Chapter 3

Chapter 3 We're camped in a rock quarry, which is turning out to be the perfect location to begin Aang's training. After a good night's sleep last night, I woke up early this morning—but not as early as Aang—who was already wide awake and raring to go hours before me. "So, what move are you going to teach me first?" he asked anxiously. "Rock-a-lanche? The Trembler? Ooh, maybe I could learn to make a whirlpool out of land?" "Let's start with Move-a-Rock." This kid has no clue how hard this is. Time to see what he makes of these two boulders. "The key to Earthbending is your stance. You've got to be steady and strong. Rock is a stubborn element—if you're going to move it, you've got to be like a rock yourself." A little demonstration: just a quick thrust of the arms and WHAM! Right into the wall! "Okay, you ready to give it a try?" "I'm ready," he said without hesitation. Okay, his feet feel set, and he's mimicking my movement. That's good. Ready, set, and—WHAT!? Great, instead of the rock moving, Aang just flew

我们在一个采石场扎营，这是安昂开始训练的最佳地点。 昨晚睡了个好觉，今天早上我醒得很早——但没有安昂醒得早，他已经完全醒了，比我早几个小时。 “那么，你打算先教我什么招式呢？”他焦急地问。 “Rock-a-lanche ?发抖的人吗? 哦，也许我可以学会用陆地做漩涡？”“让我们从移动岩石开始。” 这孩子根本不知道这有多难。 是时候看看他对这两块巨石的看法了。 "御土术的关键在于你的姿势。 你必须坚定而坚强。 岩石是一种顽固的元素——如果你想移动它，你自己必须像岩石一样。” 做个小示范：手臂快速一插，砰！直接撞到墙上！“好吧，你准备好试一试了吗？”“我准备好了，”他毫不犹豫地说。 好了，他的脚感觉好了，他在模仿我的动作。 这很好。准备好了，准备好了，还有什么？ 太好了，安昂没有移动石头，而是飞了起来

backward across the quarry. He's not firm, not thinking like an Earthbender. "Maybe if I came at it from another angle—" "No! You've got to stop thinking like an Airbender. There's no clever trick, no different angle to approach the problem. You've got to face it head on! Be rocklike. I see we've got a lot of work to do, Twinkle Toes!" This is not good. He's still fancy dancing, tiptoeing his way around the rock. He'll never move it that way. Being light on his feet may be great for Airbending, but it's never going to help him become an Earthbender. Feels like Katara is coming over to tell me something. I wonder what she wants.… "Toph, I've been training Aang for a while now. He responds to a positive teaching experience—lots of encouragement and praise." Here she goes, bossing me around again. And this time it's about something I know and she doesn't— Earthbending! I don't want to start arguing again, but how could treating him like a baby and encouraging his whining possibly help his Earthbending at all? "Thanks, Katara. I'll try that." Whatever, I'm just going to humor her. That is, until she's gone. Then I'm going to ride Aang hard until he learns what he needs to know.

向后穿过采石场。 他不坚定，不像御土师那样思考。 “也许如果我从另一个角度来看——”“不！你不能再像气宗那样思考了。 没有聪明的技巧，没有不同的角度来解决这个问题。 你必须正面面对它！坚硬如岩石的。 我知道我们有很多工作要做，闪光脚趾！”这可不太好。 他还在跳花式舞蹈，踮着脚尖绕着岩石走。 他永远不会那样做的。 脚轻也许对御气术有好处，但这对他成为一名御土师毫无帮助。 感觉卡塔拉要过来告诉我什么事。 我想知道她想要什么。“拓芙，我训练安昂已经有一段时间了。 他会对积极的教学经历做出反应——大量的鼓励和赞扬。” 她又来了，又对我颐指气使了。 这次是关于我知道而她不知道的事-御土术！我不想再和他争论了，但是把他当婴儿对待，鼓励他哭闹，怎么可能对他的御土术有帮助呢？ “谢谢Katara举行。我会试试的。” 管它呢，我就迁就她吧。 直到她走了。 那我就狠狠地折磨安昂直到他知道他需要知道的。

For Aang's next series of exercises, I set up an obstacle course. I had him lift heavy boulders and move them through the course. Then I covered myself in rock armor and told him to try to stop me from pushing him. With Aang balanced on two rock pillars, I had him bend some smaller rocks from hand to hand. Then I suddenly slammed a section out of each of the pillars to see if he could balance… and he hasn't fallen, which means he's actually holding his stance! Finally he's taking a step forward. Okay, now it's time for a more challenging test. Instead of moving a rock, I think I'll make him try to stop a rock. Yeah, stop it or be crushed by it. Simple but effective motivation. "Okay, Aang, I'm going to roll that boulder down at you. If you have the attitude of an Earthbender, you'll stop the rock." Just then Katara butt in again. "Sorry, Toph, but are you sure this is best way to teach Earthbending to Aang?" Hmm, I have an idea. Sorry, Aang, but your good friend just made things a little harder for you. She's gonna love this.… "I'm glad you said something, Katara. Actually there is a better way." Better, not easier. I put a blindfold on Aang. Now he'll have to feel

