17 How bad could this day get

17. HOW BAD COULD THIS DAY GET? The 'ceiling' was definitely nearer to their heads than it had been a few minutes before. It was now just a few inches above the horns on Hiccup's helmet. There was silence for a second. Alvin's mad eyes swam back into focus again. The only thing that mattered more to him than the treasure was the preservation of his own life. Hiccup found everyday life rather a trial but was always good in a crisis. 'RIGHT,' he said, 'Toothless, I want you to swim out from under this boat and see whether you think we're too far to swim to the surface. NOW,' he added, as Toothless seemed to be taking his time about it. 'OK, OK,' grumbled Toothless, 'k-k-k-keep your horns on…'

17. 这一天能糟到什么程度？ “天花板”肯定比几分钟前离他们的头更近了。 它现在离小嗝嗝头盔上的角只有几英寸了。 沉默了一会儿。 阿尔文疯狂的眼睛又重新聚焦了。 对他来说，唯一比宝藏更重要的是保住自己的生命。 小嗝嗝觉得每天的生活都是一种考验，但在危机中总是表现得很好。 “好了，”他说，“没牙的，我想让你从船底下游出来，看看你是否觉得我们游到水面太远了。 现在。”他又加了一句，因为无牙似乎不慌不忙。 “好吧，好吧，”无牙嘟囔着，“把角——把角——把角……”

The little dragon dived underneath the water and disappeared. He left the Vikings in nearly total darkness, for without the friendly light of his glowing eyes it was almost impossible to see. There was an eerie silence, apart from the lapping of the water against the sides of the boat, and a faint rushing noise, which Hiccup was sure was the sound of the air leaving the air-pocket like a leaking balloon. And indeed, after five minutes the air-pocket had reduced so much that Hiccup's head was squashed against the wooden 'ceiling' of the Lucky Thirteen, and he had to remove his helmet. Alvin was panicking. 'Where is the wretched reptile?' he hissed, and then choked as water sloshed into his mouth. 'That wretched reptile,' scolded Fishlegs, as terrified as Alvin but bravely trying not to show it, 'is trying to save your wretched life...' Five minutes more and they had to turn their heads in order to keep their nostrils clear of the water. 'If Toothless takes any longer,' thought Hiccup, 'we're going to drown here in this blackness…' Two lights flickered in the dark below him. It was Toothless, swimming up towards them in

小龙潜入水中消失了。 他离开的时候，维京人几乎一片漆黑，因为没有他那双发光的眼睛发出的友好的光，他们几乎看不见东西。 除了水拍打船舷的声音，还有一种微弱的哗哗声，这是一种诡异的寂静，小嗝嗝确信这是空气离开气穴的声音，就像一个漏水的气球。 果然，五分钟后，气穴缩小了很多，小嗝嗝的头被压在幸运十三人的木制“天花板”上，他不得不摘下头盔。 阿尔文惊慌失措。“那个可恶的爬虫在哪儿？”他嘶嘶地说，然后水流进了他的嘴里，呛住了。 “那个讨厌的爬虫，”鱼腿骂道，他和阿尔文一样害怕，但又勇敢地不表现出来，“是想救你那该死的命……”又过了五分钟，他们不得不转过头，以免鼻孔沾到水。 “如果无牙再拖下去，”嗝嗝想，“我们就要在这黑暗中淹死了……”下面的黑暗中闪烁着两盏灯。 原来是无牙，正朝他们游过来

the nick of time. 'OK,' said Toothless. 'Surface t-t-too far away for h-h-h-h-humans… but there's a c-c-c-c-cave thingy… F-f-follow Toothless…' 'Just hang on to me, Fishlegs, and kick like crazy,' ordered Hiccup, because, of course, Fishlegs could not swim. Hiccup took a huge breath, just before the sea swallowed up the last remains of that air-pocket, and dived after Toothless. He had to swim underneath the rim of the boat, which was resting on some large rocks on the bottom. He swam out into total darkness, which was very confusing. A little way above him, he could see that Toothless was swimming towards a small hole in

关键时刻。“好吧。”无牙说。 “抓住我，鱼腿，拼命地踢。”嗝嗝命令道，因为，鱼腿当然不会游泳。 嗝嗝深深地吸了一口气，就在海水吞没最后的气穴之前，他潜入水中追赶无牙。 他不得不游到船的边缘下面，船靠在海底的一些大岩石上。 他游到一片漆黑中，这让人很困惑。 在离他稍高一点的地方，他看见无牙正朝一个小洞游去

the cliff, with light shining out of it. Trying to ignore the panicky feeing of his breath running out, and hampered by Fishlegs gripping on to one leg, he swam as fast as he could towards the hole. Once he had swum into it, he shot upwards through a short tunnel and surfaced in a huge pool of water at the bottom of a gigantic underground cavern, gasping for air. A second or so later, Alvin emerged to lie in the water beside Hiccup and Fishlegs. The cavern was huge, and surprisingly light, considering it was so far underground. The eerie green light seemed to be given off by Electricsquirms, a tiny dragon-like creature that glows with phosphorescence. Water rushed down the walls and dripped from the ceiling. Hiccup was so relieved to be still alive and in the air again that this tomb of a cavern initially seemed like home. It was a while before his scared brain could focus on the fact that they weren't safe yet. 'Right,' said Fishlegs, trying not to panic and wringing out his breeches and flapping his arms to get dry. 'How are we going to get out of HERE?' The cavern had some interesting rock formations, if Hiccup had been in the mood for

