Tomas had never slept anywhere but his own bed, so the museum sleepover felt like a test he had not studied for. His class ate pizza under a hanging whale skeleton, unrolled sleeping bags between glass cases, and listened to a guard explain the rules. Then the lights went out. The whale did not disappear. It became a darker shape above them.
托马斯从来没在别的地方睡过觉，所以博物馆之夜对他来说，像一场没复习过的考试。同学们在悬挂的鲸鱼骨架下吃披萨，在玻璃展柜之间铺开睡袋，听一位保安讲解规则。然后灯灭了。鲸鱼没有消失。它只是变成了头顶上一个更黑的形状，整个房间充满了低语。
He lay awake. Beside him his friend Ana was already asleep, breathing through her mouth. Tomas counted the bones in the whale's ribcage, then lost count, then started again. At some point he needed water. He knew where the fountain was, more or less, and he did not want to wake anyone, so he stood up in his socks.
他睡不着。旁边的安娜已经睡着了，用嘴呼吸。托马斯数着鲸鱼肋骨的数量，数乱了，又从头开始。后来他想喝水。他大致知道饮水机在哪儿，也不想吵醒别人，于是穿着袜子站起来，一个人走出了展厅。
The corridor was longer at night. Every display case held a small light, and every light made a shadow that walked beside him. He passed the stone tools, the pottery, the bird eggs arranged in rows. The fountain was not where he remembered. He turned a corner and found a hall of old machines, silent and enormous, and he stopped.
走廊在夜里更长。每个展柜里都有一盏小灯，每盏灯都投下一道陪他走路的影子。他经过石器、陶器，还有一排排摆好的鸟蛋。饮水机不在他记得的地方。他转过一个弯，来到一间陈列旧机器的展厅，那些机器安静而巨大，他停了下来。
A torch beam swung across the ceiling. The night guard, Mrs. Bell, came around the corner with a thermos in her other hand. She did not look surprised. “You are the fourth this year,” she said. She walked him back, naming things as they passed: the plough, the loom, the first bicycle in the city. His fear had become a kind of listening.
一道手电光扫过天花板。夜班保安贝尔太太从拐角走来，另一只手里拿着保温杯。她看上去并不惊讶。“你是今年第四个，”她说。她带他往回走，一边走一边说出经过的东西：犁、织布机、城里第一辆自行车。他发现自己的害怕变成了一种倾听。
Mrs. Bell let him sit in the staff room while she made tea. She showed him the logbook where guards wrote down the night: temperature, visitors, anything strange. “Someone once wrote: whale seems louder tonight,” she said. Tomas laughed, and it surprised him. When she walked him back, the whale was still there, and it no longer seemed to be waiting for him.
贝尔太太让他在员工室坐着，自己去泡茶。她给他看值班记录本，保安们在那里写下夜里的情况：温度、访客、任何异常。“有人写过：鲸鱼今晚好像更吵了，”她说。托马斯笑了，这让他自己都吃惊。她送他回展厅时，鲸鱼还在那里，但它似乎不再等着他了。
In the morning the lights came on and the class rolled up their sleeping bags. Ana asked where he had gone. He told her about the machines and the logbook, and she said he was lucky. Tomas looked up at the whale, then at the doors where the first visitors were already queuing. He decided he would sleep somewhere else again.
早上灯亮了，同学们卷起睡袋。安娜问他去了哪里。他讲了那些机器和那本记录，她说他真幸运。托马斯抬头看看鲸鱼，又看看门口，第一批参观者已经在排队了。他决定以后还要在别的地方睡一夜。