21 The End of the Swimming Race

21. THE END OF THE SWIMMING RACE On the windy clifftops of the Murderous Mountains stood the proud figures of Stoick the Vast and Big- Boobied Bertha, their arms in chains, surrounded by Murderous Warriors. They were too dignified to show fear. They would show Madguts the Murderous how bravely a Chieftain could die. Before them was the Sky Burial Place, where they would be strapped down and left, helpless, for the Sky Dragons to attack them. Nothing would be left of their remains. Above their heads, the Sky Dragons were already massing in their hundreds, with shrieking, hungry vulture cries. Down on the beach, the Tribes of Hooligan and Bog-Burglar stood, depressed and silent, holding burning flares in their hands, looking up at the silhouettes of their Chiefs on the clifftops. The deaths of their Chieftains were not the only things at stake here for the two Tribes. Madguts was about to take over their lands. The Hooligans and Bog-Burglars had packed up all their belongings, and loaded them into their own ships standing in the Harbour. These ships were piled high with every

21. 游泳比赛的结束在多风的凶残山脉的悬崖顶上，站着斯托伊克的骄傲的身影，他是身材魁梧、胸脯丰满的伯莎，他们的手臂上戴着锁链，被凶残的勇士们包围着。 他们很有尊严，不会表现出害怕。 他们要让杀人狂麦德古斯知道，一个酋长是多么勇敢地去死。 在他们面前的是天葬场，他们将被绑在那里，无助地等待天龙来攻击他们。 他们的遗体不会留下任何痕迹。 在他们的头顶上，成百上千的天龙已经聚集在一起，发出饥饿的秃鹫般的尖叫。 在海滩上，流氓部落和沼泽盗贼部落沮丧而沉默地站在那里，手里拿着燃烧的照明弹，抬头看着悬崖顶上酋长的剪影。 对于两个部落来说，生死攸关的不仅仅是他们首领的死亡。 疯子就要占领他们的土地了。 流氓和强盗们把他们所有的东西都收拾好，装进了停泊在港口的他们自己的船上。 这些船上堆满了各种货物

possession they owned: favourite swords and armour, stools and clothing, clucking hens and pigs and goats. The Hooligans had never intended to settle on Berk in the first place. Berk was not the most comfortable, the most luxurious, the most civilised place to live in the world. It was a funny, boggy, shaggy little heap of heather and rock, where the wind buffeted so strongly that you might as well be on the sea in a ship, and when it wasn't raining it was often snowing. But Berk was where they had grown up, where they met their sweethearts and brought up their children, and when it came down to it, they found that they didn't want to leave.

他们拥有的财产：最喜欢的剑和盔甲、凳子和衣服、咯咯叫的母鸡、猪和山羊。 流氓们从一开始就没有打算在博克定居下来。 伯克并不是世界上最舒适、最奢华、最文明的居住地。 那是一堆奇怪的、泥泞的、乱蓬蓬的石南和岩石，风猛烈地拍打着，就像在海上的船上一样，不下雨的时候就经常下雪。 但博克是他们长大的地方，他们在那里遇到了他们的爱人，抚养了他们的孩子，当他们来到这里时，他们发现他们不想离开。

So they stood there, sunk in the profoundest melancholy. The sun was going down on this day, and Old Wrinkly's big sand-timer was running out of sand, and his complicated candlesticks were running down to little stubs, marking the Final End to the Competition. The three Judges sat solemnly at the table. Three months, five days, three hours and twenty- four minutes… Three months, five days, three hours and twenty-five minutes… Norbert's defective Flying Machine worked rather better than Fishlegs had expected. But he hadn't expected much, it had to be said. Fishlegs and Camicazi insisted on going in the Machine with Hiccup, Camicazi because it was the kind of crazy thing she particularly enjoyed, Fishlegs because despite all the complaining he wasn't going to desert Hiccup, who was the closest thing to family that Fishlegs had. The Wanderers had to haul the Machine up to the top of the mast so they could take off in it, and Bearcub's Grandmother predicted Doom and

