Rainbow Ring on the Lighthouse Drawing Page - 適合中級的英文短篇故事，含中譯與發音

The lamp room clock ticked under its glass cover. Each step on the spiral stair gave a small squeak.

Alaric carried a small cloth and held the rail. Keira followed with a round pumpkin tucked in her arms. They stopped behind the guard rail, far from the lamp. Salt and warm metal mixed in the air, and the brass rim felt mild against Keira’s fingers. Through the clear panes, the cottage showed below, with ivy braided along the wall and tiny leaves casting neat shapes on the stone path. “It’s bright at this hour,” Alaric said. “Do you still want to draw?” Keira set her paper on a low wooden stand and spread a rough layout of the lamp room. She lifted her pencil, then blinked when a strong reflection slid over the page.

The great lens threw a bar of light across the stand, and a brighter bloom gathered at the center. The paper shone too much, so her lines washed out. Keira turned the sheet, and the glare shifted. The glow moved softly over the grain of the wood. She raised the pumpkin and placed it near the edge of the page. Its ridges cast curved shadows that cooled a white patch. A thin rainbow appeared beside those shadows where the lens bent the low sun; colors moved from red to blue along the paper’s edge. A gull passed the window, and its dark shape crossed the floor, then vanished. Keira leaned her shoulder closer to the rail and tilted the page again. Now the reflection slid away, but a pale ring of color stayed, circling her drawing like a crown. She held her pencil above a line and waited. A faint band of green traced the back of her wrist, and a softer circle glowed around her knuckles.

燈室裡的時鐘在玻璃罩下滴答作響。螺旋梯的每一步都發出小小的吱呀聲。

阿拉里克拿著一塊小布並扶著欄杆。琪拉抱著一顆圓圓的南瓜跟在他後面。他們停在護欄後面，離燈很遠。空氣裡有鹽味和溫熱金屬的氣息，黃銅邊緣在琪拉指下感覺溫和。透過清透的窗片，下面的看守人小屋清楚可見，牆上盤繞著常春藤，小小的葉片在石徑上投下整齊的形狀。「這個時候很亮，」阿拉里克說。「你還想畫嗎？」琪拉把紙放在低木架上，攤開燈室的簡略布局圖。她抬起鉛筆，這時一條強烈的反光滑過紙面，讓她眨了眨眼。

巨大的透鏡把一道光帶投到木架上，中央聚起一團更亮的光暈。紙面太亮了，她的線條被沖淡。琪拉轉動紙張，眩光也跟著移開。光澤輕輕地掠過木頭紋理。她把南瓜舉到紙邊，放在一旁。南瓜的稜脊投下彎彎的陰影，讓一塊白區變得較暗。鏡片把低斜的陽光折開後，陰影旁邊出現一道細彩虹；顏色在紙邊由紅漸變到藍。一隻海鷗掠過窗外，牠的黑影跨過地面，隨即消失。琪拉把肩膀靠近欄杆，又把紙稍微傾斜。反光這回滑走了，但一圈淡淡的彩色仍然停著，像圈冠一般環住她的圖。她把鉛筆停在一條線上方，維持不動。一抹淺綠掃過她的手腕背面，一圈更柔的光在她的指節周圍發著亮光。