The Butterfly Swimmer蝶泳運動員

Sheila Renfro

“I cant do it，”Misty whispered toher best friend， Allie.“Ive already comein last twice！ ”

Instead of a swimsuit， Allie hadshown up at the swim meet with her leftarm in a hot pink cast. “I cant swim forsix weeks. Youve been practicing withme. You can do it.”

They both looked at the rival1 teamcheering after the third straight win.

Misty groaned2.

Allie encouraged her. “Youll dofine. Remember， its better to havesomeone than no one at all.”

Misty shrugged3. The whistle4 blew.It was time for her to line up. Sheshivered， waiting for the race to start.Stealing a glance， she met her teamsgaze5. All eyes were focused6 on her.Allie raised her pink cast and smiledencouragingly.

The shrill7 of the whistle rang out.Stretching her arms high over her head，Misty took a deep breath before jumpinginto the cold water.

“Oh，”she thought，“now Ill come inlast for sure.”

She tried hard to pull her arms andhands in front of her as she dipped up anddown in the water. Then she pushed herhands down， pushing against the water toraise herself up. She gulped in air mixedwith sprays8 of water. Then she dove intothe water.

Her goggles9 kept the water from hereyes， but she couldnt see the end of thepool. But each time her head came abovethe water， she could hear the loudestcheer from the crowd. She could see theblur10 of Allies pink cast and recognized11her shout.

Suddenly， Allies face appeared beforeher.“Turn！ Turn！ ”she screamed12

Mistys hands pushed hard againstthe edge of the pool. She bunched13 herknees up to make the turn. Then she shotout like a missile14. She gained speed.

She could hear the crazy screams ofthe crowd as she kept rising and falling inthe water. All she could see was the blackline on the bottom of the pool.

Her breath came harder and faster. Shehad to keep going.

“Come on！ ”She said to herself.

The edge came up fast， and then sheslapped the wall. She pulled off her gogglesand searched for the board with the times.

She could see Allie rounding thecorner of the pool， coming towards her witha big smile on her face.

“You did it！ ”Allie shouted excitedly.“You came in second！ You are a goodbutterfly swimmer， too.”

“我做不到?！泵姿沟俚吐晫λ詈玫呐笥寻⒗蛘f，“我已經(jīng)得了兩次最后一名了！”

阿莉沒有穿泳裝，而是左臂打著粉紅色的石膏出現(xiàn)在游泳比賽現(xiàn)場?！拔乙呀?jīng)六個星期無法游泳了。你一直在和我練習(xí)。你能行?！?/p>

他們都看著對手在三連勝后歡呼雀躍。

米斯蒂呻吟著。

阿莉鼓勵她?！澳銜龅煤芎玫?。記住，有人參加總比沒有人參加好?！?/p>

米斯蒂聳聳肩。哨聲響起，她該排隊了。她顫抖著，等待比賽開始。她偷偷瞥了一眼，撞上了隊員們的目光。團隊所有人的目光都集中在她身上。阿莉舉起她粉紅色的石膏，露出鼓勵的微笑。

尖銳的哨聲響起。米斯蒂將雙臂高高地舉過頭頂，深吸了一口氣，縱身跳進冰冷的水中。

“哦，”她想，“現(xiàn)在我肯定會是最后一名?！?/p>

在水里沉浮時，她努力把胳膊和手伸向身前。然后，她把手向下壓，劃著水，把自己推出水面。

她大口大口地吸入混合著水花的空氣。然后，她又潛入水中。

她的護目鏡防止她的眼睛進水，但她看不到泳池的盡頭。但每次她的頭露出水面時，她都能聽到人群最響亮的歡呼聲。她可以看到阿莉粉紅色石膏模糊的影子，并辨別出她的喊叫聲。

突然，阿莉的臉出現(xiàn)在她面前?！稗D(zhuǎn)身！轉(zhuǎn)身！”她尖叫道。

米斯蒂的雙手用力推著的泳池邊緣。她屈膝轉(zhuǎn)身。然后她像導(dǎo)彈一樣飛射而出。她加快了速度。

當(dāng)她在水里沉浮的時候，她能聽到人群瘋狂的尖叫聲。她能看到的只有池底的黑線。

她的呼吸越來越急促。她必須繼續(xù)前進。

“加油！”她自己對自己說。

水池的邊緣很快映入眼簾，然后她觸壁了。她摘下護目鏡，尋找計時牌。

她可以看到阿莉繞過游泳池的一角，帶著燦爛的笑容向她走來。

“你做到了！”阿莉激動地喊道，“你得了第二名！你也是一名優(yōu)秀的蝶泳運動員了?！?/p>

Notes

1. rival 競爭對手；競爭的

2. groan? 呻吟；嘆息

3. shrug? 聳肩

4. whistle 哨子；口哨聲

5. gaze 凝視；注視

6. focus? 集中；關(guān)注

7. shrill? 尖叫聲

8. spray? 浪花；飛沫

9. goggle? 護目鏡

10. blur 模糊不清的事物

11. recognize 認識；辨別出

12. scream 尖叫

13. bunch? 收緊

14. missile 導(dǎo)彈