7 The Quest to Discover America

7. THE QUEST TO DISCOVER AMERICA So this was how Hiccup, Camicazi and Fishlegs got themselves kidnapped by Norbert the Nutjob, and found themselves in a boat that was sailing out of the Archipelago, never to return. Of course, Hiccup, Camicazi and Fishlegs did not want to go to America. Besides which, there was the tiny problem of crossing the Great West Ocean which, Hiccup knew, was full of Sea-Dragons so large and fearsome that they could swallow the ship they were standing on in one gulp. 'So… what do we do now then, Hiccup?' asked Fishlegs slowly. 'Well,' said Hiccup, through chattering teeth. 'Let's dry our wet things, first of all.' The chimney at the back of the deck out of which the smoke was pouring was hot to the touch, so they leant against it for a couple of hours, letting the lovely warmth penetrate their frozen bodies. The green streaky remains of the Fleshfang oil on their cheeks and arms made them look like three cold-blooded little lizards baking in the sunshine. Their salty clothes were stiff as cardboard, but at least they were dry.

7. 小嗝嗝、卡米卡齐和鱼腿就是这样被疯子诺伯特绑架的，他们发现自己在一艘驶出群岛的船上，再也没有回来。 当然，小嗝嗝、卡米卡齐和鱼腿不想去美国。 除此之外，还有一个小问题，那就是横渡西大洋。希卡普知道，西大洋上到处都是又大又可怕的海龙，它们可以一口吞下它们站在上面的船。 “那么……我们现在该怎么办，小嗝嗝？”鱼腿慢慢地问。 “嗯，”嗝嗝从打战的牙齿中说。 “我们先把湿衣服擦干吧。”甲板后面浓烟滚滚的烟囱摸起来很烫，所以他们靠在烟囱上几个小时，让可爱的温暖穿透他们冰冷的身体。 他们的脸颊和手臂上残留着肉牙油的绿色条纹，使他们看起来像三只在阳光下烤着的冷血小蜥蜴。 他们的咸衣服硬得像硬纸板，但至少是干的。

When they had finally stopped shivering, they began to explore their floating prison. Hysterics are a Tribe of dreamers, lunatics and inventors, so the American Dream 2 was not your ordinary Viking ship. The steam pouring out of the chimney was a distinctive grey-green, so Hiccup suspected it was dragon-smoke, probably coming from dragons hidden within the belly of the ship. Hiccup would have loved to see by what mechanism this steam powered the boat.* *Hiccup's memoirs seem to suggest that Norbert had built a steam-ship, many, many centuries before steam was used to power marine craft, Similarly, the artist Leonardo da Vinci drew designs for a helicopter, a trench-digging machine, a deep-sea diving suit, a revolving bridge, a calculator, a hang-glider and a tank, four hundred years before any of these things were 'invented'. The dragons weren't the only mad thing about this vessel. There was a weird thing with wings sprouting out of the side that a Hysteric called Red Ronald told them was Norbert's attempt at a Flying Machine. Unfortunately it didn't really work yet. Several times during the day, Norbert ordered three unfortunate members of his crew to try it out, hauling the Machine all the way up to the top of the Mast on ropes, and then launching it from the crow's nest. It only stayed up in the sky for a couple of minutes, before crashing spectacularly into the Ocean,

当他们终于停止颤抖时，他们开始探索他们的漂浮监狱。 歇斯底里者是一群梦想家、疯子和发明家，所以“美国梦2”不是普通的海盗船。 从烟囱里喷出来的蒸汽是一种独特的灰绿色，所以小嗝嗝怀疑那是龙的烟，可能是从隐藏在船腹的龙身上冒出来的。 小嗝嗝很想知道蒸汽是通过什么机制驱动这艘船的。* *Hiccup的回忆录似乎表明，在蒸汽被用来驱动船舶的许多世纪之前，诺伯特已经建造了一艘蒸汽船。同样，艺术家列奥纳多·达·芬奇也设计了直升机、挖沟机、深海潜水服、旋转桥、计算器、悬挂式滑翔机和坦克，比这些东西都“发明”要早400年。 龙并不是这艘船唯一的疯狂之处。 有一个奇怪的东西，侧面长出了翅膀，一个叫红罗纳德的歇斯底里者告诉他们，这是诺伯在尝试制造飞行器。 不幸的是，它还没有真正起作用。 一天中，诺伯特多次命令三个不幸的船员试一试，用绳子把机器一直拖到桅杆顶部，然后从瞭望台发射出去。 它只在空中停留了几分钟，然后壮观地坠入海洋，

