45_Unnatural Causes

The next morning Brody felt good. He was ready to start competing again. “ We’re halfway there, ” he told Heracles, who was stretching beside him. All the athletes were on the track preparing for the first event of the day, the short footrace known as the stadion. Most of the gods were already seated in their golden chairs, and spectators filled the rest of the stadium. Brody spotted Julia and Markos. However, Iphicles was nowhere to be seen. Brody knew why— Heracles’ brother was already in position, waiting to foil the gods’ next prank.

第二天早上，布罗迪感觉很好，他准备再次开始比赛。 “我们已经比了一半了，”他告诉赫拉克勒斯，赫拉克勒斯在他身边伸着懒腰。 所有的运动员都在跑道上为当天的第一场比赛做准备，这场比赛被称为体育场。 大多数众神已经坐在他们的金色椅子上，观众挤满了体育场的其余部分。 布罗迪发现了茱莉亚和马库斯。然而，伊菲克勒斯却无处可寻。 布罗迪知道原因——赫拉克勒斯的哥哥已经就位，等待着挫败众神的下一次恶作剧。

Suddenly Brody noticed someone else among the spectators. “ Dude! ” he exclaimed, poking Heracles in the shoulder. “ Is that Apollo’s champion over there? The guy who fell into the pit yesterday? I didn’t expect to see him again! ” Heracles nodded. “ I was wondering about him too. But Zeus says he’ll be fine. He injured his arm and bumped his head, but he’s recovering well. ” “ Cool. ” Brody was relieved. Just then Agon called for the stadion to begin. The runners lined up at the starting line.

突然，布罗迪注意到观众中有其他人。 “老兄！”他喊道，戳了戳赫拉克勒斯的肩膀。 “那边是阿波罗的选手吗？昨天掉进坑里的那个人？我没想到会再见到他！” 赫拉克勒斯点了点头。“我也在想他，但宙斯说他会没事的。他伤了胳膊，撞了头，但恢复得很好。” “很好。”布罗迪松了一口气。 就在这时，阿贡要求比赛开始，赛跑者在起跑线上排队。

Brody ended up between Heracles and Ares’ champion. “ Well, what do you think?” Ares’ champion asked Brody in a low tone. He shot a glance at Heracles. “ Will Zeus’ mighty hero make us all look like fools again today?” “ Probably, ” Brody said. He slapped the other athlete on the back. “ Winning isn’t everything, bro. Just do your best. ” Ares’ champion gave him a strange look. Brody understood why. Before coming to ancient Greece, Brody never would have said something like that. In fact, his favorite saying back home was “ Winning isn’t everything—it’s the only thing. ”

布罗迪最终在赫拉克勒斯和阿瑞斯的选手之间。 “嗯，你觉得怎么样？”战神的选手低声问布罗迪，他瞥了赫拉克勒斯一眼。 “宙斯强大的英雄会不会让我们今天再次看起来像傻瓜？” “可能吧，”布罗迪说，他打了另一名运动员的后背。“胜利不是一切，兄弟。尽你最大的努力。” 战神的选手给了他一个奇怪的眼神，布罗迪明白原因。在来到古希腊之前，布罗迪从未说过这样的话。 事实上，他在国内最喜欢的一句话是“胜利不是一切，它是唯一的事情。”

A famous football coach had said that, and Brody had believed it. But here in ancient Greece, the circumstances were completely different. For the first time ever, Brody wasn’t focused only on winning. Agon lifted an arm, interrupting Brody’s thoughts. “ Champions, get ready! ” Agon shouted. Then a trumpet blew and the race began. Brody took off. Pumping his arms, he ran as fast as he could alongside the others. Suddenly the stadium was plunged into complete darkness.

一位著名的足球教练说过这句话，布罗迪相信了。 但在古希腊，情况完全不同。布罗迪有史以来第一次不仅仅专注于获胜。 阿贡举起一只手臂，打断了布罗迪的思绪。 “选手们，准备好！”阿贡喊道。然后，一个喇叭响了，比赛开始了。 布罗迪跑了，他抽着胳膊，尽他最大的可能在其他人旁边跑得飞快。 突然，体育场陷入了一片漆黑。

“ Whoa! ” Brody cried. “ Who turned out the lights?” A runner bumped into Brody and almost knocked him over. But Brody stayed on his feet, staring ahead. He’d been expecting this prank. He just hadn’t imagined that the stadium could get quite this dark. He couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face! A second later a light flared ahead on the track. It was Iphicles holding a torch. He tossed it to Heracles as the athlete raced past. Heracles caught the torch easily as he ran by. Brody grinned and took off after him, using the light of the torch to stay on the course.

“哇！”布罗迪喊道。“谁把灯关了？” 一名跑步者撞上了布罗迪，差点把他撞倒。但布罗迪站着，凝视着前方。 他一直在期待这个恶作剧。他只是没想到球场会这么黑，伸手不见五指！ 一会儿后，赛道上的一盏灯突然亮了起来。是伊菲克勒斯拿着火炬。 当运动员跑过时，他把火炬扔给了赫拉克勒斯。 赫拉克勒斯经过时轻松地抓住了火炬。 布罗迪咧嘴一笑，跟着他走了，利用火炬的光继续比赛。

But then he stumbled over a fallen runner and went down with a loud “ oof! ” He jumped to his feet and started running again. By now most of the other runners had caught on as well and were racing after Heracles. But the race was short, and they’d already lost too much ground. Heracles won easily, with Brody coming in near the back of the pack. “ Uh-oh, ” he thought. “ I hope Hermes didn’t see that! ” Luckily Hermes hadn’t seen it. Nobody had been able to see anything except Heracles crossing the finish line first.

但随后，他被一名摔倒的跑步者绊倒，并发出一声“噢！” 他跳起来，又开始跑步。到目前为止，大多数其他跑步者也已经赶上了，并在追赶赫拉克勒斯。 但比赛时间很短，他们已经落下了太远了。 赫拉克勒斯轻松获胜，布罗迪在比赛中靠后。 “噢，”他想。“我希望赫尔墨斯没有看到！” 幸运的是赫尔墨斯没有看到。只看到了赫拉克勒斯穿过首先完成。