3 A chance in a million

3. A CHANCE IN A MILLION The object that had holed the boat, thereby saving Hiccup from Death at the hands of Dogsbreath the Duhbrain, was a large, heavy, six foot by three foot BOX. It now floated up to within reaching distance of where Hiccup was treading water. There were a couple of iron handles on the sides, very handy for grabbing on to. About twenty minutes earlier, some laughing members of the Meathead Tribe had thrown this box into the sea at Meathead Island, which was a couple of miles away. The winds had carried it a considerable distance in that short time. And the chances of that particular box travelling all that way, and then in the middle of the whole wild and lonely ocean happening to hole the ship just in time to save Hiccup's life, must have been thousands, no, millions to one. If you were a fanciful person, you might have said that it was almost as if that box was looking for Hiccup.

3. 百万分之一的机会那个把小嗝嗝从狗崽子手里救出来的东西，是一个又大又重的箱子，长六英尺，宽三英尺。 现在它飘到了嗝嗝踩水的地方。 两边有两个铁把手，很方便抓着。 大约20分钟前，几个傻帽部落的人笑着把这个箱子扔进了几英里外的傻帽岛的海里。 在这么短的时间里，风把它吹到了相当远的地方。 那个箱子一路航行，然后在茫茫寂寞的大海中，恰好把船撞破，救了小嗝嗝的命，这种可能性一定是千万分之一，不，是百万分之一。 如果你是一个爱幻想的人，你可能会说，这几乎就像是那个盒子在寻找小嗝嗝。

But we are not fanciful people, and that would be ridiculous. No sooner had Hiccup grabbed hold of one of the iron handles with a sigh of relief, than a gigantic wave lifted him and the box way, way up, and then deposited them crashing down only a couple of feet away from where Toothless was trying to keep Fishlegs from going under for the third and what would have been final time. The dragon had a firm grip on the back of Fishlegs's shirt, his wings were flapping furiously, and his little green face had turned bright red with the effort of trying to stop Fishlegs from sinking. Fishlegs had got hold of a piece of broken oar that was keeping him up a bit, but he couldn't cling on much longer, and he would have drowned if it had not been for the sudden arrival of Hiccup and the mysterious box. There was a lull in the sea for a couple of moments, in which Hiccup and Toothless managed to heave the exhausted Fishlegs on to the top of the box. And there he clung, like an anxious Daddy-Long-Legs, terrified but alive. Five indescribably cold minutes later, they were

但我们不是爱幻想的人，那就太荒谬了。 小嗝嗝松了口气，刚抓住其中一个铁把手，一个巨浪就把他和箱子高高举起，然后把他们撞到离无牙试图阻止鱼腿第三次也可能是最后一次沉入海底的地方只有几英尺远的地方。 巨龙紧紧地抓住鱼腿的衬衫后面，拼命地拍打着翅膀，为了不让鱼腿下沉，它那绿色的小脸涨得通红。 鱼腿抓住了一根断了的船桨，这条船桨使他保持不动，但他坚持不了多久，如果不是突然出现的小嗝嗝和那个神秘的盒子，他可能已经淹死了。 海平静了一会儿，嗝嗝和无牙设法把筋疲力尽的鱼腿抬到箱子顶上。 他像个焦虑的长腿爸爸一样，紧紧地站在那里，虽然害怕，但还活着。 五分钟后，他们感到了难以形容的寒冷

blown by the violence of the wind on to the shores of the Long Beach. Amazingly, all thirteen of the boys and Gobber himself had survived the shipwreck. Gobber didn't exactly give them a big, welcoming hug. 'Mmmm, good work I suppose,' he said begrudgingly, sniffing a bit. 'You took your time about it, though. Step lively, Fishlegs. We're horribly late for the next lesson.' As soon as Fishlegs had dragged himself off the box, and collapsed panting on to the beach, Gobber stopped being irritated. Because the box wasn't a box at all. It was a coffin. A huge, six-and-a-half-foot floating coffin, with the following words carved into the lid:

被猛烈的风吹到长滩岸边。 令人惊讶的是，13个男孩和戈伯本人都在海难中幸免于难。 戈伯并没有给他们一个热烈欢迎的拥抱。 “嗯，我想干得不错。”他不情愿地说，嗅了嗅。 “不过，你倒花了不少时间。 快点，鱼腿。下一节课我们要迟到了。”鱼腿一拖出箱子，气喘吁吁地倒在沙滩上，戈伯就不再生气了。 因为盒子根本就不是盒子。 那是一口棺材。一个巨大的六英尺半的浮棺，棺盖上刻着这样的文字：