and the crew members had to be rescued, and the Machine mended again. And then there was an extraordinary Machine with a wheel that the crew took in turns to pedal with their feet, which was attached to a large trumpet-like funnel. It was very difficult to work out what the purpose of this Machine was. At the moment it was Verociously Violent's turn on the Machine, because his arm was still recovering from the gash he had received from the Axe of Doom incident, so he wasn't much good at pulling on ropes and other tasks around the boat at the moment. Hiccup was so curious about what the Machine did that he approached Verociously to ask what he was doing. 'Oh, this is the Keep-the-Boat-From-Sinkingand-Scare-Away-the-Big-Sea-Creatures Machine,' explained Verociously Violent, stopping pedalling for a second to answer Hiccup's question. 'It stops the boat from sinking and it also scares away the Sea-Monsters, Great Terrorwings, Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus, that sort of thing.'* Some of Norbert's inventions were more practical than others, because the line between genius and total loopiness is quite a fine one. 'KEEP PEDALLING! KEEP PEDALLING!' screamed Norbert the Nutjob, marching up, and the Hysteric hurriedly resumed, so fast his feet were a blur.

船员们必须被救出来，机器必须再次修理。 还有一种特别的机器，它有一个轮子，船员们轮流用脚踩它，它连着一个像喇叭一样的大漏斗。 很难弄清楚这台机器的目的是什么。 此刻，轮到凶暴恐怖来操纵机器了，因为他的手臂还在从厄运之斧事件造成的伤口中恢复，所以他不太擅长在船上拉绳子和其他任务。 小嗝嗝对机器的功能非常好奇，于是他走近维罗西乌斯，问他在做什么。 “哦，这是防止船沉没并吓跑海洋生物的机器，”凶暴鬼解释道，他停了一会儿车，回答小嗝嗝的问题。 “它能防止船下沉，还能吓跑海怪，大恐怖翼，巨海龙之类的东西。*诺伯特的一些发明比其他发明更实用，因为天才和彻头彻尾的疯子之间的界限很微妙。 “保持蹬车!保持蹬车!疯伯诺伯尖叫着，大步走上前，歇斯底里的人赶紧继续说，快得他的脚都模糊了。

'And YOU,' Norbert turned to Hiccup, 'STOP DISTRACTING THE CREW! If this man here stops turning this wheel for even one second, the boat will sink, and we could be attacked by one of the Ocean Dragon-Mammoths.' 'Fascinating,' said Hiccup, very politely, thinking, nutty as an absolute fruitcake. 'Is there any chance,' gulped Fishlegs hopefully as they walked away, 'that that thing could work?' 'Yeah, right,' replied Hiccup. 'Like a revolving tube with a funnel attached is really going to stop a boat from sinking…' At the end of the first day of The Quest to Discover America, the sun sank in a glorious technicolour display of pink and gold streaked with red. The three young Vikings sat and worried…

“还有你，”诺伯转向小嗝嗝，“别再分散船员的注意力了！如果这个人停止转动方向盘哪怕一秒钟，船就会沉没，我们就会被海龙猛犸象袭击。“太棒了，”小嗝嗝很有礼貌地说，一边想着，脑子里像个十足的水果蛋糕。 “有没有可能，”他们走开时，鱼腿满怀希望地吞吞吐吐地说，“那东西管用吗？“是的，没错，”小嗝嗝回答。 “就像一个装有漏斗的旋转管真的能阻止船下沉……”在探索美洲的第一天结束时，太阳在粉红色和金色条纹的红色的辉煌色彩中下沉。 三个年轻的维京人坐在那里忧心忡忡……

and worried… and worried. (Actually, two of them worried; Camicazi just played with Toothless.) They worried until it was late at night, and the Hysterics had built a fire on deck, and were singing songs to the rising moon. The songs were about the life of a Viking. You have to imagine Norbert the Nutjob adding the HO!s, while banging his axe on the bottom of an iron bucket.

担心啊，担心啊。 (实际上，他们中有两个很担心；Camicazi只是在玩Toothless。)他们一直担心到深夜，歇斯底里的人在甲板上生起了火，对着冉冉升起的月亮唱歌。 这些歌是关于维京人的生活的。 你可以想象一下，诺伯特这个疯子加了HO！他一边说，一边用斧头敲打着铁桶的底部。