33 Chapter 33

Chapter 33 "Let's put the two new cards on the table," said Charles. He and his so-called teammates, Andrew and Haley (Charles planned on dumping them both right before he made his glorious solo exit from the library), had scoured the library together for hours looking for more book cover matches. Peckleman wasn't nearly as good with the Dewey decimal system as he had claimed to be. And Charles needed someone to do that sort of thing for him. His father always hired tutors or

“让我们把这两张新牌放在桌子上，”查尔斯说。 他和他所谓的队友安德鲁和哈利(查尔斯计划在他光荣地独自离开图书馆之前把他们俩都甩了)一起在图书馆里搜了好几个小时，寻找更多的书封面匹配。 佩克曼对杜威十进位分类法并不像他自己宣称的那样精通。 查尔斯需要有人帮他做这些事。 他的父亲总是请家庭教师

research assistants for him whenever Charles had to do a major paper or report. Finally, around six in, coincidentally, the 600s room, they scored twice, finding Tea for You and Me (641.3372) and Why Wait to Lose Weight? (613.2522). Now their picture puzzle had only four blanks remaining:

每当查尔斯要写一篇重要的论文或报告时，他都是他的研究助理。 最后，巧合的是，在6点左右，在600号房间，他们得分两次，找到了你和我的茶(641.3372)和为什么要减肥? (613.2522)。现在他们的拼图只剩下四个空白了:

"Okay," said Andrew, "I think it's pretty clear. 'Woolly BLANK walk up the skinny BLANK BLANK house Indian and nineteen BLANK.' " Charles nodded and said, "Interesting," even though he knew Peckleman was way off. "Uh, hello?" said Haley. "That doesn't make any sense." "Sure it does," said Andrew. "Uh, no it doesn't." In his head, Charles had decoded the clues so far as "Ewe (a female sheep) BLANK walk out the (t+h+e) way (weigh) BLANK BLANK Inn in passed (past) BLANK." But out loud, he said, "I think we just need to tweak Andrew's translation a little." "Fine. Go ahead. I don't care." Andrew slumped down in his seat to sulk. "How about 'She BLANK walks out the skinny BLANK BLANK house five hundred and past BLANK.' " "Where'd you get 'she'?" asked Haley. "From 'sheep.' The card you gave us." "Actually, I think the sheep is supposed to represent 'you.' Because a ewe is a female sheep."

“好吧，”安德鲁说，“我想很清楚了。 Woolly BLANK走到瘦骨嶙峋的BLANK屋，印第安人和19个BLANK。’”查尔斯点了点头，说:“有意思。”尽管他知道佩克曼说得太离谱了。 “呃，喂?”哈利说。“这没有任何意义。” “当然有，”安德鲁说。 “呃，没有。”在他的脑海里，查尔斯已经破译了到目前为止的线索:“母羊(一只母羊)从(t+h+e)路(称重)出来”。 但他大声说:“我认为我们只需要稍微调整一下安德鲁的翻译。” “很好。去做吧。我不在乎。” 安德鲁一屁股坐在座位上生闷气。 “要不这样，‘She BLANK走出那间瘦弱的BLANK house，走过BLANK 500英里。“你从哪儿弄来的‘她’?”哈利问。 “从“羊”。你给我们的卡片。” “实际上，我认为羊应该代表‘你’。因为ewe就是母羊。”

"Fascinating," said Charles. "I didn't figure that out." What he did figure out was that Haley Daley was much smarter than he had assumed. She could be a serious threat. And no way was Charles sharing his prize with anybody, especially her. "And how did you get 'five hundred' from Indiana?" she asked. "Simple. Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana, is home to a race known as the Indy 500." "Okay. So how about 'You BLANK walk out the skinny BLANK BLANK in'—because the Nancy Drew book was about an inn—'five hundred pass, or past, BLANK.' " Now Peckleman piped up. "That makes more sense than what you said, Charles." "Indeed," said Charles, sounding magnanimous. "Perhaps the clues are telling us to locate a secret skinny passageway five hundred paces past some landmark here in the library." Andrew was excited. "This is like the pirate map from Treasure Island!" "Or," said Haley, "maybe these clues are telling us we need to go out and find the four books we

“真有意思，”查尔斯说。 “我没想明白。” 他发现的是，海莉·戴利比他想象的要聪明得多。 她可能是个严重的威胁。 查尔斯不可能和任何人分享他的战利品，尤其是她。 “你是怎么从印第安纳州弄到‘500’的?”她问。 “简单。印第安纳州首府印第安纳波利斯是一项名为“印第500”的比赛的举办地。 “好吧。那么，“你从瘦骨嶙峋的空白中走出来”——因为《南希·德鲁》这本书讲的是一家旅馆——“五百步过去，或者过去，空白。”’”这时佩克曼插嘴说。 “这比你说的更有道理，查尔斯。” “是啊，"查尔斯说，口气很宽宏大量。 “也许这些线索告诉我们，在图书馆的某个地标五百步之外，有一条秘密的狭窄通道。” 安德鲁很兴奋。“这就像金银岛上的海盗地图!”“或者，”哈利说，“也许这些线索是在告诉我们，我们需要出去找那四本书

haven't found yet. We should split up. I'll go back to the four hundreds room." "We've already been there," said Andrew. "Well, you guys might've missed something." "Good idea," said Charles. He figured if Haley Daley wasted time retracing steps he and Andrew had already taken, she would find nothing new and become less of a threat. "Let's meet back here at, say, seven." "Fine." Haley left the meeting room. Charles went to the door and closed it. "You know what we really need?" he said to Andrew. "Chocolate milk and maybe some cookies?" Charles shook his head. "No, Andrew. We need whatever clues Kyle Keeley and his team have found. Especially if they have our missing cards."

还没找到。我们应该分开。 我要回到四百人的房间去。” “我们已经去过那里了，”安德鲁说。 “嗯，你们可能错过了什么。” “好主意，”查尔斯说。 他想，如果海莉·戴利把时间浪费在追溯他和安德鲁已经走过的路上，她就不会发现什么新东西，威胁也会减弱。 “我们七点回来见吧。” “很好。”海莉离开了会议室。 查尔斯走到门口关上了门。 “你知道我们真正需要什么吗?”他对安德鲁说。 “巧克力牛奶，再来点饼干怎么样?”查尔斯摇了摇头。 “不,安德鲁。我们需要凯尔·基利和他的团队找到的任何线索。 特别是如果他们有我们丢失的卡片。”