接受理论指导下的儿童文学英译汉翻译实践报告以《火翼飞龙》（节选）为例

分类号密级
U.D.C
E-C Translation Report on Wings of Fire(Excerpts)

from the Perspective of Reception Theory
接受理论指导下的儿童文学英译汉翻译实践报告——
以《火翼飞龙》（节选）为例
学位申请人：张彩虹
学号： 221055101032
学科专业：英语笔译
研究方向：不区分研究方向
指导教师：张玲
定稿时间： 2023年5月
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学位申请人：
2023 年 5月 26日
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Abstract
Abstract
Children’s literature plays an indispensable role in enhancing children’s

aesthetic interest, reading ability and cultivating their noble moral sentiments.
Compared with adults, children readers have relatively simple thinking capacity
and their cognitive ability has not been fully developed. Due to the particularity of
the target audience of children’s literature, translators need to make careful
consideration from the words and syntactic structure of the translated texts.
Considering the aesthetic value of children’s literature, the translator carries out
the translation practice of children’s novel Wings of Fire under the guidance of the
three core concepts of Reception Theory, including the horizons of expectation, the
fusion of horizons and indeterminacy. In the translation process, the translator puts
the child readers in the central position, and meets the reading needs of children to
the maximum extent. In the report, the various difficulties and solutions at
vocabulary and syntactic level are discussed in the specific case study. In terms of
vocabulary, the translator uses a large number of reduplicative words, modal
particles, four-character phrases, etc., to achieve the goal that the translated text
becomes more interesting and readable for children. At the syntactic level, the
translator adopts the methods of addition translation and omission to realize that
the translation becomes easier to be understood by children readers. Besides, the
translator adopts free translation to enable the target readers to understand the
original meaning of the text by taking their culture background and expression
habits into consideration, thus achieving the fusion of the horizons which can
better help readers to deeply understand these novel things. At the same time, the
translation text will become more vivid if the personification expression is used in
sentences and phrases, thus increasing the imagination of children readers and
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E-C Translation Report on Wings of Fire from the Perspective of Reception Theory
arousing their interest in reading. Under the guidance of Reception Theory, the
translator puts target language readers at the first place, and helps readers to better
understand the text by using a variety of methods. To conclude, translators are
supposed to meet the horizon of expectation of target readers as much as possible
and achieve the fusion of horizons between the target language readers and the
original text at the same time. This report aims to discuss practical translation
methods through specific case analysis, and provide some help and inspiration for
the translation of children’s literature in the future.
Key words: Children’s Literature; Wings of Fire; Reception Theory;

Translation Methods
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摘要
摘要
儿童文学对增强孩童的审美意趣、阅读能力以及培养其高尚的道德情操
方面起着不可或缺的作用。相较于成人来说，儿童读者思维简单，认知能力
尚未得到充分发展。由于儿童文学目标读者群体的特殊性，译者需要从用词
和句法结构上做认真考量。本文从儿童文学的审美价值出发，在接受理论三
大核心概念，期待视野，视野融合和文本空白的指导下，对儿童小说《火翼
飞龙》开展翻译实践。笔者在翻译过程中将儿童读者放在中心位置，并且充
分考虑儿童的阅读需要，在具体案例分析中讨论了在词汇和句法和遇到的问
题、难点以及解决方案。
在词汇层面，笔者采用大量叠词、语气词、四字成语等，提高译文趣味
性和可读性。在句子层面，笔者采用了增译和省略的翻译方法使得译文容易
被儿童读者理解。同时，考虑到儿童不同的语言表达习惯和文化背景，译者
采用意译将译文转化为更易被儿童理解的内容和形式以期达到视野融合的目
的。除此以外，拟人化的表达也使译文更加形象化，从而增加儿童读者的想
象力，激起其阅读的兴趣。在接受理论指导下，译者将目标语者放在首要位
置，综合运用多种方法以便读者对文本更好地进行理解，尽可能满足读者的
期待视野，同时达到目标语读者和原文本的视野融合。本篇报告旨在通过案
例分析探讨出有实践意义的翻译方法，期望为今后儿童文学翻译提供一些帮
助和启发。
关键词：儿童文学；《火翼飞龙》；接受理论；翻译方法
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Contents
Contents
Chapter One Introduction ..................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background of the Task ..............................................................................1
1.2 Objectives and Significance ....................................................................... 2
1.3 Source Text Analysis .................................................................................. 4
1.4 Structure of the Report ............................................................................... 5
Chapter Two Process Description ......................................................................... 6
2.1 Pre-translation Preparation ......................................................................... 6
2.2 In-translation Process ................................................................................. 7
2.3 After-translation Process .............................................................................8
Chapter Three Theoretical Framework ............................................................... 9
3.1 Introduction to the Reception Theory .........................................................9
3.2 Concepts of the Reception Theory ........................................................... 10
3.2.1 Horizon of Expectations ................................................................ 11
3.2.2 Fusion of Horizons ........................................................................ 12
3.2.3 Indeterminacy ................................................................................ 13
Chapter Four Case Study .................................................................................... 15
4.1 Lexical Level ............................................................................................ 15
4.1.1 Translation into Chinese Reduplicative Words ............................. 15
4.1.2 Translation into Chinese Four-character Phrases .......................... 18
4.1.3 Translation into Chinese Modal Particles ......................................20
4.1.4 Translation into Chinese Personification Expressions .................. 22
4.2 Syntactic Level ......................................................................................... 23
4.2.1 Addition in E-C Translation ...........................................................24
4.2.2 Omission in E-C Translation ......................................................... 26
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4.2.3 Free Translation ............................................................................. 27

Chapter Five Conclusion ..................................................................................... 32
5.1 Major Findings of the Report ................................................................... 32
5.2 Limitations and Suggestions .....................................................................34
References ..............................................................................................................36
Appendix ............................................................................................................... 38
Acknowledgments ...............................................................................................100
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Chapter One Introduction
Children’s literature translation is a branch of literature translation. It mainly

involves the translation of poetry, fairy tales, fables, novels, stories and so on.
There are also many methods and techniques for children’s literature translation. In
this report, the translator presents a case study of the translation practice of a novel
Wings of Fire. This chapter introduces the background of the task, objectives and
significance of translation practice. In addition, it includes the introduction of the
source text and the author of this novel.
1.1 Background of the Task
The translation of children’s literature in our country can be roughly divided

into four stages (Li, Xu, 2011). The first stage is the end of the late Qing Dynasty,
which mainly aims at the compilation of western children’s literature works, thus
opening the prelude of Chinese children’s literature translation. The second stage is
the May 4th Movement period. With people’s pursuit of democracy and science,
and liberation of humanity and thought, the translation of children’s literature
achieved unprecedented development and prosperity for the first time. The third
stage lies in the early and middle of the 20th century, when China went through the
Anti-Japanese War and civil war, the translation of children’s literature was infused
with more patriotic feelings. The fourth stage is in the modern times since the
reform and opening up. Under the background of rapidly developing globalization,
Chinese children’s literature has carried out extensive academic exchanges at
home and abroad, and the translation of children’s literature in China has entered a
period of rapid development again, showing a flourishing trend.
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Since the beginning of the 21st century, the world has been in a state of
mutual exchange and integration, and China’s comprehensive national strength has
been becoming continuously strong. With people’s living standards being
continuously improved, people attach more importance to children's education. In
this context, more and more foreign literary works continue to be brought into the
Chinese market to facilitate the reading of Chinese children, and the demand for
foreign children’s literature translation has also increased sharply. In order to make
the translated children’s literature works better meet the real children’s needs, it is
necessary to choose the appropriate translation theory and translation methods
when a translator is translating this kind of literature. Many scholars believe that
the ultimate goal of translating children’s literature is to serve children, so it is
necessary for translators to put the children at the top position, recognize and
understand things from children’s perspective, and choose words and expression
that children like and can easily accept (Yu, 2004). Therefore, reader-centered
Reception Theory has gradually become one of the main guiding theories for this
special translation act.
In this report, the translator presents a case study of the translation practice of
Wings of Fire, discussing lexical and syntactic problems and solutions. Most
importantly, the whole translation of this novel is the original version. From the
perspective of target readers, the main purpose of translators is to use appropriate
sentences to make the translation easy to be understood by children readers, and at
the same time to increase their imagination and arouse their interest in reading.
1.2 Objectives and Significance
Considering the central position of children readers, translators must adapt to

children’s psychology and understanding level. Generally speaking, children’s
literature requires getting to the point and highlighting the theme directly,
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describing the story in simple and concise words, and presenting the content
vividly. It has a bright rhythm and childlike interest, and strives to cultivate
children’s language expression and external aesthetic and internal imagination (Di,
2016). To sum up, children’s literature generally needs to cover the following two
typical characteristics: (1) It has profound educational significance. Excellent
children’s literature work could educate children to establish a correct outlook on
life and values, cultivate independent thinking and problem-solving ability. (2) The
content is interesting, attractive and vivid. The features of people and various
things described in children’s literature are distinctive. Considering the
particularity of children’s literature, there are also strict requirements for
translators in the process of translation. When translating children’s literature, the
translator should highlight the theme and fully show the childlike interest. In view
of the limited vocabulary and understanding ability of children, the article
structure of the translated text should be relatively simple and the language is easy
to be understood, thus to meet the children’s literary appreciation and acceptance
ability. At the same time, translators should also pay special attention to the
standardization of the use of Chinese language to avoid misleading children. In
terms of content, form and expression techniques, translated works should also be
adapted to children’s physiological and psychological characteristics as far as
possible, and children’s acceptance ability and psychological demands for
translated works should be fully considered. At the same time, translators should
be good at translating from the perspective of children by using humorous
language, so that children can have a strong sense of intimacy during reading. At
present, it goes without saying that a high-quality children’s literature translation
version is of great importance. There are a large number of excellent children’s
literature translations in the market, while some of them are of poor quality, and
this phenomenon must be paid high attention to. Only high-quality translations that
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meet children’s expectations can really play an indispensable role in educating

children and promote aesthetic appreciation. Under the guidance of the Reception
Theory, the translator carries out the translation of Tui T. Sutherland’s novel Wings
of Fire (Excerpts) into Chinese, and studies and discusses the translation methods
and skills in specific cases, in order to provide certain references for the future
translation of this work and other children’s literature works.
1.3 Source Text Analysis
Wings of Fire was created by Tui T. Sutherland, the world’s best-selling

children’s literature author Tui T. Sutherland is a children’s literature author
featured on the New York Times and Publisher’s Weekly bestseller list. Wings of
Fire is one of the most famous books in her series books, which has been updated
to 15 volumes. The book follows the escape of five young dragons and their
journey to find their relatives, depicting the dragons’ self-redemption stories as
they grow up against the evils.
“Wings of Fire” series is a fantasy adventure story novel, combining the
fantasy story with humanity and integrating the dragon life with literary
imagination skillfully. Finally, the novel creates a growth of the legendary history
woven with a collection of dream, courage and adventure. This inspiring novel
enables children to experience and cherish friendship, team spirit and
responsibility, and experience the joys and pains of growing up in a journey of
adventure. The first volume of the series is the first five books respectively with
five young dragons as the main characters in a chronological order, each novel
creates different characters’ personalities in different perspectives, leaving children
with impressive and vivid memories. As a whole, this literary work is featured in
fantasy and imagination, which gives children unlimited imagination space. It is
deeply appreciated by children readers with its concise language, clear and unique
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characters and novel plot.

This report selects the first book of the series The Dragonets Prophecy
excerpt of as the translation material to do the translation practice under the
guidance of Reception Theory.
1.4 Structure of the Report
This translation report consists of five chapters. The first chapter is the task
description, which introduces the task background, objectives and significance of
the translation task, and the structure of this report is also included. Chapter two is
about the process of the task containing three main stages: pre-translation
preparation, in-translation process and after-translation. Chapter three is the
theoretical basis or theoretical framework, introduces the three specific concepts in
the theory in details used by the translator in the process of translation under the
guidance of Reception Theory. Chapter four is the most crucial part in the thesis,
from the three dimensions of Reception Theory, namely “horizon of expectation,”
“fusion of horizons” and “indeterminacy,” discusses the case study of translated
text from translator’s translation practice of part of the novel Wings of Fire under
the guidance of Reception Theory. The study will focus on two different aspects:
lexical level and syntactic level. And the chapter five is conclusion including some
gains and findings in the translation process as well as translation techniques
according to different situations.
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Chapter Two Process Description
This chapter introduces how the translator prepares for the translation, and
what does the translator do during the process of translation and proofreading the
target text. The process of the translation is divided into pre-translation,
in-translation and after-translation process, which are all important to the
translation work and make it more complete, improving the quality of the
translated text.
2.1 Pre-translation Preparation
Pre-translation preparations have a great effect on the quality of the

translation work. Detailed preparations before the translation are necessary which
can help the translator understand the source text. In order to get a qualified
translation work, the translator prepares for many aspects. Before the translation,
the translator reads the book at least twice, and this can help the translator to get to
know what are the problem and difficulties in the book, like the unfamiliar words
or phrases, and then the translator can come up with the ideas to solve them. For
instance, the translator can seek help from paper dictionaries or online dictionaries.
The translator has consulted several English-Chinese dictionaries such as Oxford
Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary (7th Edition), Longman
Contemporary English-Chinese Dictionary, Youdao Online Dictionary for some
unfamiliar words and English expressions.
At the same time, the translator reads some relevant parallel text about
children’s literature and then makes an overall analysis of the source text.
Generally, the target readers of children’s literature are children and their parents,
so it’s less complicated in vocabulary, grammar and logic. In addition, since
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Chapter Two Process Description
children’s literature delivers the main idea in a relatively direct way, the children
can get the main idea of the novel easily. As a result, reading relevant children
literature may help translators have a better understanding of these kind of novels
and have a good command of translating the source text.
2.2 In-translation Process
After all the preparation, the translator begins the translating work. Under the
guidance of the Reception Theory, the translator strives to ensure the accuracy,
readability and literariness of the translated work in order to meet the horizon of
expectation step by step. Generally speaking, the translator’s understanding of the
original work is also very important, thus the translator tries to understand what
the author of the work wants to convey to the readers. As for the novel Wings of
Fire, there are two versions, the one is plain text version, and the other is comics
version. When the translator has difficulties in understanding or is not sure about
something, one of the useful methods is to read the comics version, the pictures in
the book depicting the characters may help the translator to understand the
meaning of the original text. Undoubtedly, it is inevitable that some troubles can’t
be solved immediately, so the translator turns to some dictionaries for some
vocabulary and searches for some information about the unfamiliar terms on the
Internet, and finally figures out the meaning of them. During the process of
translation, the translator puts the children’s reading habit and language
competence at the first place because of the great importance of readers’ central
role and their horizon of expectations. What's more, the translator is supposed to
adopt a variety of translation methods, such as addition, amplification, free
translation, free translation, omission and so on. Since the whole process can’t be
easy, the translator must be determined and prepared to get over various
difficulties during the process.
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2.3 After-translation Process
There are mainly two steps in after-translation for the translation version.
Firstly, self-proofreading is given precedence to other people’s, the translator reads
the translation for the first time to revise some basic errors in understanding,
format, typesetting and grammar. Secondly, proofreading by classmates and the
professor who can give you some suggestion in correcting the mistakes in
grammars is quite necessary, because the proofreading could help improve the
accuracy, clarity and consistency. Based on the advice on the translation of long
and difficult sentences, the translator revises the translated text once more.
During the after-translation process, under the guidance of the theory, one of
the most important criteria for evaluation of the translated text is that whether the
vivid and attractive expressions are added to arouse child readers’ interests. At the
same time, whether the language style of target text is in accordance with that of
the original text is also regarded as the important standard. At last, the translator
gives the translation version to several primary school students and junior high
school students to read. After that, the translator asks them some questions, which
include whether they can understand the translation easily and whether the
translation texts are interesting. According to their feedback, the translator revises
the translation once more, thus the translation texts can be more accurate and
coherent.
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Chapter Three Theoretical Framework
The translation of Wings of Fire is finished under the guidance of Reception

Theory. Under the guidance of Reception Theory, the third chapter of the report
comprehensively includes the basic information of the theory and its main
concepts.
3.1 Introduction to the Reception Theory
Reception Theory, also namely reception aesthetics, emerged in the late 1960s
and entered the peak of development after the 1970s. The theory was introduced to
China in the mid-1980s. After it was introduced into China, it exerted a profound
influence on the practice and development of Chinese translation theory. The core
part of Reception Theory is the readers, and the emphasis is on the degree to which
translated works with different themes are accepted by foreign readers. This theory
holds that literary works are created for readers and their literary significance and
aesthetic value can only be realized if they are accepted by readers. This theory
emphasizes the central position of readers in the process of reading, which
provides a new research perspective and research methods for translation studies.
Many translation researchers begin to examine literary texts from the perspective
of readers (Gu, 2020).
Reception Theory focuses on the dynamic relationship between readers,
works and authors, and emphasizes the importance of readers in the whole
translation process. The reader is not a simple and passive receiver in the reception
activity, but an active interpreter and creator. The process of reading a work is not
a process in which the author and the work imbue the reader with images and
meanings, but the reader has a potential horizon of expectation before reading.
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According to the Reception Theory, different readers have different aesthetic

tendencies and different expectation horizons for the same work, and only the
works that meet readers’ expectation can enter readers’ vision (Zhu, 2005).
Translators must take reader’s expectation level into account when they are
translating the work, that is to say, they must be limited by the readers who then
become the invisible writer. If the translated text failed to be understood by the
target readers, the meaning of the work cannot be expressed and the translation is
not so successful.
The main representatives of Reception Theory are Jauss and Iser. Horizon of
expectations is an essential term of Jauss’s Reception Theory who is the first
scholar to put forward this concept. In Literary History as a Challenge to Literary
Theory, Jauss pointed out that human have the expectation to the presentation of
the text before the text is read and understood by them (Jauss, 1970). The fusion of
horizons is another important concept in the Reception Theory. It was initially put
forward by Hans Georg Gadamer and then was introduced into the realm of
literary criticism by Jauss. Wolfgang Iser is another major representative the theory,
in his view, he advocated the uncertainties in texts that could arouse readers’
curiosity to find out the potential meaning of certain literary text and then
complete them by the construction of the text (Iser, 1971). So it is believed that the
core views of Reception Theory are “Horizon of Expectations,” “Fusion of
horizons,” “Indeterminacy,” and this translation theory provides theoretical
support for the study of translation methods and plays a very important role in the
translation filed.
3.2 Concepts of the Reception Theory
Reception Theory focuses on the dynamic relationship between readers,

works and authors, and emphasizes the importance of readers in the whole
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translation process. The three core concepts of Reception Theory are “Horizon of
Expectations,” “Fusion of horizons,” “Indeterminacy,” and each of them plays an
important role in the whole theory system.
3.2.1 Horizon of Expectations
The concept, horizon of expectations, was first proposed by Jauss, which

refers to the thinking orientation or prior structure formed by the readers’ literary
reading experience when reading a work (1970). New texts similar to the previous
ones evoke the readers’ horizon of expectations and rules, which then in turn
change, modify, alter or regenerate their horizon of expectations, thus it is also
called “pre-understanding” or “pre-structure” (Jauss, Holub, 1987).
To be more specific, the horizon of expectation refers to the requirement and
level of appreciation of literary works formed by readers’ original experience,
interest, accomplishment and ideal in literary reception activities, which manifests
as a potential aesthetic expectation in specific reading (Zhu, 2004). Since the
horizon of expectation includes people’s ideology, moral sentiments and
acceptance degree, it varies from person to person and changes gradually as time
goes by. And according to the Reception Theory, readers with similar cultural
backgrounds can be divided into a group of readers, each group of readers has
different aesthetic tendencies and different expectations for the same work. Only
the works that meet the expectations of readers can they enter the horizon of
readers.
According to different subjects, the horizon of expectation can be divided into
collective expectation horizon and individual expectation horizon. Collective
expectation horizon refers to the aesthetic expectation of a certain reading group
with the same social and cultural background on the language style, literary form,
theme and other aspects of literary works. The horizon of individual expectation
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refers to readers’ aesthetic expectation of literature formed from individual reading

