8 Training your dragon the hard way

8. TRAINING YOUR DRAGON THE HARD WAY Hiccup was still pretty certain, knowing dragons as he did, that yelling was the easiest method of training them. So, over the next couple of weeks, he tried yelling at Toothless to see if he could make it work. He tried yelling loudly, firmly, strictly. He looked as cross as he could. But Toothless wouldn't take him seriously. Hiccup finally gave up on the yelling when Toothless stole a kipper off his plate one morning at breakfast. Hiccup let out his most fierce and frightening yell and Toothless just gave him a wicked look and knocked everything else on to the floor with one swipe of his tail. That was it with the yelling, as far as Hiccup was concerned. 'OK, then,' said Hiccup, 'I'll try going to the other extreme.' So he was as nice to Toothless as he possibly could be. He gave Toothless the comfiest bit of the bed and then lay dangerously balanced on the

8. 训龙的艰难方法小嗝嗝对龙很了解，他仍然很确定，吼叫是训龙最简单的方法。 所以，在接下来的几个星期里，他试着对无牙大吼大叫，看看能不能奏效。 他试着大声地、坚定地、严厉地喊叫。 他看上去尽可能地生气。 但是无牙不把他的话当真。 一天早餐时，无牙从嗝嗝的盘子里偷了一条腌鱼，嗝嗝终于放弃了叫喊。 小嗝嗝发出了最凶猛、最可怕的叫声，无牙狠狠地瞪了他一眼，尾巴一甩，把其他东西都打倒在地。 对小嗝嗝来说，那就是他的喊叫声。 “那好吧，”小嗝嗝说，“我试试另一个极端。”所以他对无牙尽可能地好。 他把床上最舒服的那块给了无牙，然后危险地躺在床上

edge of it himself. He fed him as much kipper and lobster as he wanted. He only did this once, though, as the little dragon just went on eating until he had made himself thoroughly sick. He played games with him for hours and hours. He told him jokes, he brought him mice to eat, he scratched the bit that Toothless couldn't quite reach in between the spokes on his back. He made that dragon's life as close to Dragon Heaven as he possibly could. By mid February, the winter was coming to an end on Berk, and the snowy season had turned into the rainy season. It was the kind of weather where your clothes never got dry, no matter what. Hiccup would hang up his sodden tunic on a chair in front of the fire before going to bed at night, and in the morning it would still be wet– warm and wet rather than cold and wet, but WET nonetheless. The ground all around the Village had turned into knee-deep mud. 'What, in Woden's name, are you doing?' asked Fishlegs, when he came across Hiccup digging a large

他自己的边缘。他想喂多少腌鱼和龙虾就喂多少。 不过，他只这样做了一次，因为小龙一直在吃东西，直到把自己弄得恶心透了。 他和他一起玩了好几个小时的游戏。 他给他讲笑话，带老鼠给他吃，搔搔无牙背上辐条之间够不着的地方。 他让那条龙的生活尽可能地接近龙的天堂。 到2月中旬，博克岛的冬天即将结束，雪期已经变成了雨季。 在这种天气里，你的衣服无论如何都不会干。 晚上睡觉前，小嗝嗝会把湿透的外衣挂在火炉前的椅子上，到了早上，它还是湿的——温暖而湿，而不是寒冷而湿，但还是湿的。 村子周围的地面都变成了齐膝深的泥。 “以沃登的名义，你在干什么？”鱼腿问道，这时他正碰见小嗝嗝在挖一个大洞

hole just outside the house. 'Building a mud-wallow for Toothless,' panted Hiccup. 'You spoil that dragon, you really do,' said Fishlegs, shaking his head. 'It's psychology, you see,' said Hiccup, 'It's clever and it's subtle, not like that caveman yelling you're doing with Horrorcow.' Fishlegs had named his dragon Horrorcow. The 'horror' bit was to make the poor creature at least sound a bit frightening. The 'cow' bit was because for a dragon she really was remarkably like a cow. She was a large, peaceful, brown creature, with an easygoing nature. Fishlegs suspected she might even be vegetarian. 'I'm always catching her nibbling at the woodwork,' he complained. 'BLOOD, Horrorcow, BLOOD– that's what you should want!' Nonetheless, maybe Fishlegs was a better yeller than Hiccup, or maybe Horrorcow was a lazier and more obliging character than Toothless, but Horrorcow was proving very easy to train by the yelling method. 'OK, Toothless, it's ready,' said Hiccup. 'Get

房子外面有个洞。 “给无牙造一个泥坑。”嗝嗝喘着气说。 “你糟蹋了那条龙，真的。”鱼腿摇着头说。 “这是心理学，你看，”小嗝嗝说，“这很聪明，也很微妙，不像你在《恐怖母牛》里演的那种穴居人的大喊大叫。”鱼腿给他的龙取名为恐怖牛。 “恐怖”的部分是让这个可怜的生物至少听起来有点可怕。 “牛”这个词是因为对于龙来说，她确实非常像一头牛。 她是一只体型庞大、性情平和的棕色动物，生性随和。 鱼腿甚至怀疑她可能是素食主义者。 “我总是看见她在啃木制品，”他抱怨道。 “鲜血，恐怖，鲜血——这才是你想要的！”尽管如此，也许Fishlegs比Hiccup更擅长大喊大叫，或者hororcow比Toothless更懒惰，更乐于助人，但事实证明，通过大喊大叫的方法训练hororcow非常容易。 “好了，无牙，准备好了。” “把

yourself a good wallow.' Toothless stopped trying to catch voles and leapt into the mud. He rolled over and over in the oozy gunge, spreading out his wings and squirming happily. 'I'm bonding with him,' said Hiccup, 'so he'll want to do what I say.' 'Hiccup,' said Fishlegs, as Toothless sucked up a good mouthful of the mud and spat it out straight into Hiccup's face, 'I may not know much about dragons, but I do know that they are the most selfish creatures on earth. No dragon is ever going to do what you want out of gratitude. Dragons do not know what gratitude is. Give up. This will NEVER WORK.' 'The thing about us d-d-dragons,' said Toothless, helpfully, 'is we're s-s-survivors. We're not like s-s-soppy cats or d-d-dumb dogs, falling in l-l-love with their Masters and yucky things like that.

