18 Chapter 18

Chapter 18 Bright and early the next morning, Kyle, his teammates, and their chaperones climbed into their bookmobile for the drive downtown to the Lemoncello Library. The adults sat up front with the driver. The kids were in the back with the books and a mini-fridge stocked with chocolate milk, pop, and six different kinds of juice. "So," said Miguel, "did Andrew's weird uncle talk to any of you guys last night?" "He talked to me this morning," said Sierra. "When I was on my way to the breakfast room."

第十八章第二天一大早，凯尔、他的队友和他们的监护人爬上他们的移动图书车，开车去市中心的莱蒙塞洛图书馆。 大人们和司机坐在前面。 孩子们在后面拿着书和一个小冰箱，冰箱里装满了巧克力牛奶、汽水和六种不同的果汁。 “那么，”米格尔说，“安德鲁那个古怪的叔叔昨晚和你们谁说过话吗?”“他今天早上跟我说过话，”塞拉说。 “在我去早餐室的路上。”

"What did he want?" asked Kyle. "He told me he could give me a 'Go to College Free' card," said Sierra. Miguel nodded. "Me too." "And why wasn't I offered this card?" asked Akimi. Miguel shrugged. "Maybe because I turned him down." "So did I," said Sierra. "What did he want in exchange for the card?" asked Kyle. "Worms for his baby birds?" suggested Akimi. "He didn't really say," replied Miguel. "I turned him down before he had a chance." "Me too," said Sierra. "I also reminded him that winning a college scholarship isn't the only reason we're playing these games." "Really?" said Akimi, arching an eyebrow. "What other reason is there?" "To prove that we truly deserve to be crowned champions."

“他想干什么?”凯尔问。 “他告诉我，他可以给我一张‘免费上大学’卡，”塞拉说。 米格尔点点头。“我也是。”“为什么没人给我这张卡?”明美问。 米格尔耸耸肩。“也许是因为我拒绝了他。” “我也是，”西拉说。“他想用这张卡片交换什么?”凯尔问。 “给他的小鸟吃虫?”明美建议道。 “他没说，”米格尔回答。 “我在他有机会之前就拒绝了他。” “我也是，”西拉说。“我还提醒他，赢得大学奖学金并不是我们参加这些比赛的唯一原因。” “真的吗?”明美皱着眉说。 “还有什么其他原因吗?”“为了证明我们真的配得上冠军。”

"Oh. Right. That." "This could be part of the game," said Kyle. "Seriously?" said Akimi. "Yep. Mr. Peckleman is kind of working for Mr. Lemoncello this week—running Olympia Village. And in Mr. Lemoncello's Marvelously Mysterious Mine Shaft game, there are devious dwarves who offer you cheat cards that let you do stuff like use elf shovels even if you're not an elf. But elf shovels, you find out after it's too late, can't dig up diamonds, only gold, and you need a ton of gold plus two diamonds to win." Sierra nodded very slowly. "You've played a lot of Mr. Lemoncello's games, haven't you, Kyle?" "Enough to know that most of his cheat cards eventually come back to bite you in the butt." When Kyle and his teammates entered the library's grand rotunda, the room was more crowded than they had ever seen it. Spectators, staring up at the Wonder Dome, were seated at the four rings of tables. The players

“哦。正确的。这一点。”“这可能是游戏的一部分，”凯尔说。 “真的吗?”明美说。“是的。 佩克曼先生这周在为莱蒙塞罗先生工作经营奥林匹亚村。 在Mr. Lemoncello的《amazing mystery Mine Shaft》游戏中，有一些狡猾的矮人会给你提供作弊卡牌，让你做一些事情，比如使用精灵铲子，即使你不是精灵。 但是，当你发现精灵的铲子挖不出钻石，只能挖出金子时，已经太晚了，你需要一吨金子加上两颗钻石才能获胜。” 塞拉慢慢地点了点头。 “你玩过很多莱蒙切罗先生的游戏，对吧，凯尔?”“足以让我知道，他的大多数作弊卡最终都会回来咬你的屁股。” 当凯尔和他的队友们走进图书馆宏伟的圆形大厅时，房间里比他们见过的还要拥挤。 观众们坐在四圈桌子旁，凝视着神奇穹顶。 球员们

from the seven other teams milled around, oohing and aahing at things Kyle and his friends now took for granted, like the holographic statues perched on their pedestals, peering down at the crowd below. The statues were waving at people who were waving up at them. Kyle recognized only one of the projected images—a greenish bald guy wearing bifocals and pants cut off at the knees and tugging on a kite string. That had to be Benjamin Franklin. "Who are those other people?" he whispered. "Famous librarians," said Miguel. "Melvil Dewey, Eratosthenes, Saint Lawrence, Lewis Carroll—the usual suspects." Kyle nodded. He was so glad Miguel was on his team. "In honor of the ancient Olympic Games," reported Akimi, "they have all sorts of Grecian urns up in the Art and Artifacts Room. And you can check out Mr. Lemoncello's old gym shoes in the Lemoncello-abilia Room on the third floor. Bring a gas mask."

