Chapter 5

Chapter 5 After many days of traveling, we stopped for a rest on an open prairie. Everyone felt like we needed a break. Aang had been training hard, practicing both Earthbending and Waterbending. So everyone chose a vacation spot. Everyone except me, that is. "There's no time for vacations, Aang," I said. "Even if you do master all of the elements, then what? It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation. We need information. We need intelligence. And we're not going to get that taking vacations." I was voted down, of course. What a shock. I was the only one who wasn't either teaching or learning. Mr. Not-A-Bender here. Next, for Katara's vacation, we traveled to some place called Misty Palms Oasis. Well, the "oasis" was actually a dump—a rundown cantina with some lowlife Sandbenders hanging around like annoying bugs. Good choice, Katara. This was way more important than planning our strategy against the Fire Nation. But it was in that flea trap that we met Professor Zei, an anthropologist and professor from Ba Sing Se

经过许多天的旅行，我们在一片开阔的草原上停下来休息。 每个人都觉得我们需要休息一下。 安昂一直刻苦训练，既练御土术，又练御水术。 所以每个人都选择了一个度假地点。 除了我以外的所有人。 “没有时间度假了，安昂。”我说。 “即使你掌握了所有的元素，然后呢？ 我们又没有烈火国的地图。 我们需要信息。我们需要智慧。 我们不可能通过度假获得这些。” 当然，我被否决了。 真是令人震惊。我是唯一一个既不教也不学的人。 我不是本德先生。接下来，在卡塔拉的假期里，我们去了一个叫雾棕榈绿洲的地方。 那个“绿洲”其实是一个垃圾场，一个破旧的酒吧，一群下流的御沙师像讨厌的虫子一样在附近游荡。 不错的选择，卡塔拉。这比制定对付烈火国的策略重要多了。 但正是在那个跳蚤陷阱里，我们遇到了泽伊教授，他是一位人类学家，也是永固城的教授

University. He was searching for a lost library run by some spirit called Wan Shi Tong. The place was supposed to have books from all over the world, which meant that they might have some useful information or maps of the Fire Nation. "For my vacation, I choose finding that library," I said eagerly. Off we went, flying on Appa, with the professor guiding the way. We flew over the desert, which was one vast sea of brown. There was nothing but sand for miles.… Then I spotted something sticking out of the sand. "Down there. What's that?" We landed and found a tower jutting out from the sand. I looked at Professor Zei's picture of the enormous library and realized that the thing we were looking at was the top spire of the building! "This is the library," I announced. "But it's completely buried in the sand!" Toph used Earthbending to determine that the inside of the library was still completely intact, then we climbed up the spire and slipped in through a window. We left Toph to wait outside with Appa. The place was huge! I had a really good feeling that we were going to find what we needed on the Fire Nation. And then an enormous owl showed up.

大学。他在寻找一个失踪的图书馆，它是由一个叫万世通的鬼魂经营的。 这个地方应该有来自世界各地的书籍，这意味着他们可能有一些有用的信息或烈火国的地图。 “我的假期，我选择去找那个图书馆，”我急切地说。 我们出发了，骑着阿柏，由教授带路。 我们飞越了沙漠，那是一片巨大的棕色海洋。 几英里外除了沙子什么都没有。然后我发现有什么东西从沙子里伸出来。 “那里。那是什么?”我们降落了，发现一座塔从沙滩上伸出来。 我看了看泽伊教授那张巨大图书馆的照片，意识到我们看到的是这座建筑的塔尖！“这是图书馆。”我宣布。 “但它完全被埋在沙子里了！”拓芙用御土术确定图书馆内部仍然完好无损，然后我们爬上塔尖，从窗户溜进去。 我们让拓芙和阿柏在外面等着。 这个地方太大了！我有一种很好的预感我们会在烈火国找到我们需要的东西。 然后一只巨大的猫头鹰出现了。

"Are you the spirit who brought this library into the physical world?" I asked. "Indeed. I am Wan Shi Tong, and you are obviously humans, who, by the way, are no longer permitted in the library." "What do you have against humans?" Aang asked. "Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. So who are you trying to destroy?" Uh… how did he know? Was it written on our faces? I had to fake him out. "No, no destroying. We have come here to seek knowledge for knowledge's sake." Yes, that's a pretty good answer. But the owl wasn't so easily fooled. "If you are going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being, you should at least put a little effort into it," he said. I had to cover fast. "I'm not lying," I said. "I'm here with the Avatar, and he's the bridge between our worlds. He'll vouch for me." "We will not abuse your library, good spirit. You have my word," Aang assured him. I held my breath as we all waited for his response. "Very well," the spirit said. Whew! Now we just had to find something that would help us defeat the Fire Nation.

