77 The National Portrait Gallery

77 The National Portrait Gallery The parquet floor on the other side of the door was cold. Peanut found herself wedged in a small gap between the opening and some kind of wooden plinth directly in front of her. She stood up. As she did so she bumped the plinth slightly, causing whatever it was holding to wobble worryingly. Instinctively, Peanut reached up to steady it. It was a marble bust. Carefully, she edged out to find herself in a dimly lit room with very high ceilings and walls lined with large paintings. "Where are we, Peanut?" She turned to see Little-Bit emerge from behind the

77 国家肖像馆，门另一边的拼花地板凉丝丝的。 花生发现自己卡在了门缝和正前方一块木制底座之间的小缝里，动弹不得。 她站起了身。 起身时她轻轻撞了下底座，弄得上面托着的东西晃了晃，让人十分不安。 花生本能地伸手上前扶住它。 那是一尊大理石半身像。 她小心翼翼地挤出来，发现自己身处一间灯火昏暗的房间，房间天花板很高，墙上挂满了大幅画作。 “我们在哪儿呀，花生？” 她转过身，看见小不点从那后面钻了出来

bust, which she could now see was a sculpture of Queen Victoria. "I'm not sure. An art gallery of some sort, I think." "Whoa, that was a bit of a squeeze," said Rockwell as he slid his way out to join them in the rather ornate room. "So, what is this place?"

现在她才看清，这是一尊维多利亚女王的半身雕像。 “我也不太清楚。 我觉得，这里应该是某种美术馆。” “哇，刚刚挤得可真难受，”洛克威尔说着挤了出来，和大家一起站在了这间相当华丽的房间里。 “所以，这地方到底是哪儿呀？”

It's called an art gallery. I don't suppose you've ever visited one before, have you?" As it happens, I haven't. First time for everything though. It's, er, nice, isn't it?" Peanut looked at her watch. "No way," she gasped. "What?" said Rockwell. "Well, according to my watch we've only been gone for about three hours!" The children tiptoed their way through the deserted gallery. Just as they were passing a large portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, a very tall security guard with huge shoulders and a neat white beard appeared at the end of the corridor. They froze. He appeared to be looking straight at them. The children held their breath...

“这里就是美术馆呀。 我猜你之前从来没来过这种地方，对不对？” 说起来，我确实没来过。 不过凡事都有第一次嘛。 这地方，呃，挺不错的，对不对？” 花生低头看了看手表。 “不可能啊，”她倒吸一口冷气。 “怎么了？”洛克威尔问道。 “你看，按我的手表来看，我们才出去了三个小时左右！” 孩子们踮着脚尖，穿过空荡荡的展馆。 就在他们经过一幅剑桥公爵和公爵夫人的大幅肖像画时，一位肩膀宽阔、留着整齐白胡子的高个子保安出现在了走廊尽头。 他们一下子僵住了。 他看上去正直直盯着他们看。 孩子们都屏住了呼吸……

A voice came from a room somewhere to the guard's left. "Stanley! Do you want a cup of tea?" To the gang's amazement, he turned towards it and shouted, "Er, yes please. Milk and four sugars." The guard looked back towards the children and Peanut could have sworn she saw the slightest hint of a smile play across his lips. Then he walked away. "Phew! That was close," said a relieved Rockwell. The group carried on walking, careful not to make a sound, and eventually discovered a door that led them outside into the cool morning air. They found themselves on a busy street. "We're in London!" shouted Little-Bit. "Look!" Sure enough, a couple of black cabs and a bright red bus drove past them towards a huge square to their right. It had a towering column in the middle of it, surrounded by statues of lions and topped with a solitary figure looking down over them. "That's Nelson's Column," said Peanut. "We're right next to Trafalgar Square." She looked behind her at the door they'd just come out of. Ah, so it's the National Portrait Gallery! That means Leicester Square tube station is just around the corner. She grabbed Little-Bit's hand. "Come on, we're late for school."

保安左侧的某个房间里传出了一个声音。 “斯坦利！ 你要不要来杯茶？” 让小家伙们惊讶的是，他转向声音的方向喊道：“呃，麻烦给我来一杯。 加牛奶，放四块糖。” 保安回头看向孩子们，花生敢肯定，她看到他嘴角闪过一丝极淡的笑意。 接着他就走开了。 “呼！ 刚才太险了，”洛克威尔松了一口气说道。 一行人继续往前走，小心翼翼不发出一点声音，最后终于找到了一扇通向外面的门，走出去就迎到了清晨凉爽的空气。 他们发现自己站在一条热闹的街道上。 “我们在伦敦！”小不点大喊道。 “看哪！” 果不其然，几辆黑色出租车和一辆亮红色公交车从他们身边驶过，开向他们右侧的一个大广场。 广场中央立着一根高耸的柱子，四周环绕着狮子雕像，柱子顶端站着一个孤单的身影，正俯视着他们。 “那是纳尔逊纪念柱，”花生说。 “我们就在特拉法加广场旁边。” 她回头看向他们刚刚走出来的那扇门。 啊，原来这里就是国家肖像馆！ 也就是说莱斯特广场地铁站就在拐角处。 她牵起了小不点的手。 “快点，我们上学要迟到了。”