其他七支球队的队员在周围转来转去，对凯尔和他的朋友们现在认为理所当然的事情发出呜呜叫，比如栖息在基座上的全息雕像，俯视着下面的人群。 雕像向向他们招手的人们招手。 凯尔只认出了投射出来的图像中的一个——一个带着双光眼镜的绿头发的家伙，他的裤子从膝盖处剪掉了，正在拽着一根风筝线。 那一定是本杰明·富兰克林。 “其他那些人是谁?”他低声说。 “著名的图书管理员，”米格尔说。 “梅尔维尔·杜威、埃拉托色尼、圣·劳伦斯、刘易斯·卡罗——都是常见的嫌疑犯。” 凯尔点点头。他很高兴米格尔和他在一起。 “为了纪念古代奥运会，”阿基米报告说，“他们在艺术和文物室里放了各种各样的希腊遗物。 你可以在三楼的Lemoncello-abilia Room看看Lemoncello先生的旧运动鞋。 带上防毒面具。”

"I heard Muhammad Ali is boxing Rocky Balboa in the IMAX theater," added Miguel. "Winner wrestles Hercules." Up on the Wonder Dome screens, Kyle saw the enormous image of eight empty library carts and two rolling bins bulging with books. They seemed to be parked in front of the doors to the 000s Dewey decimal room on the second floor. "Welcome, children!" cried a trembling voice. "I'm so glad you are all finally here! What took you so long?" Kyle looked toward the circulation desk in the center of the round room. Usually, that was where Dr. Zinchenko and her staff worked, helping people find whatever information or books they were looking for. During the escape game, a holographic version of Mr. Lemoncello's favorite childhood librarian, Mrs. Gail Tobin, had popped in to help administer clues. Today's guest-librarian hologram, the lady with the trembling voice, was somebody new. She looked frazzled. Worn out. The way teachers sometimes look at the end of a really long

“我听说穆罕默德·阿里正在IMAX影院和洛奇·巴尔博亚比赛，”米格尔补充道。 “胜者与大力神搏斗。” 在“神奇穹顶”的屏幕上，凯尔看到了一个巨大的画面:八辆空图书馆推车和两个滚动的箱子，里面装满了书。 它们似乎停在了通往二楼0000s杜威十进制室的门前。 “欢迎，孩子们!”一个颤抖的声音叫道。 “我很高兴你们终于都来了!你怎么花了这么长时间?”凯尔朝圆形房间中央的借阅台望去。 通常情况下，这就是Dr。 津琴科和她的工作人员帮助人们找到他们想要的任何信息或书籍。 在逃跑游戏中，莱蒙塞罗小时候最喜欢的图书管理员盖尔·托宾(Gail Tobin)夫人的全息版突然出现，帮助管理线索。 今天的客座图书管理员全息图，那个声音颤抖的女士，是个新面孔。 她看上去很疲惫。破损了。 老师们有时看一篇很长的

day right before spring break. "My name is Lonni Gause," said the shaky see-through librarian. She was nervously nibbling a pencil as though it were a cob of corn. "I was the very last librarian at the old Alexandriaville Public Library—the one they bulldozed down so they could build a parking garage." She started sobbing. "Oh, the horror! The horror!" "Thank you, Mrs. Gause," said Dr. Zinchenko, striding into the room from a section of the fiction bookshelves that swung open like a hidden passageway in a castle. "Welcome to day one of our competition, Library Olympians. Today we begin our quest for champions!" "Yes!" cried the holographic librarian. "We need champions. We also need defenders! We needed them all those years ago when, first, books started disappearing off the shelves and, then, the wrecking balls rumbled up Main Street. Oh, the horror. The horror!" Dr. Zinchenko pointed and clicked a miniature remote at the wailing librarian. The librarian disappeared.

就在春假的前一天。 “我叫朗尼·高斯，”摇摇晃晃的透明图书管理员说。 她紧张地啃着一支铅笔，好像那是一根玉米棒。 “我是老亚历山德里维尔公共图书馆的最后一位图书管理员——他们为了建一个停车场而把我推倒了。” 她开始抽泣。“啊，真可怕!”恐怖!”“谢谢你，高斯夫人。” 津琴科从小说书架的一个区域大步走进房间，这个区域像城堡里的隐藏通道一样打开。 “欢迎来到图书馆奥林匹克竞赛的第一天。 今天我们开始寻找冠军!”“是的!”全息图书管理员叫道。 “我们需要冠军。我们也需要后卫!很多年前我们就需要它们了，首先，书开始从书架上消失，然后，主街上的破碎机隆隆作响。 哦，太恐怖了。恐怖!”博士。 津琴科指着那个哭泣的图书管理员，用一个微型遥控器咔哒一声。 图书管理员消失了。