and life experience. Individual readers' horizon of expectation is based on their
reading, appreciation and analysis of literary texts (Huang, 2001). The formation
of horizon of expectation must go through three stages: Firstly, readers need to
perceive the words and sentences in the text and understand their meanings
through reading. The second is the reconstructive imagination, which is the most
critical stage for readers to deepen their understanding of the text and form their
vision of expectation. Thirdly, the integration of general cultural attitudes and
emotions (Fowler, 1997).
Therefore, if we want to produce a successful translated work, we must enter
the reader’s vision and expectation, and at the same time we need to arouse the
reader’s memory and emotions of the work they have already read. Only the works
that can enter the readers’ expectation and be accepted by the readers can truly
have their own vitality and literary value.
3.2.2 Fusion of Horizons
Jauss also put forward the second core idea of Reception Theory, that is, the
way to change and transcend the horizon of expectations - “Fusion of Horizons.”
He pointed out that when readers are introduced to a new work, the memory of
similar works or aesthetic experience of previous works may come to the readers’
mind, so the readers will compare the past experience with the new vision
embodied in the present work, and the cognitive gap between readers’ inherent
vision of expectation and the new work is called “aesthetic distance.”(Jauss, 1982)
Influenced by various factors, readers inevitably have a kind of “previous view,”
and the author is also restricted by these factors in his creation. If the reader only
reads from the inherent perspective, his understanding will inevitably deviate from
the author’s original intention. For this reason, Reception Theory puts forward the
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concept of fusion of horizons, which not only requires readers to break their vision
of expectations, but also requires writers to integrate the needs of readers into the
whole process of writing in order to achieve vision integration. In order to
integrate the translated text with the readers’ expectations, translators should fully
consider the readers’ acceptance level and choose the appropriate language form
when translating (Zheng, 2021). As a result, the target language readers’
receptivity is quite important.
The fusion of horizons emphasizes the integration of the readers’ perspective
of the original text with their expectation, thus the readers can fully understand the
original text and achieve the best communication effect.
3.2.3 Indeterminacy
The indeterminacy and vacancy of the text was proposed by Iser, also known
as “evocative structure,” is the third core concept of Reception Theory. “Text
vacancy” refers to the content implied or suggested to the reader by the author in
the text. In other words, it is the meaning that the writer does not write or does not
explicitly write, which is often referred to as “overtones.” When “text vacancy”,
which is also called as uncertain information, appears in the text in different
situation, the reader’s aesthetic imagination is often active and rich.
Indeterminacy and vacancy of the text in literary texts, as “summoning structures,”
stimulate readers’ imagination in the process of reading, prompting them to
participate in the composition of text meaning and aesthetic value, and become the
co-creators of literary works (Iser, 1972). Therefore, the Reception Theory takes
translator’s mastery of the uncertainty of the text as an important criterion to judge
the artistry of work, which requires translators to consciously create the semantic
and image “deviation,” stimulating the reader’s re-creativity.
Generally speaking, Reception Theory mainly deals with the relationship
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between authors, works and readers, focuses on readers’ reactions, and aims at
reader’ acceptance. Under the guidance of Reception Theory, translators should
fully take the expectations and aesthetic needs of the target readers into account
when translating, so that the source text can be fully expressed and translators can
successfully understand the source text.
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Chapter Four Case Study
Under the guidance of Reception Theory, the translator analyses the cases
from the lexical level and syntactic level in the children’s work Wings of Fire. At
the same time, the translator also summarizes some helpful methods to solve the
problems during the translation process.
4.1 Lexical Level
In the process of translation of children’s literature, it is necessary to flexibly

use children’s common words according to their speaking tone due to the central
position of the target readers. The use of repetition, onomatopoeia and other
colloquial words not only increases the liveliness, imagination and interest of the
translation, but also enables the translation to conform to the characteristics of
children’s language, enhances the sense of rhythm and appeal of the language and
helps the target language children to produce a sense of pleasure when they are
reading and understanding the translation. At the same time, we should
appropriately use the four-character phrases that show the characteristics of
Chinese culture to help children enhance their literacy unconsciously.
4.1.1 Translation into Chinese Reduplicative Words
Children’s works are often read out. Translators should carefully study the
rhythm of the original text and read it out loud to grasp the rhythm, intonation and
tone of the story (Oittinen, 2000). Translations of children’s literature with this
kind of aesthetic experience are easy to read and can stimulate children’s positive
emotions in reading.
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Repetition is a typical feature of children’s speech. This kind of expression

can be read with a strong sense of rhythm, and the language is full of beauty. The
dynamic text expression is conducive to the atmosphere spreading and makes the
text more expressive, thus enhancing children’s reading experience from both
visual and auditory aspects. In terms of the choice of words in translation, the
translator should make clear the inner world of children and communicate with
children’s language. Only in this way can the target readers understand the true
meaning of the article and enjoy reading this article. Therefore, the good use of
reduplication in the translation of foreign children’s literature can effectively
attract children’s reading attention and raise their interest in further reading (Liu,
2012).
Example 1
ST: “Right,” Starflight said. “He’ll hear you thinking all your big, loud, worried
thoughts.”
“You don’t know that my thoughts are loud and worried,” Clay said. “Maybe
they’re quiet and very serene.”
TT: “对呀，”星飞说，“他会读懂你脑子里在想着一些了不得的烦心事，
闹哄哄的。”
“你怎么就知道我脑子里是烦心事，还闹哄哄的？”克雷说，“说不定我的
思绪很平静呢。”
Example 2
ST: He could feel a small trickle of a stream bubbling down the slope, joining the
river near his talons. Clay dropped his head, trying to think.
TT: 他感觉到斜坡上有细细的水流，就在他的爪子边汩汩地汇进河中。克雷
低下头，努力理清思绪。
Analysis: In general, children enjoy hearing new sounds and exploring the world
by imitating them. The onamatopoeic reduplicative words are used to reflect the
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form of people, animals and other things through the sound, and after hearing the
sound, the readers can imagine the form and performance of things. At the same
time, the repetition of the same syllable makes the reading sense of repetition rich
with a strong sense of rhythm, so that readers can read the article easily. In the first
example, translation from “loud” to “ 闹哄哄 ” vividly illustrates Clay’s mixed
feelings of worry and fear at the moment on Morrowseer’s arrival. In the second
example, “bubbling” is translated into “汩汩,” which vividly describes the sound
of water flow at this moment, arouses the imagination of the reader. Also, it
describes the quiet atmosphere of the river environment where clay is at this
moment, highlighting clay’s lonely mood at this time.
In a word, the repetition of words makes the object to be expressed more
vividly, leading the children to think actively so that they can associate all kinds of
sounds in ordinary life with their own imagination, and better experience the
happiness of reading. As a result, this method of translation would be close to
reader’s current horizon of expectation and achieves the fusion of horizons.
Example 3
ST: The dragonets all looked at Glory, whose scales had gone pale green. Even her
usual aloof expression was gone. She paced around Tsunami’s rock column,
lashing her tail.
TT: 大家都望向葛萝瑞。她的鳞甲变成了浅绿色，平时漠然的神情终于消失
不见。她绕着拴住海澜的石柱来回踱步，尾巴在不停地摇啊摇啊。
Example 4
ST: The eerie little insects pulsed with a greenish light. Glowing tendrils hung
from several of them, like a shimmering star curtain far above him and around him
in the pool’s reflection.
TT: 这种奇怪的小虫子发着一闪一闪的绿光，其中有几只虫子的触须还在闪
烁着，就像是一幅布满星星的帘子，高挂在他的头顶上，又在水里投下无数
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光点，围绕着他。
Analysis: Vision is the derived feeling of pictographic reduplicative words. The
vivid display of pictographic reduplicative words makes the shape of things clearly
emerge in readers' minds, thus stimulating children’s way of thinking and then
recalling the same or similar things (Xiao, 1999). Because of the rich emotional
function of the reduplicative words, the use of them can highlight the emotional
colors of the characters, magnify the joy, anger, sorrow and joy of the characters
for children, so that children can better understand the emotion of the characters in
this scene.
In example 3, “lashing her tail” is translated as “尾巴在不停地摇啊摇啊,” it
helps to show the scene of Glory pacing around the stone pillar at this moment,
reflecting the worry in Glory’s heart after hearing the news that the guardian
dragon might kill her, and her eagerness to quickly put up with a solution. In
example 4, “greenish light” is translated as “ 一闪一闪的绿光 ,” which vividly
shows the convergence of numerous glowing insects in the cave and brings to the
reader the picture that Clay is seeing at this moment.
To sum up, these common words become very attractive after repeated
superposition, which makes the expression of words more powerful in the aspect
of situational awareness and emotional expression. The use of these kinds of
phrases tries to get close to the field and life experience that readers are familiar
with, reaching to readers’ horizon of expectation help them to understand the
original text to achieve the fusion of horizons.
4.1.2 Translation into Chinese Four-character Phrases
The four-character phrase is mainly divided into two categories: idioms and
words, which are widely used in both written and spoken Chinese. Generally
speaking, the Chinese four-character phrase has three advantages: the content
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concise and comprehensive, the form is neat and symmetrical, and the
pronunciation is pleasant to the ear. The proper use of four-character phrases in the
translation can give the children great convenience to read the texts more easily,
and helps the translation become smoother and more elegant at the same time; It
also contributes to the attraction and vividness of the translation, and improves the
sense of symmetry and rhythm of the translated language (Hu, Peng, 2015).
Example 5
ST: He could tell that Tsunami was thinking hard. She kept looking at him like she
wanted to say something, then stopped herself.
TT: 他看得出来，海澜正在绞尽脑汁想着什么，她不停地向自己看过来，却
欲言又止。
Example 6
ST: Clay wasn’t sure of that at all. But he wasn’t about to add “whining” to the list
of things wrong with him.
TT: 克雷自己却一点儿都不确定，不过，他并不打算在他的失误清单上再加
一条“自怨自艾”。
Example 7
ST: The waterfall poured down a cliff that towered over them, with even higher
mountains beyond. The three moons were low in the sky.
TT: 在他们面前，悬崖高耸，激流飞坠，后方是更加雄伟的崇山峻岭，三个
月亮低挂天空。
Analysis: The four-character phrase is representative in Chinese, with concise and
vivid features. At the same time, it is the origin from certain cultural background
and historical stories, and is widely used in both written and spoken language. The
language in translation text will become more vivid and childlike if the
four-character phrases are used, and also the children are allowed to acquire a
language expression unconsciously, so that the children are naturally and
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enthusiastically exposed to literature.

In example 5, the translation of “thinking hard” to “ 绞尽脑汁 ” not only
shows that Tsunami and her friends are trying hard to think of a way out of the
danger when they are trapped in the cave at the moment, but also reflects the
difficulty of the task they need to complete. In example 6, “whine” refers that
someone complains about something, and the phrase “自怨自艾 ” could express
the meaning that Clay is not satisfied with himself and he is very frustrated when
facing with difficulties. In example 7, the phrases “悬崖高耸,” “激流飞坠” and
“崇山峻岭” are used to vividly represent the vast landscape of earth and earth seen
by Clay and Tsunami as they successfully flew out of the cave exit.
In these three examples, if the use of four-character phrases is replaced by
ordinary words, the literariness and interest of the original and translated works
will be reduced a lot. So in this way, the translator tries to meet the readers’
imagination of beauty of the scenery, thus achieving the horizon of expectation. At
the same time, this method may arise children’s reading interest and reduce their
reading burden as far as possible to achieve the fusion of horizons.
4.1.3 Translation into Chinese Modal Particles
The style of children’s literature requires language that is not only full of
meaning, but that pleasant to hear and pleasant to read. Modal particle is the
specific word added to the sentence by the speaker to express his or her feelings,
attitudes or intentions towards the content of communication, such as euphemism,
speculation and emphasis (Xu, 2000). It’s quite different between English and
Chinese tone systems. Chinese mainly uses intonation, adverbs of mood, modal
verbs, interjections and other means to express mood, so modal particle is one of
the most prominent features of Chinese. The main function of modal particle is to
strengthen the feelings expressed in language, which is reflected in both written
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and oral expression. In the translation of children’s literature, proper and accurate
use of modal particle is needed to make children get tangible feelings from the
texts and increase children’s interest in reading.
Example 8
ST: Glory’s eyes glinted. “I can think of a few scrolls I’d like to burn.”
Clay grinned at the shocked expression on Starflight’s face. “Yeah, me too,” he
said. “Throw The Sluglike Qualities of MudWings on there and think of me.”
TT: 葛萝瑞眼睛一亮。“我已经想好烧哪几卷书啦。”
看到星飞脸上大惊失色的表情，克雷笑出了声。“耶，我也一样，”他说，
“帮我把《泥翼龙的鼻涕虫特性研究》这卷书烧掉吧。”
Example 9
ST: “It’s — well —” He’d never seen Tsunami stammer over anything. Now he
was really curious.
“Tell,” he said, splashing her.
“You know, you’re doing that thing you do,” she said, “where you talk about
something ridiculous so you don’t have to deal with something serious.”
“Am not!” Clay protested. “You’re the one who’s ducking the question.”
TT:“这个嘛……嗯……”海澜支支吾吾地说。他从没见过海澜这么扭扭捏捏
的样子，克雷更加好奇了。
“快说嘛。”他朝她泼水，催促道。
“这个嘛，你又来了，”她说，“你故意胡说八道，逃避了重要的问题。”
“我才没有呢！”克雷反驳道，“你才是故意岔开话题呢。”
Analysis: In example 8, the use of modal words “啦,” “耶,” “吧” show Glory and
Clay’s excitement and happiness when they learn that they need to burn the scroll
they have been learning to make smoke, and also reflects the playful nature of the
little dragon. In the example 9, placing the word “嘛” at the end of the sentence
would more vividly reflect the hesitation and shyness of the Tsunami because the
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Seawing’s scales are glowing to attract the opposite sex. Meanwhile, the modal
word “呢” can better reflect Clay’s eagerness to know the answer at that time.
In the process of translating works into Chinese, the translator’s suitable use
of Chinese modal particles helps to perfectly present the tone expressed by the
English language and morphological changes, reproduce the emotion of the
original English text, so as to let children readers appreciate the charm of the
original text. At the same time, the use of modal particles is in line with the
expression habits of children, meeting the expectations of children readers, more
conducive to attracting readers’ interest in reading. As a whole, this method of
translation puts readers at first place, meeting the children’s reading and
expressing habits, achieving the readers’ horizon of expectation and fusion of
horizons.
4.1.4 Translation into Chinese Personification Expressions
Personification is a figure of speech that personifies things as people and

endows them with words, feelings and actions. Taking the characteristics of
children into account, the use of anthropomorphic rhetoric can vividly describe the
object more lively. Children was born with strong sensory ability to movable
things, such as sound and color, so the personification expressions could catch the
eyes of young readers more, conform to children’s vision of expectation, and leads
the readers to understand and accept the contents of the texts more easily. With
using this kind of expression, the inanimate objects can also speak just like
humans, which appeals to children because they are well aligned with their reading
ability and “horizon of expectation”. Therefore, in the process of translation,
personification needs to be considered and used carefully.
Example 10
ST: “Exactly,” Glory said. She crouched down to the floor. Slowly, as if the stone
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were eating her alive, grays and browns and blacks crept over her scales.
TT: “说对啦。”葛萝瑞说。此刻，她正趴在地面上。慢慢地，她的鳞甲逐
渐呈现出灰、黑、褐三种颜色，仿佛她正一点点地被岩壁吞进去。
Example 11
ST: It was peaceful and creepy at the same time, with all those star-worms glowing
overhead like a million burning eyes.
TT: 这儿一片静谧，又带着几分阴森，发光虫像星星一般在头顶闪烁，犹如
千百万只亮晶晶的眼睛看着他。
Analysis: In example 10, “the stone were eating her” is translated to “仿佛她在一
点一点被岩壁吞进去.” In the sentence, “eating” are used to describe a person, the
translation more vividly shows the dynamic process of Glory’s changing body
color as it gradually blends into the rock. In the example 11, “with all those
star-worms glowing overhead like a million burning eyes” is translated to “犹如千
百万只亮晶晶的眼睛看着他 .” In the sentence, “ 眼睛看着他 ” are used to
describe a living thing, here it endows the glowing light vitality. The vivid
translation shows the dynamic movement of those glowing worms, and also it
highlights the tranquility and darkness of the environment in the cave.
The words become more interesting and the contents will allure children to
continue their reading if such kind of description is used in translation. It enhanced
the vivid tone in the original text and the translated text becomes more appealing
and more in accordance with children’s reading ability. As a whole, the use of
personification expressions could catch the eyes of young readers more, conform
to children’s horizon of expectation and achieves the fusion of horizons, and leads
the readers to understand and accept the contents of the texts more easily.
4.2 Syntactic Level
Langacker (1987) pointed out that language is an integral part of human

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cognition. Children’s language and cognitive ability have their age characteristics,
so children’s vision of expectation will also affect the translating methods used. In
terms of sentence syntax, the biggest difference between English and Chinese is
that English syntax emphasizes hypotaxis, while Chinese sentence emphasizes
parataxis (Jia, 2002). That is to say English pays attention to form and structure,
and often expresses grammatical meaning and logical relations with various means
of connection. However, Chinese seldom uses or even does not use formal
connection means, focusing on invisible coherence. According to the view of
Reception Theory, the literary acceptance ability of children is quite different from
that of adult readers. Therefore, the translator should use simple vocabulary and
sentence patterns which are easy to be understood, and adopt different translation
methods to handle various kinds of sentences so that the meaning of the original
text can be accepted by children more easily.
4.2.1 Addition in E-C Translation
Based on the concept of blanks in the translation process and the readers’
Reception Theory, some of the blanks need to be filled a little, while some need to
be preserved. The main purpose of the source text is to present a complete and
impressive story to the target readers, so the translator needs to adopt different
translation methods according to specific situation to meet the readers’ horizon of
expectation.
Example 12
ST: “Oh,” Clay said. “Well, that’s good, isn’t it? Did he say when you’ll get your
powers?
TT:“哦，”克雷说，“好吧，这难道不好吗？那他有没有说你什么时候会得
到读心术和预知未来的能力？”
Example 13
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ST: “But you already know everything!” Clay said. “You have to be the smartest
dragonet in all of Pyrrhia. Couldn’t he tell that by reading your mind?”
TT:“可是你什么都知道！”克雷说，“你是全庇利亚最聪明的小龙，难道他
没通过读心术判断出来吗？”(庇利亚大陆，生活着天翼、海翼、冰翼、泥翼，
夜翼、雨翼七大龙族。)
Analysis: In example 12, the word “powers” is translated as “读心术和预知未来
的能力,” the translation adds specific powers on original information. This method
is focused on children readers and reinforces the memory of children of the unique
abilities of the Nightwing. In example 13, the translation adds an explanation of
the proper term “Pyrrhia” to make it easier for children to understand, it also
highlighting Starflight’s intelligence by describing the vastness of the continent. So
addition in translation could broaden readers’ horizon and meet their horizon of
expectation.
Example 14
ST: Clay raced into the big cave with Starflight close behind him. He skidded to a
halt, horrified.
TT: 克雷跑进巨大的洞室，星飞紧随其后。看到眼前的一幕，克雷万分震惊，
不由得收住了脚步。
Analysis: In example 14, the translator adds a sentence “看到眼前的一幕” before
the sentence “He skidded to a halt, horrified.” The addition not only makes the
sentence structure more complete, but also shows the sight of Tsunami was
chained by Guardian dragons for readers, which is better for readers to understand.
However, if it was translated directly from the original text, the readers might feel
that the sentences were not connected properly, resulting in semantic ambiguity
and difficulty of understanding.
Therefore, taking the self-horizons of the target readers into consideration, it
is necessary to integrate the “horizons” of target readers into the authors’ so as to
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present a complete work to the target readers. By adding necessary information or

giving clear explanation, it may help readers to better understand the original texts
and achieve the fusion of horizons between original text and target language
readers, and it also relieve the understanding pressure caused by indeterminacy.
4.2.2 Omission in E-C Translation
Omission is a strategy frequently used in translation. Chinese and English are

