The Banner That Wouldn’t Stay Still- 適合中高級的英語短篇故事

"Shift the paint tray."

Blake pushed the metal tray across the desk, bright splashes wobbling inside its shallow wells. Lena unrolled a ribbon of paper for the cultural festival banner, using a ruler to mark equal folds while the corridor echoed with distant lockers. Scraps collected where scissors paused, forming a silver-grey moraine against the leg of the table. Only a scant length of clear tape clung to the roll, so Heath checked the supply closet, its door groaning under layers of chipped paint. Beyond the window, a flat plateau of concrete rooftops shimmered; the sky above them thickened into mottled steel.

The banner had been half-hung when the first cloudburst struck. Rain hammered the glass, and a gust slid through the narrow hinge, rocking the tray. A bead of blue water toppled, struck the floor, and broke into several streams that slipped toward a potted ivy by the sill. Ants surfaced from the soil, fanning out across the desk in a shifting dark thread. Their sudden movement caught the eye of a sparrow sheltering on the outer ledge; the bird darted through the gap, wings brushing chalk dust into the air.

Startled, Blake jerked the paper upward, but the tape surrendered. The sheet billowed, brushed the sparrow, and sailed into the corridor. At that moment the next bell rang, and a teacher stepping from the office doorway swung the door inward. The draft forced the bird back outside and flattened the ants against the damp rim of the pot. The loose banner slid to a stop against the opposite wall, yet one corner refused to stay still; rain-cooled air waved it up and down over the blue-grey tiles.

「把顏料盤移過去。」

布萊克把金屬顏料盤推過桌面，彩色水漾在淺格裡晃動。莉娜為文化祭的長紙幅量線折痕，走廊裡遠處的置物櫃回聲仍在。剪下的紙片堆在桌腳，像一小堆銀灰色冰磧。膠帶只剩薄薄一截，希斯便去倉庫找新的，門因多層剝漆嘎吱作響。窗外，一片平坦的水泥屋頂在霧亮中閃著冷光，上方的天空逐漸濃成鋼灰。

橫幅還掛到一半，驟雨傾盆而下。雨錘擊玻璃，一股風吹進細縫，搖動顏料盤。一滴藍水掉下，碎成幾條小水流，滑向窗台的長春藤盆栽。螞蟻從土中爬出，在桌面排成變動的黑線。牠們的突然移動吸引了躲在窗外臺階上的麻雀；麻雀鑽進縫口，雙翅打散粉筆灰。

布萊克被嚇得猛提紙幅，膠帶鬆脫。紙幅鼓起，擦過麻雀，飄進走廊。就在此時，下一節鈴聲響起，從辦公室門口走出的老師把門往內帶。氣流把麻雀趕回窗外，也把螞蟻壓回濕土。鬆脫的橫幅滑到對面牆邊，唯獨一角不肯靜止；帶著雨意的冷氣流在藍灰色磁磚上上下撫動那一角紙幅。