他们就这样站在那里，陷入了深深的忧郁之中。 这一天，太阳落山了，老皱纹的大沙计时器的沙子快用完了，他那复杂的烛台也只剩一小截了，这标志着比赛的最终结束。 三位法官严肃地坐在桌旁。 三个月五天三小时二十四分钟……三个月五天三小时二十五分钟……诺伯那台有缺陷的飞行器比鱼腿预期的要好得多。 但不得不说，他并没有期望太多。 鱼腿和卡米卡齐坚持要和小嗝嗝一起进入机器，卡米卡齐因为这是她特别喜欢的疯狂的事情，鱼腿因为尽管有很多抱怨，他不会抛弃小嗝嗝，他是鱼腿最像家人的人。 漫游者们不得不把机器拖到桅杆的顶端，这样他们才能坐着它起飞，熊宝宝的祖母预言了末日和

Destruction would be the outcome. 'Vikings–they're all mad… even the small ones…' But Doom and Destruction did not follow–not immediately, at least. It was a very windy day, and when the Wanderers let go of the Machine, lift-off was instantly successful. The wind caught underneath the wings and launched the Machine almost vertically up into the air, like a kite. 'Wahooooooooo!' cried Camicazi, as they soared, legs dangling, hair blown back in the wind, up and up into the big blue sky. 'If Thor meant humans to fly, he'd have given them wings,' recommended the Stormfly, swooping alongside them in an amused way. The wind was strong, the young Vikings were light, and they quickly left the seven boats with the cheering, waving Wanderers on them far, far behind. They were heart-stoppingly high. Hiccup had flown on the backs of dragons before, but never at this height. They were so far up in the sky that it was difficult to see how fast they were flying, apart from the marker of the little boats, now only specks way behind them in the distance.

结果将是毁灭。 “维京人——他们都疯了……即使是小的……”但是厄运与毁灭并没有跟上——至少没有马上跟上。 那天风很大，当漫游者松开机器时，发射立刻成功了。 风在机翼下面卷起，把机器像风筝一样几乎垂直地抛向空中。 “Wahooooooooo !卡米卡齐喊道。他们在空中飞翔，双腿悬在空中，头发被风吹到脑后，不断向上飞向广阔的蓝天。 “如果雷神想让人类飞起来，他应该给他们翅膀，”暴风侠建议道，并以一种有趣的方式俯冲到他们身边。 风很大，年轻的维京人很轻盈，他们很快就离开了那七艘船和欢呼的人，在他们身后远远地甩在后面。 它们高得让人心跳停止。 小嗝嗝以前骑在龙背上飞过，但从来没有飞到过这么高。 他们在天空中飞得那么高，除了小船的标记外，很难看到他们飞得有多快，小船现在只是远远地在他们身后的斑点。

It was cold up there, so cold that Hiccup was glad that they had tied themselves to the Machine, because their fingers were so numb they might have fallen out, and the sea was a very long way down. And they were up there for such a long time, that after a while, even Fishlegs began to feel that they weren't going to plummet out of the sky like a stone, and opened up his eyes to look about him, at the blue above and below, stretching out for ever. TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK went the ticking-thing, getting louder and louder and more insistent with every passing moment. I hope we're going to make it… thought Hiccup.

上面很冷，非常冷，小嗝嗝很高兴他们把自己绑在机器上，因为他们的手指麻木了，可能会掉下来，而且大海还有很长的路要走。 他们在上面呆了很长时间，过了一会儿，就连鱼腿也开始觉得他们不会像石头一样从天上掉下来，他睁开眼睛环顾四周，看到上面和下面的蓝色，永远延伸下去。 TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK了ticking-thing,变得越来越大,更坚持对每一个时刻。 我希望我们能成功……小嗝嗝想。