two different kinds of languages, and the people living with different cultures have
different habits of language usage. In the process of translation, translators should
pay attention to the differences between the two languages. Because of the cultural
and linguistic differences between English and Chinese, many words in English
cannot be translated into Chinese. If we translate the text sentence by sentence and
words by words, there will be lots of redundant information in the translation and
the final contents of the target text will be ambiguous to be understood. With the
omission, the contents of the original text can be expressed in a way according to
the usage of the target language, while at the same time, the original meaning is
not changed. Generally speaking, omission can lead the target readers have less
difficulties in reading and understanding. In certain conditions, if the original
meaning is not changed, some words or expressions can be omitted in the
translation of the texts.
Example 15
ST: Clay felt a cold chill climb up through the stone floor and spread through his
scales.
TT: 克雷只觉有一股寒气直窜岩石地表，钻进了他的鳞甲里。
Example 16
ST: The river was narrow here and the current was strong. It carried him forward
even when he wasn’t trying to swim.
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TT: 河水狭窄，水流湍急，带着他向前急冲，根本不用他用力。
Analysis: Omission translation refers to the deletion of duplicates and redundant
words in a translation without changing the meaning of the original text, which
aims to ensure the translation can be smooth and concise.
In example 15, “cold” and “chill” both have the meaning the someone has the
freezing feeling, so in the translation we are supposed to omit one of them, and the
original meaning hasn’t been changed. And in example 16, “it” refers to “the river.”
So if we repeat these words and sentences while we are translating the original text,
there will be many redundant information in the target language. Meanwhile, the
accuracy of the translation is guaranteed while reducing these unnecessary
contents, so the quality of translation is ensured. Therefore, according to the
thinking mode and language expression habits of the target readers, the translator
needs to simplify sentence structure by means of omission translation, so as to
achieve the purpose of meeting the horizons of expectations.
These examples show that when encountering more complex or redundant
English expressions, translators need to compare the differences between Chinese
and English children’s languages, and use methods such as splitting or ellipsis to
make the translation conform to the preferences and reading habits of Chinese
children, so that the reading process can be more attractive and the translation texts
can be more interesting for children. The purpose of omission is to lead the
translation smoother and more consistent with the habits of target readers, so in
this way, the translation text becomes more concise which would be more conform
to readers’ horizon of expectation and then achieve fusion of horizons.
4.2.3 Free Translation
Once children decide that literacy requirements are beyond their comfort zone,
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reading becomes an unbridgeable mountain, and once they stop reading, the act of
translation loses its meaning (Coppard, Newbery, 2013). Free translation refers to
the translation according to the general idea of the original text, not to do the word
for word translation (different from literal translation). It is often used in the
translation of sentences and phrases, and is mainly applied when the source
language and the translation reflect great cultural differences (Xiong Bing, 2014).
Under the background of cross-cultural communication, free translation
emphasizes the cultural system of the target language and source language. And
free translation reflects the differences of different languages in many aspects,
such as language, religion and society. In this translation report, the free translation
method is adopted in many places, the translator converts the original text into the
text that can reflect the linguistic characteristics of the target language readers.
To be more specific, free translation means minimizing the unfamiliarity of
the target text for readers and the translation should be familiar to readers and
consistent with the original meaning. According to free translation, the translator is
supposed to meet readers’ horizon of expectations through the analysis of readers’
culture, cognition and language competence. At the same time, it could help the
target readers to understand the original meaning of the text more easily, thus
achieving the fusion of the horizons. Therefore, when translating literary works,
translators should properly combine the context, adjust and add some explanation,
realize free translation, which can better help readers to deeply understand these
novel things and better integrate into the fictional world of the works.
Example 17
ST: “He’ll find us a SkyWing,” Kestrel said. “Properly this time. No colorful
substitutions.”
TT: “他会找头天翼龙来,” 红隼说，“这样才对，不会再有那个花里胡哨的
冒牌货了。”
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Analysis: Free translation requires transforming the target text according to

the ideology and creation norms of the target culture, and adopting the expressions
used by the target language readers to convey the content of the original text,
which help readers to better understand the original text and the translated text and
enhances the readability of the translated text. There are many Chinese idioms,
proverbs and some common expressions using concise and vivid way to express
the content of the article, increase the literary color and beauty of the language, but
also reflect the author’s writing skills. If the translator can integrate some words or
sentences in the original text into the translation without changing the meaning of
the original text, the translation will be rich in literary quality and more acceptable
to the target language readers.
In example 17, “colorful” means “having striking color,” in a way that means
both praise and affection. And at the same time, “substitution” means “an event in
which one thing is substituted for another,” which is not in line with the attitude of
the guardian dragon towards Glory in the original text. So the phrase “colorful
substitution” is translated to two Chinese substitutions “花里胡哨的冒牌货” by
using free translation method, thus this expression in Chinese can accurately
conveys the dragons’ dislike and hatred towards Glory and set the stage for the
following plot involving their assassination of her. On the contrary, a literal
translation would have brought a certain degree of difficulty in understanding.
In conclusion, free translation takes the target language culture as its guidance
and puts the target readers in the first place, using the expressions and tones and
readers are familiar with, thus it could shorten the aesthetic distance between
original texts and target language readers and achieve the horizon of expectation.
Example 18
ST: “He’ll definitely try,” Webs said. “Dumb as a rock, but he’s devoted to the
other four.”
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TT: “他肯定会的，”韦伯说，“虽然他笨得像块石头，不过对伙伴掏
心掏肺。”
Example 19
ST: So can we steal Dune’s rock?” Sunny suggested.
“Terrible idea,” Glory said immediately.
TT:“我们能去偷沙丘的石头吗？”沙霓提议道。
“这简直是馊主意。”葛萝瑞立即说道。
Analysis: In example 18, the phrase “he’s devoted to the other four” means
that Clay is loyal to his friends and would spare no effort to do anything to help
them. The four-character phrase in Chinese “ 掏心掏肺 ” perfectly conveys this
meaning to the target readers. In example 19, “terrible idea” is actually could be
translated as “糟糕的主意”and “这主意真是糟透了,” but “ 馊主意” is more
indicative of the fact that Sunny’s plan can’t be implemented at that time, and the
expression with Chinese characteristics is better for children to understand.
Therefore, when some words in Chinese are exactly consistent with the
context of the original text, free translation helps the target text better meet the
habit of the target language readers on the basis of accurately expressing the
meaning of the original text, and meet the requirements under the guidance of the
Reception Theory.
Example 20
ST: Clay flattened himself to the grass, feeling the warm earth crumble
around his legs and clump against his scales, scents of green and brown and buried
sunshine overwhelmed him.
TT: 克雷四仰八叉地躺在草地上，感受着腿边泥土的松软和温暖，还有
硌着鳞甲的土块的硬实。绿色的草地和棕色的泥土，迷人的芬芳中又夹杂着
阳光的气息，令他深深陶醉。
Analysis: The difference between English and Chinese mainly is that they are
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hypotaxis and parataxis respectively. In English sentences, there are many ways to
connect them, with complex sentence patterns and long syntactic structure
conveying the complete information. Because of a variety of adhesives, English
sentences are free and flexible in logical order and semantic center of gravity
arrangement, just like a bamboo with distinct branches (Zhang, 2018). However,
Chinese is usually not accustomed to long sentence patterns, and short sentences
are often used in writing, with compact semantic information. Therefore, when
translating long English sentences, the long sentence pattern with a large number
of words should not be copied, otherwise the fluency and readability of the
translation will be reduced a lot.
So here the example is a long sentence, which is cleverly combined with
several conjunction words “and,” and each of them is indispensable. The whole
sentence shows that Clay is lying comfortably on the grass after they are out of the
dark cave. If the sentence length of the original text is completely translated word
by word, the target text is obviously not in accordance with the expression habits
of Chinese. So that the target text may become a kind of “Translationese,” and it
cannot be integrated into the target language. Therefore, by using free translation
of this example sentence, each part connected by “and” in the long sentence is
translated as a short independent Chinese sentence, and then the hidden meaning in
the long sentence is integrated into another independent sentence by using Chinese.
At the same time, the independent sentence is divided into several sentences and
the word order of the original text is adjusted so that the translated text becomes
more coherent and smoother. This way of translation is more conducive to the
understanding of children readers, meets the expectations of readers’ horizon, and
achieves the fusion of horizons at last.
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Chapter Five Conclusion
After finishing the translation of excerpts of Wings of Fire, the translator

reviews the whole process of translation and makes a brief summary. Obviously,
the translator has certain major findings in translation, and there are also some
limitations and suggestions for the translating work.
5.1 Major Findings of the Report
In summary, based on the translation of Wings of Fire, a children’s literature

reflecting the virtues of integrity, bravery, and honesty, the translator analyzes the
translation based on lexical level and syntactic level from three aspects: horizon of
expectations, fusion of horizons, and indeterminacy.
The report analyzes the translation methods of children’s literature from the
lexical level and the syntactic level. Firstly, it is necessary to flexibly use
children’s common words according to their speaking tone in the process of
translation of children’s literature, so the translator uses repetition, modal particles
and other colloquial words to create an interesting translation work. Meanwhile,
the translator conforms the translation to the characteristics of children’s language,
enhances the sense of rhythm and appeal of the language and helps the target
readers to produce a sense of pleasure when reading and understanding the
translation. At the same time, we should appropriately use the four-character
phrases that show the characteristics of Chinese culture to help children improve
their literacy unconsciously. Secondly, English and Chinese are two different kinds
of language both in structure and form, and the literary acceptance ability of
children is also quite different from that of adult readers according to the view of
Reception Theory. Therefore, in the translation of children’s literature, the
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translator should use simple vocabulary and sentence patterns which are easy to be
understood, and adopt different translation methods to handle different kinds of
sentences so that the meaning of the original work can be accepted by children
easily. As a result, the translator could use personification expressions to catch the
eyes of young readers and conform to their horizon of expectation, thus the
understanding and acceptance of the meaning of the translated text will be much
easier. At the same time, addition will help present a complete and impressive
story to the target readers and omission could relieve the difficulties in reading and
understanding to some extent. Besides, free translation will enable the target
readers to understand the original meaning of the text more easily by taking their
culture background and expression habits into consideration, thus achieving the
fusion of the horizons which can better help readers to deeply understand these
novel things and better integrate themselves into the fictional world of the works.
The children, as the special reader group, based on the previous knowledge
and experience, they have their own horizon of expectations, and the translator
should adopt suitable methods to cater to the children’s different horizon of
expectation. Besides, excellent translated works of children’s literature could help
to improve children’s logic, understanding and thinking ability, so the good
translated text version plays an important role in the growth and development of
children. In the process of translation, it is necessary to bear in mind that children
are the target readers of this kind of text. So the translator is supposed to adopt
suitable translation methods to cater to their horizon of expectations in view of
target readers’ language and life experiences. First of all, translation methods of
addition, omission and free translation are applied to keep the flavor of the original
text and satisfy their horizon of expectations. And then the translator is supposed
to take readers’ acceptance and response into consideration, because the work
could truly benefit to children for their development if the meaning of it can be
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successfully delivered to the readers. What’s more, the reduplicative words, modal
particles and four-characters phrases should be applied appropriately so that the
translation can more accessible, vivid and imaginable.
5.2 Limitations and Suggestions
However, there are also some limitations in the translation practice. Firstly,
examples from this novel in these several chapters are not adequate so that they
can’t present and cover all problems in children’s literature. Secondly, the foreign
materials and literature collected by the translator are not comprehensive enough,
which leads to the lack of in-depth study of translation. Thirdly, because the
translator does not grasp the cognitive and thinking ability of children accurately
in the process of translation, the translator finds it difficult to achieve a balance
between the omission and preservation of the information in the original text.
Generally speaking, Reception Theory mainly deal with the relationship
between authors, works and readers, focuses on readers’ reactions, and aims at
readers’ acceptance. Therefore, in the process of translating children’s literature
works in the future under the guidance of Reception Theory, translators should put
the target readers at the top position, fully take the expectations and aesthetic needs
of the target readers into account when translating, so that the source text can be
fully expressed and the translator can successfully understand the source text.
Undoubtedly, translators should extensively learn different kinds of knowledge to
improve translation skills and actively apply to practice. As a result, after learning
the Reception Theory, we have known that we need to use suitable personification
expressions, reduplicative words, modal particles and four-characters phrases to
cater to the needs of children readers. What’s more, we are also supposed to
deepen our understanding of the difference between English and Chinese, so that
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we are able to translate the source language to the target language in the suitable
expressions which could be understood by children. Besides, translators should
read enough Chinese and foreign children’s literature works, grasp the style of
such kind of works, so as to better understand the works and improve translation
ability. All in all, it is expected that translators would make efforts and contribute
their own strength to the vigorous development of children’s literature translation.
Children at different stages of life may have distinctive features of cognition,
psychology and thinking habits, so we’re supposed to use more energy to complete
a good translation of children’s literature, especially under the perspective of
Reception Theory.
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References
[1] Coppard, Y.& Newbery, L. 2013. Writing Children's Fiction [M]. England:
Bloomsbury Academic.
[2] Iser, W. 1972. The Reading Process:A Phenomenological Approach[J].New
Literary History 3(2):279-299.
[3] Iser, W. 1971. Indeterminacy and the Reader's Reception in Prose Fiction [M].
New York and London: Columbia University Press.
[4] Jauss, H. R. (1982). Toward an Aesthetic of Reception[M]. Minneapolis:
University of Minesoda Press.
[5] Jauss, H. R. 1970. Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory[J]. New
Literary History 2(1):7-37.
[6] Langacker, R. 1987. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar [M]. California:
Stanford University Press.
[7] Oittinen, R. 2000. Translating for Children [M]. New York& London: Garland
Publishing.
[8] 狄东睿. 2016. 儿童文学翻译发展研究[J]. 中国翻译 (4):35-37.
[9] 顾明栋. 2020. 读者型翻译与作者型翻译——谈一个理论联系实践的翻译
理论[J]. 山东外语教学 (6):106-117.
[10] 黄光伟. 2001. “期待视野”与接受主体审美心理结构的建构、调整[J]. 北
方论丛 (3):72-77.
[11] 胡海涛 , 彭贝妮 . 2015. 英汉互译中的汉语四字结构 [J]. 科技视界
(09):139.
[12] 贾德江. 2002. 英汉语对比研究与翻译[M]. 长沙:国防科技大学出版社.
[13] 李新 , 徐岩 . 2011. 儿童文学翻译中的归化和异化 [J]. 语言研究
(2):152-153.
[14] 罗杰·福勒. 1977. 语言学与小说[M]. 於宁, 徐平, 昌切译. 重庆:重庆出
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References
版社.
[15] 刘小霞.2012. 叠词在儿童文学翻译中的运用[J]. 海外英语 (2):146-147.
[16] 萧立明. 1999. 系统功能观与辩证论译[J]. 中国翻译 20(1):15-17.
[17] 徐晶凝. 2000. 汉语语气表达方式及语气系统的归纳[J]. 北京大学学报
(哲学社会科学版) (3):136-141.
[18] 熊兵. 2014. 翻译研究中的概念混淆——以“翻译策略”、“翻译方法”
和“翻译技巧”为例[J].中国翻译, 35(3):82-88.
[19] 于虹. 2004. 儿童文学[M].北京：人民教育出版社.
[20] 姚斯，霍拉勃. 1987. 接受美学与接受理论[M]. 周宁，金元浦译.沈阳：
辽宁人民出版社.
[21] 朱立元. 2005. 当代西方文艺理论[M]. 上海: 华东师范大学出版社.
[22] 朱立元. 2004. 接受美学导论[M]. 合肥：安徽教育出版社.
[23] 郑剑委 . 2021. 翻译接受研究的界面与方法 [J]. 山东外语教学
(3):118-127.
[24] 张丽. 2018. 英汉对比视角下大学英语翻译教学的几点思考[J]. 湖北师范
大学学报(哲学社会科学版) 38(6):124.
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Appendix
Wings of Fire 《火翼飞龙》
CHAPTER 5 第五章
It seemed like a long time later when 似乎过了很久，星飞终
Starflight finally slunk back into the main hall 于回到了主厅，一言不发，
with Morrowseer close behind him. Clay 紧接着明日视也跟了出来。
couldn’t tell whether Starflight had told 克雷无法辨别出星飞到底有
Morrowseer the truth — that he didn’t have 没有把真相告诉明日视——
visions or read minds. He was just ordinary, 他不能预见未来，也不会读
like the rest of the dragonets. But who would 心术。他和其他四只小龙一
be brave enough to tell Morrowseer that? 样，都是那么的普普通通。
The enormous NightWing slithered off to 不过，谁那么胆大把这事情
the guardians’ cave without a word to Sunny or 真相告诉明日视呢？
Clay. Starflight glanced at them, then turned 这只体型巨大的夜翼龙
and headed for his sleeping cave. 对沙霓和克雷什么也没说，
Clay hurried after him. 向守护龙洞穴慢慢走去。星
“What happened?” he asked. “What did 飞只是看了他们一眼，然后
he say to you?” 转身走向自己的睡穴。
“I’m not supposed to talk about it,” 克雷向前追去。
Starflight said stiffly. He sat down in the “怎么样了？”他问道，
middle of their cave, his wings askew behind “你们都说了些什么呀？”
him, and started poking through the scrolls on “我没法说。”星飞冷
the floor. 冰冰地答道，他坐在室内正
“It’s over here,” Clay said, nudging a 中央，翅膀在他身后微微倾
fat scroll with silver letters that had rolled 斜，在地上的书卷堆里翻找
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Appendix
under his sleeping ledge. Starflight hooked 着。

it over with one talon, tucked it under a “这儿呢。”克雷从自
wing, and carried it up to his ledge. He 己睡觉的石头下方抽出了一
curled up with his tail draped over his nose 卷书。这卷书非常厚，银色
and started reading. 的字刻在书卷上方。星飞伸
“Wow,” Clay said. “So it was that 爪拿起这卷书，放到翅膀里
bad?” Tales of the NightWings was 面藏着。随即翻上那石坎，
Starflight’s favorite scroll, and he always 身体蜷缩着，用尾巴放在鼻
read it when he was upset or fighting with 子上的姿势看起书来。
one of the other dragonets. “难哦。”克雷说，“看
The tip of Starflight’s tail twitched. 来聊的不是很顺利？”星飞
“I have a lot to learn,” he said. “But you 最喜欢看的就是《夜翼族传
already know everything!” Clay said. 奇》这本书了，只要他心情
“You have to be the smartest dragonet in 失落或者和别的小龙有不愉
all of Pyrrhia. Couldn’t he tell that by 快的事情，他就会看看这本
reading your mind?” 书。
Starflight didn’t answer. 星飞的尾巴末端抽搐了一
“I thought he liked you,” Clay said. 下。“我要学习了，有很多事
“Surely he said something about what a 情我都还不知道。”他说。
great and noble dragon you must be “但你知道的东西已经很
because you’re a NightWing.” 多了！”克雷说，“你是全庇
A long, tired breath whooshed out of 利亚最聪明的小龙，难道他没
Starflight’s snout. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s 通过读心术判断出来吗？”
exactly what he told me, actually.” 星飞一声不吭。
“Oh,” Clay said. “Well, that’s good, isn’t “我感觉他对你挺有兴趣
it? Did he say when you’ll get your powers?” 的，”克雷说，“他肯定说，
你是多么伟大而又高贵，因为
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你是夜翼族的龙。”
Starflight fidgeted with the scroll, shredding a 星飞发出了一声悠长而疲
corner of it between his claws. Clay had never 惫的叹息。
seen him upset enough to damage a scroll “没错，”他说，“事实
without noticing. He wished he could say 上他就是这么说的。”
something helpful, but he couldn’t think of a “噢，”克雷说，“好吧，
single useful thing to say about NightWings. 这难道不好吗？那他有没有说
“At least you’re not a 你什么时候会得到读心术和预
RainWing,” he tried. “Did 知未来的能力？”
Morrowseer say anything about 星飞不停地用爪子翻着卷
Glory?” 轴，一副漫不经心的神态。突
Starflight frowned at him over the edge 然间他划破了书页的一角。他
of the rock. “Not much. He said, ‘Don’t worry 有什么烦心事，克雷从来没有
about the RainWing. I’ll take care of it.’ ” 见过他这么烦恼过，居然会失
Clay felt a cold chill climb up through 手把划破了他心爱的书。他很
the stone floor and spread through his 想做点什么可以帮助星飞的事
scales. “What does that mean? What’s he 情，可是他也不了解夜翼族，
going to do?” 想说点什么都说不出来。
“How should I know?” Starflight “你可以想想你不是雨翼
poked his nose back into the scroll. 龙一族，”他试着说了一句，
“Maybe she’ll get to go home. She’s “明日视说了什么关于葛萝瑞
probably the luckiest of all of us.” 的事情吗？”
The pulse of fear pounding in Clay’s 星飞眉头紧蹙，他坐在石
head disagreed. He couldn’t see the guardians 坎上，向克雷望去。“没说什
just releasing Glory, not after all the years of 么，只说了一句：‘放心我知
secrecy. 道怎么做。’”
“We have to go spy on them,” he said, 克雷只觉有一股寒气直窜
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Appendix
jumping to his feet. “We have to know what 岩石地表，钻进了他的鳞甲里。

