17 Chapter 17

Chapter 17 "Excellent escape plan, Charles," said Mr. Lemoncello on the video screens. "Thank you, sir," said Chiltington, smoothing out his khaki pants. "And just so you know, I saw an ant crawling up the side of this seat. That's why I almost kicked it." "How very thoughtful of you, Charles." "Mr. Lemoncello?" said Akimi. "Yes?" "How come the sewer started smelling like a pine tree?"

“绝妙的逃跑计划，查尔斯，”莱蒙切罗先生在电视屏幕上说。 “谢谢你，先生。”齐廷顿说着，把他的卡其裤熨平。 “就像你知道的那样，我看到一只蚂蚁爬上了这个座位的一侧。 这就是我差点踢它的原因。” “你想得真周到，查尔斯。” “莱蒙切罗先生?”明米说。 “是吗?”“下水道怎么开始散发出松树的味道?”

"Because I enjoy the odor of pine trees much more than the stench of horse poop. How about you?" "Definitely." "Now then, will everybody else please join us upstairs in the Electronic Learning Center? I have a very important announcement to make." Kyle heard feet clomping up the stairs and soon Andrew, Bridgette, Yasmeen, Sean, Haley, Rose, and Kayla hurried into the room. "Are we all here?" said Mr. Lemoncello. "Everybody except Sierra Russell," said Kyle. "Ah, yes. I saw her downstairs reading When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. We'll reach her later. It's nearly noon and I'm eager to move on to the next round of our competition." "What competition?" asked Yasmeen Smith- Snyder. "The one we are about to begin." "Sir?" said Sean Keegan. "I have stuff to do today." "That's fine, Sean. You are, of course, free to leave. If any of the rest of you do not wish to stay

“因为比起马粪的臭味，我更喜欢松树的气味。 你呢?”“肯定”。 “现在，请大家到楼上的电子学习中心来和我们一起好吗?” 我要宣布一件非常重要的事情。” 凯尔听到楼梯上有咚咚的脚步声，很快安德鲁、布里奇特、雅斯明、肖恩、哈利、罗丝和凯拉匆匆走进房间。 “我们都到齐了吗?”莱蒙切罗先生说。 凯尔说:“除了塞拉·拉塞尔，每个人都有。” “啊,是的。我看见她在楼下读丽贝卡·斯特德的《当你找到我》。 我们稍后再联系她。快到中午了，我迫不及待地想进入下一轮比赛。” “什么比赛?”Yasmeen Smith- Snyder问道。 “我们马上就要开始了。” “先生?”肖恩·基冈说。“我今天有事情要做。” “很好，肖恩。当然，你可以自由离开。 如果你们中有人不想留下来

and play, kindly deposit your library cards in the discard pile." A tile in the floor popped open and an empty goldfish bowl atop an ornate column rose up about three feet. "Just drop it in the bowl there, Sean. Attaboy. Follow the flashing red arrows in the floor to the nearest exit, where you will receive a lovely parting gift along with my everlasting admiration for your essay-writing abilities." Bright red arrows danced across the floor. Sean followed them. "What happens if we decide to stay?" asked Akimi. "You will be given the chance to play a brandnew, exciting game!" "Is there a prize for the winner?" demanded Haley Daley. "Oh, yes." Now Miguel shot up his hand. "Mr. Lemoncello? What do we have to do to win?" "Simple: Find your way out of the library using only what's in the library." "Awesome!"

玩的时候，请把你的借书证放在废纸堆里。” 地板上的一块瓷砖突然打开，一个空的金鱼缸在一个华丽的柱子上上升了大约三英尺。 “把它扔到那个碗里，肖恩。 好啊!。跟着地板上闪烁的红色箭头走到最近的出口，在那里你会收到一份可爱的离别礼物，以及我对你写作能力的永恒钦佩。” 鲜红色的箭头在地板上飞舞。 肖恩跟着他们。“如果我们决定留下来怎么办?”明美问。 “你将有机会玩一个全新的、令人兴奋的游戏!”“获胜者有奖品吗?”哈利·戴利问道。 “哦,是的。”这时米格尔猛地举起手来。 “Lemoncello先生吗?我们要怎么做才能赢?”“很简单:只用图书馆里的东西找到走出图书馆的路。” “太棒了!”

"Lame," mumbled Kayla Corson. "I'm outta here." She plunked her library card into the fishbowl and followed the blinking arrows out the door. "Does anyone else want or need to leave?" "Sorry, sir. I have soccer at two," said Rose Vermette. "See you guys later." She dropped her card into the discard bowl. The instant she did, bells rang, confetti fell from the ceiling, and every electronic console in the game room started ding-ding-dinging. "Congratulations, Rose!" cried Mr. Lemoncello, who had put on a pointy party hat. "For sticking to your prior commitments, you will receive our special Prior Commitment Sticker prize: a complete set of Lemoncello Sticker Picture Games and a laptop computer to play them on! Enjoy." Charles Chiltington stepped a little closer to the security camera as Rose Vermette skipped out of the room. "Sir, might we assume that the prize for winning your brand-new game will be even better than a laptop computer?"

