Chapter 8

8 To the Pylon on the Hill and Back It's Race Day, readers! I hope you have your Dave Pigeon foam wings and Dave Pigeon baseball caps and Dave Pigeon bobbleheads on. I hope you're blowing your Dave Pigeon vuvuzelas feather-splittingly loud in the face of all the pirate parrots because you are now going to hear about the race of the year. And I'm in it.

读者们，今天是比赛日！我希望你们戴上Dave Pigeon的泡沫翅膀戴上Dave Pigeon的棒球帽戴上Dave Pigeon的摇头帽。 我希望你在所有的海盗鹦鹉面前吹起你的戴夫鸽子呜呜祖拉，把羽毛劈开，因为你现在要听到的是今年的比赛。 我就在里面。

'Is everybirdy ready?' Dave nodded and flicked out his new wing as Jet, Fluffle, Gary and Cricket-Ball Face chanted the words 'Team Pawsville! Team Pawsville!' over and over and over again. Where's Mickey?' I asked. 'Dad will be here,' Dave said. 'Don't worry, Skipper.' We were gathered outside Pawsville Vets, waiting for Opprobrious Vastanavius the Parrot and his cronies from Dazzle. It was early. There were no Humans about apart from the Man who was driving a street cleaner down the road while his ears were plugged with headphones. Last night Opprobrious Vastanavius the

“大家都准备好了吗？”戴夫点点头，拍拍他的新翅膀，Jet, Fluffle， Gary和Cricket-Ball Face齐声喊着“Pawsville队！”团队Pawsville !一遍又一遍。 米奇在哪儿?”我问。“爸爸会来的，”戴夫说。 “别担心，船长。”我们聚集在波斯维尔兽医医院外面，等着无耻的鹦鹉瓦斯塔纳维乌斯和他在眩光公司的朋友们。 时间还早。周围没有人，只有一个戴着耳机的人开着清洁工在路上走。 昨晚可恶的瓦斯塔纳维斯

Parrot's white cockatoo sidekick had turned up and told us to be ready for an early morning start. 'The race is fifty Human miles long. Twenty-five miles to the pylon on the hill and twenty-five miles back,' he crowed at us from outside the window. 'Prepare to lose, pigeon.' Mickey had gone before we woke up. Last night I thought I had seen him exchange a strange look with the cockatoo, but I shoved the niggling doubt to the back of my mind to focus on helping my best friend. But as the minutes ticked on that morning, I grew more and more worried. What if he had lost his sense of direction and was heading right and right and right, all the way around the world again?

鹦鹉的白凤头鹦鹉伙伴出现了，告诉我们要为清晨的出发做好准备。 “比赛有五十英里长。 “到山上的尖塔二十五英里，回来二十五英里，”他从窗外对我们喊道。 “准备输吧，鸽子。”米奇在我们醒来之前就走了。 昨晚我以为我看到他和那只凤头鹦鹉交换了一个奇怪的眼神，但我把这种琐碎的怀疑抛到脑后，专注于帮助我最好的朋友。 但那天早上时间一分一秒地过去，我越来越担心。 如果他失去了方向感，又开始向右、向右、再向右，绕着地球转了一圈怎么办？

A crowd of birds started to gather on a telephone wire. One bird flew across the crowd, offering snacks of popcorn and bread crusts from the bin. Crumbs rained down on my head as I paced the pavement underneath, watching Dave practise star jumps and hopscotch. 'Yoo hoo!' The familiar twinkly call of our Human Lady's next-door neighbour's pet canary rang over my head. 'Tinkles? What are you doing here?'

一群鸟开始聚集在电话线上。 一只鸟飞过人群，从垃圾桶里拿出爆米花和面包屑作为零食。 我在人行道上踱步，看着戴夫练习跳跃和跳房子，面包屑像雨点一样落在我头上。 “柳侯!”我们人类女士的隔壁邻居的宠物金丝雀的熟悉的叫声在我的头顶响起。 “丁克斯吗?你在这儿干什么？”

The yellow ball of feathers landed on the pavement. She brushed down her plumage as she greeted me. 'I'm here to watch Dave lose to the pirate parrot.' Tinkles had never been much of a friend. 'There they are!' We followed Jet's gaze up to the sky. She started to yelp and chase her tail as a flock of birds came into sight. Opprobrious Vastanavius the Parrot was in the lead, followed by the fluffy white cockatoo and the two yellow and green budgerigars we met three days ago.

黄色的羽毛球落在人行道上。 她向我打招呼时拂下了羽毛。 “我是来看戴夫输给海盗鹦鹉的。”叮叮铃从来不是我的好朋友。 “他们在那儿！”我们跟着杰的目光仰望天空。 当一群鸟飞进她的视线时，她开始尖叫并追逐自己的尾巴。 可恶的瓦斯塔纳维斯鹦鹉走在前面，后面是毛茸茸的白凤头鹦鹉和我们三天前遇到的两只黄绿相间的虎皮鹦鹉。