4 Chapter 4

Chapter 4 "So, exactly what kind of games are we talking about?" "I don't know," said Akimi. "Fun book stuff, I guess." "And do you think this new library will have equally new computers?" "Definitely." "Wi-Fi?" "Probably." Kyle nodded slowly. "And this all takes place Friday night?"

第4章“所以，我们谈论的到底是哪种游戏?”“我不知道，”明美说。 “有趣的书，我想。” “你认为这个新图书馆也会有同样新的电脑吗?”“肯定”。 “wi - fi ?”“可能”。凯尔慢慢地点了点头。 “这一切都发生在星期五晚上吗?”

"Yep." "Akimi, I think you just discovered a way for me to shorten my most recent groundation." "Your what?" "My game-deprived parental punishment." Kyle figured being locked in a library with computers on Friday night would be better than being stuck at home without any gaming gear at all. "Can I borrow a pen and a sheet of paper?" "What? You're going to write your essay now? On the bus?" "Better late than never." "They're due in homeroom, Kyle. First thing." "Fine. I'll keep it brief." Akimi shook her head and handed Kyle a notebook and a pen. The bus bounced over a speed bump into the school driveway. He would need to make his essay really, really short. He was hoping the twelve winners would be randomly pulled out of a hat or something and, like the lottery people always said in their TV commercials, you just had to "be in it to win it."

“是的。”“秋美，我想你刚刚发现了一个方法，可以缩短我最近的地面。” “你什么?”“我被剥夺了游戏的父母的惩罚。” 凯尔认为，周五晚上被锁在图书馆和电脑在一起，总比被困在家里没有任何游戏设备要好。 “我能借一支笔和一张纸吗?”“什么? 你现在要写论文了吗? 在公共汽车上?”“迟做总比不做好。” “他们要去教室上课了，凯尔。 第一件事。”“很好。我会长话短说的。” 明美摇了摇头，递给凯尔一个笔记本和一支笔。 公共汽车在减速带上颠簸着驶进了学校的车道。 他需要把文章写得非常非常短。 他希望12个中奖者会随机地从帽子里或别的什么东西里被抽出来，就像彩票的人在电视广告里经常说的那样，你只需要“参与其中就能赢得它”。

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Charles Chiltington was sitting in his father's library, working with the college student who'd been hired to help him polish up his extra-credit essay. He was dressed in his typical school uniform: khaki slacks, blue blazer, button-down shirt, and tastefully striped tie. He was the only student at Alexandriaville Middle School who dressed that way. "What's a big word for 'library'?" Charles asked his tutor. "Teachers love big words." " 'Book repository.' " "Bigger, please." "Um, 'athenaeum.' " "Perfect! It's such a weird word, they'll have to look it up." Charles made the change, saved the file, and sent the document off to the printer. "Your dad sure reads a lot," said his ELA tutor, admiring the leather-bound books lining the walls of Mr. Chiltington's home library. "Knowledge is power," said Charles. "It's one of our fundamental family philosophies." Another was We eat losers for breakfast.

与此同时，在镇上的另一个地方，查尔斯·齐廷顿正坐在他父亲的图书馆里，和一个被雇来帮他润饰课外论文的大学生一起工作。 他穿着典型的校服:卡其色休闲裤、蓝色运动夹克、纽扣领衬衫，系着一条雅致的条纹领带。 他是亚历山德里维尔中学唯一一个这样穿的学生。 “‘图书馆’的大字是什么?”查尔斯问他的家庭教师。 “老师喜欢大词。” “‘书库。’”“大一点的。” “嗯,”图书馆。’”“太好了!这个词太奇怪了，他们得去查一下。” 查尔斯做了修改，保存了文件，然后把文件发给了打印机。 “你爸爸确实读了很多书，”他的ELA导师说，欣赏着奇廷顿家图书馆墙壁上的皮革装帧书。 “知识就是力量，”查尔斯说。 “这是我们基本的家庭哲学之一。” 另一个是，我们把失败者当早餐吃。

Kyle and Akimi climbed off the bus and headed into the school. "You know," said Akimi, "my dad told me the library people had like a bazillion different architects doing drawings and blueprints that they couldn't share with each other." "How come?" "To keep everything super secret. My dad and his firm did the front door and that was it." The second they stepped into Mrs. Cameron's classroom for homeroom period, Miguel Fernandez shouted, "Hey, Kyle! Check it out, bro." He held up a clear plastic binder maybe two inches thick. "I totally aced my essay, man!" "The library dealio?" "Yeah! I put in pictures and charts, plus a whole section about the Ancient Library of Alexandria, Egypt, since this is Alexandriaville, Ohio!" "Cool," said Kyle. Miguel Fernandez was super enthusiastic about everything. He was also president of the school's Library Aide Society. "Hey, Kyle—you know what they say about libraries?" "Uh, not really."