they’re planning.” He stopped halfway out “这句话代表什么？明日视要
of the cave and stamped one foot in 对她做什么？”
frustration. “Oh, no, we can’t. Morrowseer “我又不清楚？”星飞再
will know we’re there.” 次将目光收回到书卷里，“也
“Right,” Starflight said. “He’ll hear you 许她足够幸运可以回到原本属
thinking all your big, loud, worried thoughts.” 于她的地方呢！”
“You don’t know that my thoughts are 克雷的脉搏随着担忧之情
loud and worried,” Clay said. “Maybe they’re 剧烈跳动。他觉得守护龙费尽
quiet and very serene.” 心思保守了这个秘密这么多
Starflight snorted with amusement, the 年，不会就这么轻易放走葛萝
first happy sound he’d made since 瑞。
Morrowseer showed up. Even through his “我们去偷窥一下，”他
worry, Clay was pleased. 跳了下来说道，“搞明白他们
究竟要干什么。”走到半路，
他又没继续往前了，烦躁地跺
了跺脚，“不行啊，明日视绝
对能发现。”
“对呀，”星飞说，“他
会读懂你脑子里在想着一些了
不得的烦心事，闹哄哄的。”
“你怎么就知道我脑子里
是烦心事，还闹哄哄的？”克
雷说，“说不定我的思绪很平
静呢。”
这可把星飞逗乐了，噗嗤
一下笑了出来。自从明日视一
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来，他还没这么开怀大笑过。
“What are you doing?” Sunny’s 尽管忧心忡忡，克雷也非常欣
anxious voice echoed across the main hall. 慰。
“What’s that for?” The heavy tread of
dragon footsteps reached their ears, along “你们都在干什么?”沙霓
with an ominous clanking. “Stop! Wait! 焦虑的叫喊声突然传来，声音
You don’t have to do that!” 在主厅里回荡。“为什么要这
There was an enormous splash. 么做?”沉重的脚步声传进他们
Clay raced into the big cave with 的耳朵，伴随着令人不安的金
Starflight close behind him. He skidded to a 属撞击声，“住手！不要！你
halt, horrified. Kestrel and Dune were standing 们大可不必这样！”
on the bank of the river, holding a length of 河水爆发出哗啦一声巨
iron chain between their talons. Behind them, 响，震耳欲聋。
Morrowseer was holding Sunny back with his 克雷跑进那间很大的洞
tail as the tiny golden dragon tried to climb 室，星飞也随即赶到。看到眼
over him. 前的所发生的事情，克雷只觉
Webs emerged from the river, dragging a 可怕到颠覆自己的想象。红隼
writhing, hissing ball of blue scales. Kestrel 和沙丘就站在河岸边上，爪间
and Dune threw the chain around Tsunami’s 一条长长的铁链。在沙丘他们
neck and wrapped it around one of her legs. 的身后，小金龙沙霓拼命想冲
The three guardians hauled her over to one of 过去阻止，然而明日视用尾巴
the rock columns that stretched from the floor 拦住了他。
to the ceiling high above. Dune flung the 韦伯从河中走出来，把一
chain around the column twice, binding 个蓝色鳞甲球拖到岸边，海澜
Tsunami with barely three steps to move in 在不停吼叫着。海澜的脖子被
any direction. 红隼和沙丘用铁链套住了，还
Kestrel took the two ends of chain and 有她的一条腿也被紧紧拴住。
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Appendix
blasted them with a bolt of flame. The metal 洞中有一根从地面延伸到洞顶

melted into a bubbling mass, welded together. 的石柱，这三头大龙将海澜拖
Tsunami was trapped. 到那根石柱旁，沙丘将铁链在
“Maybe some time away from the river 石柱上绕了两圈，这样一来海
will teach you to be grateful for what you 澜只能围绕石柱走两三步的距
have,” Kestrel growled. 离。
It all happened so fast, Clay didn’t have 红隼拉住铁链的两端，朝
time to figure out what was happening, let 铁链上面喷出一团火焰。金属
alone stop it, before it was too late. He let out 遇热熔化后，铁链两端粘合在
a yell of dismay and charged across the 了一起。
cavern. 他们栓住了海澜。
“Let her go!” He grabbed the chain and 一切都是那么突然。克雷
let go at once, hissing with pain at the 都还弄清什么事情，哪来说什
searing heat. 么去制止一切的发生。他怒吼
“You’ll regret this,” Tsunami snarled. 一声，朝前奔去。
She clawed at the chain around her back leg, “放了她！”他拉着铁链，
but pulling on it tightened the loop around 然后又赶忙扔掉，被高温烫到
her neck. With a hiss, she stopped 痛苦地嘶哑着叫着。
struggling. “When we’re free — when my “你们就等着后悔吧！”
family hears about this — when the rest of 海澜吼道，异常愤怒。她腿上
the world finds out how you treated the 的铁链被拉扯着在不断拉紧套
dragonets of destiny —” 在脖子上的链子。最后嘶叫着
“All your big dreams of your wonderful 放弃了挣扎。
family,” Kestrel mocked her. “They don’t care “等我们自由了，等这件
about you. When it’s time to fulfill the 事被我父母发现了，等到你们
prophecy, you’ll be alive, and the Talons of 对我们的所作所为被全世界知
Peace will have you, and that’s all that 道了—”
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matters.” “你还以为你出生在一个
“Why are you doing this?” Sunny cried. 高贵的家族呢，别做白日梦
“Tsunami’s the good one! She’s wonderful! If 了，”红隼讽刺说道，“你们
anyone can save the world, it’s her.” 的生死无人在意，最重要的是
“Actually, tiny SandWing,” Morrowseer 你要活到那一天去实现那个预
rumbled, “the dragonet you should believe in is 言，然后把你交给和平之爪。”
Starflight over there.” He nodded at Starflight, “你们凭什么这样？”沙
still rooted in place by the sleeping cave. 霓哭喊着，“最厉害的就海澜！
Starflight ducked his head. “NightWings are 她才是那个能拯救世界的龙。”
natural leaders. You do what he says, and “可是沙霓呀，”明日视
you’ll be all right.” 低沉着说道，“星飞才是你们
Clay glanced over at Starflight and saw 应该追随的小龙。”星飞还一
Glory standing in the archway of her own 脸懵地站在睡穴中，他朝他点
sleeping cave. Morrowseer narrowed his 头示意，星飞微微俯首。“夜
eyes at her. 翼族注定就是统领，你们只要
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said to the 听他的指挥，就出不了什么差
guardians. “To make sure that everything 错。”
has been … dealt with.” 克雷看了一眼星飞，还
“We understand,” Kestrel said. Together 看到了葛萝瑞站在自己睡穴
she and Dune rolled the boulder aside. 的洞口边，她的全身显现出
Morrowseer squeezed through the gap and 浅蓝色。明日视眯着眼睛看
disappeared into the blackness without a 了一眼她，然后转身走向那
backward glance. 块堵住洞穴出口的巨石。
“This is for your own good,” Webs said, “我明天还会过来，”
stopping in front of Tsunami. 他对着守护龙说，“来看看
She raked her talons at him, and he 你们是否都把事情办好了。
stepped back. “We only want to keep you “明白。”红隼答复完
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safe. Maybe this isn’t the perfect way, but 后，和沙丘合力挪动巨石。

—” 明日视从空隙中跻身钻出
“But dragonets don’t know what’s 去，在一片黑暗当中消失了，
best for them,” Dune said as the boulder 不曾回头。
thudded back into place. “You need us, “我们不会害你。”韦
whether you like it or not.” 伯对着海澜讲。她挥舞着爪
“You were all awful today,” Kestrel 子对他龇牙咧嘴，韦伯急忙
said. “No dinner for any of you. Go to bed, 后退躲避。“这样你们才能
and I don’t want to hear a squawk out of 安全，虽然这不是最完美的
anyone until morning.” 办法，可——”
“可你们不要糟蹋我们
“Really? What else are you going to do 的心意，”在一声巨响中岩
to me?” Tsunami challenged her. “What if I 石回到了原位，沙丘说，“这
feel like singing all night?” She started 由不得你们，你们离不开我
howling in her off-key voice. 们的。”
“Oh, the dragonets are coming! They’re “今天的表现你们都太
coming to save the day! 让人失望了，”红隼说，“晚
They’re coming to fight, for they know 餐都别想了。都给我睡觉去，
what’s right, the dragonets, hooray!” 从现在开始直到明早我可不
“Your fault,” Dune snarled at Webs. “I 想听到你们的声音。”
told you not to teach them that horrible bar “你确定？你还能究竟
song.” 拿我怎么样呢？”海澜挑衅
“OH, THE DRAGONETS ARE 道，“要是我整晚都想呢？”
COMING!” Tsunami bellowed even louder. 说完，她放声高唱，字字句
“We have more chains!” Kestrel yelled 句都不在调上。“啊，小龙
in her ear. “We could throw one around your 们就要到来！他们将拯教世
snout if you would like me to force you to be 界！他们为战斗而来，因为
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quiet.” 他们知道正义何在！小龙万
Tsunami paused, glaring at her 岁！”
mutinously, then took another breath in and “都是你的错，”沙丘
opened her mouth. 冲韦伯愤怒吼道，“我早就
“Or we could chain up one of your 说过不要教他们唱那首要命
friends,” Kestrel offered. “Perhaps Clay 的曲子。”
would like to spend the night hanging from “啊，小龙们就要来
a stalactite, so you have some company out 临！”海澜唱得更大声了。
here.” “我们这里多的是铁
Clay shifted uneasily on his feet, 链！”红隼在她耳边吼道，
wondering if there was anywhere he could hide “如果我想让你闭嘴安静下
out of Kestrel’s reach before she could grab 来的话，我可以找一条来捆
him. 住你的嘴巴。”
Tsunami snapped her jaws shut and lay 海澜顿了顿，怒视她一
down with her head turned away from all the 眼，深吸一口气后又张了张
dragons. Her gills fluttered furiously, but she 嘴。
kept quiet. “要不我们把你的朋友
“Much better,” Kestrel said. She 们都给捆起来。”红隼特意
stomped off to her tunnel, her red scales 这么对海澜讲，“也许克雷
flaring brightly in the fire’s reflection. Webs 觉得钟乳石上睡一晚比较有
followed her with his wet tail leaving a 趣，这样你们还不会孤单。”
darker trail behind them. 克雷突然间感到紧张不
Sunny pounced on Dune’s tail before 安，他挪动了一下自己的脚
he could go after them. “Please don’t 步，希望可以找到一个地方
leave her like this,” she said. “I know 让自己躲开红隼来抓他的爪
you’re not that mean.” 子。
Dune shook her off. “We’re doing 海澜猛地住嘴，乖乖趴
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what we have to.” He went after the others. 在地上，转头什么也不看。

As soon as they were gone, Clay 她沉默不语，只有龙鳃在剧
tried tugging on Tsunami’s chains again. 烈地扇动。
They were hopelessly strong. “这就对了嘛。”红隼
“Clay, stop,” Tsunami whispered. “You 说完之后，朝着自己洞穴的
know what you have to do. Go, quickly!” 方向走去，红色鳞甲在火光
Clay shivered, dreading the cold water, 的照耀下显得更加亮眼。韦
but she was right. For the first time, spying on 伯也朝着那个方向走去，尾
the guardians was really important. 巴的水珠沿着地面拖出一道
He ran over to the river and dove in. 湿漉漉的痕迹。
Through the water, he could hear the muffled 沙丘要走的时候，沙霓死
echo of Sunny’s nervous squeak as he swam 死拽住了他的尾巴。“求求你，
against the current to the rock wall. Without 能不能别这么对她，”她哭喊
Tsunami’s glow-in-the-dark scales to guide 着，“你不会那么绝情。”
him, it took longer than usual to find the gap 沙丘冷冷甩开她。“我们
that led through to the other cave. But finally 也拿这没办法。”然后他跟随
he felt open space under his claws, and he 着他俩走了。
ducked and squeezed through. 他们离开之后，克雷凑过
His heart was hammering in his chest 去想把海澜身上的铁链摘掉。
as he popped through into the cave. Slowly 但铁链捆得实在太牢了，根本
he paddled to the surface and poked his ears 没办法解开。
out into the air. “克雷，住手，”海澜小
This wasn’t the loud confrontation they’d 声道，“要做什么不用我明说
heard the previous night. This time, the three 吧。去呀，快快快！”
big dragons were huddled around the fire, 一想到冰冷刺骨的的河
whispering. None of them glanced at the river 水，克雷便害怕到浑身打哆嗦。
as Clay floated closer. 不过没错。这次的偷听至关重
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“When tomorrow?” Webs asked. 要。

Kestrel leaned toward the fire, baking her 他跑到河边，一头栽了进
scales an even brighter red. “He’ll be back by 去。即使隔着水面克雷也能听
midday. It has to be done by then.” Her tail 到沙霓紧张的惊叫声，不停在
was coiled in a tight knot beside her. “He 耳边回荡。他逆流而上，向石
doesn’t want to see her again.” 壁靠去。这次缺少了海澜的夜
Clay clenched his talons under the 光鳞的指引，导致找到那个石
water. They had to be talking about Glory. 缝要更费力气。最后，他终于
“Well, I’m not doing it,” Webs said. 摸到了那个缝隙，挤了进去。
Dune shot him a withering 他钻进了守护龙的洞穴，
look. “No one thought you would.” 心脏在不停扑通扑通跳动着。
“Even though this is all your fault,” 慢慢地，他浮向水面，竖起了
said Kestrel. 耳朵。
“I still think we need five of them,” 这一次的谈话与以往不
Webs snapped. “What’s he going to do about 同，没有大声争吵，三只大龙
that?” 围着火堆低声私语。可是谁都
“He’ll find us a SkyWing,” Kestrel said. 没有朝地下河看上一眼，于是
“Properly this time. No colorful 克雷凑得更近了些。
substitutions.” “明日何时？”韦伯问道。
They all went quiet for a moment, staring 红隼走近那火堆，鲜红的
into the fire. 鳞甲在火光炙烤下显得愈发耀
“So, how and when,” Dune said in 眼。“他大约中午来，在那之
his no-nonsense military voice. 前必须得把事情办好了。”她
“Drowning would be simplest.” He 的尾巴紧紧打成一个结盘在身
glared at Webs. 旁，“他不想再见到她了。”
“I joined the Talons of Peace 克雷的爪子在水里握成了
to stop killing dragons,” Webs said. “I won’t 一拳。他们指的肯定是葛萝瑞。
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argue with Morrowseer, but I’m not doing it “随你们，反正我可不

myself.” 干。”韦伯说。
“It has to be me,” Kestrel said in a 沙丘瞪了他一眼。“也没
choked, tense voice. “She’s just a RainWing, 指望你。”
but she still might get away from you.” She “你虽负全责。”红隼说。
nodded at Dune’s missing foot and the long “可我觉得五只幼龙还是
scar that ran through his mangled wing. 有用的，”韦伯愤怒地说，“明
“But can you go through with it?” Webs 日视的计划是？
asked. “Isn’t it too much like “他准备去找一只天翼
— I mean, we all know what happened 龙，”红隼说，“就该这样，
—” 不会再有那个花里胡哨的冒牌
“That was totally different,” Kestrel 货了。”
snapped. “Glory is just a RainWing. 他们静静看着那堆火，默
I don’t care about her. I don’t even like 不作声。
her.” She blasted a ball of flames at the fire “所以呢，我们该怎么
so it blazed up. 办？什么时候动手？”沙丘用
“If you’re sure . . .” Webs started. 着波澜不惊的语气说道，“淹
“I’ll do it tonight while she’s sleeping,” 死就完了，还省事儿。”他瞪
Kestrel said. “I can get in there and break her 着韦伯。
neck before the others know what I’m doing, “我加入和平之爪这个组
especially with the bossy one safely chained 织，是为了阻止龙族被无辜杀
up. Tsunami’s the only one who could stop 害的事情再次发生，”韦伯说，
me.” “我不会反驳他，不过，我也
Shudders of horror were running through 绝不掺和。”
Clay so violently that he was afraid one of the “这事还得是我来，”红
big dragons would notice the waves on the 隼声音哽咽，还有些许紧张，
water. He began paddling softly backward, but “虽然雨翼龙不怎么样，但也
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froze when he heard his name. 要谨防从你那里逃脱。”她斟

“Not Clay?” Dune asked. “He might try, 酌地点了点头，若有所思地看
at least.” 着沙丘的残破的四肢和翅膀上
“He’ll definitely try,” Webs said. 一道长长的伤疤。
“Dumb as a rock, but he’s devoted to the “你能行吗？”韦伯问，
other four.” “这很像——我的意思是，我
“It’s not natural, that much loyalty in a 们都知道的之前那件事——”
dragon,” Dune said. “Especially to dragons “完全是两回事儿，”红
outside your own tribe.” 隼吼道，“葛萝瑞区区一头雨
“I can handle him,” Kestrel said. “Even if 翼龙，有什么可在乎的呢，也
he finally gets mad like we want him to, 可以说我讨厌她。”她从嘴里
there’s nothing he can do to stop me.” 喷出一团火焰，火堆熊熊燃起。
Clay had heard enough. He sank “如果你一心确定了的
down below the surface and swam 话……”韦伯说。
toward the gap in the wall. What do we “今晚我就会在她睡着的
do? What can we do? What can I 时候杀了她，”红隼说，“我
do? There’s no time. 悄悄溜进去，趁另外几个不注
How do I save her? 意的时候拧断她的脖子。只有
只有海澜才有可能阻止我，但
那蛮横的已经被铁链制服了。”
克雷惊呆了，他的身体止
不住颤抖。激起水面一圈圈的
波纹，他害怕那几只大龙发现
这波纹，准备默默离开了，但
意外听到了自己的名字，顿时
愣住了。
“克雷不算吗，”沙丘疑
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惑了，“至少他会去尝试一下
吧。”
“他绝对要阻止我们，”
韦伯说，“虽然他傻愣愣的，
但对朋友掏心掏肺。”
“这太反常了，龙本不该
这么重感情，”沙丘说，“特
别是不属于一个种族的。”
“我知道该怎么处理，”
红隼说，“就算我们想的把他
逼疯，也无济于事。”
克雷不想继续听下去了。
他把自己埋水里，朝石壁游去。
我们到底应该怎么做？
时间要来不及了。
我要怎么做才能救她？
CHAPTER 6
第六章
It’s not true,” Sunny said. “They “这绝不可能，”沙霓说，

wouldn’t.” “他们不可能那样。”
“They definitely would,” said Tsunami. “他们绝对做得出来，”
“They’ll do anything if they think it’s right 海澜说，“只要能有助于实现
for the prophecy.” The dragonets all looked 那个预言，他们会不惜一切代
at Glory, whose scales had gone pale green. 价。”大家不约而同望向葛萝
Even her usual aloof expression was gone. 瑞。浅绿色浮现在她的身体，
She paced around Tsunami’s rock column, 平她终于不再像往常一样一脸
lashing her tail. 漠然的神情。她绕着拴住海澜
“But we won’t let them,” Clay blurted. 的石柱来回踱步，尾巴在不停
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He was still panting and dripping icy water on 地摇啊摇啊。

the stone floor. “Right, Tsunami? We’ll stop “我们绝不会让他们就这
them.” 么得逞的。”克雷气得脱口而
“You don’t have to get involved,” said 出，他还在喘着粗气，身上冰
Glory. “This is my problem, not yours.” 冷的河水湿哒哒落在地面，
“海
“How will you stop them?” Tsunami 澜，你说对吗？一定要想办法
asked Clay, ignoring her. “Even all of you 阻止他们。”
together are no match for Kestrel, especially “你们不用趟这浑水，”
with Dune helping her. 葛萝瑞说，“这是我的问题，
And I can’t do anything.” She 不关你们的事。”
bared her teeth and snapped at her “你想怎么做？”海澜没
chains, pulling the one around her neck 理她，向克雷问道，“就算你
dangerously tight. 们合力向她抗争，也不是红隼
“So we escape,” Clay said. “Just 的对手，何况她还有沙丘的帮
like you wanted. We get you out of there 忙，而我却指望不上。”她狠
and we escape, tonight. Right now.” 狠地用牙齿撕咬铁链，却让脖
“Escape?” Sunny squeaked. 子上的铁链勒得更紧了。
“Seriously,” Glory said. Apple-red stripes “那要不我们逃跑吧，”
flickered across her ruff like lightning. “You 克雷说，“这不是你所想吗？
don’t have to do anything. I’m the one that 我们帮你解开这铁链，然后我
doesn’t fit in. I’ll 们就在今晚一起逃跑。”
— I’ll fight her or — or “逃跑？”沙霓惊呆了。
figure something out ” “我是认真的，”葛萝瑞
“Of course we have to do something,” Clay 说道，一条条环绕着脖子的红
said fiercely. 色条纹在闪烁着跳动着，“你
“If escape were that easy, we’d have done 们千万别做这些乱七八糟的事
it already,” Starflight pointed out. He stepped 情，是我自己格格不入。我会
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around Glory, stood up on his back legs, and 跟她殊死一战，或者……或者

tapped on the boulder that blocked the 再想写别的法子……”
entrance. “This is the only way out. And they “我们当然不能干等着啥
have it rigged on a mechanism that only the big 也不做。”克雷毫不犹豫道。
dragons can move.” “如果逃跑那么容易，我
“They do?” Clay said. 们早就成功了。”星飞冷静地
Starflight nodded. “You know how 指出。他绕过葛萝瑞，双腿站
Dune never leaves, because he can’t fly? He 立，拍了拍堵住入口的巨石。
has a stone that fits in this slot.” He tapped a “这是唯一的出路，他们设了
grooved niche in the stone wall. “He turns it 机关，只有大龙才移得动它。”
in here to unlock something so they can roll “他们设了机关？”克雷
the boulder from inside the cave. But when 问。
Kestrel or Webs come from outside, there 星飞点了点头。“你们都
must be a lever or switch they use to open it 知道沙丘之所以从来不出洞是
from out there.” 因为他不能够飞，他有一块石
“Oh.” Clay felt like an idiot for trying 头，正好和这个凹槽相匹配。”
so hard to roll the big rock all these years. 他拍拍石壁上的一处凹陷，
“他
He’d never even noticed that Dune 把石块放进这里，从而可以启
unlocked something before moving the 动某个东西，从洞穴里面移动
boulder. He’d never thought twice about the 这块巨石。不过，当红隼或者
oddly shaped stone that was always around 韦伯从外面回来，那里肯定有
the sand dragon’s neck. “So can we steal 一个杠杆或者开关之类的东
Dune’s rock?” Sunny suggested. “Terrible 西，让他们外面就可以移动巨
idea,” Glory said immediately. 石”
“They’d catch us for sure,” Starflight “噢。”想到自己这些年
said to Sunny, more kindly. “Especially 来费尽力气去推那块巨石，克
tonight, when they’re already on high alert 雷觉得自己像个白痴。
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because of Morrowseer.” 他从来没有注意到沙丘每

