Chapter 1

Chapter 1 My name is Toph Beifong. I'm an Earthbender. A pretty good one, too. But what really stinks is that I have to hide that part of who I am. See, my parents are very rich and power-ful. I come from one of the most important families in the Earth Kingdom, the Beifongs. Just saying my last name has always opened doors. People rush to help me just because my family is wealthy, and I really can't stand that. I live on a huge estate in a giant mansion, with servants attending to my every whim. I hate that, too. I don't want to be treated as royalty or anyone special. And I most definitely do not want to be treated as if I have a handicap. Oh, yeah, I guess I should mention that I'm blind. But before you start feeling sorry for me or start thinking I'm helpless, let me explain something. I see with my feet. I know it sounds weird, but believe me, it's true. More accurately, I see using Earthbending. I feel the vibrations in the earth and they help me figure out where everything is. I can sense the slightest movement—in other people, in tree branches swaying in the wind, even in the tiniest ants crawling on the ground.

第一章我的名字叫陶斐·北风。 我是御土师。也很不错。 但真正让人讨厌的是我必须隐藏自己的那一部分。 你看，我的父母很有钱，有权有势。 我来自一个最重要的家庭在土强国，北京。 只要说出我的姓就能打开一扇门。 人们抢着帮助我，只是因为我的家庭富有，我真的不能忍受。 我住在一个巨大的庄园里，有仆人侍候我的一举一动。 我也讨厌这样。我不想被当作皇室成员或任何特殊的人对待。 我绝对不想被当成有残疾的人来对待。 是啊，我想我应该告诉你我是个盲人。 但在你开始同情我或者觉得我很无助之前，让我解释一下。 我用脚看东西。我知道这听起来很奇怪，但相信我，这是真的。 更准确地说，我看到的是使用御土术。 我感觉到了地球的振动，它们帮助我找到了所有东西的位置。 我能感觉到最细微的动静——在别人身上，在风中摇曳的树枝上，甚至是在地上爬行的最小的蚂蚁身上。

I've never felt sorry for myself for one second, but my parents don't understand me. They always treat me like I'm helpless. They think I'm just a beginning-level Earthbending student, and they take comfort in that. If I ever showed them what I'm really capable of, they'd ground me for the next twenty years! Sometimes I get so frustrated from hiding who I really am, not being able to use my Earthbending skills to their full capacity around my mom and dad, I feel like screaming! So, that's why I've adopted a kind of secret identity. I sneak out of my house at night, when my parents are asleep, and I compete in Earthbending tournaments. If my folks ever found out about it, I'd be grounded for the rest of my life! At the competitions I'm known as "the Blind Bandit." It's kind of silly, I know. But I didn't even make up the name. This guy named Xin Fu, who runs the tournaments, started calling me that. Competing lets me cut loose with my Earthbending abilities—a chance I never get as Toph Beifong, poor, weak, blind girl, obedient daughter of the oh-so-important Beifong family. But as the Blind Bandit, I fight—and win, by the way. In fact, I'M the reigning champion! Tonight is Earth Rumble Six. The arena is packed. After a particularly boring day "studying" with my

我从来没有为自己感到难过过一秒钟，但是我的父母不理解我。 他们总是把我当成无助的人。 他们认为我只是一个初学御土术的学生，并以此为安慰。 如果我向他们展示了我的真正能力，他们会把我禁足二十年！有时候我很沮丧，因为我无法隐藏真实的自己，不能在我爸妈面前充分发挥我的御土术，我想尖叫！所以，这就是为什么我采用了一种秘密身份。 我晚上趁父母睡着的时候溜出家门，参加御土术比赛。 如果我爸妈知道了，我这辈子都得禁足了！在比赛中，我被称为“盲匪”。 我知道这有点傻。 但我连名字都没编。 有个叫新富的人，他是锦标赛的负责人，开始这么叫我。 比赛让我可以尽情发挥我的御土术——这是我作为托芙·北京从来没有过的机会，一个贫穷、软弱、失明的女孩，一个非常重要的北京家族的听话的女儿。 但作为盲匪，我战斗——顺便说一句，我赢了。 事实上，我是卫冕冠军！今晚是地球之声第六集。 竞技场挤满了人。在度过了特别无聊的一天和我的