凯尔和秋美下了车，朝学校走去。 “你知道，”明美说，“我爸爸告诉我，图书馆的人有无数不同的建筑师在做图纸和蓝图，他们不能互相分享。” “怎么?”“把一切都保密。 我爸爸和他的公司负责前门，仅此而已。” 当他们走进卡梅伦夫人的教室准备上课时，米格尔·费尔南德斯喊道:“嘿，凯尔!看看吧，兄弟。” 他拿起一个大概两英寸厚的透明塑料活页夹。 “伙计，我的论文考了满分!”“图书馆的交易?”“是啊!我放了图片和图表，还有一整部分是关于埃及亚历山大古图书馆的，因为这里是俄亥俄州的亚历山大维尔!”“酷，”凯尔说。 米格尔·费尔南德斯对一切都超级热情。 他还是学校图书馆助理协会的主席。 “嘿，凯尔——你知道人们怎么说图书馆吗?”“嗯，不太好。”

"They have something for every chapter of your life!" While Kyle groaned, the second bell rang. "All right, everybody," said Mrs. Dana Cameron, Kyle's homeroom teacher. "Time to turn in your extra-credit essays." She started walking up and down the rows of desks. "The judges will be meeting in the faculty lounge this morning to make the preliminary cut.…" Crap, thought Kyle. There were judges. This was not going to be a bingo-ball drawing like the lottery. "Mr. Keeley?" The teacher hovered over his desk. "Did you write an essay?" "Yeah. Sort of." "I'm sorry. I don't understand. Either you wrote an essay or you didn't." Kyle halfheartedly handed her his hastily scribbled sheet of paper. And unfortunately, Mrs. Cameron read it. Out loud. " 'Balloons. There might be balloons.' " The classroom erupted with laughter.

“他们为你生命中的每一个篇章都准备了一些东西!”凯尔呻吟着，第二个铃响了。 “好了，同学们，”凯尔的班主任达纳·卡梅伦夫人说。 “是时候上交你们的课外论文了。” 她开始在一排排课桌间走来走去。 “评委们今天上午将在教师休息室开会，进行初步筛选。“糟了，凯尔想。 有法官。这不是像彩票那样的宾果球抽奖。 “基利先生吗?”老师在讲台上徘徊。 “你写文章了吗?”“是的。 的。”“我很抱歉。我不明白。 你要么写论文，要么不写。” 凯尔半心半意地把那张草草写好的纸递给了她。 不幸的是，卡梅伦夫人读了。 大声。“气球。可能会有气球。’”教室里爆发出一阵笑声。

Until Mrs. Cameron did that tilt-down-herglasses- and-glare-over-them thing she did to terrify everybody into total silence. "This is your essay, Kyle?" "Yes, ma'am. We were supposed to write why we're excited about the grand opening and, well, balloons are always my favorite part." "I see," said Mrs. Cameron. "You know, Kyle, your brother Curtis wrote excellent essays when he was in my class." "Yes, Mrs. Cameron," mumbled Kyle. Mrs. Cameron sighed contentedly. "Please give him my regards." "Yes, ma'am." Mrs. Cameron moved on to the next desk. Miguel eagerly handed her his thick booklet. "Very well done, Miguel." "Thank you, Mrs. Cameron!" Kyle heard an odd noise out in the parking lot. A puttering, clunking, clanking sound. "Oh, my," said Mrs. Cameron, "I wonder if that's him!" She hurried to the window and pulled up the blinds. All the kids in the classroom followed her.

直到卡梅伦夫人歪着眼镜瞪着他们，把大家吓得鸦鸦无声。 “这是你的论文吗，凯尔?”“是的,女士。 我们应该写为什么我们对盛大开幕感到兴奋，嗯，气球一直是我最喜欢的部分。” “我明白了，”卡梅伦夫人说。 “你知道吗，凯尔，你哥哥柯蒂斯在我班上的时候写的文章很好。” “是的，卡梅伦夫人。”凯尔咕哝着。 卡梅伦夫人满意地叹了口气。 “请代我向他问好。” “是的,女士。”卡梅伦夫人走到另一张桌子旁。 米格尔急切地把厚厚的小册子递给她。 “干得好，米格尔。”“谢谢你，卡梅伦夫人!”凯尔听到停车场有奇怪的声音。 一种噼里啪啦、哐当哐当的声音。 “哦，天哪，”卡梅伦夫人说，“我不知道那是不是他!”她急忙走到窗前，拉上百叶窗。 教室里所有的孩子都跟着她。