“Well, then what about the sky —” Sunny 次移动巨石都要先开锁，也从
asked. 来没仔细观察那块永远挂在沙
“Is there any way to move the boulder 翼龙脖子上的怪石头。
without the rock?” Tsunami interrupted her. “或许我们去偷沙丘的石
Starflight shook his head. “Only from 头？”沙霓提议道。
the outside. It’s impossible from in here. “这简直是馊主意。”葛
Believe me, I’ve thought about it.” 萝瑞立即反驳。
“Maybe the sky —” Sunny said. “肯定会被他们逮住的，”
“And we couldn’t force it?” Clay asked 星飞说着，“尤其是今晚，因
Starflight. “Even if we all leaned on it really 为明日视的原因，他们防备肯
hard?” 定非常森严。”
Starflight shook his head as Glory said, “哦，那如果从天上——”
“This is all really sweet, guys, but you 沙霓问。
shouldn’t get in trouble for me. Morrowseer “如果不用那块石头，就
likes the rest of you. Just let me handle 没有其他方法可以移动那块巨
myself.” 石了吗？”海澜打岔道。
“Stop that,” Tsunami snapped at her. 星飞摇了摇头。“在里面
“Acting like a martyr won’t help right now.” 绝无可能，除非是从外面。信
Glory bristled. “I’m not acting like a 我吧，我之前已经仔细地研究
martyr. I’m trying to make sure nobody gets 过了。”
killed for no reason.” “如果从天上——”沙霓
“Besides you,” Tsunami argued. “It’s fine 想接着说下去。
if it’s you getting killed for no reason? “不能强推吗？”克雷问
“It just doesn’t matter,” Glory said. 星飞，“或许大家合力能推开
“I’m not even in the prophecy, so who cares 那块石头吗？”
what happens to me?” 星飞还是摇头。这时，葛
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“I swear I’m going to kill you myself,” 萝瑞说道：“你们对我真的太

Tsunami growled. 好了，但你们真的不用为了以
“Glory, she’s trying to say that we care,” 身我犯险。明日视非常看重你
Clay interjected. “In her usual gentle way.” 们，就让我自己面对这件事情
“Guys, what about the sky hole?” 吧。”
Sunny said in a rush, jumping into the brief “闭嘴吧，”海澜厉声呵
pause in the conversation. “In the study 斥，“别一副视死如归的模样，
room? Couldn’t we fly up to it and squeeze 起不了任何作用。”葛萝瑞非
out?” 常生气道，“我才没有，我只
“Oh, Sunny, don’t be ridiculous,” 是不想你们无缘无故去送死。”
Tsunami said. “那你呢？”海澜反驳道，
“It’s way too small,” Starflight explained. “你就该白白去送死？”
“We’d never fit, especially Clay.” “没什么关系啊，”葛
“But maybe I might,” Sunny said. “I 萝瑞坦然，“我本来就不存
could climb out and then go around and open 在在这个预言中，我发生了
the boulder from the outside, like Starflight 什么事也不会有人在意我
said. Right? And I could let you all out?” 的。”
Clay brushed her wing and twined his “我真想亲手杀了你。”
tail around hers. Sunny hadn’t even thought 海澜吼道。
of escaping before today, and yet she was “葛萝瑞，海澜想说的
volunteering for the most dangerous part of 是我们在意你的，”克雷赶
it without any hesitation. 紧插话，“用她特有的方式
“It won’t work,” Starflight said. “I’m 展现她的温柔。”
sorry, Sunny. I’ve flown up to the hole when “朋友们，天窗能飞出
no one was around.”Me too,” said Tsunami. 去吗？”沙霓在他们交谈之
“Me too,” said Glory. 际插了句话，“我们能不能
从学习室那个天窗飞上去，
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Clay felt slow. He’d sat below the sky 然后从那儿钻出去？”

hole often enough, watching the stars or “沙霓啊，别搞笑了。”
clouds or rain overhead, but he’d never 海澜说。
flown up to it or tried to climb out. “那个洞小的可怜，”
Apparently the other dragonets had thought 星飞说道，“钻过去怎么可
about escape a lot more than he had. 能，克雷就更不可能了。”
“The hole is smaller than you think,” “我应该可以呀，”沙
Starflight said to Sunny. “I can barely fit my 霓说，“我可以钻出去，然
head through it. It’s not a way out.” 后走到外面的石头旁，按照
“The minders wouldn’t have left it 星飞说的那样从外面把石头
there if it was,” Glory said. She stopped 移开，可行吗？然后我们不
next to Tsunami, waves of dark green 是就可以全部逃出去了？”
pulsing from her ears to her tail. “They’re 克雷轻拍了她的翅膀，
too careful. There’s no way to escape.” 两条尾巴紧紧缠绕。在此之
“There must be,” Clay said desperately. 前，沙霓没想过要来离开这
He could feel time slipping away. Kestrel 里，现在却非常干脆利落主
might come down to kill Glory at any 动承担最危险的任务。
moment. She wouldn’t care if they all saw “没有用的，”星飞说，
her do it. “很遗憾，我曾经悄悄飞上
He could tell that Tsunami was 去过。”
thinking hard. She kept looking at him like “我也试过。”海澜说。
she wanted to say something, then stopped “我也飞上去过。”葛
herself. 萝瑞说。
“What if we tried talking to them?” 克雷觉得自己好蠢。他
Sunny offered hesitantly. “Maybe we could 曾经在天窗下底下坐着，观
convince them to let her go instead?” 赏闪烁星光和满天云彩，雨
Glory snorted. Nobody else answered. 点飘落在他脸上，可他从来
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Sunny sighed, pressing her wings back 没想着要飞上去看看，然后

against her sides. 尝试着看能不能从那里挤出
“You have an idea,” Clay said to 去。显而易见，他的朋友们
Tsunami. “I can tell. You’ve been 早就在想着出逃这件事了。
working on an escape plan forever.” “那个洞口真的很小，
She wound her talons through the chains, 比你想象中还要小，”星飞
hissing. “It’s too dangerous,” she said. “It was 对沙霓说，“我的头能塞进
supposed to be me.” 去，都还算是勉勉强强，这
He caught her sideways glance and 个方法行不通。”
followed her eyes to the river. “守护龙绝不给我们留
The river. 钻空子的机会。”葛萝瑞说，
They’d only ever gone upstream, into 他在海澜身侧停住脚步，从
the guardians’ cave. Downstream, the river 耳朵到尾巴有着一圈圈暗绿
flowed from the main cavern along the 色的环纹，就像在流动一般，
tunnel into the battle cave and then … Clay “他们戒备非常森严，想要
had no idea where it went. The roof of the 逃出去真的很难。”
battle cave sank lower and lower until the “一定有的。”克雷急
river disappeared. Clay had never explored 的就像热锅上的蚂蚁。他感
underwater in the battle cave; he’d never 觉时间正在流逝，红隼随时
wondered about where the river went. 可能来杀葛萝瑞，她并不介
But of course Tsunami had. 意那时大家都在场。
“Do you know where the river goes?” he 他看得出来，海澜正在
asked. 绞尽脑汁想着什么，她不停
“No — I mean, I’ve seen the gap in 地向自己看过来，却又欲言
the wall, but it’s even smaller than the one 又止。
to the guardians’ cave,” she said. “I’ve “要不和他们谈判一
never been through in case I couldn’t get 下呢?”沙霓试探的问道，
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back. But the river has to go somewhere.” “也许能让他们把海澜放

“Can we get out that way?” he asked. “Not 了？”
all of us,” she said. “Only me.” “And me,” 葛萝瑞被逗笑了，大家
he said. 也都默不作声。沙霓无奈，
She shook her head. “Clay, you can’t. 张开的翅膀又收了回去。
We have no idea what’s on the other side. “你想到办法了，”克
You can only hold your breath for an hour 雷朝着海澜说，“我可以猜
— you could get trapped with no air and 到其实你一直都在思索着
drown. And you can’t see in the dark like 逃离这里的办法。”
me. You’d be swimming blind into who 她痛苦哀嚎，在铁链捆
knows what. It has to be a SeaWing who 绑下手爪在指间摩挲。“可
goes. It has to be me.” 是这相当冒险，”她说，
“这
“And even if you did get out,” 本来是我的责任。”
Starflight said, “how would you find us 他眼尖发现她的视线
again? How would you get back to this 朝着旁边的那条河望去。
cave from the outside?” 地下河。
“The sky hole,” Clay said, pouncing on 以前他们潜入守护龙
an idea of his own at last. “You guys start a 的洞穴都是逆流而上。如果
fire in the study room, and I’ll follow the 顺流而下，克雷也不清楚河
smoke back to you. 水从格斗室流去再后面会
Then I’ll know the entrance is nearby, 流向哪里。格斗室的洞顶与
and once I find it, I can let you all out.” 河流的距离随着流水越来
Glory’s eyes glinted. “I can think of a 越短，直到河流彻底埋进地
few scrolls I’d like to burn.” 底。克雷从来没有探索过这
Clay grinned at the shocked expression 条流淌在格斗室底下的河
on Starflight’s face. “Yeah, me too,” he said. 流，他也从来不好奇这条河
“Throw The Sluglike Qualities of 的去向。
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Appendix
MudWings on there and think of me.” 明显海澜之前下去打

“Stop joking about this,” Tsunami cried. 探过。
“Clay, you can’t go, and that’s final. You’ll “你知道这条河流到
almost certainly die.” 哪个方向吗？”克雷问。
“But Glory will die if I don’t,” he said. “不清楚啊，但是我看
“Right? There’s no other way.” 到岩壁有个缺口，但它很
Tsunami growled and thrashed her whole 小，比主厅下面那个更小，”
body, straining against the chains. The heavy 海澜说，“我担心钻进去后
links pressed into the scales of her neck, and 回不来了，所以没有尝试
she stopped with a cough. 过。但这条河肯定流向某一
个地方。”
“我们可不可以通过
这条河游出去呀？”他问。
“‘我们’就算了，”
她说，“只有我能。”
“还有我呢。”克雷说。
她摇摇头。“克雷，你
不能去。那边的情况我们谁
都不了解，而你又不能屏气
超过一个小时，这样的话你
有可能淹死在水里的。而且
我可以在暗里看见东西，你
在水里游着游着连撞到什
么东西了都不知道。所以这
种任务必须由身为海翼龙
的我来完成。”
“而且即使你成功逃
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“Wait, you won’t be able to see the 出去了，星飞说，“我们又

smoke until daylight,” Sunny said worriedly. 怎么能取得联系呢？怎么
“Won’t Kestrel come for Glory before then?” 从外面找到回洞穴的路
Clay’s hopes dropped like a boulder in 呢？”
his stomach. He hadn’t thought of that. He “天窗啊，”克雷终于依
might not make it back in time — it might 靠自己想出了一个法子，“你
all be for nothing. 们就在学习室里生火，我通过
Then Glory smiled, and her scales 烟雾就能判断出你们的位置
shifted into a warm, rosy pink. “I know 了，自然也能找到附近的入口。
what to do,” she said. “Starflight’s method.” 然后你们就可以得到解救了。”
“Act like a lump and hope no 葛萝瑞眼眸里闪现出光
one notices you?” Tsunami said 芒。“烧哪些书我都已经想好
sarcastically. 了。”
“Hey!” Starflight protested. 看到星飞脸上大惊失色的
“Exactly,” Glory said. She crouched 表情，克雷笑出了声。“啊，
down to the floor. Slowly, as if the stone 我也一样，”他说，“帮我把
were eating her alive, grays and browns and 《泥翼龙的鼻涕虫特性研究》
blacks crept over her scales. All her beautiful 这卷书烧掉吧。”
colors faded away. The shadows and crags “别不正经嬉皮笑脸的，”
behind her appeared perfectly reproduced, as 海澜说，“克雷，不用讨论了
if the dragonets were seeing right through 你是千万不能去的，去的话很
her. 可能回不来了。”
She closed her eyes and vanished. “Wow,” “但我不做这件事情，葛
Sunny said faintly. “I mean, I knew you could, 萝瑞就得死啊，”他说，“你
but … I’d never . . .” 说我说的对吗？我别无选择。”
“The guardians don’t know I can do this.” 海澜嘶叫着全身都在颤
They all jumped as Glory’s voice came from 抖，将铁链拉得更紧了。粗重
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Appendix
the top of a stalagmite. “I guess it’s a good 的铁环紧紧勒着她的脖子，最

thing we never studied RainWings after all. I’ll 后她不动了，咳嗽了几声。
find a corner and hide. You don’t even have to “慢着，可是药要等到天
risk the river, Clay. I could just stay like this.” 亮你们才能看到黑烟啊，”沙
“For how long?” Starflight said. “Until 霓担忧道，“那个时候红隼是
you starve or one of them catches you 不是已经到了？”
accidentally?” 克雷心情跌落谷底。他之
“Tsunami was right earlier,” Clay said. 前没考虑完全。可能他根本就
“We do need to get out of here, as soon as 不能在对的时间返回，或许这
we can.” 一切都是白忙活一场。
Sunny gave Tsunami an unhappy look. 葛萝瑞微微一笑，这时温
“Why didn’t anybody tell me?” she asked, 馨的粉红色又成为她身体的颜
but no one answered her. 色。“我想到了，就按照星飞
“All right,” said Glory with a sigh. Her 所说的做。”
green eyes appeared again, halfway across “你就纹丝不动，然后大
the cave. She was looking straight at Clay. 家都找不到你的隐身术吗？”
“Do what you want, as long as you’re not 海澜讽刺。
doing it only for me. I’ll stay out of the way “喂！”星飞极力反对。
until Clay comes back to get us.” “说对啦。”葛萝瑞说。
Clay felt like the rosy pink color was 她趴在地面上。慢慢地，她的
rising up through his scales now. Glory trusted 身体逐渐呈现出灰色、黑色还
him. She believed he could do this. 有褐色，仿佛她正一点点地被
He could save her. He could save all of 岩壁吞进去。最后，她不再是
them. He just had to survive the river first. 那头五颜六色的龙，而是完整
呈现出暗黑花纹的石壁，大家
都直接透过她的身体看向了后
面。
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她闭上眼睛，大家彻底看
不见她了。
“哇，”沙霓惊讶地自顾
自说道，“我知道你能做到，
不过居然这么神奇……”
“守护龙还不知道我有这
个本领，”葛萝瑞的声音从一
根石柱上方飘过来，把大家都
吓到了，“他们对雨翼龙都没
有深入的了解，这对我们来说
挺好的。我到时候就躲在洞里
的某个角落。克雷，你无需犯
险进入到那条河流，我就这么
一直待着不动。”
“那你要躲多久呢？”星
飞说，“是等到饿死还是等到
他们不小心发现了你？”
“海澜之前的想法是对
的，”克雷说，“我们要逃离
这里，越快越好。”
沙霓用力瞪着海澜，满脸
不高兴。“为什么你们都不告
诉我？”她问道，但是大家都
沉默不语。
“那按你们说的做吧。”葛
萝瑞叹气。
葛萝瑞绿色的眼睛浮现在
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Appendix
洞穴的正中央，她直勾勾盯着
克雷，说道:“别专门为了我一
个，其余事情你自己决定。我
就一直保持这样等到你回来解
救我们。”
克雷也感觉到那鲜艳的粉
红色好像浮现在了他的身上。
葛萝瑞相信他可以完成任务。
他能拯救她的生命，能拯
救大家。
只要他先从河里活着出
去。
CHAPTER 7 第七章
“I hate this,” Tsunami called softly. “I “我讨厌这个东西，”海

hate this a lot.” She beat her wings against the 澜轻声地说，“真的很烦!”她
chains that trapped her. 用翅膀拍打着拴住自己的铁
“I don’t love it either,” said Glory’s voice. 链。
“Shhhh,” Starflight scolded from the “我也不喜欢。”葛萝瑞
riverbank. Clay stood in the shallows, 也附和。
shivering as the icy water washed over his “别嚷嚷了!”星飞一脸不
talons. He wished he could take fire with him 耐烦。矗立在浅水里，克雷的
underwater. He wished he knew what he was 的爪子浸在冰冷的河水里，冷
getting into. He really, really wished he didn’t 得打寒颤。要是能带把火把到
have to go alone. 水下去就好了，他真切希望自
But he had to do this. He glanced at the 己预见后面会遇到的事情，同
corner of the cave where Glory had 时他也希望遇到困难时，他不
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disappeared. 是孤身一人。
“Are we sure this is the only way?” 然而他不得不去做。他看
Sunny asked, splashing the river with her tail. 向葛萝瑞隐身的那个地方。
“I bet I could think of some more ideas, with “真的没有别的选择了
a little more time.” 吗？”沙霓无奈的尾巴在水里
“We don’t have any more time,” Clay 搅了搅，“让我再想想，肯定
said. 还有其他办法。”
“Follow the current,” Starflight said to “来不及了。”克雷说。
Clay. “Don’t leave the river. If it goes out into “沿着水流游，”星飞对
the world anywhere, the current should take 克雷说，“如果这条河流与外
you there.” 界相连，那就会跟着河流去到
If, Clay thought. 那个地方。”
“Stop and rest anytime you find a place 克雷心想要是真的就好
to breathe,” Starflight went on. “If you can’t 了。
find a place where the river surfaces, don’t “一遇到能停下来喘气的
panic or you’ll run out of air faster.” 地方，就赶紧休息一会儿，”
Clay felt like he was panicking already. 星飞接着嘱咐，“要是在一段
When he thought about swimming into inky 时间内都没有浮出水面呼吸的
blackness with no idea if he’d ever breathe 机会，一定不要慌乱，否则空
again, his whole body tightened with fear. 气很快就会被耗尽。”
He felt the brush of wing tips next to 克雷已经感觉到慌张了。
his and turned. The river eddied around 一想到要钻进暗无边际的地下
the blurry outline of Glory beside him. 河，也不知道能不能再次自由
“Go hide,” he whispered. 畅快地呼吸，他就恐惧到浑身
“Thank you, Clay,” she said quietly. 麻木。
“I’ll never admit I said this, but … I want 他感觉到身上有其他龙
you to know I would never have made it 的翅膀抚摸过，别过身子好像
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Appendix
through the last six years without the four of 看到了旁边葛萝瑞身影，河水

you.” 流经她脚下然后绕着继续向
“Same here,” Clay said. Growing up 前流动。
under the mountain without Glory, Sunny, “快好好躲着。”他小声
Tsunami, and Starflight would have been too 说。
miserable to bear. “非常感谢，”她说地很
“Me too,” Starflight said. 平静，“我从来没有说过这种
Sunny nodded. She twined her tail in 话，不过……我在这里还是想
Glory’s and touched one of Clay’s talons. 告诉你们，如果没有你们的陪
“Good luck,” said Glory. She stepped 伴，我都不知道该怎么熬过这
out of the river and melted back into the 六年。”
shadows. “我也是。”克雷说。如
“Be really, really careful, Clay,” 果没有葛萝瑞、沙霓、海澜和
Tsunami said. Her chains were taut around 星飞的陪伴，我想生活在这片
her legs and neck as she leaned toward them. 山底应该会非常痛苦万分。
“Come back if you have to. Don’t keep going “我也这么想。”星飞说。
if it’s too dangerous.” 沙霓也点点头，与葛萝瑞
“Don’t you dare die,” Sunny added, 的尾巴互相缠绕，还握住了克
flinging her forearms around his neck and 雷的爪子。星飞拉了拉他的爪
beating his wings with hers. 子。
“You all stay safe, too,” Clay said. He “祝你一帆风顺。”葛萝
took a deep breath, then another. “I’ll be 瑞说道。然后，她回到岸边用
rolling away that boulder before you know 了隐身术。
it.” He couldn’t delay any longer. He nodded “克雷切记小心。”海澜
to his friends and dove into the river. 靠近他们说话的时候，环绕在
Swimming helped warm him a little, but 腿上和脖子上的铁链栓得更
his scales still felt crusted with ice by the 紧了，
“行不通的话就回来吧，
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time he’d made it down the tunnel to the 别以身犯险。”

