8 Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Over on the side of the stage, a shoe that looked like a peeled-open banana appeared from behind a curtain. When it landed, the shoe burp-squeaked. As a second banana shoe burp-squeaked onto the floor, Kyle looked up and there he was—Mr. Lemoncello! He had loose and floppy limbs and was dressed in a three-piece black suit with a bright red tie. His black broad-brimmed hat was cocked at a crooked angle atop his curly white

在舞台的另一边，一只看起来像剥开的香蕉的鞋子从窗帘后面出现了。 落地后，鞋子发出了吱吱的打嗝声。 当第二声香蕉鞋的打嗝声在地板上吱吱作响时，凯尔抬起头来，他就在那里。 Lemoncello !他四肢松弛，穿着三件套黑色西装，系着一条鲜红色的领带。 他那顶黑色宽边帽歪在卷曲的白色帽子上

hair. Kyle was so close he could see a sly twinkle sparkling in Mr. Lemoncello's coal-black eyes. Treading very carefully, Mr. Lemoncello walked toward the podium. The burp-squeaks in his shoes seemed to change pitch depending on how hard he landed on his heels. He added a couple of little jig steps, a quick hop and a stutterstep skip, and yes—his shoes were squeaking out a song. "Pop Goes the Weasel." On the Pop! Mr. Lemoncello popped behind the podium. The crowd went wild. Mr. Lemoncello politely bowed and said, very softly, "Tank you. Tank you. Grazie. Grazie." He bent forward so his mouth was maybe an inch away from the microphone. "Buon giorno, boise and-uh girls-a." He spoke very timidly, very slowly. "Tees ees how my-uh momma and my-uh poppa teach-uh me to speakeh de English." He wiggled his ears. Straightened his back. "But then," he said in a crisp, clear voice, "I went to the Alexandriaville Public Library, where

的头发。凯尔离得很近，他可以看到莱蒙切罗乌黑的眼睛里闪烁着狡猾的光芒。 莱蒙切罗小心翼翼地走向讲台。 他鞋子里的打嗝声似乎随着他脚跟着地的力度而改变音调。 他加了几个快步，一个快速的跳跃和一个结结巴巴的跳跃，是的，他的鞋子吱吱作响地唱出了一首歌。 “Pop Goes the Weasel。”在Pop!莱蒙切罗突然站到讲台后面。 人群变得疯狂起来。莱蒙塞罗礼貌地鞠了一躬，非常温柔地说:“谢谢你。 坦克你。谢谢。谢谢。” 他向前弯下腰，这样他的嘴可能离麦克风只有一英寸远。 “祝你好运，博伊斯，嗯，姑娘们。” 他说话很胆怯，很慢。 “这就是我——呃妈妈和我——呃爸爸是怎么教我说英语的。” 他扭动着耳朵。他挺直了背。 “但后来，”他用清脆、清晰的声音说，“我去了亚历山大公共图书馆，在那里

a wonderful librarian named Mrs. Gail Tobin helped me learn how to speak like this: 'If two witches were watching two watches, which witch would watch which watch?' I can also speak while upside down and underwater, but not today because I just had this suit dry-cleaned and do not want to get it wet." Mr. Lemoncello bounced across the stage like a happy grasshopper. "Now then, children, if I may call you that— which I must because I have not yet memorized all of your names, even though I am working on it— what do you think is the most amazingly incredible thing you'll find inside your wondrous new library, besides, of course, all the knowledge you need to do anything and everything you ever want or need to do?" No one said anything. They were too mesmerized by Mr. Lemoncello's rat-a-tat words. "Would it be: A) robots silently whizzing their way through the library, restocking the shelves, B) the Electronic Learning Center, with three dozen plasma-screen TVs all connected to flight simulators and educational video games, or C) the

一位名叫盖尔·托宾夫人的优秀图书管理员帮助我学会了这样说话:“如果两个女巫在看两只手表，哪个女巫会看哪只手表?”我也能在倒立和水下说话，但今天不行，因为我刚干洗了这套西装，不想把它弄湿。” 莱蒙切罗先生像一只快乐的蚱蜢一样在舞台上跳来跳去。 “好了，孩子们，如果我可以这样称呼你们的话——我必须这么称呼你们，因为我还没有记住你们所有人的名字，尽管我正在努力——你们认为，在你们奇妙的新图书馆里，除了你们想做的任何事情和需要做的所有知识之外，你们能找到的最令人惊奇的不可思议的东西是什么?”没有人说什么。 他们都被莱蒙切罗先生的“打了一巴掌”的话迷住了。 会是:A)机器人在图书馆里悄无声息地穿梭，给书架补货;B)电子学习中心(Electronic Learning Center)，里面有30多台等离子电视，都连接着飞行模拟器和教育视频游戏

Wonder Dome? Lined with ten giant video screens, it can make the whole building feel like a rocket ship blasting off into outer space!" "The game room!" someone shouted. "The robots!" "The video dome!" Mr. Lemoncello raced back to the podium and made a buzzing noise into the microphone. "Sorry. The correct answer is—and not just because of Winn-Dixie—D) all of the above!" The crowd went wild. Mr. Lemoncello whirled around to face his head librarian. "Dr. Zinchenko? Will you kindly help me pass out our first twelve library cards?" It was time to announce the essay contest winners. Dr. Zinchenko placed a stack of twelve shiny cards on the podium in front of Mr. Lemoncello. "Please," he said, "as I call your name, come join me onstage. Miguel Fernandez." "Yes!" Miguel jumped up out of his seat. "Akimi Hughes." "Whoo-hoo."