Earthbending teacher, Master Yu, "learning" how to move tiny pebbles, I'm ready to kick some Earthbending butt. As the champ, I get to sit back and watch a bunch of chumps compete until they narrow the challengers down. My opponent tonight is this big, muscle-bound guy who calls himself "the Boulder." I think he got the name because he moves as slowly and stomps as heavily as one, not because he Earthbends them well. Okay, here it goes. …I love it when the crowd cheers like this! "The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young, blind girl!" he said aloud. What a fool! He's going down—hard! "Whenever you're ready, 'Pebble'!" The crowd loves this stuff. And I have to admit I get a kick out of stirring them up. Right now I'm laughing loudly. You know, to make the Boulder even madder than he already is. The angrier an opponent, the less subtle his attack, the easier it is for me to follow his moves and stop him. "It's on!" the Boulder cried. Finally! Okay, Toph, focus on his movements. Block out the sound of the crowd, just feel the ground under your feet. There he is—he's charging forward

御土术老师，于师傅，“学习”如何移动小鹅卵石，我准备踢一些御土术的屁股。 作为冠军，我可以坐下来看一群笨蛋比赛，直到他们缩小挑战者的范围。 我今晚的对手是一个肌肉发达的大块头他自称“巨石” 我想他之所以叫这个名字，是因为他走路很慢，跺脚也很重，而不是因为他能很好地弯下腰。 好了，开始吧。我喜欢观众这样欢呼！“巨石对和一个年轻的盲姑娘打架感到很矛盾！”他大声说。 真是个傻瓜！他要趴下了！“只要你准备好了，就喊‘卵石’！”观众喜欢这些东西。 我不得不承认，我很喜欢把它们搅起来。 现在我在大声地笑。 你知道，让巨石比他现在更疯狂。 对手越愤怒，他的攻击就越不狡猾，我就越容易跟上他的动作并阻止他。 “开始了！”巨石喊道。 终于!好吧，拓芙，注意他的动作。 远离人群的喧嚣，感受脚下的大地。 他来了，他在向前冲

—but not for long! The Boulder went down quickly. He took a big clumsy step toward me, then lifted his other foot. Before it could hit the ground, I flexed my ankle, driving my heel into the earth, sending a narrow shockwave racing toward him. So as his foot came down, a ripple of rock from my shockwave shoved his foot to the side, causing him to land in a painful split. He moaned and groaned as he scrambled back to his feet. Ha! Take that! Maybe one of these days they'll bring me some serious competition. In fact, maybe I'll just finish him off right now—for kicks. BAM! I extended my arms, Earthbending three jagged poles of rock, which burst up from the ground, slammed into the Boulder, and sent him flying into the far wall. Match over. Yawn! This is so boring—Whoa, did I just hear that right? Xin Fu's offering a sack of gold to anyone who can beat me. Finally, some real competition. What, no takers? Wait a minute, who's this little guy? He feels tiny… small enough to crush with my bare hands—without even using Earthbending! What'd he just say to me? He doesn't want to fight, he just wants to talk to me? I'm not here for conversation, kid. I'm here to defend my title, so bring it on!

但不会太久！巨石很快就掉了下来。 他笨拙地向我迈了一大步，然后抬起另一只脚。 在它落地之前，我弯曲了脚踝，脚跟着地，向他发出了一股狭窄的冲击波。 所以当他的脚着地时，我的冲击波产生的岩石波纹把他的脚推到一边，导致他在一个痛苦的裂缝中着陆。 他一边呻吟一边爬起来。 哈!看箭!也许有一天他们会给我带来一些真正的竞争对手。 事实上，也许我现在就把他干掉，为了好玩。 砰!我伸出双臂，弯起了三根参差不齐的岩石杆，从地上炸了出来，猛地砸在巨石上，把他撞到了远处的墙上。 比赛结束了。打哈欠!这太无聊了，我没听错吧？ 新父说谁能打败我就给他一袋金子。 终于有了真正的竞争。 什么，没人接吗？等等，这个小家伙是谁？ 他觉得自己很渺小……小到我不用御土术就能徒手捏碎他！他刚刚对我说什么？ 他不想吵架，他只是想和我谈谈？ 我不是来聊天的，孩子。 我是来捍卫我的头衔的，来吧！