battle cave. He swam to the far wall, where “没有我的允许你不许
the rock sloped down into the water. He 死。”沙霓又多嘴了一句，拍
floated for a moment, feeling the current 拍他的翅膀，搂住他的脖子。
tugging him. Then he inhaled and dove “你们一定要注意安全
down. 啊。”克雷说过之后，深吸了
By the flickering light of the torches 一口又一口气，“我会在你们
above, he could see the patch of wall that was 不经意间就把洞口的巨石移
darker than the rest. Tsunami was right; this 开了。”没时间了，他向他的
hole was smaller than the gap to the 朋友们点头示意了一下，一头
guardians’ cave. Well, it was flatter, but 游进了水里。
wider, too, more like a snarling dragon 在水里游泳给了他身体
mouth, complete with sharp outcroppings like 几分温暖。但当他沿着通道进
teeth. He couldn’t see anything but darkness 到了格斗室里的时候，慢慢感
on the other side. 觉到鳞甲上面好像结了一层
Clay reached one forearm into the hole 冰。他游向格斗室里另一面更
and felt nothing but emptiness. 远的墙壁，那里的岩石非常
Dark water rushed past him. 低，低到已经埋到了水里。水
He arrowed to the surface and took the 流推动着他，他顺着漂了一小
longest, deepest breath of his life, hoping it 段距离后，用力深吸了一口气
wouldn’t be his last. The water closed over 之后钻进了水里。
his head in an awful, final kind of way. He 借着格斗室里透进来的
tried not to think about that. 微弱火光，他发现石壁上有一
With a few swift kicks, he swam back to 处地方颜色要更加暗沉。看来
the hole and grabbed the rocks on either side 海澜说对了，守护龙洞穴的底
to brace himself. He folded his wings tightly 下的缺口都比这个要大。这个
to his body and snaked his head through the 缺口相对要更低些，但延伸的
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Appendix
hole. His shoulders followed, then his wings, 宽度要更长，样子就像一只龙

scraping painfully against the stone teeth. His 大张着嘴巴，牙齿就是那一排
front talons found a lip of rock ahead of him 凸出来的石头。克雷趴在洞口
and he seized it, pulling himself forward. 向里面望去，眼前尽是一片黑
He felt his shoulders slip into open space 暗。
just as his haunches got stuck. 他爪子伸到洞里，也是什
么都没有摸到，黑暗中，河水
流经他身旁，滔滔不绝。
他急速浮出水面然后做
了个深呼吸。这是他一生中吸
得最深，最长的一口气，祈祷
这不是他生命中的最后一次
呼吸。河水漫过他的头顶，让
他感到恐惧，却又像是一场诀
别。他极力克制自己不去胡思
乱想。
他敏捷地划了几下水，回
到水底那个洞口，然后抓紧两
旁的岩石使自己保持平衡。他
将翅膀紧紧地贴在身上，先将
头探进洞里，紧接着是肩部和
翅膀。翅膀被尖石刮得疼痛无
比。他用前爪在外面摸索，摸
到了一块石头，于是抓紧这块
石头借力将自己拉出去。
克雷的肩成功过了缺口，
然而肚子却过不去。他的后腿
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His back claws scrabbled for a grip. He 寻找借力不断向前蹬着，同时

tried to flatten himself to the rock, squishing 尽量让自己向下低头，想让自
himself sideways. He wriggled as hard as he 己变得扁平一些以便通过那
could, remembering Starflight’s 个空隙。他全身都在晃动着，
instructions. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t — 回忆星飞对他的嘱咐：冷静，
He popped loose so suddenly that he 千万要冷静。
spun forward, head over tail, and had to flail 忽即他感到一阵松动，摔
around with his wings to straighten himself 了一连串跟头。他的翅膀条件
out. As he did, he felt stone brushing his wing 反射般的向外伸展不断拿拍
tips on either side. Cautiously he reached out 打着以便保持平衡。就在这
into the darkness. 时，他察觉双翅再次触碰到了
Rock pressed closely around him. The 岩壁，在一片黑暗当中他谨慎
river was narrow here and the current was 向前试探性地走了过去。
strong. It carried him forward even when he 他被包围在石壁之间。河
wasn’t trying to swim. Everything was pitch 水狭窄，水流湍急，带着他向
dark. 前急冲，根本不用他用力。他
He tried paddling up to find the surface 被笼罩在一片黑暗当中。
of the river, but his head barked painfully 他试着把头探出来，上方
against a rock ceiling. There was no air here, 的岩石把他撞得疼痛无比。他
only a tight channel filled by the river. He 在这里没法呼吸，有的只是一
wasn’t even sure there was space to turn 条窄道，还是一条河。他都无
around if he wanted to go back. 法保证他能在这么狭窄的空
But I don’t want to go back. I can’t go 间转过身然后沿原路返回。
back. “可是我不想回去，也不
Clay forced himself to swim, kicking 能回去。”克雷心想。
his back legs, and waving his wings as much 克雷逼自己伸展后腿，挥
as he could in the cramped space. Water 动翅膀，在这片狭窄拥挤的河
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Appendix
gurgled in his ears, as if it were laughing at 道空间内用力向前游动。水声

his efforts. His heartbeat seemed louder than 灌入他的耳朵，仿佛在嘲讽他
he’d ever noticed before. 不自量力。他从未有过这么急
He didn’t know how long he swam 促响动的心跳声。
through the dark, twisting channel, but after 他已经记不清楚在这个
a while his chest began to hurt. He had never 昏暗曲折的河流中游动了多
actually tried holding his breath for an entire 长时间，他从来没有尝试过憋
hour before. The dragonets only knew he 气满整整一个小时。不过那些
could because that’s what it said about 小龙们相信他有这样的本事，
MudWings in a couple of scrolls. What if it 因为有几卷书写过泥翼龙拥
took practice? What if only full-grown 有这样的本领。如果需要长时
MudWings could do it? What if his lungs 间的练习才能拥有这样的能
were still too small? 力呢？如果这是成年泥翼龙
What if he drowned down here, alone, 才拥有的能力呢？如果他的
and his friends never knew what happened to 肺还不够强大到支撑那样的
him, and Kestrel killed Glory, and he really 压力呢？
was the most useless dragonet in Pyrrhia? 如果他孤零零淹死在那
I will not panic. 昏暗地底的河道里，朋友们将
Clay climbed toward the surface for 永远不知道他遭遇了什么，葛
the hundredth time, setting his jaw 萝瑞肯定也难逃红隼的杀害，
stubbornly. Still only solid rock above him. 这也证实了自己确实是整个
But — it seemed like the rock was slanting 庇利亚最没用的小龙。
upward. Was it? He reached his wings up to “我要稳住别慌。”
brush against the stone and swam faster. 克雷紧咬牙关，他已经无
The channel was definitely getting 数次向水面游去。可即使这
wider. He couldn’t feel the walls on either 样，他的头顶除了岩石其他别
side of him anymore. Suddenly the rock 无所有，但那岩石似乎在向高
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above him disappeared as well. The strength 处倾斜。他还是不太敢确定，

of the current dropped away. It felt as if 他用展开的双翅摸了摸两边
he’d swum out into a wide-open pool. 的岩石，加速向前游去。
Clay beat his wings, rising up and up 他确定水道变得越来越
through the dark water, his tail lashing to drive 宽。两边的岩石变得越来越
him forward. He was deeper than he’d 远，他用双翅也摸不到了。忽
realized, far below the surface. 然间，头顶的岩石消失了，水
But — were those stars above him? He 流也在突然间慢了下来。他好
nearly sucked in a mouthful of water in 像游到了一个开阔的池子里。
excitement. Could he have made it outside 克雷用力拍打着翅膀，这里一
already? Something was shining overhead. He 片昏暗，在河水中他只有不停
could see small spots of light, like the night 向上浮，尾巴在不停摆动在后
sky through the hole. 面形成推力带着他朝前面游
His head burst out of the water. Clay 去。他完全没想到自己在那么
yelped with glee as he breathed in and out, in 深的水里，离水面还有很远的
and out, grateful for air like he never had been 距离。
before. 可那些是不是星星啊？
But his voice echoed back to him, 他太激动了差点呛了一口水。
bouncing off cave walls. This air didn’t 他已经游到外面了吗？他的
smell like the sky, and he couldn’t hear 头顶上空有东西在一闪一闪
anything beyond the stillness of rock and 发出光亮。眼前的这些小光点
the fading echoes of his own cry. 和他以前他看到的天窗里夜
He floated on the surface of the pool. The 景有几分相似。
current was still moving sluggishly 突然间他的头猛地探出
somewhere below his talons. All was darkness 了水面。克雷欢呼雀跃着，自
around him except for those points of light 由自在地呼吸，他以前从来不
overhead. 知道空气这么可贵。
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Glowworms. He was still under the 他的叫喊声在洞穴里激

mountain, in a cave full of thousands of 起一片回响。这里的空气并不
glowworms. 清新，四周一片死寂，只有他
The eerie little insects pulsed with a 自己的叫喊声在渐渐消散。
greenish light. Glowing tendrils hung from 他漂浮在水池里，河水趾
several of them, like a shimmering star 爪间缓缓流动。周围一片黑
curtain far above him and around him in the 暗，只有星星点点的亮光。
pool’s reflection. By their dim light, he could 发光虫。
faintly see the distant arch of cave walls. 他还在山底深处，在一个
He wasn’t outside, but at least he was 聚着成千上万发光虫的岩洞
breathing. He followed Starflight’s advice, 里。
resting for as long as he dared. It was so cold 小虫子可奇怪了，发着一
in the water that he couldn’t feel the tip of 闪一闪的绿光，其中有几只虫
his tail or the outer ridge of his wings. He 子的触须还在闪烁着，就像是
tried breathing a spurt of fire up into the air, 一幅布满星星的帘子，高挂在
but his chest was too frozen to produce more 他的头顶上，又在水里投下无
than a flicker of flame. It was almost more 数光点，围绕着他。在它们淡
than he could bear to make himself duck 淡的光亮里，他隐隐地看到了
under the water again. 远处带有弧度的石壁。
But finally he took another deep breath 原来他还是没有从山底
and dove For a terrible moment he was afraid 出去，不过至少已经可以呼吸
he’d lost the current. He had no idea where 了。他按照星飞的建议，尽可
he’d come in. He had no idea if the river even 能多休息一会儿，养精蓄锐。
left this cave. What if this wide, silent pool was 水里太冷了，尾巴尖已经没有
the end? Could he make it back to his friends, 知觉了，翅膀也渐渐传来麻木
fighting that strong current the whole way? 的感觉。他想试试能不能成功
Then he realized that when he floated, 喷火，但寒气聚集在胸膛里
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there was something carrying him along. It 面，只能喷出几朵小火苗。他

was weaker, but the current was still there. 再也无法忍受这种程度的寒
He spread his wings wide and stretched his 冷，及其不情愿地第二次潜入
tail down, letting himself drift like a leaf until 到水中。
he was sure which direction it went. 尽管如此，他还是跳进了
河里，在此之前他还做了个深
呼吸。
有一瞬间他非常害怕找
不回之前的那条河。他理不清
自己是怎么来到这个水池的，
也不清楚这个洞穴里面还能
不能找到出去的办法。万一走
到这个死寂的水池子就再也
不能往前了呢？他还能逆着
河流无畏往前冲与朋友携手
共进吗？
过了一会儿他发现只要
自己浮着不动，就会有一股力
量带着他走。虽然这力量越来
越微弱，但水流一直都还在。
他张开双翅，舒展尾巴，让自
己像片树叶似的漂着，直至弄
清了水流方向。
借着发光虫的微亮，远在
洞穴的另一面，他找了河水的
出口。洞穴顶部离他还有很长
一段距离，这段距离可以让他
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On the far side of the cave, in the dim 自由地边游边呼吸。

light of the glowworms, he found a 克雷伸展着翅膀向前游
passageway where the river left the pool. 去。这里安静地有些许诡异，
The ceiling was still far above him. He could 他的头顶是飞来飞去的发光
swim and breathe for a while longer. 虫，闪闪发光，就像千百万只
Clay beat his wings to push himself 眼睛看着他，一闪一闪亮晶
forward through the water. It was peaceful 晶。但把包围在没有空气无法
and creepy at the same time, with all those 呼吸的石壁里和漫无边际的
star-worms glowing overhead like a million 黑暗中，他还是宁愿呆在这
burning eyes. But it was much preferable to 里。
solid rock, complete darkness, and no air. 过了一段时间水流的越
After a while, the current started to pick 来越快。克雷的翅膀触碰到了
up again. Clay’s wings brushed against rocks 水里的岩石。发光虫在慢慢减
jutting out of the river, and the glowworms 少，慢慢飞远，他笼罩在一片
were fewer and farther between. The 昏暗当中，就像红隼在格斗训
darkness seemed to press down like Kestrel 练时他扑过来一般。
crushing him during battle training. 耳边传来一声声吼叫。
And then he heard the roaring. 克雷侧身聆听。这是龙发
Clay’s ears pricked up. Was it dragons? 出的声音吗？他第一反应是
His first thought was that he was hearing 红隼在吼，因为她发现了葛萝
Kestrel, roaring in fury as she discovered 瑞和克雷消失了。但他又清楚
she had lost Glory and Clay. But he was too 这里太远了，是不可能听到那
far away to hear anything like that. 么远地方传来的声音。
Then he started to worry. 于是他不由得担心起来。
What would Kestrel do when she found Clay 克雷和葛萝瑞逃走这件事情
and Glory missing? Would she punish the 被红隼发现之后她有作何反
others — especially Tsunami, all chained up 应？他们会受到惩罚吗？他
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and unable to fight back? 最担心的就是海澜。她是不是

He was so distracted worrying about his 要把他们都捆起来好无力还
friends that it took him a while to notice that 手？
the roaring was getting louder. Suddenly he 他一门心思都在担心朋
bashed into a boulder sticking out of the 友，后知后觉才发现，此刻越
river. Reeling with pain, Clay spun in the 来越响的咆哮声，和越发湍急
water, flailing for a hold on something. 的水流包围着他。
He crashed into another rock, bounced 他猛地扎扎实实撞到水中
off, and slammed into yet another. The river 的一块石头，撞得他疼痛难忍，
was going so fast now that he couldn’t stop 在水里止不住来回踱步，在一
himself. He was being dragged toward the 片慌乱当中他想着要不抓住点
roaring at top speed. 什么。
With a jarring shock, he hit a spur of stone 旁边还有另一块岩石他也
and dug in with all his talons. 撞了上去，弹射开后又撞碰到
The rushing water whipped past him, 下一块。河水汹涌，他根本就
seizing his tail and his wings with icy, 停下来，被急流带着朝那咆哮
desperate fingers. Clay fought his way out 声源冲去。
of the river until finally he stood, gasping, 忽然间一下猛烈的震动，
on bare rock. 他撞到一块尖石上，急忙用全
He swept his tail around, trying to feel 部的爪子紧紧地抠住这块石
how big a rock he was standing on. It was big 头。河水从他身旁流过，仿佛
— it stretched farther than he could reach. He 在用冷冰的手指，疯狂地撕扯
edged forward until he was sure he was 着他的尾巴和翅膀。克雷竭尽
standing on the bank of the river. A slope 全力才从河里爬出来，千辛万
beside him rose away from the water. 苦爬到一块光滑的岩石上站稳
He could feel a small trickle of a stream 了，大口喘着粗气。
bubbling down the slope, joining the river 他用尾巴试探性地摸了摸
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near his talons. Clay dropped his head, trying 周围的环境，估测一下身下岩

to think. Now that he was out of the water, 石的大小。他的尾巴摸不到岩
the cold was penetratingly deep. It coiled and 石的边际，应该挺大的。他慢
twisted around his bones. 慢向前挪动，直到可以确定自
He coughed, hoping to summon a 己此刻就在岸上，然后躺在一
flame, but it was no use. Some dragons 片斜坡上。
carried fire within them always — a 他的爪子似乎感觉到斜坡
SkyWing or a NightWing could blast flames 上有水流经过，流经他的身体
anytime. SeaWings and IceWings could 然后流入河水里。克雷埋头努
never breathe fire. But others, like 力理清思绪。到岸上之后他感
MudWings, needed the right conditions — 觉到更冷了，这已经不是肉体
warmth most of all. 上的寒冷了，而是浸入骨头的
Remembering all his fire-breathing 寒意。
failures, Clay could hear Kestrel’s scornful 他咳嗽了几下，想喷出一
voice hissing about what a disappointment he 团火焰，然而以失败告终。有
was. Not this time, he thought. I will figure 些龙与生俱来喷火能力，就像
this out. 天翼龙和夜翼龙在任何条件下
He could guess what the roaring was, 都能喷火，而海翼龙和冰翼龙
although he had never seen a waterfall. And 就做不到。又比如泥翼龙这些
he certainly didn’t want to experience one 其他种族，温度对于他们来说
for the first time in total darkness. Even if 就是喷火的必要条件。
he could fly over it, without his sight he’d 想起以前多次喷火失败的
be sure to run into something and crash. 经历，克雷好像又听到了红隼
But he couldn’t leave the river — could 嘶吼着责骂他，对他失望透顶，
he? “这一次不会了，我一定会成
Clay set one claw in the trickling stream 功的。”他心想。
and was surprised to find it was a little 虽然之前没有见过瀑布，
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warmer than the river. Where did it come 他大概猜出了那咆哮声是什

from? Up … surely up meant closer to the 么。他非常确定自己可不想在
surface and the outside world. 一片漆黑中就莽撞地探索这片
He inhaled, hoping to catch the scent of 瀑布。尽管飞越瀑布对他来说
the outside. But the only faint smell was of 不是什么难事，但如果什么都
rotten eggs. 看不清就行动肯定会碰壁然后
He set his jaw. The stream had to lead 跌落下去。
somewhere. Somewhere not over a waterfall. 可是，他又没办法离开这
Clay spread his wings to feel the cave walls 条河，绝无可能。
and crept up the stream, slipping now and 克雷将爪子伸进水中，竟
then on the slick stone. 发现这里的水温比河水高些。
Soon he felt a ledge ahead of him. He 可是这水的源头在哪儿呢？在
climbed over it and splashed into a deeper 头顶上方吗？“上面”就代表
pool. The rotten-egg smell was much 着接近地表，外面的世界就在
stronger up here. He tried to wade forward, 那不远的地方。
and the water crept up his legs. Suddenly he 他用力吸了一口气，多希
felt a stinging pain slice through the softer 望能呼吸到来自外面的空气，
scales of his underbelly. With a hiss, he 但却嗅到了一股臭蛋的味道。
scrambled back up on the ledge. 他咬紧牙槽。沿着小溪走
His wings caught on something sticky 一定可以走到一个不需要经过
overhead, and he felt the same sharp pain 瀑布的地方。克雷张开翅膀，
shivering through his tendons. He pulled his 扶着石壁，踩着滑溜溜的岩石，
wings in close to his body, quickly, but the 小心翼翼沿着溪流向上走。
stickiness came with it and suckered onto 很快，他摸到前方有一处
his scales like enormous, globby leeches. It 暗礁。爬过礁石后，他踩进了
felt like the poison in Dune’s tail stabbing 一个比小溪更深的池子里。这
him in a thousand places, dissolving his skin 里的臭蛋味儿更加浓烈了。他
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from the inside out. 试着往前走了几步，水漫到他

