5 Smashsticks-on-Ice

5. SMASHSTICKS-ON-ICE The Freya'sday Fete took place every year on Freya'sday Eve, which was the Viking holiday celebrating the end of winter and the coming of spring. This year the Fete was being held out in the middle of the frozen sea in Hooligan Harbour. It was strange to think that only six months before the Harbour had been filled with a grey, surly ocean. Now there were red and white stripy tents pitched higgledy-piggledy all over the ice. Roaring fires burned high, grilling Semi- Spotted Snowpeckers for the Vikings to munch on as they wandered round stalls selling octopus lollipops, or listened to story-tellers telling tall stories, or watched open-mouthed as the giants on skates balanced dwarves on their heads. There was a big pitch marked out for the Smashsticks-on-Ice Competitions. Smashsticks-on-Ice was a very rough and complicated game played with bats, balls and ice-skates. Nobody was quite sure of the rules, which meant that people tended to make them up as they went along, and then anybody who complained would start a fight. The Young Heroes were

5. 每年的星期五前夕都会举行星期五节，这是维京人庆祝冬天结束和春天到来的节日。 今年的狂欢节在霍利根港（Hooligan Harbour）结冰的海面上举行。 想想也奇怪，就在六个月前，海港里还是一片灰暗、阴沉的大海。 现在，红白相间的条状帐篷乱七八糟地搭在冰面上。 熊熊的火苗烧得很高，烤着半斑点啄木鸟供维京人在卖章鱼棒棒糖的摊位上闲逛时咀嚼，或者听讲故事的人讲故事，或者张大嘴巴看着穿着溜冰鞋的巨人把小矮人顶在头上。 那里有一块很大的场地，是冰上曲棍球比赛的场地。 冰上击球是一项非常粗糙和复杂的游戏，需要用球棒、球和冰鞋来玩。 没有人对这些规则十分确定，这意味着人们倾向于一边走一边编造规则，然后任何抱怨的人都会挑起一场战斗。 年轻的英雄们

supposed to go first, followed later on by the Adult Warriors. They would be playing against another Tribe, the Bog-Burglars, who had been invited over to join in the Celebrations for the day. The Bog-Burglars were a Tribe of fearsome female Warriors who lived on an island some way to the west. Their Chief, Big-Boobied Bertha, stood nearby,

应该先走，然后是成年勇士队。 他们的对手是另一个部落——沼泽窃贼，他们是应邀来参加庆祝活动的。 沼泽窃贼是一个可怕的女战士部落，他们住在西边的一个岛上。 他们的首领，大胸伯莎站在旁边，

gulping down mugs of beer and scratching her chin stubble. Her daughter, Camicazi, a very small girl with a swagger and the tangliest hair in the Inner Isles, was practising swinging her Smashstick. Camicazi was a friend of Hiccup's, and he wandered over to ask her if she had seen Fishlegs that morning. 'Nope,' said Camicazi cheerily. 'But I hope you Hooligan boys are feeling lucky. Us Bog-Burglars are going to MURDER you weedy little BOYS in the Smashsticks. I bet you Hooligans are hopeless at it– apart from you, of course, Hiccup,' she added. Camicazi had a great admiration for Hiccup, ever since he had rescued her from being eaten by Sharkworms in Fort Sinister.*

大口大口地喝着啤酒，挠着下巴上的胡茬。 她的女儿，Camicazi，一个非常小的女孩，昂首阔绰，是内岛最蓬乱的头发，正在练习挥动她的Smashstick。 卡米卡齐是小嗝嗝的朋友，他走过去问她那天早上有没有看到鱼腿。 “不，”卡米卡齐高兴地说。 “但我希望你们这些小流氓感到幸运。 我们这些沼泽窃贼要把你们这些杂草丛生的小男孩杀了。 “我敢打赌，你们这些流氓在这方面是毫无希望的——当然，除了你，小嗝嗝。”她补充道。 自从小嗝嗝在辛尼特堡被鲨鱼虫吃掉后，卡米卡齐就非常钦佩她

