4 The demonstration

Chapter 4 The demonstration Tesla banged around his room, gathering his belongings. Words like "unappreciated" and "genius" drifted among the feathers. Luke gazed at all the boxes they had only just brought up the stairs. Now they were going to have to take them all away again.

特斯拉在房间里走来走去，收拾自己的东西。 像“不被赏识的”和“天才”这样的词在羽毛间飘荡。 卢克盯着他们刚搬上楼的那些箱子。 现在他们又得把他们全部带走了。

"How can we help him, Bessie?" asked Sarah as Nikola Tesla moved around the room, petting each pigeon and whispering loving words of farewell. Bessie rubbed her forehead. "If only we could show the world what Mr. Tesla can do!" she said. "I sometimes think that he has magical powers." "Shame we can't put on a magic show," Luke joked. Sarah looked thoughtful. "Not a magic show," she said. "An exhibition!" "Cuckoo," said Tempo. Luke guessed she was remembering the bright flash of the X-ray machine. Bessie looked interested. "If people could see his genius, maybe they would put up with him," she said.

“我们怎样才能帮助他呢，贝西？”尼古拉·特斯拉在房间里走来走去，抚摸着每只鸽子，低声说着告别的话时，萨拉问道。 贝茜揉了揉额头。 “要是我们能向世界展示特斯拉先生的能力就好了！”她说。 “我有时觉得他有魔力。” “很遗憾我们不能表演一场魔术表演，”卢克开玩笑说。 萨拉看上去若有所思。“不是魔术表演，”她说。 “一个展览!”“杜鹃，”Tempo说。 卢克猜测她是在回忆x光机发出的闪光。 贝茜显得很感兴趣。“如果人们能看到他的天才，也许他们会容忍他，”她说。

"Mr. Tesla?" said Sarah. Tesla stopped scratching the head of a copper-colored pigeon and looked inquiringly at them. "We have an idea for an exhibition," Luke said. "Somewhere you can demonstrate your inventions. People would love that!" Tesla clapped his hands so loudly that his pigeons all flew into the air in a panic. "A demonstration!" he said. "Yes! I will show the world today!" "Don't we need to arrange a venue first?" Sarah said. "I have a lunch party to attend," Tesla said, sifting through his equipment. "We can do the demonstration there. We will take my see-through machine.

“特斯拉先生？”萨拉问。特斯拉不再抓一只铜色鸽子的头，而是好奇地看着他们。 “我们有一个展览的想法，”卢克说。 “一个你可以展示你的发明的地方。 人们会喜欢的！”特斯拉拍手的声音如此之大，以至于他的鸽子都慌乱地飞到了空中。 “示威！”他说。 “是啊!今天我要向全世界展示！”“我们不需要先安排场地吗？”莎拉说。 “我要参加一个午宴，”特斯拉一边说，一边仔细检查他的设备。 “我们可以在那里做演示。 我们要用我的透视机。

Help me!" "Life with Mr. Tesla is never boring, is it?" said Luke as, once again, they staggered through the narrow hall of the hotel to the street with boxes of X-ray equipment in their arms. Bessie put her fingers to her mouth and gave a piercing whistle to attract the attention of two hansom cabs—the horse-drawn taxis that were clattering

救救我!”“和特斯拉先生在一起的生活永远不会无聊，对吧？”卢克说。他们又一次抱着一箱x光设备，摇摇晃晃地穿过酒店狭窄的大厅，走到街上。 贝茜用手指捂住嘴，吹了一声刺耳的口哨，以引起两辆双座马车的注意

up and down the street. "219 Madison Avenue," Tesla instructed the first cabbie. Bessie and Mr. Tesla led the way in the first cab, and Luke and Sarah took the second. Tempo sat on top of the second cabbie's bowler hat. They clattered through New York City, weaving their way among the trolley cars on their slim silver rails, messenger boys in neat pillbox hats bouncing along on bicycles, and delivery wagons of every shape and size. The air was loud with the shouts and whoops of drivers, the ringing of bicycle bells and the clatter of hooves on cobblestones.

在街上走来走去。“麦迪逊大道219号，”特斯拉对第一个出租车司机说。 贝茜和特斯拉先生坐第一辆马车领路，卢克和萨拉坐第二辆。 Tempo坐在第二个车夫的圆顶礼帽上。 他们哐当哐当地穿过纽约城，穿梭在细长的银色轨道上的有轨电车之间，戴着整洁的圆帽的邮递员骑着自行车蹦蹦跳跳地走着，还有各种形状和大小的货车。 空气中充满了司机的喊叫声、自行车的铃声和踏在鹅卵石上的马蹄声。

New York didn't look much like the city Luke knew from the movies. There were no skyscrapers touching the clouds. No Empire State Building, which wouldn't be built for another forty years. No Chrysler Building either, with its elegant silver spire. But through the tall brownstone houses, he glimpsed scaffolding and the sight of the Brooklyn Bridge rising on the banks of the East River. The cabs drew up outside a large brownstone mansion on the corner of the street. Tall stone pillars held up a stone portico above the wood door, which gleamed with intricate glass and shiny metalwork.

纽约看起来不太像卢克在电影里看到的那个城市了。 没有高耸入云的摩天大楼。 没有帝国大厦，它要再过四十年才会建成。 也没有克莱斯勒大厦，没有优雅的银色尖顶。 但透过高大的褐石屋，他瞥见了脚手架和矗立在东河岸边的布鲁克林大桥。 出租车在街角的一栋褐砂石豪宅外停了下来。 高大的石柱支撑着木门上方的石门廊，木门上镶嵌着复杂的玻璃和闪亮的金属制品，闪闪发光。