The Bag That Moved- 適合中級的英語短篇故事

Warm air smelled of damp rope and sweet popcorn. Light from small colored bulbs dotted the canvas roof. Lina had come to the city fair with one goal: finish the animal page in her travel diary before the noon whistle. She has already sketched the giraffe and the parrot. Now she searched for the ocelot that lived inside a glass corner lined with fake jungle vines. The narrow path was crowded by visitors, which slowed her steps and hid the view. Time pressed forward while the distant speaker announced closing of the morning session. When Lina finally reached the window, the ocelot rested on a branch, its tail hanging low like a soft rope.

Her pencil moved quickly, yet the humid air curled the paper. A sudden bump from behind made the blunt point snap. The sharpener lay inside her bag, but the bag had fallen near the desert ring where a patient camel waited for short rides. Children were climbing a painted steed on the carousel beside it, so the path between Lina and her bag twisted with moving legs. She adjusted. Kneeling, she slid beneath the rail instead of weaving through the line. As she lifted the sharpener, the camel swung its neck; the movement pushed her bag closer through the sand. The surprise saved a minute. Lina sharpened, finished the stripes, and closed the diary just as the whistle echoed across the fair, ending her small voyage among creatures.

暖熱的空氣帶著麻繩的潮味和爆米花的甜香。彩色小燈點綴在帆布頂上。麗娜來到城市嘉年華，只想在中午汽笛響前完成旅遊日記上的動物頁面。她已經畫好長頸鹿和鸚鵡。現在她尋找住在仿叢林玻璃角落的豹貓。狹窄通道被遊客擠滿，步伐變慢，視線也被遮住。遠處擴音器宣告上午場即將結束，時間流逝。終於到窗前時，豹貓伏在樹枝上，尾巴像軟繩般低垂。

她的鉛筆快速移動，但潮濕空氣讓紙張捲曲。身後忽然一碰，使鈍筆尖斷裂。削筆器在她的背包裡，可是背包掉在沙漠區附近，那裡一隻耐心的駱駝正等著短程乘坐。旁邊旋轉木馬上，孩子們騎著彩繪木馬，因此麗娜和背包之間的通道被移動的雙腿扭成彎曲。她改變策略，跪下身體，從欄杆下滑過，而不在人群中穿梭。當她拾起削筆器時，駱駝甩動脖子，動作把背包從沙地推近。這個意外省下一分鐘。麗娜削好鉛筆，畫完斑紋，在汽笛再次迴盪嘉年華時闔上日記，結束了她在眾多生物間的小小旅程。