30_The Bet

Julia was shocked at the size of the crowd gathered in the agora. Once again she and the two boys had to climb onto a rooftop to see what was going on. " Hey! Check it out! ” Brody said, pointing to something in the ground. “ What is that?” “ It looks like a huge pit, ” Julia said. “ Where did that come from? It wasn’t there before. ” “ I’m guessing it’s Hades’ work, ” Markos said. “ Zeus probably asked him to create it. See? Zeus is making Heracles carry cattle up from the bottom. ” Julia squinted to see better. Sure enough, she soon spotted Heracles climbing the rough dirt wall of the pit.

朱莉娅对聚集在广场上的人群感到震惊。又一次，她和两个男孩不得不爬上屋顶看看到底发生了什么。 "嘿!快来看啊！”布罗迪指着地上的东西说。“那是什么？” ”它看起来像一个巨大的坑，”茱莉亚说。“那是从哪里来的？以前没有。” ”我猜这是哈迪斯的作品，”马库斯说。“宙斯可能是让他创造的。看到了吗？宙斯让赫拉克勒斯把牛从底部抬上来。” 茱莉亚眯着眼看得更清楚。果不其然，她很快就发现赫拉克勒斯爬上了坑里粗糙的土墙。

He had a full-grown cow slung across his broad shoulders. Several more cows were milling around at the bottom of the pit, looking confused. The animal Heracles was holding was mooing with fear and kicking its hooves. But Heracles hardly seemed to notice. Within moments he climbed out of the pit and set the cow in front of Zeus, who was standing on the dais. ” Behold my hero! ” the king of the gods shouted. The crowd cheered as Heracles returned to the pit and started climbing back down. “ Look, Iphicles is standing behind Zeus, ” Markos said.

他宽阔的肩膀上挂着一头成年母牛。又有几头牛在坑底转来转去，看起来很混乱。 赫拉克勒斯抱着的动物害怕地哞哞叫，四肢乱踹。但赫拉克勒斯似乎几乎没有感觉。 不一会儿，他就从坑里爬出来，把牛放在站在讲台上的宙斯面前。 “看我的英雄！”众神之王喊道。 当赫拉克勒斯回到坑里开始向下爬时，人群欢呼起来。 ”看，伊菲克勒斯正站在宙斯身后，”马库斯说。

“ You’re right. ” Julia peered at Heracles’ brother. “ He doesn’t look very happy about what’s happening. ” ” Maybe he’s worried that Zeus is making Heracles work too hard, ” Brody suggested. “ He might wear him out before the Games. ” Julia shot Brody a questioning look. Was he still hoping he could beat Heracles at the Games? But Brody just looked worried as he watched Heracles bring another cow out of the pit. “ Behold! ” Zeus cried again. “ And my champion is not even tired! “

”你说得对。”茱莉亚凝视着赫拉克勒斯的哥哥。“他看起来对发生的事情不太高兴。” ”也许他担心宙斯让赫拉克勒斯干得太辛苦了，”布罗迪建议道。“他可能会在奥运会前把他累垮。” 朱莉娅向布罗迪投了一个质问的眼神。他还希望自己能在奥运会上击败赫拉克勒斯吗？ 但当布罗迪看着赫拉克勒斯把另一头奶牛从坑里抱出来时，看起来很担心。 “瞧！”宙斯大声说道。“我的冠军甚至都不累！”

“ You might as well award me— I mean Heracles—the Olympic champion’s laurel wreath right now! ” ” No chance of that, Zeus, ” Apollo called from the crowd. He was standing with Artemis and Hermes. “ The Games will proceed as planned, and we’ll have to wait to see who emerges as champion. ” ” That’s right. ” Hera stepped into view from behind Zeus. Zeus jumped, clearly startled by his wife’s sudden appearance. “ Oh, good, ” he said. “ My lovely wife has arrived. ”

”你不妨现在就授予我——我的指的是赫拉克勒斯——奥运冠军桂冠！” “那是不可能的，宙斯，”阿波罗在人群中喊道。他和阿尔忒弥斯和赫耳墨斯站在一起。“奥运会将按计划进行，我们将拭目以待谁将成为冠军。” “没错。”赫拉从宙斯身后走进视野。 宙斯跳了起来，显然被妻子的突然出现吓了一跳。“哦，真好，”他说。“我可爱的妻子来了。”

Hera stepped closer to Zeus. Iphicles sidled away, looking nervous. The crowd went silent. " Did you come to cheer on my champion, my dear?” Zeus asked with a smirk. " Hardly. ” Hera peered over the edge of the pit at Heracles. He was climbing up with another cow across his shoulders. Hera waved her hand. A shimmer of amber light filled the agora, and suddenly all the cattle disappeared, including the one Heracles was carrying. Heracles gasped, thrown off balance by the abrupt disappearance of his heavy burden.

赫拉走近宙斯。伊菲克勒斯侧身走开，看上去很紧张。人群沉默了。 "亲爱的，你是来为我的冠军加油的吗？”宙斯笑着问。 “加把劲。”赫拉凝视着赫拉克勒斯的深坑边缘。他正抗着另一头奶牛爬上去。 赫拉挥了挥手。广场上闪烁着琥珀色的光芒，突然所有的牛都消失了，包括赫拉克勒斯所带的那只。 赫拉克勒斯喘着粗气，沉重的负担突然消失，使他失去了平衡。

“ Oh no! ” Julia exclaimed as the hero started to slip down the crumbling wall of the pit. But Heracles caught himself a moment later. The crowd sighed with relief as he climbed out of the pit. " That was a nasty trick, ” Zeus said, glaring at Hera. “ I thought we all agreed not to tamper with one another’s mortals. ” " They did?” Brody said. He sounded surprised. “ Because they seem to tamper with us a lot. ” " I know, ” Markos said. “ But I think they all agree to . . . well, they agree to avoid killing one another’s’ mortals. ”

”哦，不！”朱莉娅惊叫道，这时英雄开始从坑壁上滑下来。 但赫拉克勒斯过了一会儿就稳住了自身。当他爬出坑时，人群松了一口气。 ”这是一个卑鄙的诡计，”宙斯怒视着赫拉说。“我以为我们都同意不干涉彼此的凡人。” "是吗？”布罗迪说。他听起来很惊讶。“因为他们似乎经常干扰我们。” "我知道，”马库斯说。“但我认为他们都同意……嗯，他们同意避免杀害彼此的‘凡人’。”