16 Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Just after dark, Kyle and his teammates put on their opening ceremonies costumes and headed out to the motel's central courtyard. A bandstand had been erected at one end of the grassy rectangle situated in the middle of the motel's chalet-style units. Mr. Lemoncello, Dr. Zinchenko, and the mayor of Alexandriaville stood on the platform, ready to review the thirty-two Olympians. Mr. Lemoncello was dressed in a shimmering silver toga and silver laurel-leaf crown. He looked a little like the male tribute from District Three in

天黑后，凯尔和他的队友们穿上开幕式的服装，来到汽车旅馆的中央庭院。 在汽车旅馆小木屋式单元中间长满草的长方形场地的一端，竖起了一个音乐台。 莱蒙切罗先生、津琴科博士和亚历山德里维尔市长站在讲台上，准备检阅三十二名奥运选手。 莱蒙切罗穿着一件闪闪发光的银色长袍，头戴银色月桂叶花冠。 他看起来有点像2003年第三区来的男贡

a Hunger Games parade. Dr. Zinchenko was all in red, again. Shiny red sequins. The mayor wore a black trench coat. He wasn't much on dressing up. The eight teams marched, one at a time, into the motel's version of an arena and walked around it, just like the athletes at the ancient Greek Olympic Games did (except those guys didn't have a sidewalk or running shoes). A crowd of several hundred spectators ringed the courtyard, which was illuminated by colorful strings of party lights. More people were watching the festivities on giant-screen TVs set up across the highway in Liberty Park. Kyle was carrying the "Hometown Heroes" banner. He and his teammates were wearing gray-and-scarlet tracksuits (Ohio State University's colors), brown "buckeye" nut hats, and squeaking banana shoes, exactly like the ones Mr. Lemoncello sometimes wore. The musical sneakers—bright yellow and slightly curved— were one of Mr. Lemoncello's biggest hits over the holidays. The "game" was to make the banana shoes burp-squeak out a tune by hopping,

饥饿游戏游行博士。 津琴科又一身红色。 闪亮的红色亮片。市长穿着一件黑色风衣。 他不太会打扮。 八支队伍依次进入汽车旅馆版的竞技场，绕着它走一圈，就像古希腊奥运会的运动员一样(只不过那些人没有人行道，也没有跑鞋)。 几百名观众围着院子，院子里被五颜六色的派对彩灯照亮。 更多的人在自由公园高速公路对面的大屏幕电视上观看庆祝活动。 凯尔举着"家乡英雄"的横幅。 他和他的队友们穿着灰红相间的运动服(俄亥俄州立大学的颜色)，戴着棕色的“七叶树”坚果帽，穿着吱吱作响的香蕉鞋，和莱蒙切罗有时穿的一模一样。 这款亮黄色、略带弧度的音乐运动鞋是莱蒙切罗在假日期间最受欢迎的产品之一。 这个“游戏”是让香蕉鞋通过跳跃发出打嗝的声音，

skipping, and tap-dancing the notes. For the opening ceremonies' "Parade of Champions," Kyle, Akimi, Miguel, and Sierra had choreographed the footwork to play a burp-squeak version of "Hang On Sloopy," Ohio's official rock song. Most of the other teams wore wacky costumes, too. The team from the Pacific states was decked out in board shorts, flip-flops, and way cool Hawaiian shirts. They blew "Surfin' Safari" on kazoos. Pranav Pillai was the kazoo drum major. The kids representing the Mid-Atlantic region wore crab costumes, complete with deelybopper antennae and pinchers. The Northeasterners went with very scholarly, Harry Potter–style robes and mumbled a chant in Latin while they marched ("Semper ubi sub ubi"); the Southeast team, including Diane Capriola, wore sleek NASCAR race car driver jumpsuits with all sorts of book patches sewn onto every available inch; the Southwest team sported cowboy hats, big belt buckles, and boots and did

蹦蹦跳跳，跳踢踏舞。 在开幕式的“冠军游行”(Parade of Champions)中，凯尔、阿基米、米格尔和西拉编排了脚法，演奏了俄亥俄州官方摇滚歌曲“Hang On Sloopy”的打嗝版。 大多数其他队伍也穿着古怪的服装。 这支来自太平洋各州的队伍穿着冲浪短裤、人字拖和非常酷的夏威夷衬衫。 他们用卡祖笛吹奏《冲浪之旅》。 Pranav Pillai是卡祖鼓的大手。 代表大西洋中部地区的孩子们穿着螃蟹服装，配有大腹蟹的触角和夹子。 东北人穿着哈利·波特式的学术长袍，一边行军一边用拉丁语喃喃吟唱(“Semper ubi sub ubi”);东南队，包括黛安·卡普里奥拉(Diane Capriola)，穿着时髦的纳斯卡赛车手连身衣，每一寸地方都缝着各种各样的书补丁;西南队戴着牛仔帽，戴着大皮带扣，穿着靴子

rope tricks with their twirling lassoes; all the Mountain players wore flannel shirts, lumberjack pants, fake mountain-man beards (even the girls), and furry, flap-eared hats. The Midwest team, led by Marjory Muldauer, wore khaki pants, button-down white shirts, striped ties, and blue blazers. Kyle thought the Midwesterners looked like marching real-estate brokers. Or Charles Chiltington's cousins. "My dad made it!" said Sierra, waving at a man smiling proudly in the crowd. "And there's my mom," she added when the team had hopskipped and burp-squeaked another twenty feet. After all eight teams had marched around the courtyard three times, they lined up in front of Mr. Lemoncello's reviewing stand, ready for him to officially declare the games open and light the Library Olympics torch, which, Sierra explained, is what people in England call a flashlight. "Welcome, one and all," boomed Mr. Lemoncello. "I am so glad to see you here this evening, because this afternoon my optometrist

