The Stained Mixing Well and the Frog's Green- 適合中高級的英語短篇故事

A pale, ghostly circle at the base of an empty plastic mixing well quietly marked where yesterday’s paint had once pooled. Faye leaned closer, sliding the ice-cube tray across the widely crinkled newspaper to slowly inspect the ghost tint under the overhead lamp. Beside her, a sleek grey cat of compact stature gently balanced on the chair, its nose twitching at the sweet chalky scent. A red craft stick lay in the stirring zone, but the blue stick was missing, leaving only a sticky patch of colour. An adult hummed at the stove behind her, absently clinking pans and leaving the table work entirely to Faye. The cat tapped the table with its tail like a slow game of leapfrog, then settled, watching the bright shiny primary wells. She rinsed a spare stick, shook off water, and touched yellow, hearing the soft click against light plastic as the colour lifted.

She aimed to match the bold green stitched across her fabric frog resting beside the tray. A bead of yellow slid into the vacant well, and a careful dab of blue followed, the colours mixing quickly. The mix deepened toward teal; the faint plastic stain proved stronger than it had seemed. She added more yellow; the hue balanced, yet the yellow level fell, and she weighed the merit of saving paint. She scraped a ribbon of green onto the test strip, moved it into shade, and found it matched the frog’s patch. Accepting the trade, she stopped stirring, left a finger’s width of yellow untouched, and noted blue now bore faint yellow streaks. She nodded toward the cat and laid both sticks in a neat cross, a quiet symbol of today's compromise. Faye breathed in the faint chalky smell rising from the tray, satisfied the colours could rest for now.

一圈幽淡的痕跡留在空白塑膠調色格底部，靜靜證明昨天的顏料曾在此聚成一灘。費伊把冰格式調色盤滑過滿是皺褶的報紙，慢慢靠近，在頭頂燈光下細看這道殘影。她身旁，一隻體型精巧的灰貓穩穩站在椅子上，鼻尖因那股微甜粉筆味輕輕顫動。紅色木棒躺在攪拌區，藍色木棒卻不見蹤影，只剩一片黏糊色斑。爐邊的大人哼著歌，隨手敲碰鍋具，把整張桌子的工作完全留給費伊。灰貓的尾巴拍著桌面，像慢速跳房子的節奏，接著定住，盯著亮閃閃的三格原色。費伊沖洗一支備用木棒、甩掉水珠，沾取黃色時聽見木棒撞上輕薄塑膠的柔響。

她要調出和布青蛙背上刺繡相同的鮮綠。她先讓一滴黃色滑入空格，再添一點藍色，兩色迅速混合。顏料漸變為深青，原來那層塑膠舊漬比外觀更有力量。她再添些黃色，色調終於平衡，但黃色液面也明顯下降，她思量是否該節省顏料。她把一條綠色塗在測試紙上，移到陰影處，比對後發現已與青蛙的色塊相符。她接受這種取捨，停止攪拌，留下一指寬的黃色備用，同時注意到藍格裡出現淡淡黃紋。她朝灰貓點頭，將兩支木棒交叉放好，成為今日妥協的靜默符號。費伊吸入從調色盤升起的淡淡粉筆味，讓這些顏色暫時安歇。