Jerry had been interested in ancient history since he was a little child. Every night before going to bed, his grandfather would tell him stories of great civilizations like the Romans, the Vikings, the Incas and many others. These short anecdotes and stories always involved great kings and leaders, great wars and battles, and great heroes and foes. However, a story that had anything to do with the fierce Vikings was always Jerry’s favorite. He was most interested in these stories because his grandfather had analyzed their family tree and discovered that the family’s ancestors were actually Vikings.

杰里从小就对古代史感兴趣。每晚睡觉前，爷爷都会给他讲诸如罗马人、北欧海盗、印加人或其他民族的伟大文明的故事。那些短小的趣闻和故事中总会有伟大的国王和、大规模的战争和战役、无畏的英雄和险恶的敌人。然而与好战的北欧海盗有关的故事才是杰里最喜欢听的。爷爷曾经分析过自己的家谱，发现他们的祖先就是北欧海盗，因此杰里对这些故事非常感兴趣。

Every day at school, Jerry would wonder what story his grandfather would tell him that night. He was always anxious to come home so that he could see his grandfather and hear the next story. Apart from the action of each story, Jerry’s grandfather also tried to teach Jerry a life-lesson that he could apply in his life.

每天上学时，杰里都在猜想爷爷晚上会讲什么故事。他总是急于回家，快点见到爷爷，听他讲下一个故事。除了讲述每个故事的情节，爷爷还想办法把其中蕴含的人生经验教训教给他，以便他运用于自己的生活中。为了做到这一点，爷爷经常运用类比，把杰里的生活与那天故事中人物的生活进行比较。

Jerry’s grandfather often accomplished this by using analogies to compare Jerry’s life with something from that day’s story. The story that Jerry enjoyed the most was about an annual fishing trip that the Vikings made each year on a certain anniversary. In this story, the captain of a large Viking ship decided to set sail without bringing their large, heavy anchor because they did not anticipate the trip taking a long time and they wanted more room for all of the fish too because the Vikings had a strong appetite for fish.

杰里最喜欢听的是关于北欧海盗每年出海捕鱼的故事，他们的这一活动每年在某个周年纪念日都会进行。故事是这样的：一艘大海盗船的船长决定出海时不带笨重的锚，因为他们预测出海时间不会太长，而且不带船锚还可以腾出更多的空间放鱼，北欧海盗酷爱吃鱼。

Some of the Vikings on the ship were appalled at the decision of not bringing an anchor because of the apparent danger of not bringing one. They thought the ship was anything but safe. These men appealed to the captain of the ship and one man even wrote an anonymous letter to the king of the Vikings asking that an anchor be put on the ship, but the captain of the ship announced that they were leaving the next day. This answer annoyed several of the Viking crew, but they listened to their captain and set sail.

不带船锚出海存在着明显的危险，因此船上有些海盗对这一决定很是震惊。他们认为那艘船根本不安全。他们向船长呼吁，甚至还有人写了封匿名信给北欧海盗王，请求带锚出海。但船长不同意，并宣布次日起航。这种答复使一些船员很气愤，但他们还是服从命令，扬帆起航了。

Not long after setting sail, the Viking ship encountered a large storm. The ship was being badly damaged and the captain felt anguish because they needed the large anchor at this moment. Soon after the storm ended, the captain apologized to his crew for not listening to them and promised to buy all of them a bottle of beer when they returned home. Although the crew of the ship was still wet and tired from the storm, they applauded when they heard the captain apologize.

出海不久，海盗船就遇到了狂风暴雨。船身受到严重损坏，船长痛苦万分，因为此时他们需要一个大船锚。暴风雨刚过，船长就为没采纳建议向全体船员道歉，并承诺上岸回家时给每人买一瓶啤酒。尽管暴风雨后精疲力竭的船员们浑身还是湿淋淋的，但听到船长道歉，都高兴地鼓起掌来。

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