4 THE DUMBWAITER

CHAPTER 4 THE DUMBWAITER Did you hear that?" Claire sputtered as the girls walked over to the elevators. "That other librarian called me a little girl!" Kaz and Little John hurried to catch up. "Like I said, I don't know why Lynette is a children's librarian," Maddie said. "She's good with books and technology, but she's not so good with kids. I think she's scared of kids." Claire looked doubtful. "Grown-ups aren't scared of kids," she said. "Some of them are," Maddie said. The elevator doors opened, and Claire and Maddie stepped inside. Kaz and Little John

第四章升降机你听到了吗？”当女孩们走向电梯时，克莱尔气急冲冲地说。 “那个图书管理员叫我小女孩！”卡兹和小约翰急忙追了上去。 “就像我说的，我不知道为什么Lynette是儿童图书管理员，”Maddie说。 “她擅长读书和科技，但不太擅长和孩子相处。 我觉得她怕孩子。” 克莱尔显得有些怀疑。“大人们不怕孩子，”她说。 “有些是，”玛蒂说。 电梯门开了，克莱尔和玛蒂走了进去。 卡兹和小约翰

followed them in. "Which floor?" Claire asked. "Fifth. That's where the dumbwaiter is," Maddie said. She reached around Claire and pushed the button. The doors closed, and the elevator started rising. "Wow. There are eleven floors in this library," Little John said, staring at all the elevator buttons. "That's a lot of floors," Kaz said. He wondered what was on all those floors. The elevator stopped on the fifth floor. The doors opened, and everyone got out. "Where's the dumbwaiter?" Claire asked. There was a railing in front of them. Beyond the railing was a huge wall of light blue diamond- shaped windows. "Over here," Maddie said. She led Claire and the ghosts around the corner. There were no bookshelves on this floor. Just lots of people working at computers.

跟着他们进去。“在几楼吗?”克莱尔问道。 “第五。电梯就在那里，”麦迪说。 她绕过克莱尔，按下了按钮。 门关上了，电梯开始上升。 “哇。这个图书馆有十一层，”小约翰盯着所有的电梯按钮说。 “那可是很多层啊，”卡兹说。 他想知道那些楼层里都有什么。 电梯停在五楼。 门开了，所有人都走了出来。 “升降机在哪儿？”克莱尔问道。 他们面前有一道栏杆。 栏杆后面是一堵巨大的浅蓝色菱形窗户墙。 “这边，”玛蒂说。她把克莱尔和鬼魂带到了拐角处。 这层楼没有书架。 只有很多人在电脑前工作。

"This is it," Maddie said. She stopped in front of a tall pillar that had a metal door in the middle. The door was closed. Claire put her ear to the door. "I don't hear anything," she said. "Just wait," Maddie said. "You will." The girls and the ghosts watched the door and waited for something to happen. "The ghost is going to start crying any second now," Maddie said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. They waited some more. Finally, Little John said, "What are we waiting for? Let's go in there and talk to the ghost." "Oh, that's a good idea," Claire said. "What's a good idea?" Maddie asked. "Little John wants to go inside the dumbwaiter and talk to the ghost," Claire told Maddie. "I don't know if we should barge in uninvited," Kaz said. "Let's just talk to it from out here." He

“就是这样，”玛蒂说。 她在一根高高的柱子前停了下来，柱子中间有一扇金属门。 门关着。克莱尔把耳朵贴在门上。 “我什么也没听到，”她说。 “等等，”玛蒂说。“你会的。” 姑娘们和鬼魂们守在门口，等着发生什么事。 “鬼随时都可能开始哭，”玛蒂说着，把重心从一只脚移到另一只脚上。 他们又等了一会儿。最后，小约翰说：“我们还在等什么？ 我们进去和鬼魂谈谈吧。” “哦，这是个好主意，”克莱尔说。 “什么是好主意？”玛迪问道。 “小约翰想进电梯和鬼魂说话，”克莱尔告诉麦迪。 “我不知道我们是否应该不请自来，”卡兹说。 “我们在外面跟它说话吧。” 他

wafted over to the door. "Hello? Is anyone in there?" No one answered. "We're ghosts, too," Little John said. "Any ghost in there will be happy to see us." He shrank a little so he'd fit inside the compartment, then plunged headfirst through the door. Kaz wasn't so sure the ghost would be happy to see them. But he shrank and followed his brother, anyway.

