Chapter 3

Chapter 3 We flew over the Earth Kingdom, not really sure where we were headed next. As we passed over a swamp, I heard it calling to me, telling me to land. I figured if I was actually hearing the Earth, I probably shouldn't ignore it. A few seconds later, a fierce wind pulled us down toward the swamp. By the time we landed, we had all gotten separated. While I was on my own, I had this vision of a laughing girl in a white dress. She seemed to want me to follow her, and she just kept laughing as I chased her through the swamp. Then she disappeared. The wind turned out to just be a Waterbender who was trying to protect the swamp. He told us that the swamp is actually just one giant tree that is connected to everything, that the entire world is connected, and that time is an illusion. But if time really is an illusion, maybe the girl I saw was someone I will meet in the future. Sokka and Katara also had visions, only theirs were of people from their past. Hmm… sometimes I wish I were just plain smarter. It would sure come in handy as the Avatar!

我们飞过土强国上空，不知道下一步要去哪里。 当我们经过一片沼泽时，我听到它在呼唤我，叫我降落。 我想如果我真的听到了地球的声音，我可能不应该忽视它。 几秒钟后，一阵狂风把我们吹向沼泽。 当我们降落的时候，我们都走散了。 当我独自一人的时候，我看到了一个穿着白色裙子笑着的女孩。 她似乎想让我跟着她，当我在沼泽里追她时，她一直在笑。 然后她就消失了。风原来是一个御水师想要保护沼泽。 他告诉我们，沼泽实际上只是一棵与万物相连的大树，整个世界都是相连的，而时间只是一种幻觉。 但如果时间真的是一种幻觉，也许我看到的女孩是我将来会遇到的人。 索卡和卡塔拉也有幻象，只是他们的幻象是过去的人。 有时候我真希望自己聪明一点。 当神通一定会派上用场！

Anyway, we left the swamp and went to the town of Gaoling to Master Yu's Earthbending Academy in search of a teacher. But all Master Yu did was try to sell me more lessons. That's when I realized he's definitely not the one! Then I heard about an Earthbending tournament called Earth Rumble Six, where the top Earthbenders in town competed against one another. So we went to watch. It was like nothing I'd ever seen! Xin Fu, who was running it, kept introducing Earthbenders with names like the Boulder and the Gopher. Boy, were they huge! The Boulder had beaten everyone in sight so far! At first I thought the Boulder was the champion, but I really couldn't see him being the teacher Bumi was talking about. I'm pretty sure the Boulder doesn't ever wait or listen. Oh, here comes the Boulder's final opponent—she's a twelve-year-old blind girl! She calls herself the Blind Bandit. SHE'S actually the reigning champion. She must be incredible. I can't wait to watch her! Just then the Blind Bandit began to laugh defiantly. Wait a second—I've heard that laugh before! She's the girl from my vision in the swamp! The vision really was of someone from the future. I guess I'm pretty smart after all!

总之，我们离开了沼泽，到高陵镇的余师傅御土书院去找老师。 但余师傅所做的只是想让我多上几堂课。 那时我才意识到他绝对不是我的真命天子！后来我听说有一场御土术锦标赛叫《大地之声》，是镇上顶尖的御土师互相竞争的比赛。 所以我们就去看了。这是我从未见过的！经营这家店的新富不断介绍御土师，给他们起了“巨石”和“地鼠”之类的名字。 天哪，它们太大了！到目前为止，巨石击败了眼前的所有人！起初我以为巨石是冠军，但我真的看不出他是布米所说的老师。 我很确定巨石从不等待或倾听。 哦，巨石队的最后一个对手来了——她是一个12岁的盲女！她称自己为盲匪。 她实际上是卫冕冠军。 她一定很了不起。我等不及要看她了！就在这时，盲匪开始挑衅地笑了起来。 等等，我以前听过这种笑声！她就是我在沼泽里看到的那个女孩！这个幻象真的是一个来自未来的人。 我想我还是蛮聪明的！

