Rice on the Window Ledge Slows a Rubber Ball - 適合中級的英文短篇故事，含中譯與發音

"The small window is stuck."

Niles nudged the latch and pushed up with both hands. Warm air gathered under the roof, and cooler air rested by their knees. Dry paper and warm dust mixed in the air, and the floor felt gritty. Niles set a ceramic bowl on a trunk near the window ledge. "This bowl looks fine." Willa pulled a small rubber ball from a cloth bag and rolled it once. It crossed one wide board, bumped a seam, and tapped the wooden base.

Niles opened a canvas sack of rice and poured a little into the bowl. Grains ticked on the rim, sifted inside, and piled in a round mound. A few scattered across the trunk and settled along the ledge like tiny dots. Willa kneeled by the boards and sent the ball on a longer path. It rolled past a loose nail head, curved at a groove, and kept going. Then the old tie on the sack slipped, and a thin stream rushed out. Rice climbed the rim, spilled over, and crept across the trunk toward the floor. The moving grains reached the rolling ball, and its speed fell at once. The ball began to creep sideways along the little ridge the rice had made. It left a shallow channel through the pile, and grains kept sliding around it. The stream still trickled from the sack, and the ball still wobbled forward. Side by side, two finger paths curved through the thin rice on the ledge. Niles pressed a short ridge beside Willa’s line and brushed stray grains back.

「小窗戶卡住了。」

Niles 撥了扣環，雙手向上推起窗扇。屋頂下聚著暖空氣，較涼的空氣貼在他們膝邊。乾紙味和暖塵混在空氣裡，地板摸起來微微粗糙。Niles 把一只陶碗放在箱子上，靠近窗台。「這個碗看起來還不錯。」Willa 從布袋裡拿出一顆小橡膠球，先滾了一次。它跨過一塊寬木板，撞到縫隙，又輕敲在木底座上。

Niles 打開帆布米袋，倒了一些進碗裡。米粒在碗緣輕碰，滑進去，又堆成一小丘。有幾顆散在箱面上，沿著窗台停成一列點。Willa 跪在地板邊，讓球走一段更長的路。它滾過一顆鬆動的釘頭，在一道凹槽旁轉了彎，還在前進。接著，袋口的舊綁帶鬆開，一條細流噴了出來。米爬過碗緣，翻下來，沿著箱面緩緩蔓延向地板。流動的米粒追上在滾的球，球的速度立刻降了下來。球開始沿著米堆邊緣慢慢側爬，留下一道淺淺的槽。米還在周圍滑動，那道細流也還在袋口涓滴。兩道手指的軌跡並排在窗台薄薄的米面上彎成曲線。Niles 在 Willa 的那條線旁按出一道短短的脊，順手把散落的米粒撥回去。