18 Up the Mast of the American Dream

18. UP THE MAST OF THE AMERICAN DREAM 2 He shinned up the mast like a little monkey, as it reared up and down like a great plunging tree on the back of the waves. He was in terrible danger of being blown off by the shrieking wind that tore at his clothes, and froze his fingers till they nearly lost their grip, but up, and up he climbed. Norbert halted at the bottom of the mast for a second. He was laughing as he did this, shouting up the mast, 'Where are you going, you small boy? Don't you know you're going to run out of mast, and I shall get you in the end?' And then he began to climb after Hiccup. Up and up Norbert climbed in pursuit. He was surprisingly quick, for he had an interesting technique. Every few metres or so he let out a scream of effort as he sank his axe deep into the mast above. And then he hauled himself up, almost entirely with the strength of his upper arms, worked the axe out, and dug it into position a few metres further up. Hiccup had run out of mast. He curled the rope of the rigging around his arm

18. 爬上美国梦的桅杆2他像一只小猴子一样爬上桅杆，桅杆像波浪背后一棵倒下的大树一样直立起来。 他冒着被狂风吹走的危险，狂风撕扯着他的衣服，把他的手指冻得几乎抓不住，但他还是往上爬，往上爬。 诺伯在桅杆下面停了一会儿。 他一边笑一边对着桅杆喊道：“你要去哪儿，你这个小男孩？” 难道你不知道你很快就会跑出桅杆的，最后我会抓住你的吗？”然后他开始跟着小嗝嗝往上爬。 诺伯跟着往上爬。 他出奇地快，因为他有一种有趣的技巧。 每隔几米左右，他就用力地尖叫一声，把斧头深深扎进上面的桅杆里。 然后，他几乎完全依靠上臂的力量爬了上去，把斧头挖了出来，把它挖到了几米高的地方。 小嗝嗝已经跑出桅杆了。 他把索具的绳子绕在胳膊上

(he was careful not to tie it this time), drew his sword again, and waited for Norbert. Down in the sea, Fishlegs and Camicazi were watching him, open-mouthed. 'What is he DOING?' 'I think,' said Fishlegs slowly, 'he's going to fight Norbert on the mast.' Hiccup's fight with Norbert on the mast top has passed into Viking Legend. Never had a fight been undertaken in such difficult circumstances as these, on top of the rigging and mast of a ship that was rapidly sinking, in the middle of a thunderstorm, and under attack from below by one of the major Monsters of the Deep. Norbert drew his blade with his left hand as soon as he was level with Hiccup, and aimed a great swinging swipe at the boy, which Hiccup parried at the last moment, and the two great swords rang together. 'It's not too late, Norbert,' panted Hiccup, as he parried a Flashburn Fancy-Thrust, and nearly fell off the rigging while doing so. 'Can't we put this off till later? This boat is SINKING.' As if in response to this statement, the boat gave another lurch downward, and Hiccup was hanging only by one arm for a second before he got his feet back on

（这次他小心翼翼地没有把领带系上），又抽出剑来，等着诺伯。 在海里，鱼腿和卡米卡齐正张大嘴巴看着他。 “他在干什么？”“我想，”鱼腿慢吞吞地说，“他要在桅杆上和诺伯决斗。”小嗝嗝和诺伯特在桅杆顶的战斗已经成为维京传奇。 在这样困难的情况下，在一艘正在迅速下沉的船上的索具和桅杆上，在雷雨中，在海底一只大怪物的袭击下，从来没有人在这样的情况下进行过战斗。 诺伯刚和小嗝嗝站在同一高度，就拔出左手的剑，对准小嗝嗝挥去一记猛击，小嗝嗝在最后一刻躲开了，两柄大剑齐声响了起来。 “还不算太晚，诺伯特，”小嗝嗝喘着气说，他挡开了一记闪光弹，差点从索具上掉下来。 “我们不能推迟一下吗？” 这艘船正在下沉。”似乎是对这句话的回应，船又往下坠了一下，小嗝嗝只被一只胳膊吊了一秒钟，然后又站了起来

the ropes, slippery in the drenching rain. 'I've BEEN patient!' howled Norbert, slicing through the air with a Double-wristed Heartbreaker. 'Fifteen years stuck on Hysteria! And then two American Dreams built and destroyed by YOU! Everything was all going to plan, if YOU hadn't come along.' 'Well, be fair,' argued Hiccup, steadying himself on the mast as he performed two quick Wristflickers and followed them up with a Grimbeard's Grapple, 'we had to defend ourselves, because you were going to kill us, weren't you?' 'Oh you're always full of excuses,' howled Norbert furiously.

绳子在大雨中很滑。 “我一直很有耐心！”诺伯吼道，挥舞着双腕心碎器在空中划来划去。 “《歇斯底里》被困了15年！”然后两个美国梦就被你建立和摧毁了！如果没有你，一切都会按计划进行。“好吧，说句公话，”小嗝嗝一边在桅杆上稳住身子，一边快速地晃了两下腕带，接着又做了个鬼脸，“我们必须自卫，因为你要杀我们，是不是？”“哦，你总是有一大堆借口。”诺伯愤怒地吼道。

'Maybe I wouldn't have done. I will now, of course,' and as if to emphasise this point he narrowed his mad eye, and followed up a Perfectpiercer with a wild lash with the axe. Hiccup desperately avoided the axe, helped by a gust of wind that threw him backwards a little. He lost his footing, was hanging on by one hand again, and Norbert bashed away at the fingers with his foot. Camicazi and Fishlegs could hardly bear to watch as they bobbed in the sea below.

