045 蹊跷之因

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The next morning Brody felt good. He was ready to start competing again

第二天早晨，布罗迪感觉不错，他准备好再次参赛了。

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" We're halfway there," he told Heracles, who was stretching beside him

“我们已经完成一半了，”他对身旁正在拉伸的赫拉克勒斯说。

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All the athletes were on the track preparing for the first event of the day, the short footrace known as the stadion

所有运动员都在跑道上为今天的第一个项目做准备：短跑，也就是“体育场跑”。

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Most of the gods were already seated in their golden chairs, and spectators filled the rest of the stadium

大多数神祇已坐在黄金座椅上，其余座位座无虚席。

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Brody spotted Julia and Markos. However, Iphicles was nowhere to be seen

布罗迪看见了朱莉娅和马科斯，但到处都不见伊菲克勒斯。

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Brody knew why — Heracles' brother was already in position, waiting to foil the gods' next prank

布罗迪知道为什么——赫拉克勒斯的兄弟早已就位，正准备挫败众神的下一个恶作剧。

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Suddenly Brody noticed someone else among the spectators

突然，布罗迪发现观众中还有另一个人。

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" Dude!" he exclaimed, poking Heracles in the shoulder

“老兄！”他叫道，戳了戳赫拉克勒斯的肩膀。

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" Is that Apollo's champion over there? The guy who fell into the pit yesterday? I didn't expect to see him again!"

“那边是阿波罗的冠军吗？昨天掉进坑里的那个？我还以为再也见不到他了呢！”

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Heracles nodded." I was wondering about him too. But Zeus says he'll be fine

赫拉克勒斯点点头。“我也在想他呢。不过宙斯说他没事。”

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He injured his arm and bumped his head, but he's recovering well."

他伤了胳膊，头也撞了一下，但现在恢复得不错。”

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" Cool." Brody was relieved

“那就好。”布罗迪松了口气。

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Just then Agon called for the stadion to begin

就在这时，阿贡宣布短跑比赛开始。

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The runners lined up at the starting line

选手们在起跑线上一字排开。

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Brody ended up between Heracles and Ares' champion

布罗迪停在了赫拉克勒斯和阿瑞斯的冠军中间。

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" Well, what do you think?" Ares' champion asked Brody in a low tone

“喂，你怎么想？”阿瑞斯的冠军低声问布罗迪。

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He shot a glance at Heracles." Will Zeus' mighty hero make us all look like fools again today?"

他瞥了一眼赫拉克勒斯。“宙斯这位强大的英雄，今天又会让我们都出丑吗？”

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" Probably," Brody said. He slapped the other athlete on the back

“很可能。”布罗迪说，拍了拍另一位运动员的后背。

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" Winning isn't everything, bro. Just do your best."

“赢不是一切，兄弟。尽力就好。”

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Ares' champion gave him a strange look. Brody understood why

阿瑞斯的冠军奇怪地看了他一眼。布罗迪明白这是为什么。

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Before coming to ancient Greece, Brody never would have said something like that

在来到古希腊之前，布罗迪绝不会说出这样的话。

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In fact, his favorite saying back home was " Winning isn't everything — it's the only thing."

事实上，在家乡他最喜欢的一句话是：“胜利不是一切——它是唯一。”

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A famous football coach had said that, and Brody had believed it

一位著名的足球教练说过这句话，布罗迪深信不疑。

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But here in ancient Greece, the circumstances were completely different

但在古希腊这里，情况完全不同。

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For the first time ever, Brody wasn't focused only on winning

有生以来第一次，布罗迪不再只专注于胜利。

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Agon lifted an arm, interrupting Brody's thoughts

阿贡抬起一只手臂，打断了布罗迪的思绪。

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" Champions, get ready!" Agon shouted. Then a trumpet blew and the race began

“冠军们，准备！”阿贡喊道。然后号角吹响，比赛开始了。

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Brody took off. Pumping his arms, he ran as fast as he could alongside the others

布罗迪冲了出去。他摆动着双臂，和其他人一起全速奔跑。

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Suddenly the stadium was plunged into complete darkness

突然，体育场陷入一片黑暗。

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" Whoa!" Brody cried." Who turned out the lights?"

“哇！”布罗迪喊道，“谁把灯关了？”

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A runner bumped into Brody and almost knocked him over

一名赛跑选手撞到了布罗迪，差点把他撞倒。

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But Brody stayed on his feet, staring ahead. He'd been expecting this prank

但布罗迪稳住了身子，眼睛盯着前方。他早就料到会有这种恶作剧。

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He just hadn't imagined that the stadium could get quite this dark

他只是没想到体育场会变得这么黑。

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He couldn't even see his hand in front of his face!

他甚至看不见自己面前的手！

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A second later a light flared ahead on the track

一秒钟后，跑道上突然亮起一道光。

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It was Iphicles holding a torch. He tossed it to Heracles as the athlete raced past

是伊菲克勒斯举着火把。他在赫拉克勒斯跑过时，把火把扔了过去。

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Heracles caught the torch easily as he ran by

赫拉克勒斯跑过时轻松接住了火把。

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Brody grinned and took off after him, using the light of the torch to stay on the course

布罗迪咧嘴一笑，借着火把的光快步追了上去，以便保持在跑道上。

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But then he stumbled over a fallen runner and went down with a loud " oof!"

可随后，他被一位摔倒的赛跑选手绊了一下，随着一声响亮的“哎哟”倒了下去。

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He jumped to his feet and started running again

他立刻跳起身，再次跑了起来。

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By now most of the other runners had caught on as well and were racing after Heracles

此时，大多数其他选手也反应过来，纷纷追赶赫拉克勒斯。

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But the race was short, and they'd already lost too much ground

但赛程太短，他们已经落后太多。

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Heracles won easily, with Brody coming in near the back of the pack

赫拉克勒斯轻松获胜，布罗迪接近队尾。

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" Uh-oh," he thought." I hope Hermes didn't see that!"

