Chapter 53

53 "Oh, this is interesting," said Mr. Peckleman, rubbing his hands together and leering at the card in Marjory's hand. "Very interesting, indeed." "Wait," Kyle said to Marjory. "That card's worth thousands of dollars." "Actually," said Marjory, "it's worth 234,428 dollars. I plan on attending Harvard. For four years." "Well, that makes your card even more important. You can't just throw it away." "Yes, I can. Some things are even more important than a free college education. Including

“哦，这真有意思。”佩克曼先生说，搓着双手，斜眼看着玛乔丽手里的牌。 “确实很有趣。” “等等，”凯尔对玛乔丽说。 “那张卡值几千美元。” “事实上，”马乔里说，“它值23万4428美元。 我打算上哈佛大学。 四年了。”“那你的名片就更重要了。 你不能把它扔掉。” “是的，我能。有些事情甚至比免费的大学教育更重要。 包括

323.443: 'freedom of speech.'" She handed her card to Mr. Peckleman. Everyone gasped. Kyle glanced at the books. He couldn't believe what he was about to do. He couldn't believe he was even thinking about doing it. His brothers would tease him about it for the rest of his life, because it was definitely crazy. But that didn't stop him. "Fine," he said, pulling his college scholarship card out of his shirt pocket. "If you win, you can burn mine, too." Akimi stepped forward. "And mine," she said. "And mine," said Angus Harper. "And mine," said twenty-eight other voices as every single one of the Library Olympians stepped forward to hand Mr. Peckleman their orange prize coupons. "Excellent," giggled Mr. Peckleman, crumbling the thirty-two cards in his hand, wadding them up into one extremely flammable

323.443：言论自由。’”她把名片递给佩克曼先生。 每个人都气喘吁吁地说。凯尔瞥了一眼那些书。 他简直不敢相信自己将要做的事。 他简直不敢相信自己居然想到要这么做。 他的兄弟们会在他的余生中取笑他，因为这绝对是疯狂的。 但这并没有阻止他。“好吧，”他说着，从衬衫口袋里掏出了他的大学奖学金卡。 “如果你赢了，你也可以烧掉我的。” 明美走上前去。“还有我的，”她说。 “还有我的。”安格斯·哈珀说。 “还有我的。”另外28个声音说，图书馆奥林匹克竞赛的每一个人都走上前来，把他们的橙色奖券递给佩克曼先生。 “太好了。”佩克曼先生咯咯地笑着，把手里的三十二张卡片揉碎，揉成一张极不易燃的卡片

paper ball. "You're on, Mr. Keeley. Mr. Lemoncello won't give you your scholarships. Not without these. Cards must be present to win." "What's the game?" demanded Kyle. "Let's see. How about a riddle?" "Fine. We've got several players who are excellent at solving riddles." "Who cares? You're the one who made the challenge." "I know, but…" "What? Afraid you might lose and ruin all of your friends' dreams of a college education at the same time?" "Riddles aren't my best sport." "Too bad. I insist on trial by single combat. A duel between two champions that will decide the fate of everyone and everything else. No one may interfere or offer advice. You, Kyle Keeley, are on your own." Kyle felt that nervous flutter in his stomach again. Trying to be a hero wasn't always easy or fun.

纸球。“你上场了，基利先生。 莱蒙塞罗先生不会给你奖学金的。 没有这些就不行。要赢就必须有牌。” “什么游戏？”凯尔问。 “让我们看看。猜个谜语怎么样？”“很好。 我们有几位玩家非常擅长解谜。” “谁在乎呢?是你提出了挑战。” “我知道，可是……”担心你可能会同时失去并毁掉你所有朋友的大学教育梦想？”“谜语不是我最擅长的游戏。” “太糟糕了。我坚持单挑审判。 两位冠军之间的决斗将决定所有人和其他一切的命运。 任何人不得干涉或提供建议。 你，凯尔·基利，靠你自己吧。” 凯尔感到他的胃又紧张起来。 试图成为一个英雄并不总是那么容易或有趣。

He looked at his best friend, Akimi. "Do it." "You can take him, Kyle," said Andrew. "Go on, Keeley," said Marjory Muldauer. "Even I'm rooting for you." Kyle turned to face Mr. Peckleman. "Okay. I accept your challenge. If I answer your riddle correctly, you don't burn a single book. We take them all back to Mr. Lemoncello's library." "But if you can't answer my riddle," sneered Peckleman, "if you fail, you and your library-loving friends have to stand here and watch me destroy all of these horrible books and all of these lovely orange cards." "Deal." "Oh, this is going to be fun," said Mr. Peckleman. "Let me think…. I need a really good riddle… one that's almost impossible to solve…." Kyle waited, giving a little voice deep inside his head time to remind him that every chance to win is also a chance to lose.