对于安昂的下一个系列练习，我设置了一个障碍训练场。 我让他举起沉重的巨石，并在跑道上移动它们。 然后我把自己裹在岩石盔甲里，告诉他不要让我推他。 安昂在两根石柱上保持平衡，我让他用手把一些较小的石头掰弯。 然后我突然从每根柱子上砍下一段，看看他是否能保持平衡……他没有摔倒，这意味着他实际上保持了他的姿势！他终于向前迈出了一步。 好了，现在是时候做一个更有挑战性的测试了。 我想我要让他试着阻止石头，而不是移动石头。 是啊，要么停下来，要么被它碾碎。 简单但有效的动机。 “好吧，安昂，我要把那块巨石滚下来砸你。 如果你有御土师的态度，你就能阻止石头。” 就在这时，卡塔拉又插了进来。 “对不起，拓芙，你确定这是教安昂御土术的最好方法吗？”嗯，我有个主意。 抱歉，安昂，但你的好朋友刚刚让你更为难了。 她会喜欢的。“我很高兴你说了些什么，卡塔拉。 其实还有更好的办法。” 更好，而不是更容易。我给安昂蒙上了眼罩。 现在他得感受一下了

the vibrations of the boulder to stop it. Welcome to my world! "Thank you, Katara." "Yeah," Aang said, obviously unhappy with Little Miss Buttinski. "Thanks, Katara." Okay, the boulder is on its journey down the hill, and Aang is getting into his horse stance. Good. His form feels perfect, his stance feels good. Now it's time to see whether or not he has the courage to stand his ground. Here we go.… That's good, just keep sticking your ground, be rocklike and sense the vibration. Come on Aang, you can do this.… It's getting closer, I can feel it, it's time to—What happened? Either it flattened him or he pulled a fancy-dancer move and jumped out of the way.… Well, he didn't get flattened because I can feel him coming toward me. "I guess I just panicked… I don't know what to say." "There's nothing TO say. You blew it. You had perfect stance and perfect form." What am I going to do with him? How can I teach him Earthbending if he's scared to Earthbend? How can the Avatar, who's supposed to save everyone, be such a wimp? "When it came right down to it you didn't have the guts. Do you have what it takes to face that rock like an Earthbender?"

用巨石的振动来阻止它。 欢迎来到我的世界！“谢谢你，卡塔拉。” “是啊。”安昂说，显然对布丁斯基小姐很不满意。 “谢谢Katara举行。”好了，巨石开始下山了，安昂开始摆马姿了。 好。他的姿势感觉很完美，他的姿势感觉很好。 现在是时候看看他是否有勇气坚持自己的立场了。 开始吧。很好，只要坚持你的立场，像岩石一样，感受震动。 加油，安昂，你能做到的。它越来越近了，我能感觉到，是时候…发生了什么？ 要么是它把他压扁了，要么就是他跳了个花式舞蹈，跳开了。他没有被压扁，因为我能感觉到他朝我走来。 “我想我只是惊慌失措……我不知道该说什么。” “没什么可说的。你搞砸了。 你的姿势和姿势都很完美。” 我该拿他怎么办？ 如果他害怕御土术，我怎么教他？ 应该拯救所有人的神通怎么会这么懦弱？ “到了关键时刻，你没有勇气。 你有本事像御土师一样面对那块石头吗？”

"No. I don't think I do." Great. Now I'm supposed to feel bad about hurting his feelings? HE messed up, and HE should feel bad about that. I'm not Katara, I'm not going to console him and let him cry on my shoulder. But here comes the Sugar Queen to make it all better. No wonder he can't learn anything. He's so used to being treated like a little baby by Katara that he doesn't know what it's like to not always get everything right the first time around. The minute things get hard he gives up, and she rewards him for it. She thinks working on Waterbending is going to make him feel better. Well, it might do that, but it won't make him any better at Earthbending. I can't teach him if he doesn't have the courage to stand up to that rock. Hmm. That gives me an idea. Maybe if I can get him to stand up to me, standing up to the rock won't seem so tough. Maybe if I get him mad enough… this ought to bug him. "Hey, Aang, I found these nuts in your bag. I figured you wouldn't mind, and if you did, you're too much of a pushover to say anything." He doesn't mind? He's happy to share? Blah, blah, blah, all this nicey-nice Avatar stuff is starting to get to me. Well, this next part will definitely bug him.

“没有。我想我不知道。”好了。 现在我应该为伤害了他的感情而感到愧疚吗？ 他搞砸了，他应该为此感到难过。 我不是卡塔拉，我不会安慰他，让他靠在我的肩膀上哭泣。 但糖皇后来了，让这一切变得更好。 难怪他什么也学不会。 他已经习惯了卡塔拉像对待一个小婴儿一样对待他，所以他不知道第一次不总是把一切都做好是什么感觉。 当事情变得困难时，他放弃了，而她会为此奖励他。 她觉得练习御水术能让他感觉好点。 也许可以，但这不会让他的御土术变好。 如果他没有勇气面对那块石头，我就没法教他。 嗯。这让我有了一个想法。 也许如果我能让他站在我面前，站在岩石面前就不会那么困难了。 也许如果我把他惹毛了，他会生气的。 “嘿，安昂，我在你包里发现了这些坚果。 我以为你不会介意的，就算你介意，你也太容易受人摆布，什么话也说不出来。” 他不介意吗？他愿意分享吗？ 废话，废话，废话，这些神通的好话开始让我心烦了。 接下来的部分肯定会让他心烦的。