http://readanybooks.net/thrillers/TheDaVinciCode/
Synopsis:
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci-clues visible for all to see-yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion-an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret-and an explosive historical truth-will be lost forever. The Da Vinci Code heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightning-paced, intelligent thriller... utterly unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion.
Louvre Museum, Paris 10:46 P. M.
Renowned curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery. He lunged for the nearest painting he could see, a Caravaggio. Grabbing the gilded frame, the seventy-six-year-old man heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and Sauniere collapsed backward in a heap beneath the canvas.
巴黎卢浮宫美术博物馆，夜10时46分。
卢浮宫拱形艺术大画廊内，德高望重的博物馆馆长雅克·索尼埃跌跌撞撞地扑向他所见到的离他最近的一幅画———一幅卡拉瓦乔的画作。这位七十五岁的老人猛地抓住镀金的画框，用力把它拉向自己。画框终于从墙上扯了下来，索尼埃向后摔作一团，被盖在帆布油画的下面。
As he had anticipated, a thundering iron gate fell nearby, barricading the entrance to the suite. The parquet floor shook. Far off, an alarm began to ring.
The curator lay a moment, gasping for breath, taking stock. I am still alive.He crawled out from under the canvas and scanned the cavernous space for someplace to hide.
A voice spoke, chillingly close. "Do not move."
果然不出馆长所料，附近的一扇铁门轰然倒下，封住了通往画廊的入口。嵌木拼花地板震颤着。远处响起了报警声。馆长在地上躺了片刻，喘着粗气，四下看了看。我还活着。他从画底下爬了出来，在这洞穴般幽暗的地方四处觑视着，想找个藏身的地方。
一个阴森森的声音从不远处传来：“不许动！”
On his hands and knees, the curator froze, turning his head slowly.
Only fifteen feet away, outside the sealed gate, the mountainous silhouette of his attacker stared through the iron bars. He was broad and tall, with ghost-pale skin and thinning white hair. His irises were pink with dark red pupils. The albino drew a pistol from his coat and aimed the barrel through the bars, directly at the curator. "You should not have run." His accent was not easy to place. "Now tell me where it is."
馆长双手撑着地，跪在那里，呆若木鸡，好半天才转过头去。
在封闭的门外，仅十五英尺远的地方，侧影高大的攻击者正透过门上的铁栏杆盯着里面。他身板宽大，个子很高，面无血色，一头稀疏的白发。他眼睛虹膜呈粉红色，瞳孔为暗红色，看去是个白化病人。他从外套中拔出手.枪，将枪管透过铁栏杆瞄准了馆长。“你本不应该跑。”听不出他是哪里口音。“这回该告诉我那东西在哪里了吧？”
"I told you already," the curator stammered, kneeling defenseless on the floor of the gallery. "I have no idea what you are talking about!"
"You are lying." The man stared at him, perfectly immobile except for the glint in his ghostly eyes. "You and your brethren possess something that is not yours."
The curator felt a surge of adrenaline. How could he possibly know this?
“我已跟你说过———我，我不明白你在说什么。”馆长无助地跪在地上，结结巴巴地说道。“你在撒谎。”那人死勾勾地盯着他，身子一动也不动，只有那幽灵般的眼睛骨碌碌地转个不停。“你和你的弟兄们占有了不属于你们的东西。”
馆长猛地一惊。他怎么会知道这些？
"Tonight the rightful guardians will be restored. Tell me where it is hidden, and you will live." The man leveled his gun at the curator's head. "Is it a secret you will die for?"
Sauniere could not breathe.
“今夜它将物归其主。要想活命，就乖乖地告诉我那东西藏在啥地方。”那人把枪对准了馆长的头。“你想为了这个秘密而送命吗？”
索尼埃吓得连气都不敢喘
The man tilted his head, peering down the barrel of his gun.
Sauniere held up his hands in defense. "Wait," he said slowly. "I will tell you what you need to know." The curator spoke his next words carefully. The lie he told was one he had rehearsed many times... each time praying he would never have to use it.
。那人歪着头，目光沿着枪管望下去。
索尼埃终于举起手告饶了。“等一等。”他慢吞吞地说，“我告诉你这一切。”接下去的话馆长讲得非常谨慎。这是他事先操练了许多遍的谎言，每次都祈祷着永远不要用上这套谎言。
When the curator had finished speaking, his assailant smiled smugly. "Yes. This is exactly what the others told me."
Sauniere recoiled. The others?
"I found them, too," the huge man taunted. "All three of them. They confirmed what you have just said."
馆长说完后，袭击他的那人得意地笑了。“不错。跟其他人讲的一模一样。”
其他人？馆长心猛地一缩。
“我也找到了他们，三个都找到了。他们证实了你刚才所讲的话。”那大个子嘲笑道。
It cannot be! The curator's true identity, along with the identities of his three senechaux(seneschal), was almost as sacred as the ancient secret they protected. Sauniere now realized his senechaux, following strict procedure, had told the same lie before their own deaths. It was part of the protocol.