他看着他最好的朋友明美。 “做。”“你可以带他去，凯尔，”安德鲁说。 “接着说，姬莉。”玛乔丽·穆尔道尔说。 “连我都支持你。” 凯尔转身面对着佩克曼先生。 “好吧。我接受你的挑战。 如果我猜对了，你一本书都不用烧。 我们把它们都带回莱蒙切罗先生的图书馆。” “但如果你猜不出我的谜语，”佩克曼冷笑着说，“如果你猜错了，你和你那些爱图书馆的朋友就只能站在这里看着我毁掉这些可怕的书和这些可爱的橙色卡片。” “交易”。“哦，这会很有趣的，”佩克曼先生说。 “让我想想....我需要一个非常好的谜语……一个几乎不可能解开的谜语....” 凯尔等待着，给了他头脑深处一个微弱的声音时间来提醒他，每一次胜利的机会也是失败的机会。

So Kyle told that little voice to shut up. Because he needed every brain cell he could spare focused on Mr. Peckleman's riddle. "All right, Mr. Keeley. Here is your riddle: You are a prisoner in a room with two doors. One leads farther down into the dungeon and certain death; one leads to freedom. There are two guards in the room with you, one at each door. One guard always tells the truth. One always lies. You don't know which is which. What single question can you ask one of the guards that will help you find the door that leads to freedom?" Oh, man. Kyle wished somebody else had made the challenge. But they hadn't. He had. Concentrate, Kyle told himself. You can do this thing. Okay. If Kyle wanted to find out which guard told the truth and which one told lies, he could ask, "If I asked the other guard whether you always told

所以凯尔让那个小声音闭嘴。 因为他需要把所有多余的脑细胞都集中在佩克曼先生的谜语上。 “好吧，基利先生。这是你的谜语：你是一个囚犯，关在一个有两扇门的房间里。 再往下走，就会进到地牢里去，死定了；一条通向自由。 房间里有两个守卫，每个门一个。 一个卫兵总是说真话。 人总是说谎。你分不清哪个是哪个。 你能问一个卫兵什么问题来帮助你找到通往自由的门？”哦,男人。 凯尔希望是别人做了这个挑战。 但他们没有。他。集中精神，凯尔告诉自己。 你能做到的。好吧。 如果凯尔想知道哪个警卫说的是真话，哪个说的是假话，他可以问：“如果我问另一个警卫你是否总是说。

the truth, what would he say?" If the guard he asked said, "No," that would mean he was definitely talking to the truth teller. If the guy said, "Yes," that would mean he was the liar, because he never told the truth, about himself or the other guard. Kyle's head was starting to hurt. "I'm waiting, Mr. Keeley," said Mr. Peckleman, pinching the thin picture book Earl the Squirrel between his thumb and forefinger so he could dangle it over the fire pit. "Gimme a second." But Kyle had only one question to find the right door. He couldn't do a two-step dance and first find out who was the truthful guard and then ask him which door to use. So… He had to ask… "My single question," he said, "to either one of the guards…" Everyone was hanging on his every word.

说实话，他会怎么说？”如果他问的保安说“没有”那就意味着他肯定是在跟实话实说的人说话。 如果那个人说“是的”那就意味着他是骗子，因为他从来没有说过关于他自己或其他保安的真相。 凯尔的头开始疼了。 “我在等着，基利先生，”佩克曼先生说着，用拇指和食指夹住那本薄薄的图画书《松鼠厄尔》，好把它悬在火坑上。 “给我一点时间。”但凯尔只有一个问题可以找到正确的门。 他不能跳两步舞，先找出谁是真正的守卫，然后问他从哪扇门走。 所以……他不得不问……“我有一个问题，”他说，“问两个卫兵中的任何一个……”