17 Still Going Wrong

17. STILL GOING WRONG Hiccup hadn't been the only one who had fought out of his skin. Stoick the Vast was once one of the finest swordfighters in the Archipelago, feared from east to west for his extraordinary skill with the sword. He was a bit past it, of course, but now, being released from the witch's cupboard had given Stoick a rush of blood to the head, and he fought as if he were young again. 'The old stag has still got it, eh, Gobber?' yelled Stoick, with the joyous light of battle in his eye, swishing his sword exultantly, as he swooped down on Bullheart to high-five the hand of his old battle- companion after another incredible victory. 'HA! Stoick the Unbeatable! Stoick the Invincible! These up-and-coming young shrimps can't beat the experience of an old War Walrus like me!' So, red in the face, swelled up with pride at his victories ('a close run thing with that Alvin guy– what a cheat the feller is'), Stoick stood before Hiccup. When his very own son was set before him, Stoick's eyes had filled with tears.

17. 仍然不顺利嗝嗝并不是唯一一个拼命战斗的人。 巨人斯托伊克曾经是群岛上最优秀的剑士之一，因其非凡的剑术而从东方到西方都为之畏惧。 当然，他已经过了一段时间，但现在，从女巫的橱柜里被释放出来，使斯托伊克的头部热血沸腾，他战斗起来，好像又年轻了一样。 “那只老牡鹿还在那儿，是吗，戈伯？”斯托伊克喊道，眼睛里闪烁着战斗的喜悦之光，兴高采烈地挥动着他的剑，在又一次令人难以置信的胜利之后，他猛扑向红心牛，向他的老战友击掌。 “哈!无敌的斯托克！无敌斯托伊克！这些崭露头角的小虾可比不上我这样的老海象！”于是，满脸通红的斯托伊克站在小嗝嗝面前，为自己的胜利感到骄傲（“和那个叫阿尔文的家伙跑得很近——那家伙真是个骗子”）。 当他的亲生儿子出现在他面前时，斯托伊克的眼里充满了泪水。

This was too much. He had dreamt of this moment, oh, so many times. Stoick bellowed out the Hooligan Hoorah, echoed by all the Hooligans in the stadium. Reluctantly the other Tribes joined in. They had to admit, it was the Hooligans' moment. 'BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN! HE'S BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN!' King of the Wilderwest! Stoick could not believe it. He, Stoick the Vast, was going to be King of the Wilderwest! Hiccup stood there, quietly looking up at his father. He thought of one of Old Wrinkly's sayings. 'Sometimes you have to stand up for what you believe in, even against those you love, and that can be harder than you think.' He had never dreamed it would be this hard. 'Father,' said Hiccup wistfully, 'if you are King, will you free the dragons?' There was such a hubbub of noise going on that at first Stoick did not hear the question, so Hiccup had to repeat it.

这太过分了。他曾无数次地梦想过这一刻。 斯托伊克大声喊出“流氓万岁”，体育场里所有的流氓都跟着喊。 其他部落也不情愿地加入进来。 他们不得不承认，这是足球流氓的时刻。 “又回到了马鞍上！”他又回到马鞍上了！”狂野西部之王！斯托伊克简直不敢相信。 他，浩瀚的斯托伊克，即将成为西部荒野的国王！小嗝嗝站在那里，静静地抬头看着他的父亲。 他想起了老皱纹的一句话。 “有时候，你必须坚持自己的信仰，即使是反对你爱的人，这可能比你想象的要难。”他做梦也没想到会这么难。 “爸爸，”小嗝嗝若有所思地说，“如果你是国王，你会释放龙吗？”一阵喧闹声使斯托伊克起初没有听到这个问题，于是小嗝嗝只好重复了一遍。

Stoick still had a half-smile on his face. 'Son,' he said kindly, 'the dragons can never be freed. We need them to hunt for us, to carry us into battle. The Rebellion must be put down strongly and firmly. The Rogue dragons must be taught a lesson they can never forget. It is too dangerous to free the dragons. You will understand this when you're older.' No, I won't, thought Hiccup. I AM older, and I still don't understand. That wasn't all. Stoick didn't allow human slaves on Berk. But he didn't stand up to the Uglithugs, or the Murderous, or those Tribes that did practise slavery. He just stood by and let it happen. And nothing that Hiccup said was ever going to change that. 'PREPARE FOR BATTLE!' screeched the Eldest Elder. 'Make your salute to Thor!' Hiccup and Stoick held up their swords and pledged loyalty to the great god, and the battle began. Most Viking fathers and sons would have practised fighting each other on many previous occasions. But Stoick was the Chief of his Tribe, and a busy man. He had never fought his son before.

斯托伊克脸上还带着一丝微笑。 “孩子，”他和蔼地说，“龙是永远放不出来的。 我们需要它们来追捕我们，带我们上战场。 必须坚决坚决地镇压叛乱。 必须给游荡龙一个永生难忘的教训。 释放龙太危险了。 等你长大了你就会明白的。”不，我不会的，小嗝嗝想。 我老了，我还是不明白。 这还不是全部。斯托伊克不允许人类奴隶登上博克岛。 但他没有反抗乌格里格人，或者凶残的部落，或者那些实行奴隶制的部落。 他只是袖手旁观，任其发生。 小嗝嗝说什么也改变不了这一点。 “准备战斗！”大长老尖声说。 “向托尔致敬！”小嗝嗝和斯托伊克举起剑，宣誓效忠这位伟大的神，战斗开始了。 大多数维京人的父亲和儿子在以前的许多场合都会互相练习战斗。 但是斯托伊克是部落的首领，是个大忙人。 他以前从未和儿子打过架。