“糟糕，”他想，“希望赫尔墨斯没看见！”

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Luckily Hermes hadn't seen it. Nobody had been able to see anything except Heracles crossing the finish line first

幸好赫尔墨斯没看见。除了赫拉克勒斯率先冲线，没人能看见任何东西。

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As soon as the race was over, the light returned

比赛一结束，光线就恢复了。

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Brody saw Zeus grin at a dark-haired goddess." Nice try, Nyx!" he called

布罗迪看见宙斯对一位黑发女神咧嘴笑。“想得美，倪克斯！”他喊道。

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" However, it will take more than the powers of the goddess of the night to stop my champion!"

“不过，想阻止我的冠军，黑夜女神的力量可还不够！”

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Agon stared in dismay at the athletes milling around the track

阿冈沮丧地盯着跑道上团团转的运动员们。

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" Clearly Heracles won," he murmured." But we'll have to call it a tie for second place

“显然是赫拉克勒斯赢了，”他低声说，“但第二名我们得宣布并列了。”

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There's no way of determining the rest of the order, and there's no time to redo the race."

没法判断其他人的名次，也没时间重赛了。

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" Fine." Zeus clapped Heracles on the back

“好吧。”宙斯拍了拍赫拉克勒斯的后背。

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" First place is the only place that matters."

“只有第一名才最重要。”

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A few of the other gods grumbled, but no one complained very loudly about the decision

其他几个神嘟囔了几句，但没人对这个决定大声抱怨。

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Brody was relieved when Hermes flashed him a pleased smile

当赫尔墨斯朝他投来一个满意的微笑时，布罗迪松了一口气。

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Then it was time for the next race, a longer one known as the diaulos

接着到了下一场比赛，一项更长的比赛，叫做狄奥洛斯赛跑。

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" This is your best event, isn't it?" Heracles took his place beside Brody at the starting line

“这是你的最强项，对吧？”赫拉克勒斯在起跑线上站到了布罗迪身边。

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" Yeah." Brody grinned." I'm pretty good at this distance. Maybe even better than you."

“是的。”布罗迪咧嘴一笑。“这个距离我相当擅长，说不定比你还好呢。”

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Heracles grinned back." We shall see."

赫拉克勒斯也咧嘴一笑。“走着瞧。”

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The trumpet blared again and the runners took off

号角再次吹响，选手们冲了出去。

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Heracles and Brody immediately took the lead. Brody shot a look at Heracles

赫拉克勒斯和布罗迪立刻取得了领先。布罗迪瞥了赫拉克勒斯一眼。

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Could he actually beat him at this race?

他真的能在这场比赛中赢他吗？

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Out of the corner of his eye, Brody saw Poseidon stand up

布罗迪用眼角的余光看到波塞冬站了起来。

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The sea god slammed his trident into the ground

海神将他的三叉戟猛插在地上。

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Shock waves made the entire stadium rumble as if from an earthquake

冲击波让整个体育场像地震一样轰隆作响。

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" What's happening?" a runner cried out from somewhere behind Brody

“发生什么了？”布罗迪身后某处传来一位赛跑者的喊声。

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Markos had overheard Poseidon telling Artemis about this prank, so again Brody and Heracles were ready

马尔科斯曾无意中听到波塞冬对阿尔忒弥斯说起这个恶作剧，所以布罗迪和赫拉克勒斯又早有准备。

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They slowed down a little to catch their balance on the heaving track

他们稍微放慢了速度，以在起伏的跑道上保持平衡。

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" Whoa," Brody said, stretching his arms out as the ground heaved again beneath his feet

“哇哦，”布罗迪说着，在脚下地面再次起伏时伸开了双臂。

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" I feel like I'm surfing, not running!"

“我感觉像在冲浪，不是在跑步！”

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" Don't stop," Heracles said." Come on!"

“别停下，”赫拉克勒斯说。“快跑！”

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He ran on, jumping over the worst of the moving lumps of ground

他继续跑着，跳过那些起伏最厉害的地面凸块。

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Brody did the same, making the turn at the other end of the stadium

布罗迪学他的样子，在体育场的另一端完成了转弯。

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Most of the other runners had stopped, even though their gods were yelling at them to keep going

大多数其他赛跑者都停下来了，尽管他们的神在朝他们大喊，让他们继续跑。

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But Brody caught a glimpse of one runner coming up behind them. It was Drakon, Poseidon's champion

但布罗迪瞥见一个赛跑者从他们身后追了上来。那是德拉孔，波塞冬的冠军。

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" Oh no, you don't, dude," Brody said as Drakon tried to pass him

“哦，不，你别想，伙计，”当德拉孔试图超过他时，布罗迪说道。

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Brody put on another burst of speed. So did Heracles

布罗迪又一次加速。赫拉克勒斯也是如此。

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The two of them crossed the finish line a second later

一秒钟后，他们俩冲过了终点线。

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Heracles was just two steps in front of Brody, and Drakon came in behind them, a distant third

赫拉克勒斯仅领先布罗迪两步，德拉孔跟在他们后面，是遥不可及的第三名。

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Brody grinned, thrilled that he'd beaten Poseidon's speedy champion and nearly outrun Heracles

布罗迪咧嘴笑了，他很兴奋自己击败了波塞冬那位速度很快的冠军，并且几乎跑赢了赫拉克勒斯。

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" Winning isn't everything," he thought." But sometimes it sure feels great!"

“赢不是全部，”他想。“但有时候赢的感觉确实很棒！”