Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Appa landed on a hill overlooking Chameleon Bay. I climbed down, glanced at the Water Tribe encampment below, and immediately felt nauseated. I didn't think I'd be so nervous seeing Dad again. "You haven't seen your dad in more than two years," Aang said as he got ready to leave. "You must be so excited!" "I know I should be, but I just feel sick to my stomach." "Don't be nervous. He's going to be so happy to see you." I nodded, even though in my heart I wasn't sure. I watched as Aang flew away. "See you in a week!" he said. Then I was alone. I took a deep breath and started down the hill toward the camp. I entered the camp and passed by some Water Tribe warriors. I felt a little uncomfortable—they were staring at me like I didn't belong.… No, that wasn't it—they're staring at me because they recognized who I was. Then they came over to shake my hand! Wow. I never expected a greeting like that! Maybe they heard about what I had been doing, or maybe it

第九章阿柏降落在一座俯瞰变色龙湾的小山上。 我爬了下来，瞥了一眼下面的水族营地，立刻感到恶心。 我没想过再见到爸爸会这么紧张。 “你有两年多没见过你爸爸了。”安昂说着准备离开。 “你一定很兴奋吧！”“我知道我应该高兴，但我就是觉得胃不舒服。” “不要紧张。他见到你会很高兴的。” 我点了点头，尽管我心里并不确定。 我看着安昂飞走。 “一周后见！”他说。 然后就只剩我一个人了。我深吸了一口气，开始下山朝营地走去。 我进入营地，经过一些水族战士。 我感到有点不自在——他们盯着我，好像我不属于这里一样。不，不是这样的——他们盯着我看是因为他们认出了我。 然后他们过来和我握手！哇。 我从没想过会有这样的问候！也许他们听说了我一直在做的事，也许

was just because of who my father is, but it sure felt good to be welcomed. One warrior pointed to a tent up ahead. Dad must be in there. If only he's as glad to see me as they were… well, here goes. I stuck my head into the tent. Dad was there with his best friend, Bato, looking over a battle map. When Dad turned to look at me, his hard gaze met mine and I once again felt the power of his presence. Then his tough warrior's face softened and he smiled. "Sokka," he said warmly. He WAS glad to see me. I did make the right decision to come to him. "Hi, Dad!" I dashed across the tent and hugged him. And he hugged me back like neither one of us ever wanted to let go. Over the next few days Dad helped me fit right in, just like I was one of the warriors who had left for battle with him all those years ago. I could see now that he was right to leave me behind at that time. I wasn't ready then, but I am now. Everything I have been through with Aang has made me the warrior I've become. I got right to work helping Dad and his men set up a series of tangle mines along the bay to stop Fire Nation ships from getting to Ba Sing Se. "The mines are filled with skunkfish and seaweed,"

只是因为我父亲是这样的人，但受到欢迎的感觉确实很好。 一个战士指着前面的帐篷。 爸爸一定在里面。要是他见到我也像他们一样高兴就好了…… 我把头伸进帐篷里。 爸爸和他最好的朋友巴托在那里看战斗地图。 当爸爸转过身来看着我时，他严厉的目光与我的目光相遇，我再一次感受到他存在的力量。 然后，他强硬的战士的脸变得柔和了，他笑了。 “索卡，”他热情地说。他见到我很高兴。 我来找他是正确的决定。 “嗨,爸爸!”我冲过帐篷拥抱了他。 他也拥抱了我，就像我们谁都不想放手一样。 在接下来的几天里，爸爸帮助我适应了环境，就像我是多年前和他一起奔赴战场的战士一样。 现在我明白了，他在那个时候离开我是对的。 那时我还没准备好，但现在我准备好了。 我和安昂一起经历的一切让我成为了现在的战士。 我马上就帮爸爸和他的手下在海湾边设置了一系列缠结水雷，阻止烈火国的船只驶往永固城。 “地雷里充满了臭鼬鱼和海藻，”

Dad explained. "When a ship detonates the mine, the seaweed tangles up the propellers and the foul fish smell forces the crew to abandon ship. I call it the stink 'n' sink." "Good one, Dad!" Stink 'n' sink! I can definitely see where I got my sense of humor! Suddenly a warrior ran up to us. "Our scouts have spotted four Fire Nation ships." "Bato, get these mines loaded up," Dad ordered. "The rest of you men, prepare for battle!" What should I do? Should I go with the other men? I mean, even though I considered myself a warrior, I wasn't sure I was a warrior in Dad's eyes. Did he still see me as a little kid and expect me to stay behind? I didn't want to do the wrong thing. "Uh, what should I do, Dad?" "Aren't you listening?" he said sternly. "I just said 'the rest of you men, prepare for battle!'" He thinks I'm a man! I'm one of his warriors! I hurried to join the others, applied wolf battle paint to my face, strapped on my machete, and grabbed a war club. "Ready to go knock some Fire Nation heads?" Dad asked. "You don't know how much this means to me, Dad. I'll make you proud. And I'll finally prove to

