Sophie felt a wild excitement as she cradled the cryptex and began dialing in the letters. An ancientword of wisdom frees this scroll1. Langdon and Teabing seemed to have stopped breathing as theylooked on.
S... O... F...
"Carefully," Teabing urged. "Ever so carefully."...I... A.
Sophie aligned2 the final dial. "Okay," she whispered, glancing up at the others. "I'm going to pull itapart.""Remember the vinegar," Langdon whispered with fearful exhilaration. "Be careful."Sophie knew that if this cryptex were like those she had opened in her youth, all she would need todo is grip the cylinder3 at both ends, just beyond the dials, and pull, applying slow, steady pressurein opposite directions. If the dials were properly aligned with the password, then one of the endswould slide off, much like a lens cap, and she could reach inside and remove the rolled papyrusdocument, which would be wrapped around the vial of vinegar. However, if the password they hadentered were incorrect, Sophie's outward force on the ends would be transferred to a hinged leverinside, which would pivot5 downward into the cavity and apply pressure to the glass vial, eventuallyshattering it if she pulled too hard.
Pull gently, she told herself.
Teabing and Langdon both leaned in as Sophie wrapped her palms around the ends of the cylinder.
In the excitement of deciphering the code word, Sophie had almost forgotten what they expected tofind inside. This is the Priory keystone. According to Teabing, it contained a map to the Holy Grail,unveiling the tomb of Mary Magdalene and the Sangreal treasure... the ultimate treasure trove6 ofsecret truth.
Now gripping the stone tube, Sophie double-checked that all of the letters were properly alignedwith the indicator7. Then, slowly, she pulled. Nothing happened. She applied8 a little more force.
Suddenly, the stone slid apart like a well-crafted telescope. The heavy end piece detached in herhand. Langdon and Teabing almost jumped to their feet. Sophie's heart rate climbed as she set theend cap on the table and tipped the cylinder to peer inside.
A scroll!
Peering down the hollow of the rolled paper, Sophie could see it had been wrapped around acylindrical object—the vial of vinegar, she assumed. Strangely, though, the paper around thevinegar was not the customary delicate papyrus4 but rather, vellum. That's odd, she thought, vinegarcan't dissolve a lambskin vellum. She looked again down the hollow of the scroll and realized theobject in the center was not a vial of vinegar after all. It was something else entirely9.
"What's wrong?" Teabing asked. "Pull out the scroll."Frowning, Sophie grabbed the rolled vellum and the object around which it was wrapped, pullingthem both out of the container.
"That's not papyrus," Teabing said. "It's too heavy.""I know. It's padding.""For what? The vial of vinegar?""No." Sophie unrolled the scroll and revealed what was wrapped inside. "For this."When Langdon saw the object inside the sheet of vellum, his heart sank.
"God help us," Teabing said, slumping10. "Your grandfather was a pitiless architect."Langdon stared in amazement11. I see Saunière has no intention of making this easy.
On the table sat a second cryptex. Smaller. Made of black onyx. It had been nested within the first.
Saunière's passion for dualism. Two cryptexes. Everything in pairs. Double entendres. Male female.
Black nested within white. Langdon felt the web of symbolism stretching onward12. White gives birthto black.
Every man sprang from woman.
White—female.
Black—male.
Reaching over, Langdon lifted the smaller cryptex. It looked identical to the first, except half thesize and black. He heard the familiar gurgle. Apparently13, the vial of vinegar they had heard earlierwas inside this smaller cryptex.
"Well, Robert," Teabing said, sliding the page of vellum over to him.
"You'll be pleased to hear that at least we're flying in the right direction."Langdon examined the thick vellum sheet. Written in ornate penmanship was another four-lineverse. Again, in iambic pentameter. The verse was cryptic14, but Langdon needed to read only as faras the first line to realize that Teabing's plan to come to Britain was going to pay off.
IN LONDON LIES A KNIGHT15 A POPE INTERRED16.
The remainder of the poem clearly implied that the password for opening the second cryptex couldbe found by visiting this knight's tomb, somewhere in the city.
Langdon turned excitedly to Teabing. "Do you have any idea what knight this poem is referringto?"Teabing grinned. "Not the foggiest. But I know in precisely17 which crypt we should look."At that moment, fifteen miles ahead of them, six Kent police cars streaked18 down rain-soakedstreets toward Biggin Hill Executive Airport.