Clay let out an agonized yell and tried to 的腿上。突然间，下腹部的软
stumble back down the slope to the river. But 鳞间仿佛被针扎了似的疼。他
he’d lost the feel of the stream under his 嘶地痛叫了一声，踉跄着退回
claws. He was stumbling blind over bare 到礁石上。
rocks. Frantic to escape the pain, he lunged 他的翅膀沾到了头顶的黏
toward the sound of the waterfall. 糊糊的东西，剧痛无比，浑身
His head collided with something 颤抖，这痛感渗入到他的肌理
hard that knocked him to the cave floor. 之中。他缩回翅膀紧紧贴着身
As he lost consciousness, his last thought 子，浑身都像针扎那样，像巨
was, I failed them. 大而黏湿的水蛭钻进了鳞甲，
好似沙丘尾巴上流出的毒液刺
进了他身体的每一寸地方，彻
底腐蚀着他的皮肉。
克雷发出了痛苦的尖叫
声，他想沿路返回到地下河里，
但那条小溪又不见了踪影。他
浑浑噩噩思绪涣散走在光秃秃
的礁石上，只想这痛感赶紧消
失，于是他快速靠近那边瀑布
发出的声音。
忽然间一个坚硬的物体撞
上了他的头，他就这么倒在了
洞穴里面。
在还剩最后一丝知觉的那一瞬
间，他脑海里想到的是：我让
他们失望了。
CHAPTER 8 第八章
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Freezing water splashed over Clay’s 冰冷的水花泼在克雷的

head. He woke up with a gasp as the rest of 头上，他清醒过来，随即倒
his body was plunged into the river. Strong 吸一口凉气，发现自己全身
talons gripped his shoulders, shoving him 泡在水里，一双强有力的爪
under the water. 子抓住了他的肩膀，在水下
He thrashed, terrified, and the current 推动着他。
nearly dragged him away. The other dragon 他浑身颤栗，扑棱着起
yanked his head into the air and shouted, 身，强劲的湍流差点儿就把
“Quit struggling! I’m saving you!” 他卷走了。另一头龙揪着他
Clay went limp and let himself be 的脑袋，抬出水面，以严厉
shoved under again. He felt the sticky poison 的语气对他说：“别动！我
washing from his scales, although the pain 是在救你！”
lingered. As his panic died down, memory 克雷只好放松下来，随
clicked on. He lunged back to the surface. 意对方怎么摆弄自己。他感
“Tsunami!” he yelped. He tried to wrap 觉到水流在慢慢冲刷洗净鳞
his wings around her, flapping and splashing 甲上的黏稠毒物，但痛感却
in the dark. 依旧清晰。慌乱心情平复下
Her claws dug into the spines along 来后，慢慢恢复了理智，他
his back. “Seriously, Clay, stop moving!” 扑腾着回到了水面。
She whacked his tail back into the water “海澜！”他欢声雀跃
with her own. “I don’t know what this 着，想冲过去拥抱她，舞动
white stuff is, but it smells awful, and I 着的双翅在黑暗中拍起来无
think it’s trying to dissolve your scales. 数水花。海澜死死地抓住他
You stay in the water until it’s all gone.” 的后脊梁。“严肃一点儿，
She moved his claws to the rock and 克雷，别乱动！”她用尾巴
helped him hang on against the fierce 用力将克雷的尾巴按到水
current while she poured more water over 里，“鬼知道这些白色的东
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his head. He strained his eyes, trying to see 西是什么，闻起来巨恶心，

her, or even a black shadow that might be 我推测它会腐蚀你的鳞甲。
her, but it was too dark. He clung to the 你要这样一直泡在水里，用
feeling of her cold, wet scales against his. 水来洗干净你尾巴上面的东
She was really here. 西。”
“How did you get free?” he asked 海澜用爪子抓住岩石，
through chattering teeth. They had to shout 以便扶着他不被激流卷走，
to be heard over the roaring waterfall. 还一边用水浇在克雷的头
“Fire,” Tsunami said. “I realized, if 上。克雷费力张开眼睛，想
Kestrel’s flames could merge the chains 看清她的模样，哪怕影子也
together, maybe more fire would break them 接受。可是这里黑的离谱，
apart. She knew I couldn’t do it, and as usual 他只能通过她贴着自己湿冷
she figured we wouldn’t help each other, 的鳞甲的感觉，推断出来那
because that’s not ‘dragon nature’ or whatever. 就是海澜。
It took Sunny and Starflight together to get “你是怎么逃出来
their fire hot enough, but they blasted one of 的？”他冷得发抖，牙齿打
the links until it melted. 颤。旁边瀑布水声轰轰作响，
And then I followed you, as fast as I 他们要用尽全力大声吼叫才
could.” 能听清楚对方讲话。
Clay rested his head on the rock by her “用火啊。”海澜说道，
talons. It felt like the cracks between his “我后面突然想到，红隼既然
scales were singing high-pitched arias of 可以用火烧化铁然后把铁链两
pain. “Well,” he said, “as you can see, it’s 端连接到在一起，那我们应该
going great so far. I was just about to save 可以用火把它们烧化断开。她
the day.” 自以为我没有能力用火，还认
“You would have,” Tsunami said. 为我们不会互相帮助。她天真
“I’m sure you would’ve woken up soon 认为互相帮助不符合‘龙的天
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and made it to the river on your own.” 性’。想到这里，沙霓和星飞

She batted one of his wings lightly with 一起合力用足够高温度的火喷
hers. 向铁链，铁链才断掉了。然后
Clay wasn’t sure of that at all. But he 我就以最快的速度来追你了。
wasn’t about to add “whining” to the list of 克雷一脸沮丧，头贴着岩
things wrong with him. 壁，身子挨着海澜的爪子。他
“Did you see the glowworms?” he asked 全身鳞甲间每处好像都高声唱
instead. “Kind of cool, right?” “Oh, I can beat 着悲苦的曲调。“好吧，”他
that.” A moment passed, and then Tsunami’s 说，“正如你所见到的，我多
stripes began to glow along her wings and tail. 多棒呀，我就要成功啦。”
She even turned on the whorls of light along “你可以的，”海澜说，
her snout. “我保证，你要不了多久就会
Dimly, the cave took shape around 好的，重新走到河里去。”她
them. Clay had never been so happy to see 轻轻地拍了拍他的翅膀。
anything in his life. 克雷自己却一点儿都不确
“Thanks,” he said. “It seems kind of 定，不过，他并不打算在他的
unfair. You guys can see in the dark 失误清单上再加一条“自怨自
— it’s the rest of us who 艾”。
actually need glowing scales.” “你看到发光虫了吗？”
Tsunami ducked her head in an odd, 他问了个其他问题，“好酷!”
embarrassed way. “Well, they’re not meant “哈，这又没什么好稀奇
to help us see,” she said. 的？”没过一会儿，海澜全身
Clay stretched his legs and tail under the 都亮了起来，从她的翅膀一直
water. The goop on his scales was gone, but 亮到尾巴上的条纹，就连鼻子
the stinging was still there, battling the 部位也出现了一个个弯弯绕绕
freezing numbness caused by the river. 的的亮点。
“Really?” he said, trying to take his mind off 洞里的环境开始出现在他
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the pain. “Then why do you glow?” 们眼前，虽然有点模糊。但克

“It’s — well —” He’d never seen 雷因为能看到东西而这么兴奋
Tsunami stammer over anything. Now he was 这还是头一次。
really curious. “谢谢你!”他说，“可是
“Tell,” he said, splashing her. 这有点不公平啊。你们再也未
“You know, you’re doing that thing 能本来就能看见东西，这种能
you do,” she said, “where you talk about 发光的鳞片我们才是急需呢。”
something ridiculous so you don’t have to 海澜看向地面，看起来非
deal with something serious.” 常尴尬。“啊这，这可不是专
“Am not!” Clay protested. “You’re the one 门用来照明的。”她说。
who’s ducking the question.” 克雷游在水中，四肢和尾
“All right, fine!” she said with a grimace. 巴都伸展开来。鳞甲间的粘液
“Glowing in the dark — Webs says it’s to 已经清洗干净了，但在河水里
attract other SeaWings. That’s how we choose 还是能非常清晰感觉到钻心的
our partners, or whatever.” She shoved his 疼痛。“那你们发光还有什么
head under the water again, and he came up 用途？”
sputtering. “Now aren’t you sorry you asked?” “这个嘛……”海澜说着
He was, a little bit. The idea of Tsunami 断断续续。海澜这么犹豫窘迫
leaving them for another SeaWing with cool 的的样子他还是第一次见，克
glowing scales made Clay feel extra-blobby 雷更加好奇了。
and drab. “快说嘛。”他用水朝她
泼过去。
“这个嘛，”她说，“你
故意说些其他乱七八糟的事
情，逃避了重要的问题。”
“才不是！”克雷否认，
“你才是在逃避话题呢。”
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“好吧，”她做了个鬼脸，
“So, we can’t go up the rocks,” he said. “发出夜光——可以吸引异性
“What do we do about the waterfall?” He 海翼龙，这是我们这一族求偶
hoped she wouldn’t ask whether his scales 的方法。”说完之后，她把他
still hurt. He just had to tough it out until 的脑袋摁到了水里面，他一口
the pain went away. 气呛到了水连忙挣扎着从水里
She grinned. “We dive right over it!” she 冒出来。“现在你后不后悔问
said. “How high could it be?” “And how many 这个？”
sharp rocks could there be at the bottom?” he 不用问，他是有一点儿后
countered. “I’d like to see what we’re jumping 悔。海澜以后会为了另外一头
off first, please.” 满身鳞甲散发光芒的海翼龙离
“All right, let’s go check it out,” she 开他们的情景在他脑海里浮
said, releasing him and leaping into the 现，克雷就觉得自己非常像个
water. The current whooshed her away, and 胖胖的圆乎乎泥球。
he had to let go of his rock to follow her “看来，我们不能沿着石
quickly, before the light of her 头往上走，”他说，“那怎么
scales disappeared. 才能越过那个瀑布呢？”他希
“Tsunami!” he called. There was no 望她别问自己的鳞甲还疼不
way she could hear him over the roaring 疼，他必须咬紧牙关，忍到它
waterfall. An underwater boulder slammed 消失为止。
into his belly, and he inhaled a mouthful of 她意味深长地笑了一下。
river. Choking and coughing, he paddled “我们要不从这里跳下去！”
after the blurry glow in the distance. 她说，“这个瀑布有多高呢？”
Suddenly the glow vanished, and he “另外，瀑布底下尖锐的岩石
was plunged into darkness again. 多不多呢？”他接着问道，
“我
“TSUNAMI!” he roared. 还是得先搞清楚这些问题，求
A heartbeat later, Clay felt the air 求你了。”
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suddenly yawn wide in front of him. Some “好吧，那我这就去瞧

instinct kicked in, and he lashed out with his 瞧。”说完，海澜放开她一跃
talons and tail. One of his claws caught a 跳了下去。飞流直下的瀑布水
jagged spur of rock, and he flung his front 流带着她飞速下坠，他赶忙也
talons around it just as the rest of him flew 跟着她跳了下去，生怕看不到
out into space. 他身上散发的光芒。
He was dangling over the waterfall. “海澜！”他用尽力气喊
He dug his claws into the rock and hung 出她的名字。然而，这轰隆隆
on for dear life, scrunching his eyes shut even 的水声淹没了他的声音，海澜
though the darkness was dark enough. His 压根就听不到他的叫喊。一块
poison-riddled skin screamed with agony as it 暗礁撞到了他的肚子，他疼得
stretched below his scales. He couldn’t bear 张开了嘴巴喝了一口水，咳嗽
to think of how far Tsunami might have 不止。但他还在用力朝远方若
fallen. He could picture her broken body, 隐若现的光亮游去，。霎时间，
somewhere far below him. . . . 那光点消失不见，黑暗再次向
Something whacked his foot. 他袭来。“海澜！”他拼命大
“Watch out, Clay!” Tsunami’s voice 喊。
teased. “It’s really dangerous! You might stub 随即克雷像是要掉下去了
a claw!” 一般。爪子和尾巴本能地伸了
Clay opened his eyes. 出来，前爪抓住一块突起的岩
The waterfall crashed along beside him, 石，他急忙将它紧紧抱住，整
cascading into a foamy pile of bubbles only a 个身体悬在空中。
short distance below his dangling back claws. 他摇摇晃晃地悬挂在瀑布
Tsunami was splashing and somersaulting in 之上。
the pool, flipping waves at him with her tail. 他用爪子紧紧地扣着岩石
“Hung on tight!” she cried. “Whatever you do, 的空隙，生怕丢了性命，双眼
don’t let go!” “Ha ha ha,” he said. He stirred 紧闭，纵使周围一片乌漆嘛黑。
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the water below him with his tail, checking for 皮肤本就遭遇毒液的腐蚀疼痛
rocks, then let himself drop. The waterfall 万分，此刻在皮肤紧绷的状态
gently battered his head as he resurfaced. “You 下更是火上浇油。他真的太担
knew how short it was,” he said accusingly. 心海澜了，他压根就说不清她
“Maybe,” she said with a grin. “All right, yes. 掉的有多下去。他想象着她掉
I’d just gotten to the edge 到深渊底下摔得粉身碎骨。
when I heard you yell and went back for 忽然，他的脚被拍了一下。
you.” “克雷，你可千万要注意
“Lucky I’m not the type to suffer and 啊！”前方传来海澜的声音，
die in silence,” Clay said. But he couldn’t 充满戏谑的味道，“真的好危
help thinking … What would have 险哟!一不小心你的爪子要被
happened if I hadn’t cried out? What if we 摔断啦！”
had missed each other? 克雷睁开双眼。
“Come on, the river keeps going this 水流在他身边奔腾而下，
way,” Tsunami said. Her webbed feet 涌现出一大片一大片雪白的
swooped through the water, shooting her out 泡沫。这一堆堆的泡沫离着他
in front of him. He followed her through the 悬挂的双腿非常近，海澜欢快
pool into another narrow channel, with rocky 地在水池里翻滚，还用尾巴甩
banks on either side. 起水花向他泼去。
“But —” He cocked his head. His ears “你要抓牢咯！”她吼道，
twitched. “I think — that can’t be all the “不论发生什么都不要松手
roaring, then? Is there more up ahead?” There 啊！”
were weird echoes in these caves. He couldn’t “哈哈！”他尴尬地笑了
tell if he was hearing the roar of the small 几声，尾巴试探性地在水里摸
waterfall magnified, or if there was something 了摸，直到弄清下面的岩石，
else. 然后松手跳进了水里，探出头
Tsunami suddenly spread her wings 来，瀑布水轻轻地抚摸着他的
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and spun to a halt, gazing up at the ceiling. 头。“你早知道了，这瀑布并

“Did you see that?” 没有我们想象的那么高！”
Clay squinted into the darkness. Her “应该是吧，”她说，
“好
luminescent scales didn’t cast light very far; 吧，我承认。我其实那时已经
he couldn’t even see the stalactites that were 到了瀑布边上，听到了你叫我
probably up there. “No.” 之后又回来找你的。”
“It was a bat!” Tsunami excitedly “幸好我不是那种独自
slammed the river with her tail, submerging 忍受痛苦的性格，不然死了也
Clay in a tidal wave of water. 不会有谁知道。”克雷说。但
He came up gasping for air. “A bat? 他还是不由自主去想如果我
Why are we drowning me over a bat?” Once 没有叫你呢？要是我们找不
a bat had blundered in through the sky hole. 到对方呢？
It had flapped pathetically around the study “走吧，水往这边流了。”
cave until Sunny begged Dune to catch it and 海澜说。她带蹼的爪子在水中
set it free. Clay was half convinced that Dune 一划，便嗖的一下游到了他的
had eaten it instead, but at least he’d done it 前面。他跟着她，游到了一条
where Sunny couldn’t see him. 狭窄的河道，两边都是嶙峋的
“Because it must have come from 岩石。
somewhere,” she said. “Bats go outside to “可是，”他抬起头来竖
hunt. So if bats can get in and out, I bet we 耳仔细倾听，“我寻思水声应
can, too. We must be close.” 该不止从刚刚我们那里传来
“Bats are a lot smaller than we are,” Clay 的，是不是前面还有水流
pointed out, but Tsunami had already started 呢？”洞穴里回荡着一种奇奇
swimming. He flexed his wings under the 怪怪的响声，他无法辨别出这
water, worried. The pain wasn’t going away. It 是那条小瀑布的水声变得更
felt like tiny, sharp teeth biting him all over, 1 响亮了，还是这里还有一些
under his scales. 别的什么声音。
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“Look,” Tsunami yelled from up ahead. “I 海澜突然张开双翅，停了

see light!” 下来，眼睛凝视着洞顶。“你
Clay beat his wings quickly, trying to 看到什么了吗？”
catch up. It helped that the current was getting 克雷在一片漆黑中眯起
faster again. 眼睛向上望去。海澜身上鳞甲
But then — was the roaring getting 的光不能照亮稍远的地方，他
louder, too? 甚至连如果洞顶上有钟乳石
He came around a bend in the river 他可能都看不清楚。
and saw a circle of silvery light in the “没有。”他答道。
distance. The dark outline of Tsunami’s “快看呐，蝙蝠！”海澜
head was barreling toward it. 兴奋起来，尾巴猛地拍向水
Clay couldn’t believe his eyes. It was 面，激起大片的浪花，克雷差
moonlight, just like he’d seen through the sky 点淹没在这水花之中。
hole. There really was a way out, and they’d 他挣扎着从水里探出头
found it. 来，气喘吁吁。“蝙蝠？就为
He was speeding along now, barely 了区区一只小蝙蝠我差点被
using his legs to paddle as the river whisked 你弄出来的浪花淹死?”有一
him toward the light. 次，一只蝙蝠不小心从天窗里
Suddenly, a piercing shriek echoed 飞到了学习室里，在洞穴里慌
through the cave, and Tsunami 张地到处乱飞，后来沙霓求沙
disappeared. 丘把它放飞出去。克雷大概可
Please be another joke, please be 以确定沙丘把那只蝙蝠吃掉
another joke, Clay prayed, swimming as fast 了。不过，他没有当着沙霓的
as he could. The moonlit entrance yawned 面这么做。
wide in front of him, and then, abruptly, he “它肯定是从外面一个不
shot out into open space. 知道什么地方飞进来的，”海
The river plunged out of the cave and 澜说，
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straight down a tall, sheer cliff. Clay’s “蝙蝠需要去外面寻找食

wings flew open and he banked, catching 物。如果他们能随意进出，那
the air before he fell. He was flying! 么我们也能。洞口肯定就在这
附近了。”
“可是我们没有蝙蝠那么
小啊。”克雷指出。然而海澜
已经向前面游了过去。他在水
下张开翅膀，但心里一直忐忑
不安。疼痛还未完全消失，好
像有数不清的细小而尖锐的牙
齿在鳞甲下一口一口地啃着他
的肉体。
“快看，”海澜前面叫喊
着，“那是光！”
克雷用力挥动想快速游到
她身边。渐渐加快的水速帮了
他不少。
但他听到水流也在发出越
来越大的声响。
他沿着河转弯的方向游了
过去，远处一圈亮光出现在他
眼前，他还看到一个黑黑的影
子，仔细一看那是海澜的脑袋，
他正在冲向那个亮光所在的出
口。
克雷简直傻眼了。那是月
亮散发的光芒，无异于天窗里
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曾经出现过的那道光。这里果
然是出口，他们成功找到了!
他的速度也越来越快，几
乎不用自己用力，河水带着他
直冲那片光亮。
突然间，洞穴里回荡着一
声刺耳的尖叫。海澜在眼前消
失了!
老天保佑她，这肯定又是
个玩笑，克雷心中默默祈祷的
同时，用尽全力向前游去。突
然间，眼前出现一个洞口，被
月光照亮地异常明亮，紧接着，
他一下子被水冲了出去。
河水飞奔涌出洞口，在绝
峭的悬崖上直直落下。
就在下坠前的那一瞬间，
克雷猛地张开双翅，乘风而起，
在空中倾斜飞行。
他在飞!
CHAPTER 9 第九章
Clay had flown before — short hops 克雷以前也飞过，在洞室

around the caves, dodging the stalactites and 里绕着那些钟乳石一圈一圈的
flapping in circles — but that was nothing, 飞，但那和现在是截然不同的
nothing compared to this. 两种感觉。
Everything was so big. 天地如此广阔！
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The sky was everywhere, it just … went 一片广阔天空，一眼看不

on and on and on, like nothing could ever fill 到尽头，就像永远也没有边际。
it up. It was night, but the light of the three 此刻夜晚时分，天空中居然有
moons was dazzling after a lifetime of caves 三个月亮散发出耀眼的光芒，
and sputtering torches. Craggy mountain 在克雷眼里明亮无比，只因他
peaks bit into the sky all around him. In the 长期以来都生活在只有火光照
distance he thought he saw a glimmer of sea. 亮的昏暗洞穴里。在他周围无
And the stars! 数座山峰直冲云霄，远方似乎
Clay had thought he knew stars from 有一片大海，却只能看到一条
gazing out of the sky hole. He’d never known 白线。
how many there were, or how they looked like 他还看到了星星！
a silver net cast across the dark. 克雷曾以为自己非常了解
He felt like he could keep flying up and 熟识星星，可他不知道星星怎
up forever, all the way to the moons. He 么数也数不清，也未曾见过他
wondered if any dragon had ever tried to do 们星星点点般织成一张闪闪的
that. 网悬挂在夜幕之下。
This is what we’ve been missing. All this 他只想着往上面飞，永不
time . . . 停歇，直到飞向月亮。他很好
Even the sharp lines of pain between his 奇有没有别的龙以前也像他这
scales couldn’t take away his excitement. 样。
“Can you believe this?” he called, 这就是这么多年来我们错
spinning in the air. “Tsunami! Isn’t it 过的世界。
amazing?” 尽管鳞甲还在发出一阵阵
There was no answer. 痛楚，他也按耐不住心中的激
Clay lashed his tail to stop spinning and 动。
hovered, his eyes darting around the sky. He “你敢相信这是真实存在
couldn’t see Tsunami anywhere. She 的吗？”他在空中盘旋，放声
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wouldn’t have flown off without him … 欢悦叫着。“海澜！你是不是