“你是把这个图书馆带到物质世界的灵魂吗？”我问。 “确实。我是万世通，你们显然是人，顺便说一句，人是不能进图书馆的。” “你对人类有什么不满？”Aang问道。 “人类学习东西只是为了超越他人。 那么你想要摧毁谁呢？”他怎么知道的？ 是写在我们脸上的吗？ 我得把他骗出来。“不，不要破坏。 我们来这里是为了知识而寻求知识。” 是的，这是一个很好的答案。 但是猫头鹰可没那么容易被骗。 他说：“如果你要对一个无所不知的神灵撒谎，你至少应该花点心思。” 我必须尽快掩盖。“我没有说谎，”我说。 “我和神通在一起，他是我们两个世界之间的桥梁。 他会为我担保的。”“我们不会滥用你的藏书的，好心人。 我向你保证。”安昂向他保证。 我们都屏住呼吸等待他的回答。 “很好，”幽灵说。 唷!现在我们只需要找到一些能帮助我们打败烈火国的东西。

What I found was even more than I could have hoped for. First I discovered a burned scrap of paper with a date and the words "The Darkest Day in Fire Nation History." Then one of the owl's assistants, a fox, led us to a mechanical planetarium that showed the position of the sun, moon, and stars on any given day. Using this amazing machine we figured out that the date on the paper was the date of a solar eclipse— a day when the moon blocks out the sun. And during a solar eclipse, Firebenders lose their bending abilities. This was it! This was the way to beat the Fire Nation! "We just have to figure out when the next solar eclipse is happening," I told the others. "Then we've got to get that information to Ba Sing Se so the Earth King can plan to invade the Fire Nation on that day. The Fire Lord is going down!" Just then there was an uncomfortable silence and I felt someone behind me. When I spun around, I saw the owl towering over us. "Mortals are so predictable," the owl said. "And such terrible liars. You betrayed my trust." "We're just trying to protect the people we love," I replied. "And I'm going to protect what I love. I'm taking

我发现的比我所希望的还要多。 首先我发现了一张烧过的小纸条上面写着日期和“烈火国历史上最黑暗的一天” 然后，猫头鹰的助手之一，一只狐狸，把我们带到一个机械天文馆，它可以显示任何一天太阳、月亮和星星的位置。 通过这台神奇的机器，我们算出了纸上的日期是日食的日期——这一天月亮挡住了太阳。 在日食期间，火宗会失去御术能力。 就是这样！这就是打败烈火国的方法！“我们只需要弄清楚下一次日食发生的时间，”我告诉其他人。 “那我们就得把情报交给永固，好让土强王计划在那天入侵烈火国。 烈火王要完蛋了！”就在这时，一阵令人不安的沉默，我感到有人在我身后。 当我转过身时，我看到那只猫头鹰高高耸立在我们上方。 “凡人太容易预测了。”猫头鹰说。 “还有这么可怕的骗子。你辜负了我的信任。” “我们只是想保护我们爱的人，”我回答。 “我要保护我所爱的东西。 我正在

my knowledge back. No one will ever abuse it again." The owl began flapping his wings and the library started sinking into the desert. Oh, no! He's destroying the library. And he's going to take us along with it! We ran from the planetarium. But then I realized that we needed one more important piece of information: the date of the next eclipse. "Sokka, let's go!" Katara called. "If we leave this place we'll never get the information we need," I said. "Aang, come with me!" While Katara and Momo tried to distract the owl, Aang and I hurried back to the planetarium. There we checked every day between now and the time that Sozin's Comet—the comet that will give the Fire Nation unlimited power—returns. In a few minutes we had the date. "That's it! The solar eclipse. It's just a few months away. Now let's get this info to Ba Sing Se!" Aang and I met up with Katara and Professor Zei, who decided to stay and sink with the library. I think he's crazy for wanting to stay, but I guess he really loves to read. We, on the other hand, had to get out. Aang flew us back up the spire and out the window.

我的知识回来了。没有人会再滥用它。” 猫头鹰开始扇动翅膀，图书室开始沉入沙漠。 哦,不!他在摧毁图书馆。 他会把我们一起带走的！我们从天文馆跑出来。 但后来我意识到，我们还需要一条更重要的信息：下一次日食的日期。 “索卡，我们走吧！”Katara调用。 “如果我们离开这个地方，我们永远也得不到我们需要的信息，”我说。 “安昂，跟我来！”当卡塔拉和莫莫试图分散猫头鹰的注意力时，我和安昂匆匆赶回了天文馆。 从现在起，我们每天都在那里检查，直到索辛彗星——那颗会给烈火国带来无限能量的彗星——回来。 几分钟后，我们确定了日期。 “就是它!日食。 只有几个月了。 现在让我们把这个消息带给永固城！”安昂和我见到了卡塔拉和泽伊教授，他们决定留下来和图书馆一起沉下去。 我觉得他想留下来是疯了，但我想他真的很喜欢读书。 另一方面，我们必须离开。 安昂带我们飞回塔尖，飞出窗外。