“蹩脚，”凯拉·科森咕哝道。 “我要走了。”她把借书证扔进鱼缸，跟着闪烁的箭头出了门。 “还有其他人想要或需要离开吗?”“对不起,先生。 我两点钟有足球课，”罗斯·维尔梅特说。 “待会见。”她把名片扔进了废弃的碗里。 她一开口，铃声就响了，彩纸从天花板上掉了下来，游戏室里的每个电子游戏机都开始叮叮叮响。 “恭喜你，罗斯!”莱蒙切罗先生叫道，他戴上了一顶尖尖的派对帽。 “如果你坚持你之前的承诺，你将获得我们的特殊承诺贴纸奖:一套完整的柠檬切洛贴纸图片游戏和一台笔记本电脑来玩它们!”享受。” 查尔斯·齐廷顿向监控摄像头靠近了一点，罗斯·维梅特跳出了房间。 “先生，我们是否可以假设，赢得您的新游戏的奖品会比一台笔记本电脑更好呢?”

"Yes," said Mr. Lemoncello, taking off his party hat. "You may so assume." "I'm in," said Chiltington. "Me too," said Kyle. "Me too," added Akimi, Miguel, Andrew, Bridgette, Yasmeen, and Haley. Sierra Russell wandered into the room. Her nose was buried so deep in her book she didn't even notice Mr. Lemoncello's gigantic face on all the video screens. "Is something going on?" she said, mostly to her book pages. "You bet!" boomed Mr. Lemoncello. Sierra's head snapped up. "Oh. Hello, sir." "Greetings, Sierra. Sorry to interrupt your reading. Just have a quick question: Will you be staying or leaving?" "Well, sir, I'd like to stay. If that's okay?" "Okay? It is wondermous, another word I just made up. Now then, to read you the rules of the game—because every game needs rules—here is your friend and mine, Dr. Yanina Zinchenko!"

“是的，”莱蒙切罗先生说着，摘下了他的派对帽。 “你可以这么想。”“我加入，”奇廷顿说。 “我也是，”凯尔说。“我也是，”阿基米、米格尔、安德鲁、布里奇特、雅斯明和哈利说。 塞拉·拉塞尔走进房间。 她的鼻子深深地埋在书里，甚至没有注意到所有屏幕上的莱蒙切罗先生的巨脸。 “出什么事了吗?”她说，主要是对着她的书页。 “当然!”莱蒙切罗先生大声说。 塞拉猛地抬起头来。“哦。 你好,先生。”“你好,塞拉。 很抱歉打断你的阅读。 问一个简单的问题:你是留下还是离开?”“好吧，先生，我想留下来。 这样可以吗?”“好了吗?太棒了，这是我刚编的另一个词。 现在，让我们来读读游戏规则吧，因为每一场游戏都需要规则。 Yanina Zinchenko !”

The video screens switched to a close-up of the librarian with the red hair and glasses. "Your exit from the library must be completed between noon today and noon tomorrow," said Dr. Zinchenko. Mr. Lemoncello's head popped into a corner of her screen. "Tomorrow's my birthday, by the way. Mark your calendars." And he ducked back out of the frame. "Our security guards will continue holding your cell phones," said Dr. Zinchenko. "You may not use the library computers to contact anyone outside the building. You may, however, use them to conduct research. "You may also request three different types of outside assistance: one 'Ask an Expert,' one 'Librarian Consultation,' and one 'Extreme Challenge.' Please be advised: The Extreme Challenges are, as the name implies, extremely difficult. If you pass the challenge, your reward will be great. However, if you fail, you will be eliminated from the competition."

视频屏幕切换到红头发、戴眼镜的图书管理员的特写镜头。 “你必须在今天中午到明天中午之间离开图书馆。” Zinchenko。莱蒙切罗先生的头突然钻进了她的屏幕一角。 “顺便说一下，明天是我的生日。 在日历上做个记号。”然后他又从画框里闪了出来。 “我们的保安人员会继续拿着你们的手机。” Zinchenko。“你不能使用图书馆的电脑与楼外的任何人联系。 然而，你可以用它们来进行研究。 “你也可以要求三种不同类型的外部帮助:一种是‘咨询专家’，一种是‘图书管理员咨询’，还有一种是‘极限挑战’。”请注意:极限挑战，顾名思义，是非常困难的。 如果你通过了挑战，你将得到丰厚的回报。 但是，如果你失败了，你就会被淘汰。”