Lighthouse Tide Pool: A Crab in a Sand Circle - 適合中級的英文短篇故事，含中譯與發音

Grey and Selene walked from the keeper's door to the tide pools below the tower.

Salt hung in the air, and the rail felt cool and faintly sticky.

Worn steps showed a shallow dip, and white crust traced bolts on the old door.

Selene looked upward at the glass room, where the lens kept a slow, even turn.

Near the hinge, Grey checked a tiny cup of oil and tipped one clear drop.

Its viscosity made the drop crawl along the brass before it settled.

At a shallow pool, she set a flat shell on the surface and let it fall.

It made a soft plip, and concentric rings spread and bumped the pool's edge.

She tapped near a corner with a pebble, and the ripples bent around seaweed.

Then she drew a careful circle in wet sand; cold grit pressed under her finger.

She tried to slide a smooth stone under a flat rock, but the clearance was tiny.

She raised two fingers to measure the gap, and she moved to the next rock.

This time the gap was wider, and the stone slid in with a faint scrape.

A tiny crab stepped out, paused inside her sand circle, and opened one paper-thin claw.

Grey watched from a step above, his boots quiet against the cool stone.

Far above, the lens kept its turn, and its bright band swept across the pool.

Water marks, shell lines, and her dark ring stayed on the ground after the crab left.

Light crossed the wet circle once more and slid onward up the rocks.

Grey 和 Selene 從守塔人的門口走到塔下的潮池。

空氣裡帶著鹽味，欄杆摸起來冰涼，還有一點黏。

磨損的台階中間變得淺淺凹下，薄薄的白色結晶沿著螺栓勾出線條。

Selene 抬頭向上看那間玻璃屋，透鏡以緩慢而均勻的節奏轉動。

在轉軸旁，Grey 檢查一只小油杯，輕輕滴下一滴透明的油。

這滴油的黏度讓它沿著黃銅慢慢爬行，最後才停住。

在一個淺淺的潮池邊，她把一片扁平的貝殼放在水面上，任它落下。

它發出輕輕的啵一聲，同心圓的波紋擴散，碰到池邊。

她用一顆小石子在角落附近輕點了一下，波紋繞過海藻而彎曲。

接著她在濕沙上小心畫了一個圓；冰涼的砂粒抵在她的指下。

她想把一顆光滑的小石頭推到一塊扁石底下，但縫隙很小。

她舉起兩根手指量了量這個間距，接著換到旁邊那塊石頭。

這回空間夠了，石頭伴著細微的摩擦聲滑了進去。

一隻小螃蟹爬了出來，在她的沙圈裡停住，打開一隻薄得像紙的螯。

Grey 站在高一階的位置看著，靴底在冰涼的石面上很安靜。

高處的透鏡繼續轉著，一道亮帶掠過潮池。

螃蟹離開後，水痕、貝殼排成的線條和她畫的深色圓圈還留在地上。

光又穿過那個濕圈一次，沿著岩石向上滑過。