你自己好好打滚吧。”无牙停止了抓田鼠的尝试，跳进了泥里。 他在松软的泥里滚来滚去，展开翅膀，愉快地扭动着。 “我和他关系很好，”小嗝嗝说，“所以他会按照我说的去做。“小嗝嗝，”鱼腿说，这时无牙吸了一大口泥，直接吐在小嗝嗝的脸上，“我可能不太了解龙，但我知道它们是地球上最自私的动物。” 没有哪条龙会出于感激而做你想做的事。 龙不知道感恩是什么。 放弃。这是行不通的。“关于我们——龙——龙，”无牙乐于助人地说，“我们是——是幸存者。” 我们不像多愁善感的猫，也不像愚蠢的狗，爱上他们的主人之类的恶心的事情。

Only reason we ever do what a m-m-man wants is because he's b-b-bigger than us and gives us food.' 'What's he saying?' asked Fishlegs. 'Pretty much what you're saying,' said Hiccup. 'N-n-never trust a dragon,' said Toothless, cheerfully hopping out of the wallow and helping himself to one of the winkles that Hiccup had found for him. (Toothless was particularly fond of winkles– 'J-j-just like picking your n-n-nose,' he said). 'That's what my m-m-mother taught me in the nest, and she should know.' Hiccup sighed. It was true. Toothless was cute to look at, and very good company– if a little demanding. However, you only had to look into his big, innocent, heavily-lashed eyes to realise that he was totally without morals. The eyes were ancient, the eyes of a killer. You might as well ask a crocodile or a shark to be your friend. Hiccup wiped the mud off his face. 'I'll think of something else,' said Hiccup. February turned into March and Hiccup was still thinking. A few flowers made the mistake of appearing and were immediately blasted out of existence by a

我们听从男人的唯一原因就是他比我们高大还能给我们吃的。“他在说什么？”鱼腿问。 “跟你说的差不多，”小嗝嗝说。 “别——别——别相信龙。”无牙说着，高高兴兴地从泥坑里跳出来，吃了一根小嗝嗝给他找来的卷肉。 （无牙特别喜欢皱纹——“就像挖你的鼻子一样，”他说。） “这是我妈妈在巢里教我的，她应该知道的。”打嗝叹了口气。 这是真的。无牙看起来很可爱，而且是一个很好的伙伴——虽然有点苛刻。 然而，你只要看看他那大大的、天真的、被狠狠地鞭打着的眼睛，就会发现他完全没有道德可言。 那双眼睛很古老，杀手的眼睛。 你还不如让鳄鱼或鲨鱼做你的朋友。 嗝嗝擦去脸上的泥。 “我会想别的办法的，”小嗝嗝说。 二月到了三月，小嗝嗝还在思考。 有几朵花错误地出现了，立刻就被一股旋风吹灭了

couple of hard frosts that had kept themselves back for this very purpose. Fishlegs could now get Horrorcow to 'go' and 'stay' on command. Hiccup was still struggling to teach Toothless the basics of toilet-training. 'NO POOING IN THE KITCHEN,' said Hiccup for the hundredth time, carrying Toothless outside after yet another accident. 'Is w-w-warmer in the kitchen,' whined Toothless. 'But poos go OUTSIDE, you KNOW that,' said Hiccup, at the end of his tether. Toothless promptly pooed all over Hiccup's hands and down his tunic. 'Is OUTSIDE, is OUTSIDE, is OUTSIDE,' crowed Toothless. At this inopportune moment, Snotlout and Dogsbreath came sauntering past Stoick's house on the way back from the beach, their dragons on their shoulders. 'Well, well, well,' sneered Snotlout, 'if it isn't the USELESS, covered in dragon poo. It actually quite suits you.' 'Hur, Hur, Hur,' snorted Dogsbreath.

几颗坚硬的霜冻为了这个目的一直在原地不动。 鱼腿现在可以命令恐怖牛“走”和“呆”了。 小嗝嗝还在努力教无牙上厕所的基本知识。 “不准在厨房里拉屎。”嗝嗝说了第一百遍，又出了一次意外，他把无牙抱到外面去了。 “厨房里有暖气。”无牙呜咽着说。 “但是狗是出去的，你知道的，”小嗝嗝无计可施地说。 无牙立刻在小嗝嗝的手上和外衣上拉屎。 “在外面，在外面，在外面。”无牙嚷道。 在这个不合时宜的时刻，鼻子哥和狗息扛着龙，从海滩回来的路上，从斯托伊克家走过。 “好啦，好啦，好啦，”鼻子鼻子讥笑道，“这不是那个浑身是龙屎的没用的家伙吗？ 它其实很适合你。“呼，呼，呼，”狗息哼着。