4 A Case of the Jitters

CHAPTER 4

第四章

A Case of the Jitters The line of contestants wrapped all the way around the palace grounds—twice! Clara stood behind her not-so- favorite squire, Gilbert. She wanted nothing more than to ignore him, but she decided to give him a chance. Who knows, she thought. Maybe he's gotten nicer. "Hey, Gilbert," she said casually. "Oh, h-h-hi, Clara!" he stammered.

参赛者的队伍绕着宫殿的场地绕了两圈！克拉拉站在她不太喜欢的乡绅吉尔伯特身后。 她只想无视他，但她决定给他一个机会。 谁知道呢，她想。也许他变好了。 “嘿，吉尔伯特，”她漫不经心地说。 “哦，克拉拉！”他结结巴巴地说。

Gilbert sounded nervous, so Clara smiled warmly. "Don't worry," she said reassuringly. "I'm a little nervous too, but I'm also excited!" Gilbert acted as if being nervous was the farthest thing from his mind. "I'm not nervous," he said. "A real Knight Spire never gets nervous." But Clara noticed that Gilbert now had beads of sweat on his upper lip, too, and his neck had grown red and splotchy. He was hiding his fear. "Being nervous is a good thing," Clara told him. "You can't be brave without being afraid first, because then you would have nothing to be brave about." Gilbert's jaw dropped at Clara's clever answer. At the same time, a shadow swept over both of them. Gilbert jumped at the sudden darkness. When Clara turned around, she had to cover her mouth to hide her laughter. It was Tublock. The giant cast a large shadow over them as he blocked out the sun.

吉尔伯特听起来很紧张，所以克拉拉热情地笑了。 “别担心，”她安慰地说。 “我也有点紧张，但我也很兴奋！”吉尔伯特表现得好像紧张是他最不可能想到的事。 “我不紧张，”他说。 “真正的骑士从来不会紧张。” 但是克拉拉注意到吉尔伯特的上唇上也冒出了汗珠，脖子上也长出了红色和斑点。 他在掩饰自己的恐惧。“紧张是一件好事，”克拉拉告诉他。 “如果你不先害怕，你就不可能勇敢，因为那样你就没有什么值得勇敢的了。” 听到克拉拉聪明的回答，吉尔伯特惊得目瞪口呆。 与此同时，一个阴影笼罩了他们俩。 吉尔伯特被突如其来的黑暗吓了一跳。 当克拉拉转过身来的时候，她不得不捂住她的嘴来掩饰她的笑声。 是塔布洛克。巨人挡住了太阳，在他们身上投下了巨大的阴影。

"Hey, Tublock!" Clara said. "Are you here to compete?" Tublock nodded happily. "Well, at first I came to watch," he said. "But when I heard about the prophecy, I had to sign up."

“嘿,Tublock !”克拉拉说。 “你是来比赛的吗？”塔布洛克高兴地点了点头。 “嗯，一开始我是来看的，”他说。 “但当我听说那个预言时，我不得不报名参加。”

Clara bumped fists with Tublock and introduced the giant to Gilbert. Gilbert shook Tublock's hand uncertainly. Then the three contestants moved through the line until they got to the check-in desk. King Caleb and Prince Lucas greeted them. "Hello, friends!" Lucas said, showing them where to sign in. Clara and Gilbert bowed before the king and the prince, and then they signed the ledger. Tublock signed in too. No giant had ever entered the competition before. The king complimented him on being the first. As the threesome approached the arena, the Horn of the Knight Spires sounded nearby. This signaled for everyone to be seated. The competition would soon begin. A rumble came from outside the stadium. The sound grew closer and closer. Soon three knights galloped into the arena, each riding a different beast—one on a lion, another on a tiger, and the third on a bear. The one on the lion sounded the horn again. BALOOOOO! The Knight Spires of Wrenly had arrived.

克拉拉和塔布洛克碰了一下拳头，把这个巨人介绍给吉尔伯特。 吉尔伯特迟疑地握了握塔布洛克的手。 然后，三位选手穿过队伍，走到登记台前。 凯莱布国王和卢卡斯王子向他们打招呼。 “你好,朋友!”卢卡斯说着，指给他们看在哪里签到。 克拉拉和吉尔伯特在国王和王子面前鞠躬，然后在账簿上签了名。 塔布洛克也签了名。此前从未有巨头参加过这项竞赛。 国王称赞他是第一个。 三人走近竞技场时，骑士尖塔的号角在附近响起。 这表示大家都坐下了。 比赛很快就要开始了。 从体育场外面传来隆隆的声音。 声音越来越近了。 不一会儿，三个骑士骑着不同的野兽，一个骑着狮子，一个骑着老虎，第三个骑着熊，飞奔进了竞技场。 骑在狮子身上的那只又吹响了号角。 BALOOOOO !兰利的骑士尖塔来了。