So he began the fight puffed up with pride at his son's achievement in getting this far, but absolutely certain that he, Stoick, was going to win. Why wouldn't he be certain? His son, Hiccup, was only thirteen years old.* *In fact, Hiccup had been born on the 29th of February of a Leap Year, so strictly speaking, he was still only three-and-a-quarter. He had shot up in height recently, but he was still kind of on the stringy side. He wasn't particularly bloodthirsty or competitive. And why would he want to beat his own father, whom he loved and respected? Of course Stoick thought he was going to win. It had never occurred to Stoick that the reason that Hiccup was standing in front of him in the first place was that quietly, patiently, methodically, his gangly, weird little son had become outstandingly good at swordfighting. Swordfighting was the only thing on the Pirate Training Programme that Hiccup had ever been any good at. Hiccup was the kind of kid who practised. So for hours and hours he had practised, quietly watching others fight, taking tips from Heroes like Humungous Hotshot and fighting against Camicazi. He had read up about it. He knew Flashburn's swordfighting manual back to front and inside out.

所以他开始了战斗，对儿子能走到这一步感到骄傲，但他绝对相信他，斯托伊克，会赢。 他为什么不确定呢？ 他的儿子小嗝嗝只有13岁。* *事实上，Hiccup出生在闰年的2月29日，所以严格来说，他还只有三又四分之一。 他最近的身高突飞猛进，但他还是有点瘦。 他不是特别嗜血或好胜。 他为什么要打自己敬爱的父亲呢？ 斯托伊克当然认为他会赢。 斯托伊克从来没有想到，Hiccup之所以站在他面前，是因为他那瘦长古怪的小儿子安静、耐心、有条不紊地练就了出色的剑术。 在海盗训练计划中，击剑是小嗝嗝唯一擅长的事情。 小嗝嗝是那种会练习的孩子。 于是，他练习了好几个小时，静静地看着别人打架，从像Humungous Hotshot这样的英雄那里学习技巧，并与Camicazi战斗。 他已经详细了解了这方面的情况。他对Flashburn的剑术手册了如指掌。

He was highly intelligent, so he could work out his opponent's weaknesses, and he didn't lose his head to temper or showing off. And those vital inches that he had shot up recently, meant that he finally had the reach in his sword-arm to fight and beat fully-grown adults. Hiccup himself hadn't realized this until this very moment. Growing up happens so quick sometimes, that it catches us by surprise. So five minutes into the fight, Stoick was very surprised indeed. To start off with it was a pleased surprise. Stoick was a show-offy kind of fighter, and he was in a wildly confident mood. He was fighting with the Stormblade too, for he had won that off Alvin, and the Stormblade put heart into all who wielded it. So he threw his most extravagant, fancy lunges, to the roaring approval of the crowd. And then it was a more puzzled surprise, as Hiccup parried every one of those lunges, and threw in a few of his own, one of which nearly got through Stoick's amazed guard. And then amazement turned to growing fury.

他非常聪明，所以他能找出对手的弱点，他不会因为发脾气或炫耀而失去理智。 他最近长高了几英寸，这意味着他拿着剑的手臂终于有能力和成年的成年人搏斗了。 小嗝嗝自己直到此刻才意识到这一点。 成长有时发生得太快，让我们措手不及。 因此，战斗进行了五分钟，斯托伊克确实感到非常惊讶。 从一开始它就是一个惊喜。 斯托伊克是一个爱炫耀的斗士，他的情绪非常自信。 他也在用风暴之刃作战，因为他从阿尔文手中赢来了它，而风暴之刃让所有挥舞它的人都充满了勇气。 于是，他使出了最夸张、最花哨的箭步，赢得了人群的欢呼喝彩。 接着，更让人迷惑不解的是，小嗝嗝躲开了他的每一个箭步，他自己也扑了几下，其中有一次差点躲过了斯托伊克吃惊的守卫。 接着，惊奇变成了越来越大的愤怒。

Stoick was a Warrior, one of the finest of his age, and a Viking gets angry when he is being matched in a fight. He forgot he fought his son. The blood rage descended. His face turned unrecognizable with the red frenzy of battle. All thought deserted him as, yelling like a thwarted bear, he laid great swinging blows of tremendous ferocity and power about him to the left and right, back and forth. There are many phases in a battle. Even though the stakes were high, this had started lightly, almost like a play fight, for one of the fighters was certain he would triumph, and the other was unwilling to believe that he could ever win. But now the battle was in earnest, like a fire that suddenly caught, blazed higher than the treetops and destroyed all before it. Accidents can happen when the blood rage descends. In that long-lost world, where knives and swords were toys and play things, accidents could happen. Friends can destroy friends, relatives can hurt relatives, in the furious heat of the temper-rash moment.

斯托伊克是一名战士，是他那个时代最优秀的战士之一，而维京人在战斗中遇到对手时会生气。 他忘了他和他儿子打架了。 血气下降了。他的脸因战斗的狂怒而变得面目全非。 他像一头被挫败的熊一样大吼大叫，在周围前后左右挥舞着极其凶猛有力的拳头，所有的想法都被抛诸脑后了。 一场战斗有很多阶段。 尽管赌注很高，但一开始却很轻松，几乎就像一场打斗游戏，因为其中一个拳手确信自己会赢，而另一个则不愿相信自己会赢。 但现在战斗是认真的，就像一团火突然燃烧起来，燃烧得比树梢还高，摧毁了面前的一切。 当血气消退时，意外也会发生。 在那个早已消失的世界里，刀和剑是玩具和玩物，事故是可能发生的。 朋友可以摧毁朋友，亲戚可以伤害亲戚，在暴怒的时刻。