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83.The ship to Romania
83.驶向罗马尼亚的船
"He looks pretty good for someone who was embalmed a hundred years ago," Jean said. She and Sally had embarked at New York and were headed across the sea to Romania. Old vampire stories had been embedded in her memory since childhood. Her mother had embellished them, but Jean still believed them to be true. Now, she found herself escorting the corpse of a Romanian who had emigrated to the United States more than a century ago. He looks so alive. She wondered if he would emerge from his coffin at night as a vampire.
琼和萨利从纽约上船，越洋前往罗马尼亚。琼从小时候起，那些古代吸血鬼的故事就深深刻在了她的记忆中。母亲讲故事时又添枝加叶，听起来更离奇古怪，但琼还是信以为真。现在琼正在护送一具一个多世纪以前移居美国的罗马尼来人的尸体回国。琼说："一百年前他死后，人们对他进行了防腐处理，现在看起来还很完好。"他看上去像活的一样。琼怀疑他晚上会不会像个吸血鬼似的从棺材里冒出来。
"Judging from the emblem on his coffin and the handmade embroidery on his shirt, he must have been someone of great eminence," Sally said. "It has been at least a thousand years since anyone embroidered such an intricate design by hand."
"从棺材上的标志和他衬衣上的手工刺绣来判断，他肯定是个有显赫声望的人，"萨利说，"人们能手工绣出这么复杂的图案已经至少有一千年了。"
"That's not all," Jean said. "All of the shipping invoices are embossed with a special seal. He's not just any eminent man. I think he might be a royalty."
"还有呢，"琼说，"所有的运输发票上都饰有专用图章的浮雕花纹。他不仅是个声望显赫的人，还可能是皇室成员。"
"I remember reading something in my history book," Sally said. "Centuries ago, a Romanian prince embezzled money from the royal treasury to fund his bizarre research. The royal family found out and disavowed him. They even emended the royal journals to remove his name. He did a lot of research into the embryological origins of a rare blood disorder in vampire bats. He dissected their embryos and documented every stage of their embryonic life. He wrote several disquisitions. They embodied all of his theories but the ultimate solution eluded him."
"我还记得历史书上的一个故事。"萨利说，"几个世纪以前，一个罗马尼亚王子盗用国库的钱进行他稀奇古怪的研究。皇室发现后就来阻止他。他们甚至修改了皇家议事录，取消了他的名字。后来，他从胚胎学的角度对吸血蝙蝠罕见的血液失调的起因进行了大量的研究。他解剖了胚胎，记下它的胚胎时期每一个阶段的发育情况。后来，他写了几篇专题论文，其中包含了他所有的理论，但他没能提出问题的最终解决办法。"
"Are you telling me the truth or are you just trying to frighten me?" Jean asked. Her eyes widened as she felt a sudden emission of air coming from the nostrils of the corpse.
"你在讲真事还是想吓唬谁？"琼问道。接着，她瞪大了眼睛，因为她觉察到那具尸体的鼻孔里突然呼出气来。
"Embrace me!" the corpse said.
"拥抱我吧！"尸体说话了。