爸爸解释说。“当一艘船引爆水雷时，海藻会缠住螺旋桨，难闻的鱼味会迫使船员弃船。 我管它叫臭水槽。” “干得好，爸爸！”臭气熏天！我知道我的幽默感是从哪里来的了！突然，一个战士向我们跑过来。 “我们的侦察兵发现了四艘烈火国的船。” “巴托，把这些地雷装好。”爸爸命令道。 “你们其余的人，准备战斗吧！”我该怎么办？ 我应该和其他人一起去吗？ 我的意思是，尽管我认为自己是个战士，但我不确定在爸爸的眼里我是个战士。 他还把我当小孩子看，希望我留下来吗？ 我不想做错事。 “呃，我该怎么办，爸爸？”“你没在听吗？”他严厉地说。 “我只是说‘你们其余的人，准备战斗！“他以为我是个男人！”我是他的一个战士！我赶紧加入其他人的行列，在脸上涂上战狼颜料，系上砍刀，抓起一根战棍。 “准备好去敲火烈国的脑袋了吗？”爸爸问。 “你不知道这对我有多重要，爸爸。 我会让你骄傲的。我最终会证明的

you what a great warrior I am." Dad grasped my shoulder and squeezed gently. He looked right into my eyes and smiled. "Sokka, you don't have to prove anything to me. I'm already proud of you, and I've always known you're a great warrior." "Really?" "Why do you think I trusted you to look after our tribe when I left?" Could this day get any better? I felt so proud—and so ready to fight the Fire Nation, right next to my father. That's when Appa swooped down into our camp. And Aang's face said it all: the day had just turned bad. "This can't be good news," I said. "Katara's in trouble," Aang said. "She needs our help." I didn't need to hear any more. I hugged Dad tightly, then scrambled onto Appa's back and flew off. Looking down I could see the love in Dad's eyes as he watched me fly away. Then he turned and joined the other warriors on the Water Tribe ships setting out for battle. It felt good to know that he would have been proud to have me beside him on his ship.

你知道我是一个多么伟大的战士。” 爸爸抓住我的肩膀，轻轻地挤了一下。 他直视着我的眼睛，微笑着。 “索卡，你不需要向我证明什么。 我已经为你感到骄傲了，我一直都知道你是个伟大的战士。” “真的吗?”“你以为我离开的时候为什么信任你来照顾我们的部落？”今天还能再好点吗？ 我感到无比自豪，准备好与烈火国战斗，就站在我父亲身边。 就在那时，阿柏冲进了我们的营地。 安昂的表情说明了一切：这一天刚刚变得很糟糕。 “这不可能是好消息，”我说。 “卡塔拉有麻烦了。”安昂说。 “她需要我们的帮助。”我不需要再听下去了。 我紧紧地抱住爸爸，然后爬到阿柏的背上飞了出去。 当爸爸看着我飞走时，我低头看到了他眼中的爱。 然后，他转身加入了其他的战士，登上了水部落的船只，出发去战斗。 我很高兴知道他会因为我在他的船上而感到骄傲。

"So what kind of trouble is Katara in?" I asked when the Water Tribe ships had faded from view. "I don't know. In my vision I just knew she needed help." Well, there was nothing to do but get back to Ba Sing Se as fast as Appa could fly us. Along the way we spotted Toph riding an Earthbending wave. We swooped down and picked her up. "It was so great seeing my Dad again," I told her. "He treated me like a man, not a kid." "I had a breakthrough myself," Toph told us. "I figured out how to bend metal." "That's amazing, Toph! What about you, Aang?" "I completely mastered the Avatar state." It sounded like we'd all had pretty successful breaks—all except for Katara, apparently. I really hoped she was all right. We landed in Ba Sing Se and hurried to the king's throne room. "Katara's fine," the king told us. "She went off with the Kyoshi warriors."

“那么，卡塔拉遇到了什么麻烦？”我问水族的船什么时候从视野中消失了。 “我不知道。在我的幻象中，我只知道她需要帮助。” 好吧，除了趁阿柏让我们尽快飞回永固城，别无他途。 一路上，我们发现拓芙骑在御土波上。 我们俯冲下来把她抱了起来。 “再次见到爸爸真是太好了，”我告诉她。 “他把我当大人看待，而不是孩子。” “我自己也有了突破，”拓芙告诉我们。 “我找到了弯曲金属的方法。” “太神奇了，拓芙！”你呢，安昂？”“我完全掌握了神通状态。” 听起来我们都有过非常成功的突破——显然，除了卡塔拉。 我真的希望她没事。 我们在永固城下了岸，匆匆赶往国王的正殿。 “卡塔拉很好，”国王告诉我们。 “她和虚族武士一起走了。”