The Great Eel 1Race 鰻魚賽跑

Tina Holt

武漢市光谷五小陳佳選譯

Ten year old Aeran dreaded2 Field Dav. She wasn't fast. and the other kids laughed at thewav she flapped3 her arms when she ran.

10歲的艾蘭害怕運動會日。她的速度不快，并且其他孩子嘲笑她跑步時揮舞手臂的方式。

Aeran thought she would much rather be inside painting a picture or doing math problems.

艾蘭覺得她寧愿在教室里畫畫或者做做數學題。

Throughout the warm October afternoon， Aeran hobbled4 through the relay race， panted"through the long distance course， and was dragged along the ground in a hard tug-of-war match.

在十月里這個溫暖的下午，艾蘭一瘸一拐地通過接力賽，氣喘吁吁地跑過長距離賽道，又在一場艱苦的拔河比賽中被拽著走。

“Students， line up for the next contest！" the teachers called. "For this race， you will run 25meters to the buckets in the field. Pick up the item you find there. then run the remaining 75meters to the finish line. The first one to finish is the winner."

“同學們，整隊參加下一場比賽吧！”老師們喊道，“這場比賽，你們要先跑到25米開外地上的桶那兒。拿起你在那里找到的物品，然后跑完剩下的75米到達終點線。第一個完成的人獲勝。”

The children took their places on the starting line. Aeran stepped in beside the others. Shewaited only a few seconds before the starter pistol6 echoed7 in her ears. Aeran did her best. butshe still fell behind all other players.

孩子們在起跑線上就位了。艾蘭走到其他人旁邊。只等了幾秒鐘，發令槍聲就在她耳邊響起。艾蘭盡力了，但她仍然落在所有人的后面。

She knew something strange was happening when the first runners to reach the bucketssquealeds. Other kids hopped backwards and pointed.

當第一個跑到桶前面的人發出尖叫時，她知道有奇怪的事情發生了。其他孩子向后一跳，指著桶里。

Swimming in the buckets were long， live， slimy9， baby eels！ A few of the braver kids reachedin to catch the swimming creatures. but the eels wiggledIo out of their hands and jumped back intothe buckets.

在桶里游來游去的是長長的、活蹦亂跳的、黏黏的小鰻魚！幾個勇敢點的孩子伸手去抓游來游去的小家伙，但鰻魚從他們手里扭脫出來，跳回了桶里。

Arms and eels flew everywhere. and children bumpedll into each other in the：onfusion.

到處都是舞動的胳膊和鰻魚，孩子們在混亂中撞作一團。

Bv the time Aeran reached her bucket. she had a plan. She cupped her hands and scoopedout a young eel.

當艾蘭到達她的水桶前時，她已經有了個計劃。她伸出雙手，捧出一條小鰻魚。

Instead of grasping it tightly， she placed it gently onto the ground and sprinkled12 dirt ontop of it.The dirt allowed her to pick it up without slipping out of her hands.

她沒有緊緊抓住它，而是把它輕輕地放在地上，并在上面撒上泥土。泥土使她能抓住鰻魚，而不會讓它從手中滑出來。

As fast as she could. Aeran raced towards the finish line. Some kids tried to follow. but theslippery eels jumped out of their hands. slowing them down.

艾蘭以最快的速度跑向了終點線。一些孩子試圖按照她那樣做，但滑滑的鰻魚從他們手中跳了出來，放慢了他們的速度。

The finish line drew close. TeaChers and classmates cheered her on. Three more steps， and...Aeran threw the eel into the finish line bucket！

終點線接近了。老師和同學們都在為她加油。又跑了三步……艾蘭把鰻魚扔進了終點線的桶里！

A crv went out.“Hoorav！ That was awesome. Aeran！ First Place in the Eel Race！”

一陣驚呼響起。“萬歲！太棒了，艾蘭！你得了鰻魚賽跑的第一名！”

（英語原文選自：the-office.com）

[Notes]

1.eel [i?l]n.鰻魚

2.dread[dred] v.懼怕，擔心

3.flap [fl?p] v.快速擺動

4.hobble[?h?bl] v.蹣跚;跛行

5.pant[p?nt]v.氣喘吁吁地跑

6.pistol ['pistl]n.信號槍

7.echo [?ek??] v.發出回聲

8.squeal [skwi?l] v.長聲尖叫

9.slimy[?sla?m?]adj.黏滑的

10. wiggle ['wigl]v.使擺動，扭動

II. bump[b?mp]v.碰撞

12. sprinkle[?spr??kl] v.撒，灑