Chapter 3

3 The True History of Racer Pigeons According to Dave Pigeon 'I'm joking!' Jet said, seeing my horrified face. Jet's jokes really are terrible. We don't have time for her awful jokes, Skipper. You're right, Dave. I'll give her a page right at the end of the book.

赛鸽的真实历史戴夫·皮格说：“我在开玩笑！”杰看到我惊恐的脸说。 杰特的笑话真的很糟糕。 我们没时间听她的烂笑话，斯基普。 你说得对，戴夫。我会在书的最后一页给她。

But it wasn't Jet's joke that had me scared. I'd known Dave since we were squabs. He'd never been the fastest pigeon in the park. And he had two wings back then. Somebody had to tell him this was an impossible feat. I turned to my best friend. 'There is no way you can beat that parrot. You've never raced before.' 'Don't worry, Skipper. I have racing pigeon in my DNA,' Dave said. 'No other bird can beat a racing pigeon. We're the fastest birds on the planet. 'I thought the peregrine falcon was the fastest bird,' Jet said. 'Pah,' Dave scoffed. 'Falcons are just big pigeons.'

但让我害怕的不是杰特的笑话。 我从小就认识戴夫了。 他从来不是公园里跑得最快的鸽子。 那时候他有两只翅膀。 总得有人告诉他这是不可能的壮举。 我转向我最好的朋友。 “你不可能打败那只鹦鹉的。 你从来没有参加过比赛。“别担心，船长。” “我的DNA里有赛鸽基因，”戴夫说。 没有别的鸟能胜过赛鸽。 我们是地球上跑得最快的鸟。 “我认为游隼是最快的鸟，”杰特说。 “呸，”戴夫嘲笑道。“猎鹰就是大鸽子。”

Here is a brief history of why pigeons are the fastest birds in the world. Long, long ago, in the time of the dinosaurs... Before jammy biscuits were ever invented... And garden sheds were just piles of rocks called caves... The Pigeonasaurus ruled the Jurassic world because he was gallant and grey and wore a Medal of the Brave... I think you are describing you, Dave.

这里有一段关于为什么鸽子是世界上跑得最快的鸟的简史。 很久很久以前，在恐龙时代…… 在果酱饼干发明之前… 花园的棚屋只是一堆叫做洞穴的岩石…… 鸽子龙统治着侏罗纪世界，因为它勇敢、灰色，还戴着勇敢勋章…… 我想你是在描述你自己，戴夫。

Oh yes, sorry. The Pigeonasaurus was gallant and grey and was the fastest-flying dinosaur known to dinosaurkind. I thought the first-ever pigeon was the Archaeoptery. Also known as the Pigeonasaurus. Over millions of years, pigeons proved that they could not be beaten. Our speed was well known and we were legendary for our super-fast message delivery service. The fastest pigeon ever recorded flew at more than 100 miles an hour!

哦，是的，对不起。鸽子龙是勇敢的，灰色的，是已知的恐龙中飞得最快的恐龙。 我还以为第一只鸽子是始祖鸟呢。 也被称为鸽子龙。 数百万年来，鸽子证明了它们是无敌的。 我们的速度是众所周知的，我们的超快的消息传递服务是传奇。 有记录以来飞得最快的鸽子时速超过了100英里！

Pigeons are as fast as cars and buses and cars on buses... All vehicles, really... And they are faster than all the other birds of the world, including parrots. If you see a bird you think is flying faster than a pigeon, you are probably just looking at a pigeon. 'And that's why I know I will win this race, Dave chirped to Jet and me with his proudest pigeon nod. 'This is never going to work,' Jet said under her dog breath, as we watched Dave admire his new wing. 'And that's not a joke.'

鸽子和汽车、公共汽车以及公共汽车上的汽车一样快…… 所有车辆，真的……它们比世界上所有其他鸟类都要快，包括鹦鹉。 如果你看到一只你认为飞得比鸽子快的鸟，你可能只是在看一只鸽子。 “这就是为什么我知道我会赢得这场比赛，”戴夫得意地对我和杰特说。 当我们看着戴夫欣赏他的新翅膀时，杰特低声说：“这行不通。” “这可不是开玩笑。”