Chapter 40

40 "And then there were two!" shouted Mr. Lemoncello from his third-floor balcony. "This finale is far too exciting to miss!" "Are you feeling better, sir?" asked Dr. Zinchenko. "Much!" He looked down at Sierra and Marjory. "I've been watching you two on TV! There's nothing like a pair of brilliant young minds set free in a library to perk me up! Plus, I've decided to hire detective Sammy Keyes, who found the hotel thief, to help me find the book

“还有两个！”莱蒙切罗先生在三楼的阳台上喊道。 “这个结局太精彩了，不容错过！”“你感觉好些了吗，先生？” Zinchenko。“多!”他低头看着西拉和玛乔丽。 “我一直在电视上看你们俩！”没有什么比两个聪明的年轻人在图书馆里自由自在更让我兴奋的了！另外，我决定雇萨米·凯斯警探，就是找到酒店窃贼的那个，来帮我找那本书

thief, which, of course, is now available on DVD in our movie department on the first floor." He scampered down the spiral staircases. Kyle heard a funny burp-squeak-burp sound and smiled. Mr. Lemoncello was still dressed all in black, but he'd put on his banana shoes. As he made his way around and around and down the two flights of curling, corkscrewing steps, his shoes were honking out a song: "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." Good, thought Kyle. His hero was back! Mr. Lemoncello sprinted to the center of the Rotunda Reading Room, leapt up, and somersaulted over the librarian's desk. When he landed on the other side, his banana shoes let out a gassy PPPFFFFFIIP. The audience laughed, applauded, and cheered. Well, everybody except Mrs. Chiltington and her friends. Kyle could see them shaking their heads disgustedly.

小偷，当然，现在可以在一楼的电影部买到DVD。” 他从螺旋楼梯上蹦蹦跳跳地跑下来。 凯尔听到一阵奇怪的打嗝声，笑了。 莱蒙塞罗先生仍然一身黑，但他已经穿上了他的香蕉鞋。 当他一圈又一圈地走下两层弯弯曲曲、螺旋形的台阶时，他的鞋子发出了嗡嗡的歌声：“公共汽车上的轮子转啊转。” 很好，凯尔想。他心目中的英雄回来了！莱蒙塞罗先生冲到圆形阅览室的中央，跳起来，在图书管理员的桌子上翻了个跟头。 当他降落在另一边时，他的香蕉鞋发出了一声扑哧扑哧的气体。 观众笑了，鼓掌，欢呼。 除了奇廷顿夫人和她的朋友。 凯尔看到他们厌恶地摇着头。

"I'll take over from here, Dr. Zinchenko!" said Mr. Lemoncello. "Very well, sir." She handed him her stack of question cards. "Hello, Sierra." "Hello, sir." "Marjory." She waggled her fingers at him like she was bored. "Okeydokey, pokey," said Mr. Lemoncello. "You two look lonely. Teammates? Come on down." Kyle, Akimi, and Miguel dashed down the aisle between desks to join Sierra. "I'm good," said Marjory, stopping her teammates in their tracks. "I don't need any help." "Very well," said Mr. Lemoncello. "Let me recap." He reached under the librarian's desk and pulled out a purple flower-petal swim cap, which he tugged down snugly over his curly white hair.

“从这里开始由我来接手吧。 津琴科！”莱蒙切罗说。 “很好，先生。”她把一叠问题卡片递给他。 “你好,塞拉。”“你好,先生。” “珍珠”。她对他摇着手指，好像很无聊似的。 “好吧，好吧，”莱蒙切罗先生说。 “你们两个看起来很孤独。的队友吗? 快下来吧。”凯尔、阿基米和米格尔冲过桌子之间的过道，去找塞拉。 “我很好。”玛乔丽说，阻止了队友们的脚步。 “我不需要任何帮助。”“很好，”莱蒙切罗说。 “让我重述一下。”他把手伸到图书管理员的桌子下面，拿出一顶紫色的花瓣泳帽，紧紧地盖在他卷曲的白发上。

"Your two teams are currently tied, with three medals each. We have two games remaining: this one and then the one that comes after it, which would be the next one. This is extremely exciting, wouldn't you agree?" "Yes, sir," said Kyle and his teammates. Marjory Muldauer shrugged. "Can we move on to the next question?" "Moving on," said Mr. Lemoncello. "This next question is not—I repeat, not—a multiple guess. You must tap in your answer using the keypad on your tabletop's tablet computer. We're still in the category of banned books, only this time they're more than banned, because these poor books were burned. Here is your question: On what date did the Dominican priest Savonarola collect and publicly burn thousands of lewd books in Florence, Italy?" Kyle looked at Sierra. She nodded. "Go for it," said Kyle.

