15 Chapter 15

Chapter 15 "Everybody, please take your seats," Dr. Zinchenko said to the parents gathered in a conference room at the Parker House Hotel. "When do our kids come home?" asked one of the mothers. "Rose has soccer at two," said another. The librarian nodded. "Mr. Lemoncello will—" Just then, an accordion-panel door at the far end of the room flew open, revealing the eccentric billionaire dressed in a bright purple tracksuit and

第十五章“各位，请就座。” 津琴科对聚集在帕克宾馆会议室里的家长们说。 “我们的孩子什么时候回家?”其中一位母亲问道。 “罗斯两点钟有足球课，”另一个人说。 图书管理员点了点头。“先生。 就在这时，房间另一端的一扇手风琴门突然打开，露出了这位古怪的亿万富翁，他穿着一件亮紫色的运动服

a plumed pirate hat. He was eating a slice of seven-layer birthday cake. "Good morning or, as they're currently saying in Reykjavik, gott síodegi, which means 'good afternoon,' because there is a four-hour time difference between Ohio and Iceland, a fact I first learned spinning a globe in my local library." Mr. Lemoncello, his banana shoes burpsqueaking, stepped out of a room filled with dozens of black-and-white television monitors— the kind security guards watch at their workstations. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on this grand and auspicious day. Today I am pleased to announce the most marvelously stupendous game ever created: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library! The entire library will be the game board. Your children will be the game pieces. The winner will become famous all over the world." "How?" asked one of the fathers. "By starring in all of my commercials this holiday season. TV. Radio. Print. Billboards.

有羽毛的海盗帽。他正在吃一块七层生日蛋糕。 “早上好，或者像雷克雅未克人现在说的gott síodegi，意思是‘下午好’，因为俄亥俄州和冰岛之间有四个小时的时差，这是我第一次在当地图书馆旋转地球仪时了解到的。” 莱蒙切罗穿着一双香蕉鞋，从一间摆满了几十台黑白电视监视器的房间里走了出来，这些监视器是保安在他们的工作台上看到的那种。 “女士们，先生们，感谢大家在这个盛大而吉祥的日子里参加我们的活动。 今天我很高兴地宣布有史以来最神奇的游戏:逃离莱蒙切罗先生的图书馆!整个图书馆就是游戏板。 你的孩子就是游戏的棋子。 获胜者将闻名世界。” “怎么做?”其中一位父亲问。 “在这个假期里主演我所有的广告。 电视。收音机。打印。广告牌。

Cardboard cutouts in toy stores. His or her face will be everywhere." Mrs. Daley raised her hand. "Will they get paid?" "Oh, yes. In fact, you'll probably want to call me The Giver." "And what exactly does Haley have to do to win?" "Escape! From the library. I thought the game's title more or less gave that bit away." Mr. Lemoncello tapped a button in his pirate hat and an animated version of the library's floor plan was instantly displayed on the conference room's plasma-screen TVs. "Whoever is the first to use what they find in the library to find their way out of the library will be crowned the winner. Now then, the children cannot use the front door or the fire exits or set off any alarms. They cannot go out the way they went in. They can only use their wits, cunning, and intelligence to decipher clues and solve riddles that will eventually lead them to the location of the library's super-secret alternate exit. And, ladies

玩具店里的纸板剪纸。 他或她的脸将无处不在。” 戴利太太举起了手。 “他们会得到报酬吗?”“哦,是的。 事实上，你可能会想叫我赐予者。” “哈利到底要怎么做才能赢呢?”“逃!从图书馆。 我认为这款游戏的名字或多或少地透露了这一点。” 莱蒙切罗轻按了一下他的海盗帽上的一个按钮，会议室的等离子电视上立即出现了图书馆平面图的动画版本。 “谁第一个利用在图书馆里找到的东西找到走出图书馆的路，谁就会成为赢家。” 现在，孩子们不能使用前门或消防出口或触发任何警报。 他们不能像进去那样出去。 他们只能用自己的智慧、狡猾和智慧来破译线索和解决谜题，最终将他们带到图书馆的超级秘密备用出口的位置。 而且,女士们

