8 Hard Labor

CHAPTER 8

第八章

Hard Labor The prince and Clara slept on beds of straw and woke to the smell of baked bread and mulled cider. They followed the delicious smells into the cave kitchen. The giant children, Tublock, Thea, and Farfalee, showed Lucas and Clara to a pair of very tall chairs. They had to climb ladders to get to their seats. "Father, may I harvest ice too?" asked Tublock, the oldest giant child. Gumlock smiled at his son's offer. "Not this time," he said. "I want you and your younger sister and brother to take Ruskin to the obstacle course for training." Tublock clapped his hands. "Oh, I'd love to do that!" he cried.

王子和克拉拉睡在稻草床上，醒来时闻到烤面包和热苹果酒的味道。 他们顺着香味进入洞穴厨房。 高大的孩子塔布洛克、西娅和法法利把卢卡斯和克拉拉领到一对很高的椅子前。 他们得爬梯子才能到座位上。 “爸爸，我也可以收获冰吗？”最大的巨人孩子塔布洛克问。 冈洛克对儿子的提议微微一笑。 “这次不行，”他说。“我要你和你的弟弟妹妹带罗斯金去障碍训练场训练。” 塔布洛克拍了拍手。 “啊，我很愿意去！”他叫道。

Lucas and Clara wanted to go with the children, but they knew they had to go with Gumlock. It was part of their punishment. After breakfast Lucas and Clara helped load a sled with pickaxes and shovels. Another giant, a cousin, named Huffie, joined them, and off they slid toward the lake. The sled glided into a wide-open snowfield. Windswept snowdrifts stretched out before them.

卢卡斯和克拉拉想和孩子们一起去，但他们知道他们必须和古洛克一起去。 这是对他们的惩罚。 早餐后，卢卡斯和克拉拉帮着用鹤嘴锄和铲子往雪橇上装东西。 另一个巨人，他的堂兄，名叫赫菲，也加入了他们，他们向湖边滑去。 雪橇滑进了一片开阔的雪原。 被风吹过的雪堆在他们面前展开。

"I feel like I'm on top of the clouds!" Clara exclaimed. "Me too," said Lucas. A snow-covered lake sparkled in the morning light. Gumlock handed Lucas and Clara shovels. Then they scooped the fresh snow off the ice. When they had cleared a large patch of snow, Gumlock marked a checkerboard pattern on the ice. Then Gumlock and Huffie chopped at the ice with pickaxes. Lucas and Clara cleared more snow.

“我感觉自己站在云端！”克拉拉喊道。 “我也是，”卢卡斯说。白雪覆盖的湖在晨光中闪闪发光。 Gumlock递给Lucas和Clara铲子。 然后他们从冰上铲下新雪。 当他们清除了一大片积雪后，古姆洛克在冰上画了一个棋盘图案。 然后，Gumlock和Huffie用鹤嘴锄凿冰。 卢卡斯和克拉拉清除了更多的雪。

"This is tiring," said Lucas. "You said it," agreed Clara. "This is called hard labor," Gumlock said. "And you two are doing very well for your first time." This made Lucas and Clara feel better about what they were doing. They began to appreciate what the giants did for the castle. No wonder Cook had been so angry about the melted ice. Cutting ice blocks wasn't easy.

“这太累人了，”卢卡斯说。 “你说得对，”克拉拉同意道。 “这叫做苦役，”古姆洛克说。 “你们俩第一次相处得很好。” 这让卢卡斯和克拉拉对他们正在做的事情感觉好多了。 他们开始感激巨人们为城堡所做的一切。 难怪库克对融化的冰如此生气。 切割冰块并不容易。

As the sun went down, Gumlock and Huffie loaded the blocks of ice onto the sled. Then they covered them with hay. The hay would keep the next layer of ice blocks from sticking. Back at the cave, Lucas and Clara devoured bowls of stew served in giant thimbles.

太阳下山时，冈洛克和赫菲把冰块装上了雪橇。 然后用干草盖住它们。 干草可以防止下一层冰块粘在上面。 回到山洞，卢卡斯和克拉拉狼吞虎咽地吃着盛在巨大顶针里的炖菜。