25 Chapter 25

Chapter 25 Akimi grabbed the door handle to the Young Adult Room. "It's locked." "Here," said Sierra. "Use my library card." "Huh," said Akimi. "Your books on the back are different, too." "I think they all are. I got The Egypt Game and The Westing Game." "Two books about games?" said Kyle. "Sweet." Akimi slipped Sierra's card into a reader slot above the doorknob. The door clicked. Kyle pushed it open.

第二十五章明美抓住了青年房间的门把手。 “这是锁着的。”“给你，”西拉说。 “用我的借书证。”“嗯，”明美说。 “你后面的书也不一样。” “我想他们都是。我得到了埃及和西部的比赛。” “两本关于游戏的书?”凯尔说。 “甜”。阿基米把塞拉的卡片塞进门把手上的读卡器槽里。 门咔哒一声关上了。凯尔推开了门。

The walls of the Young Adult Room were painted purple and yellow. There were swirly zebra-print rugs on the floor and a lumpy cluster of beanbag chairs. A couple of sofas were designed to look like Scrabble trays, with lettersquare pillows. Akimi nudged Kyle in the ribs. "Check it out." In the far corner stood a carnival ticket booth with a mechanical dummy seated inside. A "Fun & Games" banner hung off the booth's striped roof. The dummy inside the glass booth? He looked like Mr. Lemoncello. He wasn't wearing a turban, but the Mr. Lemoncello mannequin reminded Kyle of the Zoltar Speaks fortuneteller booths he'd seen in video game arcades. "That's not really him, is it?" said Akimi, who was right behind Kyle. "No. It's a mechanical doll." The frozen automaton was dressed in a black top hat and a bright red ringmaster jacket. Since the booth had the "Fun & Games" banner, Kyle figured you might have to talk to the dummy to get a game.

青年房间的墙壁被漆成紫色和黄色。 地板上铺着漩涡状的斑马图案地毯，还有一堆凹凸不平的豆袋椅。 有几张沙发被设计成拼字游戏(Scrabble)托盘的样子，枕头是方形的。 明美轻轻捅了捅凯尔的肋骨。 “看看吧。”在远处的角落里有一个狂欢节售票亭，里面坐着一个机械假人。 一个“娱乐与游戏”的横幅挂在展位的条纹屋顶上。 玻璃棚里的假人? 他看起来像莱蒙切罗先生。 他没有戴头巾，但莱蒙切罗先生的人体模型让凯尔想起了他在电子游戏厅看到的佐塔尔人说话的算命亭。 “那不是他，对吧?”站在凯尔后面的秋美说。 “没有。这是一个机械娃娃。” 这个冰冻的机器人戴着一顶黑色的大礼帽，穿着一件鲜红色的领班夹克。 既然摊位上有“娱乐与游戏”的横幅，凯尔觉得你可能得和假人谈谈才能拿到游戏。

"Um, hello," he said. "We'd like to play a board game." Bells rang, whistles whistled, and chaser lights blinked. The mechanical Mr. Lemoncello jostled to life. "If you want a game, just say its name." The life-size puppet's blocky jaw flapped open and shut—almost in sync with the words. "Do you have Mr. Lemoncello's Bewilderingly Baffling Bibliomania?" "Did Joey Pigza lose control? Was Ella enchanted?" "Huh?" "Just say yes," suggested Sierra. "Yes," said Kyle. "Well, great Gilly Hopkins," said the Lemoncello dummy, "here you go!" Kyle heard some mechanical noises and some whirring. Then, with a clunk, a wide slot popped open in the front of the booth and a game box slid out. "Enjoy!" said the dummy. "And remember, it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the

“嗯，你好，”他说。“我们想玩桌游。” 铃声响了，哨声响了，追逐灯闪烁着。 机械的莱蒙切罗先生勉强活了过来。 “如果你想要一款游戏，就说出它的名字。” 真人大小的木偶的块状下巴拍打着打开和关闭，几乎与单词同步。 “你有莱蒙塞罗先生的《莫名其妙的藏书癖》吗?”“乔伊·皮扎失控了吗?” 艾拉中了魔法吗?”“嗯?”“就答应吧，”西拉建议道。 “是的，”凯尔说。“好吧，伟大的吉莉·霍普金斯，”柠檬大提琴假人说，“给你!”凯尔听到一些机械的声音和呼呼声。 然后，随着一声巨响，展台前面的一个宽槽打开了，一个游戏盒滑了出来。 “好好享受!”木偶说。“记住，输赢并不重要，重要的是你如何玩游戏。

game. So be sure to read the instructions—so you'll know how to play the game." Kyle took the box to a table. "Okay," he said, raising the lid, "let's set it up and—" There was a beep and the door opened.… "Where is he?" Andrew Peckleman barged into the room waving his antique magazine—something called Popular Science Monthly. "Who're you looking for?" said Kyle. "Mr. Lemoncello. I heard him. Is he in here?" Kyle pointed toward the frozen Lemoncello doll sitting in the carnie booth. "It's a dummy." Peckleman whipped his head around from side to side. "Is there a camera in here?" "Right over the door." Peckleman spun around to face it. Kyle, Akimi, and Sierra formed a human shield to hide their Bibliomania box. "I want to use a second lifeline!" Peckleman shouted at the camera. "I want to talk to an expert!"