“也许我不会这么做。 现在我当然会了，”仿佛是为了强调这一点，他眯起他那疯狂的眼睛，跟在一个挥着斧头的完美穿孔机后面。 嗝嗝拼命地躲开了斧头，一阵风把他向后吹了一点。 他失去了立足点，又用一只手吊着，诺伯用脚猛踢他的手指。 卡米卡齐和鱼腿几乎看不下去他们在下面的海里上下浮动。

But Hiccup threw the ticking-thing upwards, and it whipped through the air, and the rope wound itself around the horizontal beam of the mast a little further down. Just at the moment that his hand gave way, he swu-u-ung on the rope, yelling out the Hooligan War Cry, and landed safely a little distance away. 'Oh Bravo, Hiccup!' cheered Camicazi excitedly, 'That was a really cool move.' Toothless flapping into Norbert's face gave Hiccup the time to regain his footing on the rigging. Hiccup followed up with some graceful Left-Hand Lunges, one of which was so close to disabling Norbert's sword arm that it ripped off the right sleeve. 'I think he's winning, you know, Fishlegs,' chirped Camicazi. It was an extraordinary sight. Great crashes of thunder from Thor at his most furious, the distant grey outline of the American shore, the majestic half-sinking ship still pouring steam from its chimney, and then high, high on its mast, the two tiny figures, who had now climbed even higher, and were fighting in the crow's nest… 'Oh for Thor's sake,' gasped Fishlegs, as he clung like a half-drowned little spider to the Map Table. 'What's THAT?'

但是嗝嗝把滴答作响的东西扔了上去，它在空中疾驰，绳子绕在桅杆的水平横梁上，再往下一点。 就在他的手松开的那一刻，他在绳子上挥舞着，大喊着流氓的战争口号，安全降落在离他不远的地方。 “哦，太棒了，小嗝嗝！”Camicazi兴奋地欢呼道，“这真是一个很酷的举动。”没有牙齿的拍打拍打着诺伯特的脸，给了小嗝嗝时间重新站在索具上。 小嗝嗝接着又做了几个优雅的左手箭步，其中一个箭步差一点就把拿剑的诺伯的手臂弄残了，把他的右袖子扯掉了。 “我觉得他赢了，你知道，鱼腿，”卡米卡齐叽叽喳喳地说。 这是一幅非同寻常的景象。 索尔怒不可遏地发出了巨大的雷声，远处是美国海岸的灰色轮廓，那艘半沉的威严的船还在从烟囱里喷出蒸汽，然后，两个小身影高高站在桅杆上，他们现在爬得更高了，正在乌鸦的巢里战斗……“哦，看在索尔的份上，”鱼腿喘息着，像一只半淹死的小蜘蛛一样紧紧抓住地图桌。 “那是什么?”

The Leviathorgan had been repeatedly battering the ship from below, and it must have been very well-made, the American Dream 2, for it was only now that the hull gave way into splinters, and the head of the great dragon appeared through the deck, screaming in fury, and chomping away at the wood with its fangs. It threw back its head and let out a great roar, shooting three of its stings upwards simultaneously. One of the flaming spears of bone shot straight through the swordfight, the other narrowly missed Norbert's bottom. (That would have been uncomfortable.) As if woken from a dream, Norbert looked down to see the deck destroyed, with the head of the Monster thrusting right through it, and looking up at him and Hiccup. An appalling stench of long-dead seal and rotting porpoise reeked off its fangs (these large Sea Monsters always smell bad, I'm afraid, owing to their carnivore diet), and the feet of an unfortunate Hysteric crew-member could clearly be seen disappearing down the black cavernous gullet. Norbert's concentration wavered for a second as he realised he had been carried away by his own anger, and Death was now staring him straight in the face.

这条巨兽一直在从下面不停地砸船，这条船一定是造得很好，叫做“美国梦2号”，因为直到这时，船身才裂成碎片，那条巨龙的头从甲板上露出来，愤怒地尖叫着，用它的尖牙咬着木头。 它向后仰着头，发出一声巨大的吼声，同时向上射出三根毒刺。 一根燃烧着的骨矛直接穿过了剑斗，另一根差一点击中诺伯的屁股。 （那样会很不舒服。）诺伯仿佛从梦中醒来，低头一看，只见甲板被毁了，怪物的头从甲板上伸了出来，抬头看着他和小嗝嗝。 从它的尖牙里散发出一股死海豹和腐烂海豚的恶臭（这些巨大的海怪，因为它们是食肉动物，恐怕总是很难闻），可以清楚地看到一个不幸的歇斯底里的船员的脚，消失在黑色的海沟里。 诺伯的注意力动摇了一下，他意识到自己被自己的愤怒冲昏了头脑，死神正直直地盯着他的脸。