Chapter 2-3

CHAPTER THREE Of which there is almost nothing to say but Courier's favourite new word: alasss Bennett was training his lizard. He had intended to take up the more interesting and fashionable hobby of dragon taming but, when he told his father, the king had said, "Bennett– listen to me, Son. Start with a lizard. They're more intelligent and if it goes wrong you won't have been eaten by your own pet." "But lizards can't fly!" Bennett objected.

第三章 这一章几乎没什么好说的，只有库里尔最喜欢的新词：哎呀呀——班尼特正在训练他的蜥蜴。 他本来打算培养一个更有趣、更时髦的爱好：驯龙，可当他告诉父亲的时候，国王却说：“班尼特——听我说，儿子。 先从蜥蜴开始练手。 它们更聪明，而且就算搞砸了，你也不会被自己的宠物吃掉。” “可是蜥蜴不会飞呀！” 班尼特反驳道。

"They can't burn down the castle, either," his father said. "Start with a lizard, Bennett, and, when you can get it to sit, lie down and walk to heel, I'll see about finding you a dragon." "I never get anything," Bennett said most untruthfully. "I know," his father said, pretending to agree with him. "You are most cruelly treated." Bennett didn't find this at all funny. "You don't even mean that," he complained. "I don't!" said his father cheerfully. "Seems to me that you and Florizella get everything you want. How her parents put up with a Sea Serpent in the moat is beyond me! You needn't think you're going to have one here." "But I don't want one!" Bennett protested. "I just want a really small dragon." "Lizard," his father said. "It's almost the same thing." Bennett knew there was no point in arguing, so he took the train to the Bay of Reptiles, lassoed a medium-size lizard– one about the size of a large dog– and started to train it.

“它们也不会烧掉城堡呀。”父亲说道。 “先从蜥蜴练起，班尼特，等你能让它乖乖坐下、躺下，还能跟着你走的时候，我就考虑给你找一条龙。” “我想要什么从来都得不到。”班尼特口是心非地说。 “我知道呀。”父亲假装顺着他的话说。 “你可太受委屈啦。” 班尼特一点都不觉得这话好笑。 “你根本不是真心这么说的！”他抱怨道。 “我确实不是真心的！”父亲乐呵呵地说。 “在我看来，你和弗洛里泽拉想要什么都能得到。 我都想不通她父母怎么能忍得了护城河里住着一头海蛇！ 你可别想咱们家也养这玩意儿。” “可我不想养海蛇啊！” 班尼特抗议道。 “我只想要一只特别小的龙。” “蜥蜴。”父亲说。 “这俩差不多是一回事。” 班尼特知道争辩也没用，于是他坐火车去了爬行动物湾，套了一只中等大小的蜥蜴——差不多有大狗那么大——然后就开始训练它。

He had just got it to sit and was rewarding it with a mouthful of dried insects when a green parrot flew in the open window and perched on the curtain rail. "Message?" Bennett asked. "Cark." "You're Swithin, aren't you?" "Cark." "Prince Courier's messenger parrot?"

他刚教得蜥蜴坐下，正喂它一口干昆虫当奖励呢，一只绿鹦鹉从敞开的窗户飞了进来，停在了窗帘杆上。 “是带消息来的吗？” 班尼特问道。 “咔克。” “你是斯威辛，对不对？” “咔克。” “是库里尔王子的信差鹦鹉对吧？”

"Cark." "I thought you flew between Princess Florizella and Prince Courier?" "Cark." "It's not much use being a messenger parrot that doesn't speak," Bennett said severely. "Get on with it then." Swithin opened his beak and had a terrible moment. His little mind had gone completely blank. He looked at Bennett in surprise. "Cark?" he said. "Yes, you said," Bennett pointed out a little impatiently. "But what's the message?" Dimly, the words came back to Swithin. No picnic eaten, he thought. "No panic, Beaton," he said. He looked at Prince Bennett's puzzled face and thought he had got the name wrong. "No panic, Bennett," he said reassuringly. What came next? Was it something that sounded like "Not even jelly'? "Naughty and smelly," it told him. "What?" "Fishface," he went on. "Pirates are bare." "What did you say?" Bennett demanded. In his anxiety, the little parrot garbled the rest of the message.