想知道圆顶吗?它有10个巨大的视频屏幕，可以让整个建筑感觉像一艘火箭飞船发射到外太空!”“游戏室!”有人喊道。 “机器人!”“视频穹顶!”莱蒙切罗跑回讲台，对着麦克风发出嗡嗡声。 “对不起。正确的答案是——不仅仅是因为Winn-Dixie-D)以上所有内容!”人群变得疯狂起来。 莱蒙切罗先生转过身来，面对着他的图书管理员主管。 “Zinchenko博士?你能帮我发一下我们的头12张借书证吗?”是时候宣布作文比赛的获胜者了。 津琴科博士在莱蒙切罗先生面前的讲台上放了一摞12张闪亮的卡片。 “当我叫到你的名字时，”他说，“请和我一起上台。 米格尔费尔南德斯。”“是的!”米格尔从座位上跳了起来。 “Akimi休斯。”“Whoo-hoo。”

Kyle was thrilled to see his two friends be the first ones called to the stage. "Andrew Peckleman, Bridgette Wadge, Sierra Russell, Yasmeen Smith-Snyder." Yasmeen squealed when her name was called. "Sean Keegan, Haley Daley, Rose Vermette, and Kayla Corson." Ten kids, all the same age as Kyle, were up onstage with his idol, Mr. Lemoncello. He was not. Only two more chances. As if reading his mind, Mr. Lemoncello said, "Only two more," and tapped a pair of library cards on the podium. "Charles Chiltington." "Gosh, really?" He dashed up to the podium and started pumping Mr. Lemoncello's hand. "Thank you, sir. This is such an honor. Truly. I mean that." "Thank you, Charles. May I have my hand back? I need it to flip over this final card." "Of course, sir. But I cannot wait to spend the night in your library, or, as I like to call it, your athenaeum. Because, as I said in my essay, when you open a book, you open your mind!"

看到他的两个朋友第一个被叫上台，凯尔非常激动。 "Andrew Peckleman, Bridgette Wadge, Sierra Russell, Yasmeen Smith-Snyder。" 当叫到雅斯敏的名字时，她尖叫起来。 "肖恩·基冈，海莉·戴利，罗丝·维梅特和凯拉·科森" 十个和凯尔同龄的孩子，和他的偶像莱蒙切罗先生站在台上。 他不是。只有两次机会了。 莱蒙切罗似乎读懂了他的心思，说:“再来两张。”然后在讲台上敲了敲两张借书证。 “查尔斯Chiltington。”“哦,是真的吗?”他冲到讲台上，开始握着莱蒙切罗的手。 “谢谢你，先生。这是我的荣幸。” 真正的。我是说真的。”“谢谢你，查尔斯。 我可以把手拿回来吗?我需要它来翻最后一张牌。” “当然，先生。但是我等不及要在你的图书馆过夜了，或者，我喜欢叫它，你的雅典娜。 因为，正如我在我的文章中所说，当你打开一本书，你打开了你的思想!”

Finally, Charles the brownnoser let go of Mr. Lemoncello's hand and went over to line up with the other winners. "And last but not least," said Mr. Lemoncello, "Kyle Keeley." Kyle could not believe his ears. He thought he was dreaming. But then Akimi started waving for him to come on up! Dazed, Kyle made his way up the steps to join the others onstage. Mr. Lemoncello handed Kyle a library card. His name and the number twelve were printed on the front. Two book covers—I Love You, Stinky Face and The Napping House— were on the back. "Let's all pose for a picture, please," said the principal. When everybody moved into position for the photographer, Kyle found himself standing right next to Mr. Lemoncello. He swallowed hard. "I'm a big fan, sir," he said, his voice kind of shaky. "Why, thank you. And remind me—you are?" "I'm Kyle, sir. Kyle Keeley."

最后，阿谀奉承者查尔斯放开了莱蒙塞洛先生的手，走过去和其他获胜者站在一起。 “最后但并非最不重要的是，”莱蒙切罗先生说，“凯尔·基利。” 凯尔简直不敢相信自己的耳朵。 他以为自己在做梦。 但后来明美开始挥手让他上来!凯尔迷迷糊糊地走上台阶，加入了舞台上的其他人。 莱蒙切罗先生递给凯尔一张借书证。 他的名字和数字12被印在正面。 背后是两本书的封面——《爱你》、《臭脸》和《打盹的房子》。 “让我们都摆个姿势照张相吧，”校长说。 当所有人都准备好拍照时，凯尔发现自己正好站在莱蒙切罗先生旁边。 他使劲咽了口气。“我是你的忠实粉丝，先生。”他说，声音有些颤抖。 “啊，谢谢你。提醒我，你是谁?”“我是凯尔，先生。 凯尔·基利。”