Raining Bugs

Two hours later Brody had moved on from practicing for the hoplitodromos race to practicing for the wrestling event again. Brody hadn’t wrestled much, but he wasn’t worried. Today he was practicing against Demeter’s champion, a tall, thin youth with a big nose. “ Got you! ” Brody cried as he pinned the other athlete for the third time in a row. Demeter’s champion gritted his teeth. “ Never mind, ” he said. “ I may not be the best at wrestling. But I’ll beat you at boxing every time! ” Brody let him go and stood up. “ Boxing?” he said to Hermes. “ Do I have to do that?”

两个小时后，布罗迪从重装步兵赛跑练习，变为摔跤项目练习。 布罗迪没有怎么摔过跤，但他并不担心。今天，他正在和德墨忒耳的冠军，一个高瘦的大鼻子青年进行练习。 “抓住你了！”布罗迪在连续第三次牵制住另一名运动员时喊道。 德墨忒耳的冠军狠狠的咬了咬牙。“没关系，”他说。“我可能不擅长摔跤。但我每一次都会在拳击比赛中击败你！” 布罗迪放开他，然后站了起来。“拳击？”他对赫尔墨斯说。“我必须要做那个吗？”

“ Of course, ” Hermes said. “ We’ll practice that tomorrow. I’ve already started setting up some sparring partners for you. ” Before Brody could say anything else, a loud buzzing sound filled the gymnasium. “ What’s that?” Julia exclaimed. Markos covered his head. “ Look out above! ” Brody glanced up just in time to see a huge black cloud descending on the gymnasium. When it got closer, he saw that it was actually a swarm of large insects.

“当然，”赫尔墨斯说。“我们明天会练习的。我已经开始为你安排一些陪练了。” 布罗迪还没来得及说什么，体育馆里就响起了嗡嗡声。 “那是什么？”茱莉亚惊呼道。 马库斯捂着头。“当心上面！” 布罗迪抬头一看，正好看到一团巨大的乌云正降落在体育馆上。当它走近时，他发现那实际上是一群大型昆虫。

“ Gross! ” Brody covered his head as the first insects hit him. “ What are those things?” “ Cicadas. ” Hermes sounded disgusted. “ Apollo! Did you have something to do with this?” Apollo was standing nearby, grinning as the other gods’ champions raced for cover from the rain of singing insects. Meanwhile Apollo’s own champion continued to jog around the track, untouched by the cicadas. “ What makes you think I had anything to do with this?” Apollo asked, still grinning. Cicadas were pelting every inch of Brody’s head and body. One even crawled into his mouth.

“真恶心！”布罗迪在第一只虫子袭击他的时候就捂住了头。“那是什么东西？” “蝉。”赫尔墨斯的声音满是厌恶。“阿波罗！你和这事有关系吗？” 其他神的冠军们争先恐后地躲避着如雨点般降落的鸣虫时，阿波罗就站在附近，咧嘴笑着。 与此同时，阿波罗自己的冠军却继续在赛道上慢跑，并没有受到蝉的影响。 “你凭什么认为我和这件事有什么关系？”阿波罗笑着问道。 蝉在布罗迪全身上下的每一寸扑来扑去。有一只甚至爬进了他的嘴里。

“ Yuck! ” he exclaimed, spitting it out and then running to join Julia and Markos, who were huddled beneath the shelter of an overhang. “ Enough, brother! ” Artemis stepped forward, frowning. Ignoring the insects raining down on her, she lifted her bow. “ Feathered friends, help us! ” A loud, piercing shriek seemed to tear the sky in two. A moment later something scurried into the gymnasium. “ What’s that?” Brody asked, peering through the veil of cicadas.

“真是糟透了！”他大声喊道，把它吐了出来，然后跑去茱莉亚和马库斯那儿，他们两个蜷缩在屋檐的遮蔽下。 “够了，哥哥！”阿尔忒弥斯皱着眉头走上前去。她无视雨点般落在她身上的昆虫，举起了弓。“羽之友，帮帮我们！” 一声刺耳的尖叫似乎要将天空撕成两半。过了一会儿，有什么东西冲进了体育馆。 “那是什么？”透过铺天盖地的禅的遮盖，布罗迪问道。

“ It looks like a bird, ” Markos said. “ It’s eating the cicadas! ” “ It’s a guinea fowl, ” Julia explained. “ My neighbors used to raise them. They’re really noisy. And they’ll eat anything. ” “ Look! ” Markos pointed. “ Here come more of them! ” Dozens of guinea fowl were running or flying into view. They immediately began gobbling up the cicadas. Some of them let out sharp cries as they fed. “ This is ridiculous! ” Ares marched over to Apollo and Artemis, cicadas crunching beneath his feet. “ How can any of us train under these conditions?”

“它看起来像一只鸟，”马库斯说。“它在吃蝉！” “这是珍珠鸡，”茱莉亚解释道。“我的邻居曾经养过它们。它们很吵。它们什么都吃。” “看！”马库斯指了指。“来了更多！” 数十只珍珠鸡或奔跑或飞入大家的眼帘。它们立刻开始狼吞虎咽地吃蝉。它们中有一些在进食时还会发出尖锐的叫声。 “这太荒谬了！”阿瑞斯向阿波罗和阿尔忒弥斯走去，蝉在他脚下嘎吱作响。“我们怎么能在这种条件下训练？”

“ Sorry. ” Apollo shrugged, not looking sorry at all. “ I was just testing out a little trick I might try on the mighty Alcides. ” “ Hmm. ” Ares suddenly looked much less angry. “ Now that you mention it, I have a few things in mind for Zeus’ mighty champion as well. ” He raised his spear to his own head just as his red hair burst into flame. He lit his spear, and then twirled it, shooting fire at the cicadas. A guinea fowl let out a squawk as a spark just missed its head. “ Maybe we should get out of here. ” Julia sounded nervous. “ Things are getting a little dangerous. ”

“抱歉。”阿波罗耸了耸肩，看起来一点也不觉得抱歉。“我只是在测试一个可能会在强大的阿尔西德斯身上尝试一下的小技巧。” “嗯。”阿瑞斯顿时不那么生气了。“既然你提到了这一点，我对宙斯强大的冠军也有一些想法。” 正当他的红发熊熊燃烧时，他举起长矛对准自己的头。他点燃长矛，然后旋转着，向蝉放火。一只珍珠鸡发出一声尖叫，因为火星刚刚擦过它的头。 “也许我们应该离开这里。”茱莉亚的声音听起来很紧张。“事情变得有点危险了。”