开始表现出典型的抑郁症状，或者可能是习得性无助。 它终于被可乐淹没了——从现在起，生活就是这样的。 每隔几天就会有一些

nutcase would do something horrible to him and his sister. So far, he and Pep had been lucky. But eventually, one of these attempts on their lives was likely to succeed. It was only a matter of time. They would be dead and Dr. Warsaw would probably kill thousands more with his bomb. That thought would depress anybody. Besides, there was no reason to hoot and holler about entering Nevada. This was not the family's first visit to the state. They'd crossed northern Nevada when they were heading east at the beginning of their trip. Now they were at the southernmost tip of the state on their way back home. Coke continued to feel glum as the Ferrari headed west on Route 93, also known as The Great Basin Highway. More rocks. More desert. Miles and miles of nothingness. The sun was starting to set, yet the temperature was still close to triple digits. But then, not more than a half hour after

疯子会对他和他妹妹做出可怕的事。 到目前为止，他和佩普还算幸运。 但最终，对他们生命的一次尝试很可能成功了。 这只是时间问题。 他们会死，而Dr。 华沙可能会用他的炸弹杀死数千人。 这种想法会让任何人感到沮丧。 此外，也没有理由为进入内华达而大喊大叫。 这不是这家人第一次访问该州。 当他们开始向东行进时，他们穿过了内华达州北部。 现在他们在回家的路上到了这个州的最南端。 当法拉利在93号公路上向西行驶时，可口可乐仍然闷闷不乐。93号公路也被称为大盆地公路。 更多的岩石。更多的沙漠。无尽的虚无。 太阳开始下山了，但温度仍然接近三位数。 但是，不到半小时之后

leaving Hoover Dam, signs of civilization started to pop up here and there. At first they were just gas stations and warehouses. But very soon the signs became larger, brighter, and more colorful. The architecture became flashier. Dr. and Mrs. McDonald knew which city they were approaching, but had decided to surprise the kids. Coke's mood perked up when he spotted this sign.... "Woo-hoo!" he shouted. "Vegas, baby!" After driving through the desert for almost a week, it was somewhat of a culture shock to see downtown Las Vegas. Everyone was craning their necks as they drove through "the Strip"— four dizzying miles of gigantic hotels, palm

离开胡佛水坝，文明的迹象开始到处出现。 起初，它们只是加油站和仓库。 但很快，这些标志就变得更大、更亮、更多彩了。 建筑变得更加华丽。 麦克唐纳夫妇知道他们要去的是哪个城市，但还是决定给孩子们一个惊喜。 当Coke看到这个标志....时，他的心情振奋起来 “呜——呜！”“拉斯维加斯,宝贝!”在沙漠中行驶了将近一个星期后，看到拉斯维加斯市中心有点像文化冲击。 当他们开车穿过“长街”时，每个人都伸长了脖子——四英里长的巨型酒店，棕榈树

trees, flashing lights and signs, wild colors, souvenir shops, magic shows, strange-looking people, and of course, casino after casino. Most people don't know that the Strip is not in the city limits of Las Vegas itself. It's actually in the towns of Winchester and Paradise. Mrs. McDonald was in paradise herself. She didn't even have to look in her Nevada guidebook to find quirky places to visit in Las Vegas. All she had to do was look out the window.... The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime. The Houdini Museum. The Pinball Museum and Hall of Fame. The Elvis-A-Rama Museum. The Neon Museum. There were replicas of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. A dancing waters fountain show outside the Bellagio Hotel. The largest gold nugget in the world was at the Golden Nugget Hotel (of course). There was a real roller coaster on top of the New York–New York hotel. And if you wanted to see a chunk of the Berlin Wall, you