使用旋转套索的绳索戏法;所有的山地队员都穿着法兰绒衬衫，伐木工裤，留着假的山人胡子(女孩也不例外)，戴着毛茸茸的折耳帽。 由马乔里·穆尔道尔(Marjory Muldauer)带领的中西部队身穿卡其裤、系扣的白衬衫、条纹领带和蓝色运动夹克。 凯尔认为中西部人看起来像行进中的房地产经纪人。 或者查尔斯·齐廷顿的表亲们。 “我爸爸做到了!”塞拉说，向人群中一个骄傲地微笑着的男人挥手。 “还有我妈妈。”她补充说，这时队员们又跳了二十英尺，打了个嗝。 八支队伍绕着院子走了三圈后，他们在莱蒙塞罗的检阅台前排队，准备让他正式宣布奥运会开幕，并点燃图书馆奥林匹克火炬，塞拉解释说，这就是英国人所说的手电筒。 “欢迎大家，”莱蒙切罗先生大声说道。 “我很高兴今晚在这里见到你们，因为今天下午我的验光师

gave me eye drops and I couldn't see a thing! Before I officially illuminate our Olympic torch…" He gestured toward the ten-foot-tall skyward-pointing flashlight. "…I'd like to say a few short words. 'Terse,' 'diminutive,' 'stubby,' and 'I,' which is one of the shortest words I know, until it becomes 'we,' as in 'We the people of the United States,' the same 'we' that secured the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity, which, by the way, would be you, children, and not my fanny, which would, of course, be my 'posterior-ity.' " He took a deep breath. "Tonight, we light the symbolic flashlight of under-the-covers reading to celebrate those page-turners we can never put down, even on a school night. I am assured that our Olympic torch will never reach a temperature of Fahrenheit four fifty-one, something the Lorax, the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe were all quite happy to hear." Mr. Lemoncello pranced across the stage to a giant cartoon version of a wall switch.

给我滴了眼药水，我什么也看不见!在我正式点燃我们的奥运火炬之前……”他指了指那支10英尺高、指向天空的手电筒。 “……我想说几句简短的话。 “简洁”，“短小”，“粗壮”，还有“我”，这是我知道的最短的单词之一，直到它变成了“我们”，就像“我们美国人民”一样，同样的“我们”为我们自己和我们的后代确保了自由的祝福，顺便说一下，孩子们，这是你们，而不是我的fanny，当然，这是我的“后代”。’”他深吸了一口气。 “今晚，我们点亮了在被窝里阅读的象征性手电筒，来庆祝那些我们永远无法放下的翻页者，即使是在上学的晚上。 我敢保证，我们的奥运火炬的温度永远不会达到华氏451度，这是劳拉斯、狮子、女巫和魔衣橱都很高兴听到的。” 莱蒙切罗跃过舞台，来到一个巨大的卡通版墙壁开关前。

"Gamesters, if you're game, let the gaming begin!" He heaved up the humongous switch. The ginormous flashlight's beacon sliced through the night sky. "I now pronounce the games of the first Library Olympiad officially open. I also pronounce my name like a cross between a tart fruit and a mellow musical instrument. Have fun! Play fair! And remember—these games are a quest to find who amongst you is a true champion!" A thousand balloons with glow sticks in their bellies were released into the night air. Fireworks rocketed into the sky. The Ohio State marching band tramped into the courtyard to create an open-book formation while blaring a brassy version of "Paperback Writer" by the Beatles. Laser beams sliced through the smoky darkness in time to the music. "And now," announced Mr. Lemoncello after the fireworks had exploded into their grand finale of floating hearts, smiley faces, and interlocking books, "the most stupendously spectacular moment of the entire night, your keys to anything and everything you ever want or need to know,

“赌徒们，如果你们想玩游戏，就让游戏开始吧!”他举起巨大的开关。 巨大的手电筒的亮光划破夜空。 “我现在宣布第一届图书馆奥林匹克竞赛正式开幕。 我的名字读起来也像酸涩的水果和圆润的乐器。 玩得开心!公平竞争!记住——这些游戏是为了寻找你们当中谁是真正的冠军!”一千个气球肚子里插着荧光棒，被释放到夜空中。 烟花像火箭一样飞向天空。 俄亥俄州立大学的军乐队大摇大摆地走进院子，摆出一个开卷的队形，同时高唱着披头士乐队的《平装作家》(Paperback Writer)。 激光束随着音乐的节拍划破烟雾缭绕的黑暗。 “现在，”莱蒙切罗先生宣布，烟花已经爆炸，变成了漂浮的心、笑脸和环环相扣的书组成的最后一场好戏，“整个晚上最令人惊叹的壮观时刻，你想要或需要知道的一切的钥匙，