Snotlout happened to be skating past at that moment and he nearly fell over, he laughed so much at this. 'Hiccup???' jeered Snotlout. 'Hiccup will get as many goals as he shot Semi-Spotted Snowpeckers yesterday. I shot more than two hundred. How many did you shoot, again, Hiccup? What was it– none??'

snolout碰巧在那一刻滑过，他几乎摔倒了，他笑得很开心。 “打嗝吗? ?鼻子精嘲笑道。 “小嗝嗝会进很多球，就像他昨天射半斑雪鸟一样。 我拍了两百多张。 你开了多少枪，小嗝嗝？ 是什么——没有——？”

Hiccup blushed. Camicazi looked very surprised. 'P-P-ARP! The Young Heroes Smashsticks-on- Ice Match is about to begin! Please could both teams make their way to the Pitch…' shouted Gobber the Belch from the centre of the ice. Gobber had changed into his shortest shorts to be the referee. The Bog-Burglars (apart from Camicazi of course) were big, rough, mean-looking girls with wonky plaits, broken noses, and thighs like tree-trunks. Fishlegs staggered on to the pitch at the last minute. He looked even more terrible than the last time Hiccup saw him. He was sneezing and shivering hard, and he could hardly stand, and was using his Smashstick to hold himself up. He had put his ice-skates on the wrong feet. Hiccup put up his hand to try and get Gobber's attention. 'Sir, I think Fishlegs isn't well,' he said. 'NONSENSE!' roared Gobber. 'Vikings don't get SICK! Flu is for softies! Colds are for babies! Plagues are for girlies! I'VE never had a day's sickness in all my life, not even a sore throat. I don't want to hear ANOTHER WORD.' Hiccup and Fishlegs skated out on to the pitch, Hiccup supporting Fishlegs, who could hardly put one skate in front of another.

打嗝脸红了。Camicazi看起来很惊讶。 “P-P-ARP !少年英雄冰上打棍比赛即将开始！“请两队都到球场上去……”打嗝哥伯从冰中央喊道。 戈伯换上了最短的短裤当裁判。 “沼泽窃贼”（当然除了卡米卡齐）都是些身材高大、长相粗鲁、面目凶恶的姑娘，她们的辫子摇摇晃晃，鼻子断了，大腿像树干一样。 鱼腿队在最后一刻摇摇晃晃地走上球场。 他看起来比Hiccup上次见到他时更可怕。 他不停地打喷嚏，抖得厉害，几乎站不起来了，只能用他的捶打棒支撑着自己。 他把冰鞋穿错了脚。 嗝嗝举起手来，想引起戈伯的注意。 “先生，我想鱼腿病了，”他说。 “胡说八道!戈伯吼道。 “维京人不会生病的！”感冒是软蛋的病！感冒是给婴儿的！瘟疫是女孩子的事！我一生中从来没有生过一天病，甚至喉咙痛也没有。 我不想再听到一个字了。”小嗝嗝和鱼腿滑到球场上，小嗝嗝扶着鱼腿，鱼腿几乎不能把两只冰鞋放在一起。

'You ought to be at home,' worried Hiccup. 'You look awful.' Fishlegs laughed sarcastically. 'Didn't you hear Gobber? Vikings don't get SICK… I'm not ill, I'm just shivering with EXCITEMENT to be out here on this frost-bitingly cold day…' Gobber blew the whistle, threw the puck into the Smashstick Scrum and all hell broke loose.

“你应该呆在家里，”小嗝嗝担心地说。 “你脸色不好。”鱼腿讽刺地笑了。 “你没听见戈伯的话吗？”“维京人是不会生病的……我没有生病，我只是兴奋得发抖，能在这么冷得刺骨的日子里来到这里……”戈伯吹了哨子，把冰球扔进了球棍争抢比赛，全场一片混乱。