树木、闪烁的灯光和标志、狂野的色彩、纪念品商店、魔术表演、长相奇怪的人，当然还有一个接一个的赌场。 大多数人不知道，拉斯维加斯大道并不在拉斯维加斯本身的城市边界内。 实际上是在温彻斯特和天堂镇。 麦克唐纳太太自己也乐在其中。 她甚至不用翻内华达州旅游指南就能在拉斯维加斯找到一些稀奇古怪的地方。 她所要做的就是看看窗外.... 拉斯维加斯有组织犯罪博物馆。 胡迪尼博物馆。弹球博物馆和名人堂。 猫王博物馆。霓虹博物馆。 有自由女神像和埃菲尔铁塔的复制品。 百乐宫酒店外的舞蹈喷泉表演。 世界上最大的金块是在金块酒店（当然）。 在纽约-纽约酒店的顶部有一个真正的过山车。 如果你想看一大块柏林墙，你

could come to Las Vegas. In this one town, Mrs. McDonald would be able to gather a year's worth of material for Amazing but True. Even Dr. McDonald was fascinated, especially when he drove past the National Atomic Testing Museum on East Flamingo Road. He had been thinking about his book idea, and this would be a great place to do research. "This town is cool!" Coke said. "Can we live here?" "For two nights you can," said Dr. McDonald as he pulled into the Mirage, one of the larger hotels on the Strip. He handed the car keys to the valet and went to check in at the front desk. All the hotels in Las Vegas are also casinos, and the twins had never been in one before. Once they walked through the front door, there were hundreds of slot machines all over, clinking and buzzing and flashing to attract customers. "Can we try one?" Coke asked his parents. "It says they're only a dollar."

可以来拉斯维加斯在这个小镇上，麦克唐纳夫人就能收集到《惊人但真实》一年的素材。 甚至麦克唐纳博士也被迷住了，尤其是当他开车经过东火烈鸟路上的国家原子试验博物馆时。 他一直在考虑写书的想法，这将是一个做研究的好地方。 “这个小镇真酷！”可口可乐表示。 “我们能住在这里吗？”“你可以住两个晚上。” 他把车开进拉斯维加斯大道上较大的酒店之一幻影酒店（Mirage）。 他把车钥匙交给了男仆，然后去前台办理入住手续。 拉斯维加斯所有的酒店都是赌场，这对双胞胎以前从来没有去过。 他们一走进前门，到处都是数百台老虎机，叮当作响，嗡嗡作响，闪烁着吸引顾客的光芒。 “我们能尝一个吗？”科克问他的父母。 “上面说只要一美元。”

"Kids aren't allowed to gamble," Dr. McDonald told him. "You have to be eighteen before you can throw your money away." It was getting late, so rather than go out and search for a place to eat, their parents decided to stay in the hotel. There are twelve—yes twelve —restaurants in the Mirage. Mrs. McDonald chose Paradise Café, which specialized in "exotic drinks and light fare." Not too fancy. During dinner, Dr. McDonald kept looking at his watch as if he had to go somewhere. The waiter brought the check a few minutes before eight o'clock. "Follow me," their father abruptly told the twins. "I want to show you something." The whole family followed him out to the front of the hotel, where a crowd was forming. "What's going on?" Pep asked. "You'll see," her father replied. The crowd had gathered around a big mountain of rocks. Well, fake rocks, anyway. They were probably made of plastic, like just

孩子们是不允许赌博的。 麦克唐纳告诉他。“你要到十八岁才会乱花钱。” 天色已晚，他们的父母决定呆在旅馆里，而不是出去找地方吃饭。 海市蜃楼里有十二家——是的，十二家——餐馆。 麦克唐纳夫人选择了Paradise cafe，这家店专门提供“异国情调的饮料和清淡的食物”。 不要太花哨。在晚餐时。 麦克唐纳不停地看表，好像要去什么地方似的。 服务员在八点前几分钟送来了帐单。 “跟我来，”父亲突然对双胞胎说。 “我想给你看样东西。” 全家人都跟着他走到旅馆前面，那里正聚集着一群人。 “发生什么事了？”Pep问道。 “你等着瞧吧，”她父亲回答。 人群聚集在一座由岩石组成的大山周围。 好吧，反正是假石头。它们可能是塑料做的，就像