The attacker aimed his gun again. "When you are gone, I will be the only one who knows the truth."
这不可能！馆长和他的三个主事的真实身份就如同他们所保护的那个古老的秘密一样神圣。索尼埃现在知道他的同伴都严格遵循程序，在死前都说了同样的谎言。这是一个约定。
那攻击者再次举枪瞄准。“你完蛋后，我就是唯一知道秘密的人。”
The truth.In an instant, the curator grasped the true horror of the situation. If I die, the truth will be lost forever.Instinctively, he tried to scramble for cover.
The gun roared, and the curator felt a searing heat as the bullet lodged in his stomach. He fell forward... struggling against the pain. Slowly, Sauniere rolled over and stared back through the bars at his attacker.
馆长立即意识到了真正可怕的情形：如果我死了，真情将永远无人知晓。他本能地想抓些东西盖住自己。
枪响了，馆长感到钻心的灼热，因为子弹停在他的肚腹之中。他扑倒在地，痛苦地挣扎着，接着缓缓地翻过身，透过栅栏盯着攻击者。
The man was now taking dead aim at Sauniere's head.
Sauniere closed his eyes, his thoughts a swirling tempest of fear and regret. The click of an empty chamber echoed through the corridor. The curator's eyes flew open.
The man glanced down at his weapon, looking almost amused. He reached for a second clip, but then seemed to reconsider, smirking calmly at Sauniere's gut. "My work here is done."
那人瞄准了索尼埃的头，这一枪会让他立即毙命。索尼埃闭上眼睛，脑子一片混乱，极度恐惧和懊悔。
空弹膛的“咔嚓”声在长廊里回响。馆长猛地睁开了眼睛。
那人扫了一眼自己的武器，几乎被逗乐了。他伸手去取另一只弹夹，但似乎想了想后，又对着索尼埃的肚子得意地冷笑道：“反正这家伙也活不成了。”
The curator looked down and saw the bullet hole in his white linen shirt. It was framed by a small circle of blood a few inches below his breastbone. My stomach.Almost cruelly, the bullet had missed his heart. As a veteran of la Guerre d'Algerie, the curator had witnessed this horribly drawn-out death before. For fifteen minutes, he would survive as his stomach acids seeped into his chest cavity, slowly poisoning him from within.
馆长向下望去，他看到自己白色亚麻衬衫上的枪眼。枪眼在胸骨下方几英寸的地方，四周都是血。我的腹部！够残酷的，子弹没打中他的心脏。作为一名阿尔及利亚战争的老兵，馆长以前目睹过这种可怕的被延缓的死亡。他还能活十五分钟，因为胃酸正渗入他的胸腔，他将从内部中毒而死。
"Pain is good, monsieur," the man said. Then he was gone. Alone now, Jacques Sauniere turned his gaze again to the iron gate. He was trapped, and the doors could not be reopened for at least twenty minutes. By the time anyone got to him, he would be dead. Even so, the fear that now gripped him was a fear far greater than that of his own death.
I must pass on the secret.
“疼痛对人有好处，先生。”那人道。然后他离开了。
现在只有雅克·索尼埃一个人了。他转过头再次盯着铁门。他被困在里面了，至少二十分钟内门是无法再打开的。等到有人来到他身旁时，他早就没命了。然而，现在令他更恐惧的倒不是死。
我必须把这个秘密传下去。
Staggering to his feet, he pictured his three murdered brethren. He thought of the generations who had come before them... of the mission with which they had all been entrusted.
An unbroken chain of knowledge.
Suddenly, now, despite all the precautions... despite all the fail-safes... Jacques Sauniere was the only remaining link, the sole guardian of one of the most powerful secrets ever kept.
他摇摇晃晃地站起来，被谋害的三位兄弟的形象浮现在他脑海里。他想到了他们的先辈们，想到了他们被委托的重任。
一个环环相扣的守秘者链条。
尽管有所有的预防措施……尽管有确保万无一失的方案，雅克·索尼埃现在突然成了唯一存在的一环，成了多年来保守的秘密中的那个最重要的秘密的守护者。
Shivering, he pulled himself to his feet.
I must find some way... .
He was trapped inside the Grand Gallery, and there existed only one person on earth to whom he could pass the torch. Sauniere gazed up at the walls of his opulent prison. A collection of the world's most famous paintings seemed to smile down on him like old friends.
Wincing in pain, he summoned all of his faculties and strength. The desperate task before him, he knew, would require every remaining second of his life.
他颤栗着，站了起来。我必须想出办法来……
他被困在艺术大画廊里，在这个世界只有一个人可以接过他传递的火炬。索尼埃凝望着这大牢的墙壁，一组世界名画像好朋友似的朝他微笑着。
他在痛苦地抽搐，但他还是竭力稳住自己。他知道眼前这令他孤注一掷的任务，需要他抓住余下生命的每一秒钟.