The immaculate cabin of Teabing's Hawker was now covered with steel shavings and smelled ofcompressed air and propane. Bezu Fache had sent everyone away and sat alone with his drink andthe heavy wooden box found in Teabing's safe.

　　Running his finger across the inlaid Rose, he lifted the ornate lid. Inside he found a stone cylinderwith lettered dials. The five dials were arranged to spell SOFIA. Fache stared at the word a longmoment and then lifted the cylinder¹ from its padded resting place and examined every inch. Then,pulling slowly on the ends, Fache slid off one of the end caps. The cylinder was empty.

　　Fache set it back in the box and gazed absently out the jet's window at the hangar, pondering hisbrief conversation with Sophie, as well as the information he'd received from PTS in ChateauVillette. The sound of his phone shook him from his daydream².

　　It was the DCPJ switchboard. The dispatcher was apologetic. The president of the Depository Bankof Zurich had been calling repeatedly, and although he had been told several times that the captainwas in London on business, he just kept calling. Begrudgingly³ Fache told the operator to forwardthe call.

　　"Monsieur Vernet," Fache said, before the man could even speak, "I am sorry I did not call youearlier. I have been busy. As promised, the name of your bank has not appeared in the media. Sowhat precisely⁴ is your concern?"Vernet's voice was anxious as he told Fache how Langdon and Sophie had extracted a smallwooden box from the bank and then persuaded Vernet to help them escape. "Then when I heard onthe radio that they were criminals," Vernet said, "I pulled over and demanded the box back, butthey attacked me and stole the truck.""You are concerned for a wooden box," Fache said, eyeing the Rose inlay on the cover and againgently opening the lid to reveal the white cylinder. "Can you tell me what was in the box?""The contents are immaterial," Vernet fired back. "I am concerned with the reputation of my bank.

　　We have never had a robbery. Ever. It will ruin us if I cannot recover this property on behalf of myclient.""You said Agent Neveu and Robert Langdon had a password and a key. What makes you say theystole the box?""They murdered people tonight. Including Sophie Neveu's grandfather. The key and passwordwere obviously ill-gotten.""Mr. Vernet, my men have done some checking into your background and your interests. You areobviously a man of great culture and

点击收听单词发音  

1 cylinder
n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸
参考例句：
What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？ The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。

2 daydream
v.做白日梦，幻想
参考例句：
Boys and girls daydream about what they want to be.孩子们遐想着他们将来要干什么。 He drifted off into another daydream.他飘飘然又做了一个白日梦。

3 begrudgingly
小气地，吝啬地
参考例句：
Then, begrudgingly, I clean up – which doesn't really take that much time. 于是，为了省钱，我打扫干净－－那也不需要花很多时间。 His terrible directness made me feel peeved, and begrudgingly I conceded that he was right. 他的坦率让我恼火。我承认他是对的，但十分不甘心。

4 precisely
adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地
参考例句：
It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。 The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

5 refinement
n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼
参考例句：
Sally is a woman of great refinement and beauty. 莎莉是个温文尔雅又很漂亮的女士。 Good manners and correct speech are marks of refinement.彬彬有礼和谈吐得体是文雅的标志。