2 Why They Were There in the First Place

2. WHY THEY WERE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE I'll take a little breather while the dragon pauses, just to recap on what had brought Hiccup into this situation in the first place. It's always very irritating when you get hurtled into the middle of a story without any explanation as to why the heroes got there, and how they got there, and what on earth they were doing camping three quarters of the way up the Hard Way of Angry Mountain in the middle of the winter in the first place. It was a perfectly barmy idea, surely? Here is what happened. Bright and early that morning, the Tribes of the Archipelago had gathered at the foot of Angry Mountain, in a great noisy jostling crowd of tents and sledges and skis, greeting old friends and enemies with a bump of their massive bellies, hunting-dragons wheeling above them in the air, riding-dragons getting into dragon fights. Perched right on the top of Angry Mountain was Flashburn's School of Swordfighting. The Tribes were

2. 龙停下来的时候，我要稍微喘口气，把小嗝嗝最初陷入这种境地的原因再讲一遍。 当你突然进入一个故事的中间，却没有任何解释为什么英雄们会到达那里，他们是如何到达那里的，以及他们在冬天的艰难之路上露营的原因时，这总是非常令人恼火的。 这绝对是个愚蠢的想法，对吧？ 事情是这样的。那天清晨天朗气清，群岛部落聚集在愤怒山脚下，帐篷、雪橇和滑雪板挤满了嘈杂的人群，他们用巨大的肚子来迎接老朋友和敌人，猎龙在他们头顶上盘旋，骑龙在与龙搏斗。 就在愤怒山的山顶上坐落着Flashburn的剑术学校。 部落是

travelling there for the annual three-week celebration of feasting, fighting and festivities, which ended on New Year's Day with a swordfighting competition and the New Year, New Warrior Ceremony, in which youngsters across the Archipelago finally crossed over from childhood into adulthood, and became Warriors of their Tribes. There are two ways to climb Angry Mountain. There is the Easy Way, a gentle, pleasant incline that you can stroll up quite merrily without even getting out of breath. That is the way the adult Warriors would take, with their sledges and tents and riding-dragons and Driver Dragons and weapons and provisions. And then there is the Hard Way, a sheer vertical cliff-face of rock that takes two days to climb. That is the way the young Warriors-to-Be would take, to prove their worthiness to be admitted into the Tribes.* *The test had first been set way in the distant and dangerous past when Vikings did not have riding-dragons to aid them. So the rule was, the cliff must be climbed without dragonly assistance. The Warriors-to-Be were looking up at the gigantic rock face rather dubiously. They were a motley crew of pimply adolescents, all of them much larger and more muscly than Hiccup and Fishlegs. (Apart from Camicazi, who was a good friend of Hiccup's: a tiny, fierce little Bog-Burglar

前往那里参加为期三周的年度庆祝活动，包括盛宴、战斗和庆祝活动，活动在新年第一天以剑斗比赛和新年新战士仪式结束，在这个仪式上，群岛上的年轻人终于从童年跨越到成年，成为他们部落的战士。 攀登《愤怒的山峰》有两种方式。 有一条“轻松之路”（Easy Way），这是一条温和宜人的斜坡，你可以很愉快地漫步上去，甚至不会上气不接下气。 这就是成年勇士的路线，带着他们的雪橇、帐篷、骑龙、赶龙、武器和食物。 然后是艰难之路，陡峭的岩壁，攀爬需要两天时间。 这就是年轻的准勇士们所采取的方式，以证明他们有资格被部落接纳。* *这个测试最初是在遥远而危险的过去设立的，当时维京人没有骑龙来帮助他们。 所以规则是，攀爬悬崖时必须没有龙的帮助。 未来的勇士们抬头望着那巨大的岩壁，满腹狐疑。 他们是一群长着青春痘的少年，个个都比嗝嗝和鱼腿大得多，肌肉发达得多。 (除了卡米卡齐，他是小嗝嗝的好朋友：一个小小的，凶猛的小沼泽飞贼

with a great deal of blonde hair that looked as if she had carelessly combed it with a pitch-fork.) Gobber the Belch, teacher in charge of the Hooligan Pirate Training Programme, was giving the Warriors-to-Be a quick pep talk. Gobber was a six-and-a-half-foot man-mountain with lungs like a fog-horn and ears like deformed cauliflowers. He didn't have a sensitive side. 'OK, Warriors, listen up!' he shouted. 'This is a stroll in the park! All you have to do is spend the next day and night climbing this sheer vertical cliff-face. Once we get to the school, you will be practising for the swordfighting competition on New Year's Day. This is your chance to learn and get tips from the greatest swordfighter in the Archipelago, Flashburn himself!'

她有一头金色的头发，看起来像是用干草叉随意梳理过的。)负责流氓海盗训练项目的老师“打嗝哥伯”正在给即将成为勇士的队员们做一个简短的打气讲话。 戈伯是一个六英尺半高的人山，他的肺像雾角，耳朵像畸形的花椰菜。 他没有敏感的一面。 “好了，勇士们，听好了！”他喊道。 “这是在公园里散步！”你所要做的就是在接下来的一天一夜里爬上这个陡峭的悬崖。 我们一到学校，你们就要为元旦的击剑比赛练习。 这是你向群岛上最伟大的剑士——Flashburn本人学习和获得技巧的机会！”

Ooohs and aaahs from the Warriors-to-Be. 'Oh, I can't wait to meet Flashburn in real life,' Camicazi chatted excitedly to Hiccup and Fishlegs. 'He's supposed to be the perfect Hero…' 'Here he co-o-o-omes!' called out Thuggory the Meathead, pointing upward. A gorgeous Red Tiger dragon, with Flashburn crouched very low on its back, dived down out of nowhere from above. Camicazi let out a 'Wow!' and punched the air as the dragon zoomed over their heads, so low that they could feel the wind of its wings. The dragon swooped so very low that Flashburn leant over and very cheekily grabbed Stoick the Vast's helmet off his head before flying upwards again. Stoick the Vast, Hiccup's father, was built in the traditional Viking mould, with muscles like footballs, a beard like a thunderstorm, and about as many brain cells as would fit into a teeny tiny teaspoon. He was not amused. 'Oh, that Flashburn, he hasn't changed one bit!' snorted Stoick as everybody laughed and the youngsters ooohed and aaahed. 'COME DOWN, YOU SHOW-OFF!' yelled

来自未来勇士的啧啧声。 “哦，我等不及要在现实生活中见到Flashburn了，”Camicazi兴奋地对Hiccup和Fishlegs说。 “他应该是完美的英雄……”“他来了！刽子手托戈指着上面喊道。 一条华丽的红虎龙，带着Flashburn蹲得很低，从上面不知从哪里俯冲下来。 Camicazi发出一声“哇！”恶龙在他们头顶上空盘旋，低得他们都能感觉到它翅膀扇动的风。 巨龙俯冲得非常低，以至于闪电侠俯身，厚脸皮地从巨人斯托伊克的头上夺过他的头盔，然后又飞了上去。 小嗝嗝的父亲“巨人”斯托伊克是按照传统的维京人模式建造的，他有着像足球一样的肌肉，像雷雨一样的胡须，还有一个小茶匙那么多的脑细胞。 他不觉得好笑。“哦，那个Flashburn，他一点也没变！”斯托伊克哼着鼻息说，这时大家都笑了起来，年轻人也发出了呜呜声。 “下来，你这个爱炫耀的家伙！”“喊