8 No Going Back

8. NO GOING BACK The only window in the Library was now plugged by one fat, dead Driller-Dragon, and no natural daylight could sneak its way into the gigantic, endless maze. The walls were lined with books. Thousands and thousands of bookcases stretched from floor to ceiling, lit only by the dim light of Glow-worms, clinging to the walls, and a faint scarlet gleam given off by the wriggling Itchyworms. Hiccup walked on, shivering not just with cold, but with fear. For the Library was cold with that dark, damp cold that has not seen daylight for so many years that it has forgotten what sunshine feels like. The sad, soggy rooms smelt of silence and secrets. The Library felt to Hiccup like a poor neglected fishy Creature who nobody remembers had died in some forgotten corner, and was slowly decaying. And it was SPOOKY. Choking dust clouds filled some of the halls, and in others the Glow-worms had gone out and they were feeling their way through absolute darkness. In others, the shelves had clearly been attacked by Driller-Dragons.

8. 图书馆唯一的窗户现在被一条胖胖的钻龙堵住了，没有自然光能溜进这个巨大的、没有尽头的迷宫。 墙上排列着书。 成千上万的书架从地板一直延伸到天花板，只有贴在墙上的萤火虫发出的微弱的光和蠕动的痒虫发出的微弱的鲜红色的光。 小嗝嗝继续走着，不仅冷得发抖，而且害怕得发抖。 因为图书馆是寒冷的，黑暗，潮湿的寒冷，多年没有见过阳光，它已经忘记了阳光的感觉。 悲伤、潮湿的房间弥漫着沉默和秘密的气息。 对小嗝嗝来说，图书馆就像一个可怜的、被人遗忘的、没有人记得的、死在某个被人遗忘的角落里的鱼一样，正在慢慢腐烂。 这真是令人毛骨悚然。有些大厅里弥漫着令人窒息的尘雾，有些大厅里的萤火虫已经出去了，它们在一片漆黑中摸索着前进。 在另一些地方，货架显然遭到了钻龙钻工的攻击。

Way, way in the distance they could hear the faint echoes of shouting Meathead Warriors and their barking Driller-Dragons as they poured into the Library Entrance, beginning their search for the three Viking Intruders. Surely the Library Labyrinth was so huge that the Searchers, even in those numbers, would take a long, long time to find them? And maybe it was Hiccup's imagination which was jumping about like a poor bird dashing its head against a window pane, but he kept on thinking that he heard strange breathing and snuffling noises coming from somewhere behind his shoulder. Sometimes he thought he saw a flicker of shadows moving and disappearing around a blurry corner. Toothless no longer flew after them. He had crept into Hiccup's furry waistcoat, his back-spines a prickle of fear and alarm. 'Issa not s-s-safe…' he whispered. 'There's B-B-BAD things in here… trust T-ttoothless… Toothless knows…' Even through his terror, however, Hiccup was blown

他们从很远很远的地方都能听到他们冲进图书馆入口，开始搜寻那三个海盗入侵者时，大喊大叫的傻蛋战士和吠叫的钻龙发出的微弱回声。 图书馆迷宫太大了，搜索者，即使人数这么多，也要花很长很长时间才能找到它们吧？ 也许是希卡普的想象在跳来跳去，就像一只可怜的鸟儿用头撞窗玻璃一样，但他一直认为自己听到了奇怪的呼吸声和鼻息声，从他肩膀后面的什么地方传来。 有时，他觉得自己看到了一个闪烁的影子在一个模糊的角落里移动和消失。 无牙不再跟着他们飞了。 他蹑手蹑脚地钻进了小嗝嗝的毛马甲，他的脊背因恐惧和惊恐而刺痛。 “伊萨不——不——安全……” “这里有——有——有坏东西……相信——没牙……没牙知道……”尽管他很害怕，嗝嗝还是被吹了

away with excitement at seeing so many books in one place at one time. He had scribbled away in notebooks himself, of course, but because books were banned by order of 'the Thing', the only proper book he had ever really held was that copy of How to Train Your Dragon that Toothless had incinerated. And he hadn't been very impressed by that particular book. Not enough words, in his opinion. But here, it was like entering a cave full of treasure. 'WOW,' breathed Hiccup, 'if you stayed here long enough you really could find the answer to everything…' There were fat books, thin books, volume after decaying volume of the Encyclopedia Barbaria… Guides to the Archipelago, and to strange, lost, faraway lands that Hiccup had heard spoken of by the bards, with names like jewels–'Russia', 'China', 'India', 'Africa' and 'Japan'. Were these places really REAL or as imaginary as the unicorn? Hiccup longed to stop and pull out the dusty maps… Could there really be a land so hot that your thoughts boiled over in the steam of the day, a land where 'elephants' flew over herds of peaceful 'flamingoes', wandering over a world as warm as bread from the oven?