“你们两队目前并列，各获三枚奖牌。 我们还剩下两场比赛：这一场和之后的一场，也就是下一场。 这太令人兴奋了，你不觉得吗？”“是的，长官，”凯尔和他的队友说。 玛乔丽·穆尔道尔耸了耸肩。 “我们能继续下一个问题吗？”“继续，”莱蒙切罗说。 “我再说一遍，下一个问题不是多重猜测。 你必须用桌面的平板电脑上的键盘输入你的答案。 我们的书仍然被列为禁书，只是这一次它们不仅仅是被禁，因为这些可怜的书被烧毁了。 你的问题是：多米尼加牧师萨沃纳罗拉在意大利佛罗伦萨收集并公开焚烧数千本淫秽书籍的日期是哪一天？”凯尔看着西拉。 她点了点头。“去吧，”凯尔说。

Sierra typed in her answer: SHROVE TUESDAY, 1497. Kyle could hear the computer's click-clack sound effects accompanying Marjory's glass-tapping as she entered her answer, too. "Is that your final answer, Sierra?" asked Mr. Lemoncello. "Yes, sir." "Miss Muldauer?" "Well, duh. I typed it in, didn't I?" "Indeed you did. Dr. Zinchenko?" "The answer we were looking for is Shrove Tuesday, 1497!" "Woo-hoo!" shouted Kyle. "That's the answer Sierra Russell gave me," said Mr. Lemoncello, checking his own computer screen. "Miss Muldauer, I'm afraid your answer is incorrect." "No, it's not." "I'm sorry, Miss Muldauer," said Dr. Zinchenko. "You did not type in 'Shrove Tuesday, 1497.'"

塞拉输入了她的答案：忏悔星期二，1497。 当玛乔丽输入答案时，凯尔也能听到电脑咔嗒咔嗒的声音。 “这是你的最终答案吗，塞拉？”莱蒙塞罗先生问。 “是的,先生。”“Muldauer小姐?”“嗯,咄。 是我打进去的，不是吗？”“你确实说了。 Zinchenko博士?”“我们要找的答案是1497年的忏悔星期二！”“哇——嗬！”凯尔喊道。 “这就是塞拉·拉塞尔给我的答案，”莱蒙塞罗一边说，一边查看着自己的电脑屏幕。 “穆尔道尔小姐，恐怕你的答案不正确。” “不，不是。”“对不起，穆尔道尔小姐。” Zinchenko。“你没有输入‘1497年的忏悔星期二’。”

"I know. Because that answer isn't specific enough." "I beg your pardon?" said Mr. Lemoncello, taking off his bathing cap. "My ears were covered by rubberized flower petals. Are you saying my head librarian, Dr. Yanina Zinchenko, has incorrectly identified the answer as 'Shrove Tuesday, 1497?'" "It's an okay answer," said Marjory. "If you're lazy. My answer, however, is more correct. February 7, 1497. Yes, it was also Shrove Tuesday, now commonly referred to as Mardi Gras, but your question specifically asked for a date, not a day." The whole crowd gasped. Kyle could feel his heart racing in his chest. Was Sierra's answer technically incorrect? If so, did that mean his team lost another medal? "This is quite the quizzical, perplexable, and curious conundrum," said Mr. Lemoncello. "Fortunately, we are in a library, where librarians

“我知道。因为这个答案不够具体。” “你说什么？”莱蒙塞罗先生说着，摘下了他的泳帽。 “我的耳朵被橡胶花瓣覆盖着。 你是说我的图书管理员主任。 雅尼娜·津琴科错误地将答案认定为“忏悔星期二，1497年？”“这个回答还可以，”玛乔丽说。 “如果你很懒。然而，我的答案更为正确。 1497年2月7日是的，那天也是忏悔星期二，现在通常被称为狂欢节，但你的问题明确要求的是日期，而不是日期。” 整个人群都倒吸了一口气。凯尔能感觉到他的心在胸腔里狂跳。 Sierra的回答在技术上是错误的吗？ 如果是这样，这是否意味着他的球队又失去了一块奖牌？ 莱蒙切罗说，“这是一个相当古怪、令人困惑和好奇的难题。” “幸运的是，我们在图书馆，那里的图书管理员