54 Chapter 54

Chapter 54 On the first floor, Charles was at long last video chatting with his uncle, James Willoughby III, the librarian of Congress, who had finally shown up for the Ask an Expert call. "Sorry for the delay, Charles." "That's okay, Uncle Jimmy," Charles said, straining to smile and not scream. "The time is now ELEVEN a.m.," announced the annoyingly placid lady in the ceiling. "This game will end in ONE hour." Charles had to hustle.

第54章在一楼，查尔斯终于和他的叔叔詹姆斯·威洛比三世视频聊天了。詹姆斯·威洛比三世是国会图书馆的图书管理员，他终于来参加了“咨询专家”的电话会议。 “抱歉耽搁了，查尔斯。” “没关系，吉米叔叔，”查尔斯说，努力忍住不叫。 “现在是上午11点，”天花板上那位平静得令人讨厌的女士宣布。 “这场比赛将在一小时内结束。” 查尔斯必须抓紧时间。

"Sir, I know you're a very important, very busy man, so I just have one quick question: If I were a book on true crimes in the state of Ohio, where would you shelve me?" "Library of Congress classification?" "No, sir. Dewey decimal." "Ah. Easy. 364 point 1. What comes after the one will depend, of course, on how many books a library …" Charles didn't stick around to hear the rest of his uncle's answer. He took off running for the closest spiral staircase up to the second floor. As he ascended the steps, two at a time, he saw Kyle Keeley and his entire entourage running down a staircase from the third floor. Charles reached the second-floor balcony first. He darted around the bend, past the door to the 500s room, the 400s. Keeley and his crew were coming from the opposite direction, but Charles reached the door to the 300s room before them. He swiped his library card, yanked on the handle, and dashed into the room.

“先生，我知道您是一个非常重要、非常忙碌的人，所以我只有一个简短的问题:如果我是一本关于俄亥俄州真实犯罪的书，您会把我放在哪里?”“国会图书馆的分类?”“不,先生。 杜威十进制。”“啊。一件容易的事。 364点1。当然，这后面的内容取决于图书馆有多少书……”查尔斯没有再听叔叔的回答。 他跑向最近的螺旋楼梯，上了二楼。 当他一步两级地走上楼梯时，他看到凯尔·基利和他的整个随从从三楼跑下楼梯。 查尔斯先到了二楼的阳台。 他飞快地转过弯，经过500号房间的门，400号房间。 基利和他的船员正从相反的方向过来，但查尔斯比他们先到了300号房间的门口。 他刷了一下借书证，猛拉把手，冲进了房间。

He scanned the shelves and headed to his right. He heard Keeley enter the room. Glancing over his shoulder, Charles saw Keeley go left. Charles dashed up an aisle between bookcases. He read the number at the end of each row of shelves. 310. 320. 330. One of those robots with the book baskets came rumbling across his path, but Charles was able to dodge it. 340. 350. Keeley's footsteps pounded up the passageway on the other side of the shelving units to his left. In the middle of the 300s room, they entered an open space with a judge's bench and witness box. Charles was getting closer to the True Crime section. But so was Kyle. Charles saw Keeley read something off his palm.

他扫视了一下货架，然后向右边走去。 他听见基利走进房间。 查尔斯回头看了一眼，看见基利往左边走了。 查尔斯冲进书架之间的过道。 他读着每排书架末尾的数字。 310. 320. 330. 其中一个带着书篮的机器人轰隆隆地从他面前走过来，但查尔斯躲过了它。 340. 350. 基利的脚步声在他左边架子另一边的过道上砰砰作响。 在300多岁的房间中间，他们进入了一个有法官席和证人席的空地。 查尔斯离真案组越来越近了。 但凯尔也是。查尔斯看见基利在看他手心上的什么东西。

He had the whole call number! It was time to change tactics. Charles hung back and let Keeley take the lead. Kyle rushed toward a bookcase. Charles sprinted after him. "Got it!" Kyle shouted as he reached for a book on the shelf. But before he could completely pull it out, Charles grabbed hold of the book, too. They both yanked it off the shelf. Kyle had the spine; Charles had hold of the top. They tugged it back and forth. While they wrestled with the book, Keeley's teammates caught up to them. "Careful, Kyle," cried Sierra Russell. "Don't hurt the book." Charles grinned. Keeley, the sentimental sap, was listening to the silly, bookish girl and easing up on his grip. Giving Charles his chance. He body-checked Keeley. Slammed into him with his shoulder. Sent him flying, the book tumbling. Charles snatched it off the floor.

