8 Meanwhile, deep in a cavern

8. MEANWHILE, IN A CAVERN DEEP, DEEP UNDERGROUND Meanwhile, in a Cavern deep, deep underground, a small Deadly Nadder was crying for its mother. It had wandered away from its home in the cosy tunnels of the Dragon Nursery, and lost itself in the maze of the Caliban Caves below. Gradually, as it flapped frantically down wrong turning after wrong turning, the happy hissings and squawkings of its fellow dragons had grown fainter and fainter. For the last hour it had heard only the unhappy echoes of itself as it crept deeper and deeper into the blackness. What is more, it had the bad luck to stumble into a Cavern inhabited by a gigantic creature who was guarding something precious. This was a far larger and scarier killing-machine than a mere Skullion. It was at least a hundred years old, and living for a century in such gloomy depths had done very little for its soul or its brain. It was lonely and bitter, and had a longing for the light, which it had never seen. But most of all

8. 与此同时，在地下很深很深的一个洞里，在地下很深很深的一个洞里，一只小致命纳德在哭着找妈妈。 它离开了它在龙育婴室舒适的隧道里的家，迷失在下面迷宫般的卡利班洞穴里。 渐渐地，当它疯狂地朝着一个又一个错误的方向飞行时，它的龙同伴们快乐的嘶嘶声和吱吱声变得越来越微弱了。 在过去的一个小时里，它只听到自己在黑暗中越爬越深时发出的不愉快的回声。 更糟糕的是，它运气不好，偶然进入了一个洞穴，里面住着一个巨大的生物，守护着一些珍贵的东西。 这是一个比骷髅大得多、可怕得多的杀人机器。 它至少有一百岁了，在这样阴暗的深处生活了一个世纪，对它的灵魂和头脑几乎没有什么好处。 它孤独而痛苦，渴望着它从未见过的光明。 但最重要的是

it was permanently hungry. The little Nadder cried for its mother again, and hopped a bit farther forward. A singularly unattractive sludgy tentacle curled its way around the small dragon and lifted it into the air. The Creature did something to the Nadder to kill it, something most unpleasant, and the poor little animal let out a last shriek of absolute terror… And then all was silence.

它永远处于饥饿状态。 小纳德又在喊妈妈，又向前跳了几步。 一条难看得出奇的泥乎乎的触手缠绕着小龙，把它举到了空中。 那怪物对纳德做了一件非常不愉快的事，把它杀死了，可怜的小动物发出了一声极度恐惧的尖叫……然后是一片寂静。