飘到门口。“喂? 里面有人吗？”没有人回答。 “我们也是鬼，”小约翰说。 “里面的鬼魂见到我们都会很高兴的。” 他缩了缩，好钻进车厢，然后一头扎进了门。 卡兹不确定鬼魂见到他们会不会高兴。 但他还是退缩了，跟着他哥哥走了。

There were two shelves inside the dumbwaiter. Kaz and Little John checked both shelves. There was nothing on either one. No books. No other ghosts. Nothing. "Maybe the ghost isn't home right now," Little John said. "Should we wait?" "Nah," Kaz said. "Let's go report back to Claire." They passed through the door and exp-aa- a-a-a-nded. "There's no ghost in there," Little John announced. "They said there isn't a ghost in there," Claire told Maddie. "There has to be," Maddie said, staring at the pillar. "People hear it crying in there all the time." "Maybe it left," Claire said with a shrug. "Maybe," Maddie said. But it didn't sound like she believed that. "Or maybe it's not a real ghost," Kaz said. "Maybe it's just someone pretending to be a ghost

升降机里有两个架子。 卡兹和小约翰检查了两个架子。 两个上面都没有东西。 没有书。没有别的鬼了。 什么都没有。“也许鬼魂现在不在家，”小约翰说。 “我们要等吗？”“不，”卡兹说。 “我们回去向克莱尔汇报吧。” 他们穿过那扇门，出去了——出去了——出去了。 “那里没有鬼，”小约翰宣布。 “他们说那里没有鬼，”克莱尔告诉麦迪。 “肯定有，”玛蒂盯着柱子说。 “人们总是听到它在里面哭。” “也许它离开了，”克莱尔耸耸肩说。 “也许吧，”玛蒂说。但听起来她并不这么认为。 “也许这不是一个真正的鬼，”卡兹说。 “也许只是有人假装成鬼

to make people think the library is haunted when it's really not." "Solid people like to do that sort of thing," Little John said. "Especially around Halloween," Kaz added. He felt bad that Maddie couldn't hear what he and Little John were saying. But if they wailed, then everyone in the library would hear them. "Let's search the rest of the library," Maddie said. "Maybe it found a new place to hang out." She led Claire past the computers and over to a tall, narrow escalator. Behind the escalator was a staircase that led down into a strange red tunnel. Kaz hoped they weren't going down there. "Should we split up?" Claire asked. "We could cover more ground in less time." "Well, I can't see ghosts like you can," Maddie reminded Claire. "I don't mean you and I should split up. I mean Kaz, Little John, and I should split up," Claire said.

让人们以为图书馆闹鬼，其实不是。” “可靠的人喜欢做这种事，”小约翰说。 “尤其是在万圣节前后，”卡兹补充道。 麦蒂听不见他和小约翰在说什么，他感到很难过。 但如果他们哀号，图书馆里的每个人都会听到。 “我们找找图书馆的其他地方吧，”玛蒂说。 “也许它找到了一个新的地方。” 她领着克莱尔走过电脑，来到一个又高又窄的自动扶梯前。 自动扶梯后面有一段楼梯，通向一条奇怪的红色隧道。 卡兹希望他们不会下去。 “我们应该分开吗？”克莱尔问道。 “我们可以在更短的时间内走更多的路。” “嗯，我不能像你那样看见鬼，”玛蒂提醒克莱尔。 “我不是说你和我应该分手。 我的意思是卡兹、小约翰和我应该分开，”克莱尔说。