1 The Boarding-an-Enemy-Ship Lesson

Once there were dragons. Imagine a time of DRAGONS – some larger than mountainsides, slumbering in the depths of the ocean; some smaller than your fingernail, hopping through the heather. Imagine a time of VIKING HEROES, in which men were men and women were sort of men too and even some little babies had chest hair. And now imagine that you are a boy called Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, not yet twelve years old and not yet turning out to be the koindf Hero his father would have liked him to be. That boy of course, was really ME, but the boy I was then seems so far away to me now that I shall tell this story almost as if he were a stranger. So, imagine that instead of being me, this stranger, this Hero-in-Waiting, is YOU. You are small. You have red hair. You don't realise it yet, but you are about to set out on the most alarming episode of your life so far… When you are an old, old man like I am you will call it 'My First Encounter with the Roman Empire' – and even at this distance in time it will still cause your old wrinkled arms to prickle with goose bumps as you remember the perils and dangers of that terrifying adventure…

从前有龙。想象一个龙的时代——有的比山腰还大，沉睡在海洋深处；有些比你的指甲还小，在石南丛中跳跃。 想象一下维京英雄的时代，在那个时代，男人就是男人，女人也有点像男人，甚至一些小婴儿也有胸毛。 现在想象一下，你是一个男孩，名叫Hiccup horrendrendhaddock三世，还不到十二岁，还没有成为他父亲希望他成为的那种英雄。 那个男孩当然是真正的我，但现在我觉得那个男孩离我太遥远了，所以我几乎要把他当作一个陌生人来讲这个故事。 所以，想象一下，这个陌生人，这个等待中的英雄，不是我，而是你。 你太小了。你有一头红头发。 你还没有意识到，但你即将踏上你一生中最令人震惊的一段旅程……当你像我一样年迈的时候，你会把它称为“我与罗马帝国的第一次邂逅”——即使在这么远的时间里，当你想起那次可怕冒险的危险和危险时，它仍然会让你那布满皱纹的老胳膊起鸡皮疙瘩……

1. THE BOARDING-ANENEMY-SHIP LESSON Once upon a foggy day in a cold, cold country long, long ago, seven small Viking boats floated through the Sea-Known-as-Woden's-Bathtub. The fog had swallowed up the Peaceable Country to the north, and the Isle of Berk to the west, and, indeed, had swallowed up so much of everything, that it was as if the boats were sky-boats, and had left the earth entirely, and were sailing through cloud banks way, way up in the air. In the first boat, The Fat Boar, sat Gobber the Belch, a six and a half foot giant in teeny-weeny hairy shorts, who had leg muscles so enormous they had muscles of their own, and a beard like a hedgehog struck by lightning. Gobber was the teacher in charge of the Pirate Training Programme on the Isle of Berk, and this sail through the fog was part of a Boarding-an-Enemy-Ship lesson.

1. 在很久很久以前的一个雾蒙蒙的日子里，在一个寒冷刺骨的国家里，七艘小海盗船漂过被称为“沃登浴盆”的大海。 雾吞没了北部的和平国，吞没了西部的伯克岛，事实上，雾吞没了所有的东西，就好像这些船是天船，完全离开了地球，在云层中航行，在空中航行。 在第一艘船“肥野猪号”上，坐着一个身高六英尺半的巨人“打嗝哥伯”，他穿着毛茸茸的短裤，腿上的肌肉大得像有了自己的肌肉，他的胡子就像被闪电击中的刺猬。 戈伯是负责伯克岛海盗训练计划的老师，这次在雾中航行是“登船敌舰”课程的一部分。

The six boy-sized boats that were following The Fat Boar each had two boys in them, and these boys were Gobber's pupils, young members of the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans. 'OK, YOU DISGUSTING GLOBS OF GIRLY SNOT!' yelled Gobber, in a bellow so loud it could be heard several miles away. 'WE ARE NOW GOING TO PRACTISE BOARDING AN ENEMY SHIP ON THE EASY TARGET OF A PEACEABLE FISHING BOAT… CAN ANYONE REMEMBER THE FIRST RULE OF AMBUSH?' 'TAKE THE ENEMY BY SURPRISE, SIR!' shouted out Snotface Snotlout, a tall, unpleasantly smug-looking boy with gigantic nostrils and the beginnings of a small moustache. 'Very good, Snotlout,' purred Gobber the Belch, and he continued at full volume: 'IN A FOG THIS THICK YOUR VICTIM SHIP WILL NOT HAVE A CHANCE OF SEEING YOU COMING!' They can hear us, though, thought Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, gloomily trying to peer through the fog, unless, of course, we have the luck to stumble across some completely deaf Peaceable fishermen…

跟着肥野猪的六艘男孩大小的船，每艘船上都有两个男孩，这两个男孩是戈伯的学生，是毛流氓部落的年轻成员。 “好了，你们这群恶心的女生鼻涕！”戈伯大声喊道，声音大得几英里外都能听到。 “我们现在要练习登上敌舰，攻击一艘和平渔船的容易目标……谁还记得伏击的第一条规则吗？”“出其不意，先生！”鼻涕脸叫道。他是个高个子，一副令人讨厌的沾沾自喜的样子，鼻孔很大，小胡子刚长出来。 “很好，小鼻子，”打嗝哥伯咕噜咕噜地说，接着又扯着嗓门继续说：“在这么厚的雾里，你那艘遭难的船是不可能看见你来的！”不过，它们能听到我们的声音，可怕的黑线鳕第三号想，一面忧郁地试图透过雾向外窥视，当然，除非我们运气好，偶然遇到一些完全聋了的、安静的渔民……