and gentlemen, I assure you, such an alternate exit does indeed exist." The parents around the table started buzzing with excitement. "Participation, of course, will be purely optional and voluntary," said Mr. Lemoncello, clasping his hands behind his back and stalking around the room. Several parents pulled out cell phones. "And please—do not attempt to phone, email, text, fax, or send smoke signals to your children, encouraging them to enter the competition. We have blocked all communication into and out of the library. Only those who truly wish to stay and play shall stay and play. Anyone who chooses to leave the library will go home with lovely parting gifts and a souvenir pirate hat very similar to mine. They'll also be invited to my birthday party tomorrow afternoon." He held up his crumb-filled plate. "I've been sampling potential cake candidates for breakfast." Mrs. Keegan crossed her arms over her chest. "Will this game be dangerous?"

先生们，我向你们保证，这样的出路是存在的。” 餐桌旁的家长们开始兴奋地议论起来。 “当然，参与将完全是可选的和自愿的，”莱蒙切罗说，双手放在背后，在房间里踱来踱去。 几位家长拿出了手机。 “请不要试图给你的孩子打电话、发电子邮件、发短信、发传真或发烟雾信号，鼓励他们参加比赛。 我们已经封锁了所有进出图书馆的通讯。 只有那些真正想留下来玩的人才会留下来玩。 任何选择离开图书馆的人都会带着可爱的离别礼物和一顶海盗帽纪念品回家，这顶帽子和我的很像。 他们还将被邀请参加我明天下午的生日聚会。” 他举起盛满面包屑的盘子。 “我一直在为早餐挑选可能的蛋糕。” 基冈太太双臂交叉抱在胸前。 “这个游戏会有危险吗?”

"No," said Mr. Lemoncello. "Your children will be under constant video surveillance by security personnel in the library's control center. Dr. Zinchenko and I will also be monitoring their progress here in my private video-viewing suite. Should anything go wrong, we have paramedics, firefighters, and a team of former Navy SEALs— each with the heart of a samurai—standing by to swoop in and rescue your children. It'll be like The Hunger Games but with lots of food and no bows or arrows." "Why not just have the kids play one of your other games?" a parent suggested. "Why all this fuss?" "Because, my dear friends, these twelve children have lived their entire lives without a public library. As a result, they have no idea how extraordinarily useful, helpful, and funful—a word I recently invented—a library can be. This is their chance to discover that a library is more than a collection of dusty old books. It is a place to learn, explore, and grow!" "Mr. Lemoncello, I think what you're doing is fantastic," said one of the mothers.

“不，”莱蒙切罗说。 “您的孩子将受到图书馆控制中心保安人员的持续视频监控。 津琴科医生和我也会在我的私人视频观看室监视他们的进展。 如果出了什么差错，我们有医护人员、消防员和一队前海豹突击队队员——他们每个人都有一颗武士的心——随时准备冲进来救你的孩子。 就像《饥饿游戏》一样，但有很多食物，没有弓箭。” “为什么不让孩子们玩你的其他游戏呢?”一位家长建议道。 “为什么这么大惊小怪?”“因为，我亲爱的朋友们，这十二个孩子一辈子都没有公共图书馆。 因此，他们不知道图书馆是多么有用、有益和有趣——这是我最近发明的一个词。 这是他们发现图书馆不仅仅是收藏满是灰尘的旧书的机会。 这是一个学习、探索和成长的地方!”“先生。 莱蒙塞罗，我觉得你做的太棒了，”其中一位母亲说。

"Thank you," said Mr. Lemoncello, bowing and clicking his heels (which made them bruck like a chicken). "If any of you would like to check up on your children," announced Dr. Zinchenko, "please join us in the adjoining room." "Oh, they're a lot of fun to watch," said Mr. Lemoncello. "However, Mr. and Mrs. Keeley, I'm afraid your son Kyle does not enjoy the theme song from Rocky quite as much as I do!"

“谢谢你，”莱蒙切罗说着，鞠了一躬，咔哒咔哒地踩着他的脚跟(这让他的脚跟像只鸡一样嘎吱作响)。 “如果你们中有人想检查一下你的孩子，”医生宣布。 津琴科:“请到隔壁房间来。” “哦，它们看起来很有趣，”莱蒙切罗说。 “然而，基利先生和基利太太，恐怕你们的儿子凯尔不像我那样喜欢《洛奇》的主题曲!”