Chapter 8

Chapter 8 We're almost at the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. I can't wait to find Appa! Wait, what's that? Oh, no! A huge Fire Nation invasion force is marching toward the city! There must be thousands of tanks and troops advancing toward the outer wall. And what's that? Some kind of huge metal drill? This can only mean one thing: They're planning on drilling right through the outer wall of Ba Sing Se to invade the city. This is awful! I have to warn the others! "Sorry, Momo. Appa's going to have to wait." I met my friends right outside Ba Sing Se's outer wall and told them about the drill. Toph and I Earthbended a ledge of rock up the side of the outer wall so that everyone could climb up and see the scary-looking drill moving closer and closer. Once inside the gates, I marched up to the first guard I could find. I told him that I was the Avatar and he should take me to whoever was in charge. Then the three Firebenders who were following us showed up and attacked the Earth Kingdom soldiers. One of them, Ty Lee, actually takes people's chi away, leaving them unable to bend. Pretty scary stuff. Anyway, Sokka has a plan to stop the drill by

我们快到永固城的外墙了。 我等不及要找到阿柏了！等等，那是什么？ 哦,不!一支庞大的烈火国侵略军正在向城市挺进！一定有成千上万的坦克和军队向外墙挺进。 那是什么？某种巨大的金属钻头？ 这只能说明一件事：他们正计划钻穿永固城的外墙，入侵这座城市。 这太可怕了！我得去警告其他人！“对不起,莫莫。 阿柏得等等了。” 我就在永固城的外墙外遇见了我的朋友，告诉他们演习的事。 拓芙和我在外墙上弄了一块岩石，这样每个人都可以爬上去，看到看起来很吓人的钻头越来越近。 一进大门，我就向我能找到的第一个卫兵走去。 我告诉他我是神通他应该带我去见掌权者。 然后跟着我们的三个火宗人出现袭击了土强国的士兵。 其中一个叫泰·李的，会把人的气拿走，让他们无法弯腰。 非常可怕的东西。不管怎样，索卡有个计划可以阻止演习

hitting its pressure points. The drill is made up of an inner section and an outer one. We figure if we cut through the braces, the whole thing will collapse. As we walked back toward the drill, Toph whipped up a dust storm so that we wouldn't be seen. When the drill was directly above us, Sokka, Katara, Momo, and I jumped onto it. Toph stayed outside to slow the drill down from there with her Earthbending. We're making our way through the drill; it's a twisting maze of pipes and valves. It's turning out to be too hard to cut through them completely, so we're just going to weaken them, and then I'll go up to the top of the drill and deliver a final Airbending blow. Then the whole thing will collapse! It sounds simple enough, but the thing is, everyone inside the city is depending on this plan succeeding. Once again, it's all up to me, the Avatar. I just hope that I won't let them down… One by one we hurried from brace to brace, slashing each one with our waterwhips until it was weakened. Just as we were finishing with the final brace, the three firebenders—Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee

击中它的压力点。 该钻头由内半部和外半部组成。 我们想，如果我们切断支架，整座建筑就会坍塌。 当我们走回钻头的时候，拓芙掀起了一场沙尘暴，这样我们就不会被发现。 当钻头正对着我们时，索卡、卡塔拉、莫莫和我跳了上去。 拓芙待在外面用她的御土术减缓钻孔的速度。 我们正在穿过钻地；这是一个由管道和阀门组成的扭曲迷宫。 事实证明要完全切断它们太难了，所以我们要削弱它们，然后我要爬到钻头的顶部最后一击御气。 然后整个东西就会坍塌！这听起来很简单，但问题是，城市里的每个人都指望这个计划能成功。 再一次，一切都取决于我，神通。 我只希望我不会让他们失望……我们一个接一个地从一根支柱上跑到另一根支柱上，用我们的水鞭抽打每一根支柱，直到它被削弱为止。 就在我们完成最后一组时，三个火宗阿祖拉，麦和泰·李