他有整个电话号码!是时候改变策略了。 查尔斯退缩了，让基利领先。 凯尔冲向一个书架。 查尔斯紧追不舍。 “明白了!”凯尔喊道，他伸手去拿书架上的一本书。 但还没等他把它完全拉出来，查尔斯就把书也抓住了。 他们俩都把它从架子上拽了下来。 凯尔有脊椎;查理掌握了大权。 他们来回地拉着它。 当他们纠结着这本书时，基利的队友追上了他们。 “小心点，凯尔。”塞拉·拉塞尔喊道。 “别弄伤这本书。”查尔斯咧嘴一笑。 基利，这个多愁善感的笨蛋，正听着这个愚蠢的书呆子姑娘的话，松开了他的手。 给查尔斯机会。 他拦住了基利的身体。用肩膀撞了他一下。 把他打飞了，书也翻了。 查尔斯把它从地板上抢了起来。

He had the book. He quickly flipped through the table of contents. Saw chapter 11 was about a robbery at the Gold Leaf Bank in Alexandriaville. He knew he'd won the game. Charles used his free hand to slap an "L" on his forehead. "Loser," he sneered at Keeley. A tiger roared, a whistle blew, and Mr. Lemoncello entered the room, accompanied by Clarence, Clement, and what looked like a rare Bengal tiger. "Mr. Chiltington?" Charles smiled. He knew Mr. Lemoncello was about to congratulate him for defying the odds and winning the game. He had single-handedly defeated Kyle Keeley's entire team! "Yes, sir, Mr. Lemoncello?" "Do you remember Dr. Zinchenko's number one rule?" "You bet, sir. No food or drink except in the Book Nook Café." "No," said Mr. Lemoncello, touching the tip of his nose and making a buzzer noise. "Dr. Z? Tell him what he should've said."

他拿着那本书。他迅速地翻了一下目录。 第11章讲的是发生在亚历山德里维尔金叶银行的抢劫案。 他知道他赢了这场比赛。 查尔斯用另一只手在额头上画了个“L”。 “窝囊废，”他嘲笑基利。 一只老虎咆哮着，一声哨声响起，莱蒙切罗先生走进了房间，克拉伦斯、克莱门特和一只看起来很罕见的孟加拉虎陪伴着他。 “Chiltington先生吗?”查尔斯笑了。 他知道莱蒙切罗先生会祝贺他克服困难赢得比赛。 他凭一己之力打败了凯尔·基利的整个球队!“什么事，莱蒙切罗先生?”“你还记得吗? 津琴科的第一条规则是什么?”“当然，先生。 除了书角咖啡馆，没有食物和饮料。” “不，”莱蒙切罗说着，摸了摸鼻尖，发出了蜂鸣器的声音。 “Z博士?告诉他他应该说什么。”

Dr. Zinchenko's voice purred out of the ceiling speakers. "Be gentle. With each other and, most especially, the library's books and exhibits." "I know," said Charles. "That's why I had to stop Kyle Keeley. He was ready to rip the cover off this poor book. Heck, sir, everybody at school knows that Kyle Keeley is a maniac. He'll do anything to win a game." Mr. Lemoncello turned to Keeley. "Is that true, Kyle? Would you actually destroy property if it stood between you and your prize?" "W-well, sir …" Keeley was stammering. The fool didn't know how to lie. Charles quickly opened the book to chapter 11 and slipped in his library card to bookmark the location. "You should ask Keeley about the window he broke, sir." Mr. Lemoncello turned to face Charles again. "The window?" "Yes, sir. The whole school heard about it. See, Kyle Keeley and his two brothers were playing some sort of wild scavenger hunt game and …"

津琴科医生的声音从天花板上的扬声器里传出来。 “要温柔。尤其是图书馆的书籍和展品。” “我知道，”查尔斯说。“这就是为什么我必须阻止凯尔·基利。 他准备撕掉这本可怜的书的封面。 见鬼，先生，学校里每个人都知道凯尔·基利是个疯子。 为了赢得比赛，他什么都愿意做。” 莱蒙塞罗先生转向基利。 “是真的吗，凯尔?”如果它挡在你和战利品之间，你真的会毁掉它吗?”“唔，先生……”基利结结巴巴地说。 那个傻瓜不知道如何说谎。 查尔斯迅速翻开书，翻到第十一章，把借书证塞进书里，把书放在书签里。 “你应该问问基利，他打碎了那扇窗户，先生。” 莱蒙塞罗先生又转过身来面对查尔斯。 “窗户?”“是的，先生，整个学校都听说了。 你看，凯尔·基利和他的两个兄弟在玩某种疯狂的寻宝游戏，然后……”