游戏。所以一定要阅读说明，这样你就知道怎么玩这个游戏了。” 凯尔把盒子拿到一张桌子旁。 “好吧，”他说着，掀开盖子，“我们把它装好，然后——”“哔”的一声，门开了。“他在哪儿?”安德鲁·佩克曼冲进房间，挥舞着他那本叫做《大众科学月刊》的古董杂志。 “你在找谁?”凯尔说。 “Lemoncello先生。我听到了。 他在这里吗?”凯尔指着嘉年华摊位上冰冻的莱蒙塞洛娃娃。 “这是一个假人。”佩克曼猛地把头扭来扭去。 “这里有摄像头吗?”“就在门那边。” 佩克曼转过身来面对它。 凯尔、阿基米和西拉组成了一个人体盾牌来隐藏他们的藏书箱。 “我想用第二条救生索!”佩克曼对着镜头喊道。 “我想和专家谈谈!”

"Very well," said a calm voice Kyle immediately recognized as belonging to Dr. Zinchenko. "With whom do you wish to speak?" "The guy who wrote this stupid magazine article about cracking open bank vaults in the 1930s!" "I'm afraid we cannot arrange that for you, Andrew." "Why not? The guy's a moron. He didn't tell me anything about how to open the front door, which is what my Google search said this magazine would do!" "We told you the way out isn't the way in." "That was just a red herring! A trick, to throw us off course." "No, Andrew. It was not. What is the title of the article?" " 'Newest Bank Vaults Defy the Cracksman.' " "Ah. Well, that should have been a hint. Apparently, the reporter concluded that thieves could not break open the vault doors. When doing Internet research, it is important to—" "Let me talk to the stupid idiot!"

“很好，”一个平静的声音说，凯尔立刻听出是来自于布朗博士。 Zinchenko。“你想和谁说话?”“那个在上世纪30年代在杂志上写了一篇关于打开银行金库的愚蠢文章的家伙!”“恐怕我们不能为你安排，安德鲁。” “为什么不呢?那家伙是个白痴。 他没有告诉我如何打开前门，而我在谷歌上搜索到这本杂志会这样做!”“我们告诉过你，出去的路不是进来的路。” “那只是转移注意力!”一个诡计，让我们偏离航线。” “不,安德鲁。事实并非如此。文章的标题是什么?”“最新的银行金库挑战破解者。’”“啊。 这应该是个暗示。 显然，记者的结论是小偷不可能撬开金库的门。 在做网络调查时，很重要的一点是——”“让我和那个愚蠢的白痴谈谈!”

"I am sorry. That magazine was published in 1936. The reporter is dead." "Well, then, I want to talk to Mr. Lemoncello!" "Excuse me?" "I want to talk to Mr. Lemoncello!" "This is highly irregular.…" "And so's this game. You people have it rigged so Miguel Fernandez will win. I know you do! That's why Mr. Lemoncello is afraid to talk to me." Kyle heard the carnival booth dummy clatter back to life. "Hello, Andrew. How may I help you?" This Lemoncello didn't sound prerecorded. Apparently, the real deal was using the dummy to do his talking. "Your library stinks!" shouted Peckleman. "Oh, dear. Have you boys been playing that castle sewer game again?" "No! But this stupid article should've given me the stupid answer but the stupid writer didn't write what he should've written." "I see. And can you rephrase that in the form of a question?"

“我很抱歉。那本杂志出版于1936年。 记者死了。”“那么，我想和莱蒙切罗先生谈谈!”“对不起?”“我要和莱蒙切罗先生说话!”“这是极不正常的。”“这个游戏也一样。 你们操纵了选举，让米格尔·费尔南德斯赢。 我知道你喜欢!所以莱蒙切罗先生不敢跟我说话。” 凯尔听到嘉年华摊位的假人咔哒一声复活了。 “你好,安德鲁。我能为您做些什么?”这首莱蒙切罗听起来不像是预先录制的。 显然，真正的骗局是利用假人说话。 “你的图书馆臭死了!” “哦,亲爱的。你们又在玩那个城堡下水道的游戏了吗?”“不!但是这篇愚蠢的文章应该给我一个愚蠢的答案，但是这个愚蠢的作者没有写出他应该写的东西。” “我明白了。你能用问题的形式重新表述吗?”