—launched an attack on us. "Split up!" I cried. Katara tossed me her water pouch, then she and Sokka dashed down a corridor. Ty Lee and Mai followed them. Azula stayed behind. "The Avatar's mine!" she cried. I don't have time for this now—I have to complete our plan! Momo and I are dashing through the tank —we're finally at the top. Oh, no! The drill is already boring into the outer wall—the last line of the Earth Kingdom's defense! I used Katara's water to slash an X-shaped cut into the top of the drill's armor in preparation for my final blow. That's when Azula caught up with me and unleashed blast after blast of fire. I deflected what I could by Airbending, but when I tried to stop her with a water whip, she evaporated my supply! No matter what I did, she had me backing up. Is Azula just too powerful for me to defeat? I actually feel sorry for Zuko now, having to deal with such a ruthless enemy, not to mention sister! Zuko is dangerous, but at least he has a decent reason for always trying to capture me: to get back into the good graces of his father, the Fire Lord. Azula is just plain crazy. It's like she enjoys hurting people and destroying things—as if she finds that fun, not just a necessary part of war. That ruthlessness makes her a

-对我们发动了攻击。 “分手!”我哭了。卡塔拉把她的水袋扔给我，然后她和索卡冲进走廊。 泰·李和麦跟着他们。 阿祖拉留在后面。“神通是我的！” 我现在没时间了——我必须完成我们的计划！陌陌和我冲过水箱——我们终于到达了顶部。 哦,不!钻头已经钻进了外墙——土强国的最后一道防线！我用卡塔拉的水在钻头的装甲顶部划了一个x形的切口，准备最后一击。 就在这时，阿祖拉追上了我，一波接一波地发射了火焰。 我用御气术转移了我能转移的方向，但当我试图用水鞭阻止她时，她蒸发了我的补给！不管我做什么，她都支持我。 是不是阿祖拉太强大了，我无法打败？ 我现在真的为祖寇感到难过，要对付这样一个无情的敌人，更不用说妹妹了！祖寇很危险，但至少他总想抓我有个正当的理由：重新得到他父亲烈火王的欢心。 阿祖拉简直疯了。 就像她喜欢伤害别人和破坏东西一样——好像她觉得这很有趣，而不仅仅是战争的必要组成部分。 那种冷酷无情使她成为一个

much more dangerous opponent than Zuko ever could be. I'd take Zuko over his cold-blooded sister any day. Azula keeps firing at me. I just need to keep fighting… Azula may be more powerful than me, but I have to be smarter. I HAVE to stop her so I can bring down the drill. Yes! She stumbled. Now's my chance… While Azula struggled to regain her balance, I grabbed a big rock. I Earthbended the rock in half, sharpening one end into a point. Then I rested the point in the X-shaped cut. I just needed some momentum for this to work. …Just as Azula got back to her feet, I dashed down the wall, leaped into the air, and came down with all my might. Using a powerful Earthbending blow, I slammed my hands into the top of the rock spike I had made and left on top of the X-shaped cut in the drill. BOOM! The spike dug into the hull with such force that the weakened braces split and the whole machine broke apart. A river of slurry shot from the hole I had created, knocking Azula off the machine. I hopped onto the slurry and rode the wave down, like a surfer. Woohoo! This is so great! The drill has been

比祖寇更危险的对手 我宁愿选择祖寇也不愿选择他的冷血妹妹。 阿祖拉一直朝我开枪。我只需要继续战斗……阿祖拉也许比我更强大，但我必须更聪明。 我必须阻止她，这样我才能把电钻弄下来。 是的!她跌跌撞撞。现在我的机会来了…当阿祖拉挣扎着恢复平衡时，我抓住了一块大石头。 我把岩石用土弯成两半，把一端磨成尖头。 然后，我把这个点放在x形切口中。 我只是需要一些动力让这一切顺利进行。 阿祖拉刚站起来，我就冲下墙，跳到空中，用尽全身力气掉了下来。 我用一记强大的御土之拳，把我的手猛击在我做的岩石尖顶上，并把它留在了x形钻孔的顶端。 繁荣!长钉以如此之大的力量扎进船体，以致于脆弱的支撑断裂，整个机器也就解体了。 一股泥浆从我挖的洞里喷了出来，把阿祖拉从机器上撞了下来。 我跳上泥浆，像冲浪者一样顺浪而下。 哦吼!这太棒了！演习一直在进行。

destroyed, the Fire Nation attack has been stopped, and the city is safe. I almost feel free again, like I used to feel all the time when I went penguin sledding, and riding giant porpoises just for fun—before this war started, before Azula. I kind of feel like I'm just Aang again, not Aang the Avatar.

火烈国的进攻停止了，城市安全了。 我几乎又感觉自由了，就像我以前玩企鹅雪橇、骑大海豚只是为了好玩一样——在战争开始之前，在阿祖拉之前。 我感觉自己又变回了安昂，而不是神通安昂。