1 A Proper Viking Swimming Race

1. A PROPER VIKING SWIMMING RACE One chilly spring day in the Barbaric Archipelago, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the Hope and Heir to the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, was standing miserably on the West Beach of the Murderous Mountains with absolutely nothing on but his helmet, his sword, his waistcoat, and a teeny weeny pair of hairy swimming trunks. The Murderous Mountains were not the kind of place you wanted to visit at the best of times. They gave Hiccup the shivers. Tall, cruel-looking, dizzyingly high peaks that were home to some unspeakably dangerous dragons and mutant wolves, not to mention the Murderous Tribe, the fiercest and most ruthless Vikings in the uncivilised world. The Murderous Tribe did not often receive visitors. Perhaps it was their uncomfortable habit of sacrificing unwelcome intruders to the Sky Dragons at the point of Mount Murderous that kept people at bay. But on this occasion, Madguts the Murderous had taken it into his head to be hospitable, and to invite two of the other Tribes, the Hooligans and the Bog-Burglars, over to his island for a jolly little

1. 一个寒冷的春日，在野蛮群岛，希卡普·可怕的黑道克三世，毛流氓部落的希望和继承人，悲惨地站在杀人山的西海滩上，除了头盔、剑、马甲和一双毛茸茸的小泳裤外，什么也没穿。 杀人山脉不是那种你想在最好的时候去的地方。 他们吓得小嗝嗝发抖。 高大、残酷、令人眼花缭乱的山峰是一些难以形容的危险龙和变异狼的家园，更不用说凶残的部落了，他们是未开化世界中最凶猛、最无情的维京人。 杀人部落不常接待访客。 也许是他们在杀人山献祭不受欢迎的入侵者给天龙的不舒服的习惯，让人们陷入困境。 不过，这一次，杀人狂麦德古斯特突然心血来潮，热情好客地邀请了另外两个部落，流氓部落和沼泽强盗部落，到他的岛上来玩一会儿

Inter-Tribal Friendly Swimming Race. It was a traditional Viking Swimming Race, and the Vikings were a little bit crazy, so they were going swimming with their weapons on: swords, axes, daggers, that sort of thing. It did not seem to have occurred to them that this would make them less floaty. So there they were, the entire Warrior populations of the Murderous, Hooligan and Bog-Burglar Tribes, hopping up and down on the uncomfortable shingle beach, trying to pretend they

部落间友好游泳比赛。 这是一项传统的维京人游泳比赛，维京人有点疯狂，所以他们游泳时要带着武器：剑、斧头、匕首之类的。 他们似乎没有想到这会使他们变得不那么飘浮。 所以他们就在那里，所有凶残、流氓和沼泽盗贼部落的战士们，在不舒服的鹅卵石海滩上跳来跳去，试图假装他们

weren't freezing their horns off, with the mutant wolves howling cheeringly up in the mountains above. There was a strong easterly wind that brought goose-bumps to Hiccup's skinny, freckled arms, and whisked off helmets, cloaks and swords, and sent them bowling briskly down the beach. Hiccup's tiny hunting-dragon, Toothless, was having difficulty flying without being blown away.

他们的角没有被冻掉，变异的狼在山上欢快地嚎叫。 一阵强烈的东风吹得小嗝嗝瘦骨嶙峋、长满雀斑的手臂起了鸡皮疙瘩，刮掉了头盔、斗篷和剑，把他们飞快地扔到海滩上。 小嗝嗝的小猎龙“无牙”很难在不被吹走的情况下飞行。

Toothless was a particularly small Common-or-Garden dragon with large, innocent greengage eyes. 'Toothless w-w-wouldn't go swimming today if Toothless was you,' he advised Hiccup. 'Is very ch-ch-chilly in there, Toothless has been in already and it nearly froze Toothless's wings off.' 'Yes, thank you, Toothless,' said Hiccup. (Hiccup was one of the very few Vikings, before or since, who could speak Dragonese, the language in which the dragons speak to each other.) 'Very helpful, I'll bear that in mind.' Gobber the Belch, the teacher in charge of the Pirate Training Programme on Berk, had stripped down to his smalls, and was breathing in the gale as if it were the loveliest of summer breezes. 'Lovely swimming weather!' he roared delightedly, beating his chest with his fist like a great red-headed gorilla. 'Gather

无牙龙是一条特别小的普通花园龙，长着一双无辜的绿眼睛。 “如果无牙是你的话，我今天就不去游泳了。”他建议小嗝嗝。 “里面很——很——冷，无牙已经进去了，它差点把无牙的翅膀冻掉。”“是的，谢谢你，无牙，”嗝嗝说。 （在此之前或之后，Hiccup是少数会说龙语的维京人之一，龙之间用这种语言交流。）“很有帮助，我会记住的。”负责博克岛海盗训练项目的老师“嗝哥”已经脱下了衣服，只穿了几件小衣服，呼吸着大风，仿佛这是最可爱的夏日微风。 “游泳的好天气！”他高兴地吼道，像一只大红发大猩猩一样用拳头捶打着胸膛。 的收集

round and stand to attention, boys, and I'll explain the Rules of the Race…' The twelve boys stood before their teacher in a shivering line. 'Now boys!' boomed Gobber. 'A Proper Viking Swimming Race is not like those pathetic little competitions they carry out on the mainland. It is a test of your ENDURANCE, your STRENGTH and your SUICIDAL BRAVERY…' 'Oh brother,' moaned Hiccup's best friend Fishlegs, who was the only boy on the Programme who was even worse than Hiccup at all the Viking activities. He had legs as limp as two strings of spaghetti, and he couldn't swim. 'I don't like the sound of this…' 'In a proper Viking Swimming Race,' continued Gobber, 'the winner is the person who is LAST.' There were gasps of surprise, and 'oh sir, please sir, that can't be right, sir,' from the line of boys. 'In which case,' sneered Snotface Snotlout, a great bullying brute of a boy whose muscly arms were covered entirely in skeleton tattoos, 'Hiccup the Useless will win, no problem. He's always the last at everything…'

孩子们，站起来立正，我来解释比赛规则……”十二个男孩站在老师面前，冻得直哆嗦。 “现在孩子们!戈伯大声说。 “一场真正的维京人游泳比赛不像他们在大陆上举办的那些可怜的小比赛。 “哦，天哪，”小嗝嗝最好的朋友鱼腿呻吟道，他是节目中唯一一个在维京人的所有活动中比小嗝嗝还糟糕的男孩。 他的腿像两根意大利面条一样无力，而且他不会游泳。 “在真正的维京人游泳比赛中，”戈伯接着说，“谁跑到最后，谁就是赢家。”男孩们惊讶地喘着气，说：“哦，先生，求你了，先生，这不可能，先生。” “这样的话，”鼻涕脸鼻鼻子讥笑道，他是一个威风十足的大男孩，肌肉发达的手臂上全是骷髅纹身，“没用的嗝嗝会赢，没问题。 他做什么事总是最后一个……”