“咔克。” “我以为你是在弗洛里泽拉公主和库里尔王子之间送信的呀？” “咔克。” “当信差鹦鹉却不会说话，那可没什么用哦。”班尼特严肃地说。 “那赶紧说消息吧。” 斯威辛张开嘴，突然卡壳了。 它小小的脑袋里一片空白。 它惊讶地看着班尼特。 “咔克？”它叫了一声。 “是，你刚才已经说过了。”班尼特有点不耐烦地提醒它。 “可消息是什么呀？” 斯威辛模模糊糊想起了几个词。 野餐没吃成，它想。 “别慌，比顿。”它说道。 它看见班尼特王子一脸困惑，才反应过来自己叫错名字了。 “别慌，班尼特。”它安抚地说道。 接下来是什么来着？ 是不是听起来像“连果冻都没有”？ “又淘气又臭烘烘。”它记起来了。 “什么？”“鱼脸。”它接着说。 “海盗都光溜溜。” “你说什么？” 班尼特追问道。 小鹦鹉急得不行，剩下的消息全说串了。

"Complete dunce. Jump in the lake." "Did you just tell me to jump in the lake?" Bennett demanded. "Cark," said Swithin with quiet pride. He remembered, a little late, that he was supposed to go to Courier first and without another word, spread his little green wings and flew out of the window. "You come back here!" Bennett shouted as Swithin rose in the sky. "Fishface!" Bennett heard him say as he headed off to find Courier. "Jump in the lake." Bennett saddled up his horse to rode over to Florizella's castle, his face burning red with rage at the insults from Swithin the green parrot. But, as he entered the Land of the Seven Kingdoms, he saw Prince Courier, Florizella's brother, riding to meet him on his pony. "I thought I'd come and find you," Courier said. "I've just had a messenger parrot tell me not to panic, but that you are naughty and smelly." Bennett ground his teeth. "Told me to jump in the lake. If I catch him, I'll wring his neck." "No, that bit wasn't jump in the lake. I think it was supposed to be "for his sake"," Courier explained.

“十足的大笨蛋。 跳湖里去吧。” “你刚才是让我跳湖里去吗？” 班尼特质问道。 “咔克。”斯威辛带着点小骄傲叫了一声。 它后知后觉地想起来，自己应该先去找库里尔，于是二话不说，展开绿色的小翅膀，飞出了窗户。 “你给我回来！” 班尼特看着斯威辛飞到天上，大喊道。 “鱼脸！” 班尼特听见它一边飞去找库里尔，一边还在喊。 “跳湖里去吧。” 班尼特给马套上鞍，打算骑马去弗洛里泽拉的城堡，绿鹦鹉斯威辛的一顿辱骂把他气得脸通红。 可他刚进入七国领地，就看见弗洛里泽拉的弟弟库里尔王子骑着小马过来迎他了。 “我正想着过来找你呢。”库里尔说。 “刚才有只信差鹦鹉跟我说别慌，还说你又淘气又臭烘烘的。” 班尼特气得牙都咬碎了。 “还让我跳湖里去。 等我抓住它，非拧断它的脖子不可。” “不对，那句不是跳湖里去。 我觉得应该是“看在他的份上”。”库里尔解释道。

"But I don't know whose sake. It was very muddled. I asked him to repeat the message and he called me a dunce." "But why was Florizella sending a messenger parrot anyway?" "Oh…" said Courier. "That's right! That was why I was coming to find you." "Where is she?" Courier suddenly remembered the important bit. Then he remembered it was hugely important, and he had allowed himself to be distracted again. "Oh yes! Sorry! My mistake. I should have said at once. She's gone deep into the Purple Forest on her pony, to look for Bear. I think she might be in danger. That's probably why she sent a messenger parrot. She said she would send word if she needed us. Me and Mammoth and Sea Serpent are backup." "You think Florizella might have fallen in a trap or been eaten and you forget to tell me?" Bennett demanded. "When Florizella is in danger?" "Yes," Courier admitted. "Sorry about that. I should have come quicker and told you at once. So… right… she's disappeared into the Purple Forest and sent a message, so she probably needs help. We should

“可我忘了是替谁捎的口信。 当时脑子乱得很。 我让他把话再说一遍，他就骂我是笨蛋。” “可弗洛里泽拉为什么要派鹦鹉来送信呀？” “哦……”信使说。 “对啦！ 我就是为了这事来找你的。” “她在哪儿？” 信使突然想起了最重要的事。 他这才反应过来这事有多要紧，自己居然又被别的事分心了。 “哦对！ 对不起！ 是我搞错了。 我本该一上来就说的。 她骑着小马深入紫色森林找熊去了。 我觉得她可能有危险。 所以她才派了鹦鹉来报信呀。 她说如果需要我们帮忙，就会捎信过来。 我、猛犸象还有海蛇是后援队。” “你明知道弗洛里泽拉可能掉陷阱里，或者被吃掉了，居然还忘了告诉我？” 贝内特质问他。 “弗洛里泽拉现在有危险？” “是啊，”信使承认道。 “对不起嘛。 我本该快点过来，第一时间告诉你的。 所以……对啦……她进了紫色森林之后就没了消息，还特意送了信，肯定是需要帮忙。 我们得