一次在一个地方看到这么多书，兴奋地走开了。 当然，他自己也在笔记本上乱写乱画，但因为“那东西”的命令是禁止读书的，所以他真正拿着的唯一一本书就是被无牙烧掉的那本《如何驯龙》。 他对那本书印象不太深刻。 在他看来，这还不够。 但在这里，就像进入了一个充满宝藏的洞穴。 “哇，”小嗝嗝喘着气说，“如果你在这里待得够久，你真的能找到一切问题的答案……”这里有厚厚的书，薄的书，一卷又一卷的《巴巴里亚百科全书》……《群岛指南》，还有小嗝嗝听吟游诗人说起过的那些陌生的、失落的、遥远的地方，它们的名字像宝石一样——“俄罗斯”、“中国”、“印度”、“非洲”和“日本”。 这些地方是真实存在的，还是像独角兽一样想象出来的？ 小嗝嗝真想停下来，拿出满是灰尘的地图……真的会有这样一个地方，热得让你的思想在一天的蒸汽中沸腾，在那里，“大象”飞过一群和平的“火烈鸟”，在一个像烤箱里出炉的面包一样温暖的世界上徘徊吗？

Hiccup burned to know the answers. Hiccup burned to know the answers… but he did not stop. And they were enormously relieved when Camicazi announced triumphantly that they had reached the Dragons and Other Exotic Creatures section of the library. 'Now, who wrote it again, remind me?' asked Camicazi. 'Professor Yobbish,' replied Hiccup. 'It's over here,' said Fishlegs, kneeling in a corner of the hall. 'W… X… Y for Yobbish… Great Gulpings of Thor, he's written a book about keeping SHARKS as pets, what was the man thinking of? Here we are! How to Train Your Dragon!' And there it was, the exact replica of the one that had sat in the Hooligan Great Hall for so many years, and that was now hidden under Hiccup's bed, shredded to pieces by Toothless's expert little claws. Well, perhaps not an exact replica. 'It's a second edition,' Fishlegs pointed out. 'No one will notice,' said Hiccup, jubilantly taking it out of Fishlegs's hands and checking that it was all there.

小嗝嗝渴望知道答案。 小嗝嗝渴望知道答案，但他没有停下来。 当卡米卡齐得意洋洋地宣布他们来到图书馆的龙和其他奇异生物区时，他们大大地松了一口气。 “现在，提醒我一下，又是谁写的？”卡米卡齐问道。 “约比什教授，”小嗝嗝回答。 “就在这儿。”鱼腿跪在大厅的一个角落里说。 “哇……X……Y代表约比什……伟大的雷神，他写了一本关于养鲨鱼当宠物的书，他在想什么？” 我们到了！如何训练你的龙！”它就在那儿，就是那个在流氓礼堂里呆了那么多年、现在被小嗝嗝藏在床底下、被无牙的行家小爪子撕成碎片的一模一样的复制品。 也许不是一模一样的复制品。 “这是第二版，”鱼腿指出。 “没人会注意到的，”小嗝嗝说着，兴高采烈地从鱼腿手里把钱拿过来，检查了一下钱是否都在那里。

It certainly was: the big handsome cover with the twiddly bits on it, and inside the three, golden, sacred words that were the whole of Yobbish's advice on the subject: YELL AT IT. But this time, after twenty years of painstaking research and as this was a second edition, he had added the vital word… LOUDLY. It may not seem like much, but the Hooligans had been following this advice with awed obedience for generations. Hiccup stuffed the book into his backpack. 'Just look at all these incredible books on dragons!' he exclaimed in excitement. 'Viking Dragons and their Eggs! Dragons of the Icy Depths! Dragons of the Frozen North! Think how helpful it would be to the Viking Tribes if we were allowed to read all these books…' 'I hate to hurry you,' said Fishlegs, 'but we're in a bit of a tight spot here, remember?' 'You could be right,' said Hiccup. 'I've got this horrible feeling we might be being followed…' 'Why do you think THAT?' squeaked Fishlegs in alarm. 'Oh, it's just a feeling I have…' said Hiccup.

当然是：那张漂亮的大封面上有一些粗粗的小块，里面有三个金色的神圣的字，这就是约比什对这个问题的全部建议：对它大喊大叫。 但这一次，经过二十年的艰苦研究，而且这是第二版，他加了一个至关重要的词……大声地说。 这似乎没什么大不了的，但足球流氓们几代人都在敬畏地听从这个建议。 小嗝嗝把书塞进了背包。 “看看这些关于龙的书！”他激动地叫道。 “维京龙和它们的蛋！”冰雪深处的龙！冰冻北方的龙！“我不想催你，”鱼腿说，“但我们现在手头有点紧，记得吗？“你可能是对的，”小嗝嗝说。 “我有一种可怕的感觉，我们可能被跟踪了……”鱼腿惊恐地尖叫着。 “哦，这只是我的一种感觉……”