索非把密码盒揽在怀里，开始输入这几个字母，她内心充满了喜悦。"一个蕴含智慧的古词。"兰登与提彬在一旁看着，此时仿佛也停止了呼吸。
"S-O-F-"
"小心。"提彬敦促道："一定要小心。"
"I-A-"
索菲输入了最后一个字母。"好了。"她低声地说，抬头望了望其他人："我要把它打开了。""记住里面有醋瓶子。"兰登轻轻地说，既恐惧又喜悦："你要小心才是。"
索菲知道，如果密码盒与她年轻时打开的那些东西一样，那她只要紧紧抓住这圆筒的两头--而不必去管什么字母或号码，然后用力一拉，慢慢的朝相反方向施压。如果输入的数字或字母刚好与密码相符的话，那么圆柱体的一端就会自动滑开。就像打开相机镜头的盒盖，然后她就可以伸进手去，将卷起来的莎草纸写就的文件取出来。而这些文件，都绕着装醋的瓶子包了起来。不过，要是他们输入不正确的密码，索菲在圆石筒两端施加的外力会在里面形成一种推力，它就会向下作用到圆石筒，并对里面的醋玻璃瓶产生压力，如果用力推，最终就会把它损坏。
"要轻轻的拉。"她对自己说。
索菲以手心抱住圆柱体的两端时，提彬和兰登两人都挨了过来。索菲满怀着即将破译密码的喜悦，几乎忘记他们想要在里面找些什么。这就是郇山隐修会的拱心石吧。据提彬讲，它里面有一幅可以帮助我们找寻圣杯的地图，凭这张地图，就能找到抹大拉的玛利亚的坟墓，以及耶稣嫉妒在最后的晚餐上用过的珍贵器皿……还可以揭开无数不为人知的真相。
索菲紧紧抓住圆石筒，再次检查所有的字母是否与指示器上显示的相同。然后她慢慢地一推。然而什么事情也没有发生。她稍微再用力，突然，那圆石筒就像设计精巧的望远镜一样"砰"的一声开了，圆筒重的一头还落在她的手中。兰登和提彬紧张得差点要跳起来。索菲将圆筒的盖子放在桌上，倾斜着圆筒，眯着眼睛看看里面有些什么，她的心急速的跳动起来。
啊，有幅卷轴！
索菲往里瞅着那张卷起来的纸中间的空隙，她发现它被包在圆柱形的物体上，她认为那可能是只醋瓶。不过，奇怪的是，那张包在醋瓶子上的的纸并非通常用的薄莎草纸，而是羊皮纸。那就怪了，她心想。醋可溶解不了羊皮纸啊。她又看了看那幅卷轴的空隙，意识到中间的东西根本不是什么醋瓶子，纯粹是其他东西。
"怎么啦？"提彬问她："快把那卷轴取出来呀。"
索菲皱了皱眉，一把抓住那张卷起来的羊皮纸及被它包住的物品，将它们从圆筒里取出来。
"那不是莎草纸，这么重！"提彬说道。
"我知道，纸里面塞了些东西。"
"那是啥？是醋瓶子吗？"
"不是。"索菲把卷起来的羊皮纸摊开，露出了里面的东西。"是这个。"
兰登看到羊皮纸包住的东西，心不由一沉。
"上帝啊，你祖父是位多么了不起的建筑师！"提彬说着，倒在了座位上。
兰登惊奇地睁大了眼睛。"我看索尼埃才不会把事情弄得这么简单呢。"
桌上现在又多了一个密码盒，但比以前的那个更小，它用黑色玛瑙做就，一直放在前一个密码盒里。想来索尼埃肯定对二元论很感兴趣吧。两个密码盒。什么东西都成双的。
双重含义。男人女人。黑中有白，白中有黑。兰登只觉得由象征性符号编织成的大网正向外撒了开去。白衍生了黑。
每个男人都脱胎于女人。
白色--女人。
黑色--男人。
兰登伸过手去，将那个更小的密码盒举起来。它除了比大的小了一半，而且颜色之外，其外形与前一个并无二致。他听到熟悉的潺潺声。很明显，他们以前听说过的醋瓶子就在这个更小的密码盒里。
"好啦，罗伯特。"提彬一边说，一边把羊皮纸推给他。"你会很高兴听到的，至少方向我们是找对了。"兰登仔细打量羊皮纸。他又看到另一首用精美书法写就的四行诗，而且仍然采用了五步抑扬格。这首诗的含义非常模糊，不过他只需要读第一行，就知道提彬这次到英国来定会不虚此行。诗的第一行是这样的：在伦敦葬了一位教皇为他主持葬礼的骑士。
诗的其余部分清楚地表明：要打开第二个密码盒，就必须去拜访位于这座城市某个地方的骑士坟墓。
兰登激动地转身看着提彬："你认为这首诗指的是什么骑土呢？"
提彬咧嘴笑了笑。"总不会是最难猜的吧。可我知道，答案就在要找的坟墓里。"
就在此时，在他们前方十五英里开外的地方，六辆警车沿着浸满雨水的街道，向比金山机场奔去。
收听单词发音 |
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scroll
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| n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡 | |
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aligned
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| adj.对齐的，均衡的 | |
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cylinder
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| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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papyrus
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| n.古以纸草制成之纸 | |
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pivot
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| v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的 | |
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trove
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| n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西 | |
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indicator
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| n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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slumping
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| 大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的现在分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下] | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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cryptic
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| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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interred
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| v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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