悬崖上，有光从上面照出来。 他试着不去理会呼吸急促的恐慌，一条腿被鱼腿紧紧抓住，他以最快的速度向洞游去。 他一游进去，就穿过一条短隧道向上冲，在一个巨大的地下洞穴底部的一个大水池中浮出水面，大口喘气。 大约一秒钟后，阿尔文浮出水面，躺在小嗝嗝和鱼腿旁边。 洞穴很大，考虑到它在地下这么深，它出奇地轻。 这种怪异的绿光似乎是电怪发出的，这是一种像龙一样的小生物，会发出磷光。 水从墙上冲下来，从天花板上滴下来。 嗝嗝还活着，又飞到了空中，这让他如释重负，这个洞穴般的坟墓最初就像家一样。 过了一段时间，他惊恐的大脑才意识到他们还不安全。 “好吧。”鱼腿说，努力不让自己惊慌失措，他把裤子拧干，拍打着胳膊，想弄干身子。 “我们怎么离开这里？”如果小嗝嗝有兴趣的话，山洞里有一些有趣的岩层

admiring them. The weird shapes of fossilised dragons were caught in the stone. Some of them were very unusual, extinct species. However, even the discovery of an entire skeleton of the Burrowing Slitherfang, so rare that it was often thought never to have existed, failed to excite Hiccup as it might have done in other circumstances. They walked round and round in circles for about an hour and a half, looking for a way out, before realising that there wasn't one. They sat down. Without his Tribe around him, and facing Death, Alvin seemed to have returned to his old, pleasant self again. He even apologised for getting them into this mess. 'I just cannot believe this,' moaned Fishlegs, shivering violently, 'It's like some sort of NIGHTMARE. I keep thinking we're safe, and then it seems that, NO, we're in some OTHER life-threatening situation even worse than the one we've just got away from.' 'OK,' admitted Hiccup, trying to keep them from despairing, 'it doesn't look good, but I'm sure I can think of a way out of here…' Toothless was sniffing away at the back of

欣赏他们。石头捕捉到了龙化石的奇特形状。 其中一些是非常罕见的灭绝物种。 然而，即使发现了一具完整的钻地滑牙的骨架，也没有像在其他情况下那样使小嗝嗝兴奋起来，因为它是如此罕见，以至于人们常常认为它从未存在过。 他们绕着圈子走了大约一个半小时，寻找出路，最后才意识到根本没有出路。 他们坐了下来。没有了他身边的部落，面对死亡，阿尔文似乎又回到了他那快乐的老样子。 他甚至为让他们陷入困境而道歉。 “我简直不敢相信，”鱼腿呻吟着，剧烈地颤抖着，“这就像一场噩梦。 我一直认为我们是安全的，然后似乎，不，我们处于其他威胁生命的情况，甚至比我们刚刚摆脱的更糟糕。“好吧，”小嗝嗝承认道，努力不让他们感到绝望，“情况看起来不妙，但我相信我能想到办法离开这里……

the cavern, and he interrupted, calling out, 'Toothless can smell something m-metal over h-h-here!' 'Very clever, Toothless,' said Hiccup, 'but the Treasure Hunt is over now.' 'I mean,' continued Fishlegs, 'so far today we have narrowly escaped being 1. Torn to pieces by Skullions. 2. Eaten by Cannibal Outcasts. 3. Burned to death on board ship. 4. Drowned at the bottom of the ocean… And now here we are, trapped in an inaccessible underground cavern facing DEATH BY SLOW STARVATION… It's just been a REALLY BAD day.' 'N-n-not metal after all,' Toothless called back in disappointment. 'It's just a d-d-door…' 'A DOOR??' Alvin, Hiccup and Fishlegs scrambled up and over towards Toothless, with a sudden surge of hope. Once they had scrabbled away at all the dust and earth covering it, they found it was a door. It was surprising they hadn't noticed it before. 'Is it a way out?' gasped Fishlegs. 'Not necessarily,' Hiccup replied slowly. A door with a DEATH'S HEAD painted on it. A door with lettering on it that was horribly

他打断了他的话，喊道：“没牙的能闻到——这儿——这儿有什么——金属的东西！“很聪明，无牙，”小嗝嗝说，“不过寻宝活动已经结束了。”“我的意思是，”鱼腿继续说，“今天到目前为止，我们侥幸逃过一劫。” 被骷髅撕成碎片。 2. 被食人者吃了。 3. 在船上被烧死 4. 淹死在海底，现在我们被困在一个无法进入的地下洞穴里，面临着慢慢饿死的危险，这真是糟糕的一天。“不是——不是——不是金属。”无牙失望地回答。 “那只是一扇——一扇门……”阿尔文、小嗝嗝和鱼腿争先恐后地朝无牙爬来爬去，心中突然涌起了希望。 他们拨开盖在上面的尘土和泥土，发现那是一扇门。 令人惊讶的是他们之前没有注意到这一点。 “这是一条出路吗？”鱼腿喘着气说。 “不一定，”小嗝嗝慢慢地回答。 一扇画着死神头像的门。 一扇门上写着可怕的字