would she? 也觉得这一切太美妙了？”
Maybe she’d seen the faraway sea. Maybe 一片沉默。
she saw her home and couldn’t resist. Clay 克雷摆动尾巴，没有了在
knew she wouldn’t abandon her friends, but he 空中翻滚的动作，他在不断四
also knew how desperately she wanted to 处张望，都没有发现海澜。她
return to the ocean. 是不会抛下他离开的。
He glanced down toward the horizon 或许她找到了那片大海，
and spotted her, far below him, flapping 或许她寻找到了家乡难以克制
in a frantic downward spiral. 激动情绪。克雷坚信海澜不会
Something was wrong. 抛弃朋友，但非常清楚她有多
It looked like only one of her wings was 么渴望回到她的家乡 ——海
working. 洋。
Clay twisted into a dive and barreled 他向下朝地平线望去，他
toward her. He tucked his wings close to his 发现了海澜。她在离自己很远
body, fighting back the terror as he 的下方，翅膀在不停扑棱打转，
plummeted. Wind whistled past his face — 飞速朝地面坠落。
wind! He’d imagined it all wrong. It was like 坏了。
a live thing: grabbing his tail to throw him off 她有只翅膀貌似受伤了。
balance, whisking in his eyes to blind him, 克雷转身向下飞去，试图
flaring under his wings to slow him down. It 追上她。他用翅膀紧紧包裹住
seemed to dig icicle-sharp claws into his skin, 自己的身体，说服自己克服下
slicing under his scales. 坠的恐惧。他感受到一股强劲
The waterfall and the cliff shot past at 的力量打在他的脸上，这就是
lightning speed. Was he falling too fast? The 风吧！这和他脑海中想象的风
ground hurtled toward him, shadows and 完全不一样。风更像一种生物：
moonlight mixed in shapes he’d never seen 迎着风，他的身体在摇晃；它
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and couldn’t understand. He had no idea 揉搓着他的眼睛让他看不清东

how far away it was, or how soon he would 西；它托载着他减缓他下降的
reach it. He’d never dealt with distances like 速度；它就像是用它冷硬锋利
this before. 的爪子无情地刺进他的鳞甲，
Would he be able to stop? Would it hurt 划破他的皮肉。
when he did? 下降经过瀑布和崖壁时一
But he could see Tsunami below him, 刹那就消失了。这也太快了
still struggling, so he knew that she hadn’t 吧？他飞快朝大地俯冲过去，
hit the bottom yet, and that made him 阴影和月光交织，他从未见过
braver. 如此景象。他不清楚这下降的
He fell, and fell, and fell, and she got 距离，也不清楚还要下降多长
closer and closer until . . . 时间，这种体验前所未有。
Clay passed her and instantly flared his 他能控制自己不再往下降
wings open. His body slammed upright like 吗？撞到地面会很疼吗？
he’d run into a wall, and then a moment 不过，他还能看见下方的
later he was whammed again, this time by a 海澜还在痛苦挣扎，看来她还
heavy SeaWing landing on him from above. 没有直接坠落到地面。他瞬时
He tumbled, nearly losing Tsunami over 间勇气又增加了些许。
his head, but they caught on to each other with 他不停地落下、落下、落
their talons and held tight. With her claws 下，与她之间的距离在不断缩
wrapped fiercely around his neck, Clay battled 小，最终……
to stay aloft, beating his wings in wide arcs. 克雷在向下与她擦肩而过
He wasn’t strong enough to lift her, but at 的那一瞬间毫不犹豫张开双
least he could slow her fall. 翅。他的身体有种受到气体冲
Tsunami let out a yelp, and then Clay 击像是撞到了一面墙的感觉。
felt something like claws snag his wings and 片刻之后，他再次受到了一种
tail. They lost their hold on each other as 物体的冲击，这一次是由于海
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they fell through the trees, smashing 澜庞大而又沉重的身躯直直掉

branches and ripping off leaves before they 落在了他的背上。
thudded to earth. 他被撞翻了，差点儿将海
It took Clay a moment before he could 澜扔了出去，不过他们还是紧
breathe again. Tsunami’s tail was flopped 紧地抓住了对方。她死死抱住
across his snout. He pushed it aside and sat 他的脖子，克雷只有在空中大
up, creaking with pain. 幅度地扇动翅膀得以维持平
Tsunami rolled over onto her back, 衡。他无法带着她一起在空中
letting her wings flop out to either side. Close 飞，但至少可以不让她下坠太
up, Clay could see that he was right. One of 快。
her azure-blue wings was crooked, as if it had 突然间海澜大叫一声，克
been wrenched out of her shoulder. 雷感觉到空气中似乎伸出了
He touched it with one claw, and they 许多爪子，它们拖拽住他的翅
both winced. 腾和尾巴，两头龙不由得地松
“What happened?” Clay asked. 开了对方，掉进了地面的树丛
“Getting out of the chains,” Tsunami 里，地上一大片树枝树叶被砸
said. “I think I dislocated it.” “And you 断，最后坠落在地上。
came after me anyway?” Clay said, 克雷摔得半天才缓过气
appalled. “Why didn’t you tell me you 来。海澜的尾巴压在他的嘴巴
were hurt?” 上，他将尾巴推开，坐了起来，
She shrugged and winced again. “It 全身的骨头嘎吱嘎吱地响，疼
didn’t hurt so much in the river, but once I 得好像散了架。海澜翻了个
tried to fly . . .” 身，仰面躺着，双翅无力地摊
“DIRT!” Clay yelled suddenly. “I’m 开。克雷凑近一瞧，发现自己
standing on dirt!” He stabbed his claws into 猜得没错：她的一只天蓝色的
the ground, and they sank right into the 翅膀弯曲着，好像是脱白了。
earth. A thrill ran through him from snout 他伸出碰了碰那只翅膀，
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to tail. 两只小龙都痛苦地皱起了眉
Tsunami sat up to look at him. “Yay?” she 头。
said. “发生了什么？”克雷担
“It’s amazing!” he cried. “Feel how 忧道。
soft it is!” He seized a handful of dirt and “可能是挣脱铁链的时
flung it at her. 候导致的，”海澜说，“应该
“Hey, quit that!” she protested, defending 脱白了。”
herself with her good wing. “这个样子你就跑来追
Clay flattened himself to the grass, 我了？”克雷简直不敢相信，
feeling the warm earth crumble around his “你受伤了怎么没让我知
legs and clump against his scales. Scents of 道？”
green and brown and buried sunshine 她耸了耸肩，疼得抽搐了
overwhelmed him. It was nothing like the 一下。“我没感觉到有多疼当
hard, cold, bare rock under the mountain. 我在水里的时候，但我一飞—
The ground here was welcoming and full of —”
life. A worm burrowed past his nose, and he “泥土！”克雷的尖叫打
snapped it up. 断了她的讲话，“我站在泥土
上！”他将爪子伸进泥里全部
都没入其中，全身都兴奋地抖
动起来。
海澜起身看着他。
“啊？”
她疑惑道。
“真不错！”他高兴极了，
“你看这好柔软啊！”他抓起
一把泥，朝她扔了过去。
“哈，别闹！”她反抗着，
用另外那只没有受伤的翅膀
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“Well, now we’re even,” Tsunami said. 用作抵挡的工具。

“I saved you, you saved —” 克雷四仰八叉地躺在草
“I hear the river!” Clay cried, jumping 地上，感受着腿边泥土的松软
up and shaking himself. Tsunami ducked the 和温暖，还有硌着鳞甲的土块
shower of dirt that flew off him. “River plus 的硬实。绿色的草地和棕色的
dirt means mud!” He spun around and raced 泥土，迷人的芬芳中又夹杂着
through the trees toward the sound of 阳光的气息，令他深深陶醉。
bubbling water. 和山底深处坚硬冰冷而又了
Tsunami found him rolling blissfully in 无生气的石头相比，这儿的土
the muddy banks of the river. “I don’t think 地温暖亲切，生机勃勃。一条
most dragons get this excited about being so 刚刚从洞里掘土的蚯蚓爬过
dirty,” she said wryly. 他鼻子，他一口将他叼了起
“I bet my kind do,” Clay said, ignoring 来。
her sarcasm. “I’ve never been this warm in “好吧，现在我们两清
my whole life.” For the first time ever, his 了，”海澜说，“我救过你，
claws didn’t ache, his scales didn’t itch, his 你也救过——”
wings didn’t feel too dry, and he wasn’t “我好像听到了水声！”
worried about stubbing his talons every other 克雷惊叫道，他猛地跳起来甩
step. He felt the mud squelch into the gaps 了甩身子。海澜飞快躲开他甩
between his scales and realized that the pain 过来的如雨点一样的泥巴。
from the cave poison was fading, as if the “水和土混合起来那不就是
mud was healing him. He sighed happily, 泥浆嘛！”他咻地转身穿越层
squishing himself farther down into the 层树丛，向那悦耳的流水声狂
damp riverbank. 奔而去。
“Wow,” Tsunami said. She stuck her 海澜找到他时，发现他正
front talons in the river. “And we’re not 在河边的泥堆里心满意足地
even at the MudWing swamps yet. I wonder 打着滚。“我认为大部分龙都
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Appendix
if I’ll be this excited when I get to the sea.” 不会因为自己弄得这么脏高

“You will,” Clay said, suddenly feeling 兴的起来。”她挖苦地说。
certain and brave and confident. “And when “我们泥翼龙一族肯定
you can fly. Can we fix your wing?” He tilted 爱这种感觉，”克雷并不在乎
his head, studying her injury. 海澜的取笑，“长这么大，还
The waterfall poured down a cliff 没有像现在这样感到温暖过。”
that towered over them, with even higher 他史无前例地感觉到爪子一
mountains beyond. The three moons were 点都不疼了，鳞片也不再感觉
low in the sky. Clay guessed it would be 到痒痒的，翅膀也不觉得干干
morning soon, and then they could look 的，他再也不用小心翼翼地在
for the smoke signal that would lead to 地上走路，再也不像以前那样
their friends. But Tsunami couldn’t fly, 怕弄疼了爪子。他可以感觉到
she’d be stuck down here … easy pickings 泥浆流入到他的鳞片缝隙之
for any hostile dragons flying by. 间，随即之前在洞穴里被黏液
Clay glanced up at the sky, 腐蚀的痛感在一点点减轻，就
remembering that they’d popped out into a 好像这泥浆能治愈他所有的
world at war. It seemed so peaceful here. 痛楚。他叹了一口气，充满幸
From the way the big dragons talked, he’d 福的感觉，然后深深地钻进了
imagined the entire world as a giant 泥泞里。
battlefield. It was strange to be in a quiet “哇哦，”海澜把前爪探
clearing, with no sights or sounds of war or 进河水里，“我们还没到泥翼
even other dragons anywhere nearby. 龙的沼泽呢，不知道我到大海
But he knew that the Talons of Peace 里会不会也兴奋成这样。”
— and, by extension, the dragonets — had “会的。”克雷说，他突
enemies everywhere. The three SandWing 然感觉自己充满了勇气和自
queens distrusted the prophecy and would 信，“等你能飞起来就可以去
kill anyone who got in their way. And there 了。我们能把你的翅膀治好
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was a whole list of dragons who might do 吗？”他侧歪着头，仔细检查

terrible things to the dragonets of destiny, if 她的伤势。
they ever found them. 在他们面前，悬崖高耸，
Tsunami twisted to look at her 激流飞坠，后方是更加雄伟的
dislocated wing. “I’m sure I can fix it,” she 崇山峻岭，三个月亮低挂天
said. “I saw this in a scroll once. It just 空。克雷估摸着要到天明了，
needs to be banged back into place. Maybe 到时候他们要放出烟雾作为
if I run myself into a tree.” She glanced 信号，这样就可以找到他们的
around at the forest, then suddenly charged 伙伴了。但是如果海澜飞不
at the nearest solid tree trunk. 了，就得困在这儿，要是有恶
Clay leaped out of the mud and 龙从附近飞过，她很容易就被
pounced on her tail, yanking her back 抓走了。
before she crashed. 克雷抬起头来向天空望
去，突然意识到他们已经来到
了一个战乱纷争的世界。然
而，这里看上去是那么的安
静。依照大龙们所讲，在他的
想象中，世界是一个巨大的战
场。然而这里却空旷静谧，听
不到战场上的嘶吼与咆哮，附
近甚至都看不到一头龙。
不过，他知道和平之爪，
准确来说，他们这些小龙很多
敌人都对他们虎视眈眈。三位
沙翼族的女王对传说中的这
个预言颇有不满，谁要是坏了
她们的好事都会被置于死地。
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Appendix
“Ow!” Tsunami stormed. “Get off! I can 还有很多龙想要对这几只预

fix it! This will work!” She snapped her teeth 言中的小龙痛下毒手，如果一
at him. 旦被他们发现。
“Stop being a grumpy SkyWing. 海澜别过头去看了一眼
Smashing yourself into a tree is a terrible 脱白的翅膀。“这个问题我自
plan,” Clay said. “Can I look at it?” 己就能处理，”她说，“书里
Tsunami settled down on the grass, 说，只需要把关节推回原位就
grumbling, with her wings spread out. 好了。我试着往树上撞过去或
Clay circled her, then stood back and 许就好了。”她环视了一下四
looked at the uneven line of her wings 周，突然间撞向旁边的树干。
and shoulders. 克雷吓得连忙从泥浆里
“If you can stay still,” he said, “I think 冲出来，拉着海澜的尾巴，将
I can shove it back into place.” “Is that a 她拉了回来，及时制止了她。
good idea?” Tsunami asked, flinching away “你干嘛！”海澜怒吼起
from him. 来，“放开！我可以的！这办
“Better than running into a tree,” he 法管用！”她龇着牙，怒视着
pointed out. “Dig your claws in and brace 他。
yourself.” “和天翼龙一样那么暴
Tsunami clutched the ground and closed 躁可不是一件好事儿？撞
her eyes. Clay felt gently along her shoulder 树？这破主意亏你想得出来，”
with his front talons. It was easy to find the 克雷说，“让我看看，可以
spot where a bone had slipped out of its 吗？”
socket. He touched it lightly until he was sure 海澜一屁股坐在草地上，
where it was and where it needed to be. Then 十分不满，嘴里不停发着牢
he grabbed and shoved the bone into place in 骚，一边展开双翅。克雷围着
one quick, strong movement. 海澜绕了一圈细细打量，然后
“OW!” Tsunami roared, rearing back. 向后退了一步，仔细观察她翅
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Her powerful tail whipped around and 膀与肩部错位部位。

slammed Clay into a thicket of prickly “你只要别乱动，”他说，
bushes. “我应该可以弄好你脱臼的
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry,” Clay yelped, 翅膀。
floundering free. “I really thought that “你确定这样有效？”海
would work.” He stopped. Tsunami was 澜问道，身体闪闪躲躲。
turning in a circle, flexing and extending “这可比你撞树要有用，”
both wings. They looked perfectly 他说道，“把爪子伸进地里抓
matched again. 牢，准备开始。”
“It did work,” she said. “It’s a little sore, 海澜抓牢地面，紧闭双
but I can move it now. Pretty fierce, Clay.” 眼。克雷沿着她的肩膀缓缓摸
She helped disentangle his tail from the 下来，非常快速地就发现了她
branches. “Sorry I whacked you.” 的关节里有一块骨头突了出
Clay opened his mouth to respond, 来。他轻轻按压了这块骨头的
but Tsunami suddenly seized his snout 四周，摸清楚了骨头的位置和
and held it shut. She raised one talon, her 应该原本所在的地方。然后，
ears twitching. 以迅雷不及掩耳之势咔嚓将
“What’s that?” she whispered. 这块骨头安置了回去。
Clay tried to swivel his head around, but “妈呀！”海澜痛喊，身
Tsunami’s grip was too tight. 子向后退缩，尾巴用力一甩将
He strained his ears to listen. 克雷扫进了灌木丛里。
Something was crashing through the “对不起！”克雷大声喊
forest toward them. 道，从枝叶里爬出来，“我还
以为这方法能奏效呢。”说完，
海澜一顿。他伸了伸翅膀，打
了个圈儿，发现翅膀已经对称
了。
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Appendix
“真的有用哎，”她说，
“但还是有点痛，至少可以动
弹了。克雷你真的下的去手。”
克雷在海澜的帮助下被拖出
了灌木丛，“抱歉，尾巴不小
心撞到你了。”
克雷正要说点什么，海澜
突然一下捂住他的嘴巴。她伸
出一只爪子，竖起了耳朵。
“什么声音？”她低声
道。
克雷想扭头看一眼，但海
澜把他抓得死死的，动也动不
了，只好侧耳倾听。树枝摇摆
响动，有什么东西正向他们走
来。
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Acknowledgments
Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my dear supervisor,

professor Zhang Ling, for her professional instructions on my paper as well as
proper criticism during my writing of these thesis. She offered me lots of
encouragement and considerable help.
Secondly, I feel grateful to all the teachers who once gave me valuable
suggestions and advice, from which I benefit a lot. Besides, I also want give my
heartfelt thanks to my classmates and roommates, thanks for their support, careful
correction and recommendation of various methods of searching for online
information.
Lastly, I want to express my warm thanks to my family who have shared my
worries, frustrations, and my ultimate happiness with during the whole process. All
in all, without their help, it’s impossible for me to complete the thesis.
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经世济民
孜孜以求
万方数据

接受理论指导下的儿童文学英译汉翻译实践报告 以《火翼飞龙》（节选）为例

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E-C Translation Report on Wings of Fire(Excerpts)

Children’s literature plays an indispensable role in enhancing children’s

Key words: Children’s Literature; Wings of Fire; Reception Theory;

Chapter One Introduction ..................................................................................... 1

4.2.3 Free Translation ............................................................................. 27

Chapter One Introduction

Children’s literature translation is a branch of literature translation. It mainly

1.1 Background of the Task

The translation of children’s literature in our country can be roughly divided

1.2 Objectives and Significance

Considering the central position of children readers, translators must adapt to

meet children’s expectations can really play an indispensable role in educating

1.3 Source Text Analysis

Wings of Fire was created by Tui T. Sutherland, the world’s best-selling

characters and novel plot.

1.4 Structure of the Report

Chapter Two Process Description

2.1 Pre-translation Preparation

Pre-translation preparations have a great effect on the quality of the

2.2 In-translation Process

2.3 After-translation Process

Chapter Three Theoretical Framework

The translation of Wings of Fire is finished under the guidance of Reception

3.1 Introduction to the Reception Theory

According to the Reception Theory, different readers have different aesthetic

3.2 Concepts of the Reception Theory

Reception Theory focuses on the dynamic relationship between readers,

3.2.1 Horizon of Expectations

The concept, horizon of expectations, was first proposed by Jauss, which

refers to readers’ aesthetic expectation of literature formed from individual reading

3.2.2 Fusion of Horizons

Chapter Four Case Study

4.1 Lexical Level

In the process of translation of children’s literature, it is necessary to flexibly

4.1.1 Translation into Chinese Reduplicative Words

Repetition is a typical feature of children’s speech. This kind of expression

4.1.2 Translation into Chinese Four-character Phrases

enthusiastically exposed to literature.

4.1.3 Translation into Chinese Modal Particles

4.1.4 Translation into Chinese Personification Expressions

Personification is a figure of speech that personifies things as people and

4.2 Syntactic Level

Langacker (1987) pointed out that language is an integral part of human

4.2.1 Addition in E-C Translation

present a complete work to the target readers. By adding necessary information or

4.2.2 Omission in E-C Translation

Omission is a strategy frequently used in translation. Chinese and English are

4.2.3 Free Translation

Analysis: Free translation requires transforming the target text according to

Chapter Five Conclusion

After finishing the translation of excerpts of Wings of Fire, the translator

5.1 Major Findings of the Report

In summary, based on the translation of Wings of Fire, a children’s literature

5.2 Limitations and Suggestions

Wings of Fire 《火翼飞龙》

under his sleeping ledge. Starflight hooked 着。

jumping to his feet. “We have to know what 岩石地表，钻进了他的鳞甲里。

blasted them with a bolt of flame. The metal 洞中有一根从地面延伸到洞顶

接受理论指导下的儿童文学英译汉翻译实践报告以《火翼飞龙》（节选）为例

接受理论指导下的儿童文学英译汉翻译实践报告以《火翼飞龙》（节选）为例

接受理论指导下的儿童文学英译汉翻译实践报告以《火翼飞龙》（节选）为例

分类号密级

MudWings on there and think of me.” 明显海澜之前下去打

warmer than the river. Where did it come 他大概猜出了那咆哮声是什