Dangers and Threats

Julia frowned at Brody. Heracles was definitely intimidating as an athlete. But Heracles was a kid, just like them. And he seemed like a nice guy. “ Maybe we should talk to Hermes about a strategy, ” she suggested. “ Now that he’s seen Heracles, he must realize that no mortal will ever beat him. Maybe he’ll even let us go home before the Games. ” “ Never, ” Markos stated. “ The gods don’t give up easily. Especially when it comes to the Games. ” “ Well, I don’t give up either. ” Brody declared suddenly. He puffed out his chest.

茱莉亚皱着眉头看着布罗迪。作为一名运动员，赫拉克勒斯绝对是令人畏惧的。但赫拉克勒斯也不过是个孩子，就像他们一样。他看起来是个好人。 “也许我们应该和赫尔墨斯谈谈计策，”她建议道。“既然他看到了赫拉克勒斯，他肯定意识到没有凡人能打败他。也许他甚至会让我们在奥运会之前回家。” “绝不可能，”马库斯说。“众神不会轻易放弃。尤其涉及到奥运会。” “嗯，我也不会放弃。”布罗迪突然宣布。他挺起胸膛。

“ I’m going to beat Heracles, even if I have to train nonstop between now and the Games. ” Julia stared at him. “ Are you crazy? A minute ago you were worried about competing against him. And you saw what Heracles did! ” she added. “ He outran a horse! And picked up a giant ram! ” Brody looked stubborn. “ I don’t have a choice, Julia. And if I keep up the training, I can do it. ” Julia shook her head. “ This doesn’t seem like a real plan, Brody. ” “ Yeah, well, until you come up with something better, this is what I’m going to do, ” he shot back.

“我要打败赫拉克勒斯，即使从现在到奥运会期间我必须不停地训练。” 茱莉亚盯着他。“你疯了吗？一分钟前，你还担心与他竞争。你看到了赫拉克勒斯的所作所为！”她补充道。 “他赛过了一匹马！还举起了一只巨大的公羊！” 布罗迪看起来很固执。“我别无选择，茱莉亚。如果我继续训练，我就能做到。” 茱莉亚摇了摇头。“这似乎并不是一个实际的方案，布罗迪。” “是的，好吧，在你想出更好的办法之前，这就是我要做的，”他回击道。

Julia stomped off to get away from Brody for a few minutes. This situation was bad, and he didn’t even seem to realize it. All this time she’d been hoping Brody could actually win at the Games. But now that he was competing against Heracles, she was sure Brody—along with all the other athletes—was going to lose. Unless the gods managed to sabotage Heracles. Then Brody might have a chance. As she walked around, she could hear people talking about Heracles. Everyone still seemed dazzled by Zeus’ amazing hero. Then there was a commotion somewhere near the dais. Julia looked over there just in time to see Heracles lift Zeus by one ankle!

茱莉亚跺着脚远离了布罗迪几分钟。情况糟糕极了，他甚至没有意识到。 一直以来，她都希望布罗迪能在奥运会上获胜。但现在他正在与赫拉克勒斯竞争，她确信布罗迪 - 以及所有其他运动员 - 都会输。 除非众神设法阻碍赫拉克勒斯。那么布罗迪才可能有机会。 当她四处走动时，她能听到人们在谈论赫拉克勒斯。大家似乎仍然在为宙斯惊人的英雄神魂颠倒。 然后台子附近的某个地方发生了骚动。茱莉亚看向那边，正好看到赫拉克勒斯抓住了宙斯的一个脚踝把他抬了起来！

The king of the gods waved as the crowd cheered. “ Behold the greatest mortal athlete of all time! ” Zeus called out. Suddenly someone grabbed Julia’s arm. “ Let go, ” she snapped, yanking it back. She turned around, expecting to see Brody. Instead Aphrodite was standing there! Julia gasped. “ I—I’m sorry, ” she babbled. “ I thought my friends were . . . ” She was afraid that the goddess would be angry at the way Julia had spoken to her. But Aphrodite just looked excited. She was staring at Heracles.

众神之王挥手，人群欢呼。“看，有史以来最伟大的凡人运动员！”宙斯喊道。 突然有人抓住了茱莉亚的胳膊。“放开，”她厉声说，把胳膊拽了回来。 她转过身来，希望能看到布罗迪。然而，阿芙罗狄蒂站在那里！ 茱莉亚倒吸了一口气。“我—我很抱歉，”她有些语无伦次。“我以为是我的朋友…” 她害怕女神会对茱莉亚刚刚对她的说话方式感到愤怒。但阿芙罗狄蒂只是很兴奋。她紧盯着赫拉克勒斯。

“ Do you see Zeus’ hero, mortal girl?” the goddess said. “ I’ve never seen a mortal so handsome! ” “ Um . . . ” Julia wasn’t sure what to say to that. “ He’s handsome, I guess. ” Luckily Aphrodite didn’t seem to care about Julia’s reply. She grabbed a passing woman. “ Isn’t this exciting?” Aphrodite said. “ The Games should be quite interesting this year. Don’t you agree, mortal woman?”

“你看到宙斯的英雄了吗，凡人女孩？”女神说。“我从未见过一个如此英俊的凡人！” “嗯……”茱莉亚不知道该说什么。“他确实帅，我猜。” 幸运的是，阿芙罗狄蒂似乎并不在乎茱莉亚的回答。她抓住了一个路过的女人。 “这不是很刺激吗？”阿芙罗狄蒂说。“今年的奥运会应该很有趣。你不同意吗，凡人女子？”

Julia slipped out of Aphrodite’s view, relieved that she hadn’t accidentally offended the goddess. After Aphrodite’s trick with the poisoned chiton, Julia didn’t want to take any chances. Hera and Aphrodite made her especially nervous. A moment later she saw Brody and Markos coming toward her. “ You missed it! ” Brody said. “ We just heard Ares and Dionysus talking about Heracles. ” “ Oh?” Julia glanced at the dais. Heracles had lowered Zeus to the ground. Now the hero was doing a one-handed handstand while he used his feet to balance a nervous-looking goat.

茱莉亚从阿芙罗狄蒂的视线内溜了出来，她为自己没有意外冒犯到女神而松了一口气。 在阿芙罗狄蒂用长袍下毒这个计谋之后，茱莉亚不想再冒险了。赫拉和阿芙罗狄蒂总让她特别紧张。 过了一会儿，她看到布罗迪和马库斯朝她走来。 “你错过了！”布罗迪说。“我们刚刚听到阿瑞斯和狄俄尼索斯在谈论赫拉克勒斯。” “哦？”茱莉亚向台子那边看了一眼。赫拉克勒斯把宙斯放在地上。现在，这位英雄正在做单手倒立，与此同时还用脚让一只看起来很紧张的山羊保持平衡。