Then the most incredible thing yet happened—the Blind Bandit beat the Boulder! Every time the Boulder took a step, the Blind Bandit knew exactly where he was. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The small movement was powerful enough to create a ripple in the ground, which rushed toward the Boulder like a wave. As he put his foot down, the wave struck it, causing him to hit the ground with his legs split wide apart. Then the Blind Bandit forced three stone spikes to burst from the ground, slamming into the Boulder and knocking him from the ring. The match was over in a matter of seconds. "Winner and still champion, the Blind Bandit!" Xin Fu shouted from the center of the arena. "How did she do that?" Katara asked. The answer struck me at once. "She waited, and she listened." Just like Bumi said. Then the announcer offered gold to anyone from the audience who could beat her, and I volunteered. I just wanted to get close enough to ask her to be my Earthbending teacher, but she kept knocking me with Earthbending moves. Finally I had to knock her down with an Airbending blow. She was pretty angry and stormed out of the arena.

然后最不可思议的事情发生了——盲匪打败了巨石！每次巨石走一步，盲匪都知道自己在哪里。 她把重心从一只脚移到另一只脚上。 这个小小的动作足以在地上激起涟漪，涟漪像波浪一样冲向巨石。 当他把脚放下来的时候，波浪打在他的脚上，使他的腿裂开了。 然后，盲匪迫使三根石刺从地上刺了出来，狠狠地砸在巨石上，把他从擂台上撞了下来。 比赛在几秒钟内就结束了。 “赢家，仍然是冠军，盲匪！”新甫在赛场中央喊道。 “她是怎么做到的？”Katara问道。 答案立刻打动了我。 “她等待着，倾听着。” 就像布米说的。然后播音员给观众中任何能打败她的人颁发金牌，我自愿参加了比赛。 我只是想靠近她让她做我的御土术老师，但她一直用御土术打我。 最后我不得不用御气术把她击倒。 她非常生气，怒气冲冲地离开了竞技场。

We finally tracked her down as a member of the Beifong family. She's royalty! Pretty strange, huh? Anyway, we traveled to the house of Lao and Poppy Beifong. What a mansion! It's on a huge estate with gardens, servants, and everything. I announced myself as the Avatar, and Katara, Sokka, and I were invited in for dinner. At the dinner table sat the Blind Bandit, whose real name is Toph Beifong. Master Yu, the head of the Earthbending Academy, was there too. He's Toph's Earthbending teacher—like she needs one! Anyway, it turned out that her parents didn't have a clue how powerful an Earthbender she is. They still thought she was a beginner! After dinner she told me that even though her parents saw her blindness as a handicap and were more protective of her because of it, she's always been able to see by using her Earthbending. She feels vibrations through her feet and that tells her everything she needs to know—and way more than most of us can see. In the end, she had to tell her parents the truth because we were ambushed by the Earthbenders from Earth Rumble Six—they wanted to steal back the gold I had won. It all worked out though, and Toph agreed to be my teacher! I'm so excited. I think she's going to be exactly the teacher that Bumi wanted me to have.

我们终于查到她是北丰家的一员。 她是皇室!很奇怪吧？ 总之，我们去了老和波比·北丰的家。 好大的大厦！庄园很大，有花园，有仆人，什么都有。 我宣布自己是神通，卡塔拉，索卡和我被邀请去吃晚饭。 饭桌上坐着“盲匪”，他的真名是傅北丰。 御土学院院长于师傅也在场。 他是拓芙的御土术老师，就像她需要老师一样！总之，她的父母并不知道她是一个多么强大的御土师。 他们仍然认为她是一个初学者！晚饭后，她告诉我，尽管她的父母认为她的失明是一种障碍，并因此对她更加保护，但她一直都能通过使用她的御土术看到东西。 她的脚能感觉到震动，这告诉她她需要知道的一切——比我们大多数人能看到的要多得多。 最后，她不得不告诉她父母真相，因为我们遭到了土震六团的御土师的伏击，他们想把我赢来的金子偷回来。 一切都解决了，拓芙同意做我的老师！我太兴奋了。 我觉得她会成为布米希望我拥有的那种老师。

We're off on Appa, again, and for the first time in a while, things are finally starting to look up.

我们又出发去阿柏了，这段时间以来第一次，事情终于开始好转了。