The Lifted Sluice Gate and the Empty Overhang - 適合進階的英文短篇故事，含中譯與發音

“Is the frog hiding?” Barrett tapped the shaded stone above the gate, where a thumb-wide ledge usually held a slick imprint.

A shallow overhang shaded the slot, yet the notch sat clear and pale, the murmur thin where the channel narrowed at the gate mouth.

Rafael’s forearm rested at the iron handle, his fingers circling the cool ring while Barrett leaned on gravel that pressed neat ovals into his palm.

“It is open,” Rafael said, voice low under the water, and the two of them listened for the pitch to settle downstream.

Rafael raised the gate a hand’s width, the weir whitened, and drops ricocheted from the lowest plank into the still pool’s dark surface.

Barrett shaded his eyes and watched the dry path downstream turn patchy, soil going dark where small veins left the main run.

A dragonfly hovered over the cleared run, then arrowed away when Barrett’s sleeve crossed its light near the gate post.

The murmur thinned and steadied, and Barrett’s shoulders matched it by going still against the warm lintel of the sluice frame.

The afternoon had become research for his pockets and hands: a bottle cap boat, a rubber band thruster, and a twig as long as his forearm.

He crouched, lifted the little boat toward the main run, then drew it back before the current could pull it from his grip.

Instead, he set it in a shallow heel-shaped puddle beside the stone, where the rubber band spun the twig and nudged the boat in slow arcs.

It tapped the edge, pivoted, and bumped again, tiny collisions that wrote a wavering track in sand the color of wet tea leaves.

At the overhang, only the pale rectangle of stone kept its place, a clean seat without a body.

Further down, where the side channel met the field, a frog already settled into the new wet margin, its toes pressed into freshly darkened grit.

Barrett traced the sediment lines on the wall with a finger, each stripe a season, one higher than the next where water once favored the other path.

Near his knee, the pool took each drip from the plank and sent a single ring outward, a quiet clock marking the gate’s seam.

He stood, brushed grit from his palms, and stepped after Rafael along the dry path toward the bend, their shadows slipping off the cool stones.

On the iron handle, a damp oval from a hand slowly dulled in the sun.

The bottle cap boat drifted to a stop against a pebble, its rubber band slack on the twig.

Under the overhang, the notch stayed clean, while along the field’s edge a faint line of darker earth held its new shine.

「青蛙躲起來了嗎？」Barrett 用指尖敲了敲水閘上方的陰影石面，那裡有一道拇指寬的突緣，平常會留著滑亮的腹印。

一塊淺淺伸出的石檐遮住水槽的口，凹痕卻乾淨發白；在水閘口變窄的地方，水聲變得細細的。

Rafael 的前臂貼在鐵把手上，手指扣著冰涼的鐵圈，而 Barrett 倚著碎石，掌心被壓出一排整齊的橢圓痕。

「打開了。」Rafael 語調壓在水聲之下，兩人一起聽著音色在下游慢慢穩住。

Rafael 把水閘抬高一個手掌的高度，微型堰口泛白，水滴從最下方的木板彈開，落進一汪靜水發黑的表面。

Barrett 抬手擋住亮光，看著下游的乾路出現斑塊，小小的支流離開主水道之處，土色一塊塊變深。

一隻蜻蜓停在清出的水道上方盤旋，當 Barrett 的衣袖在靠近水閘柱子的光裡掠過，它立刻直線飛離。

水聲細而平，Barrett 的肩也跟著安定，靠在水門框溫熱的橫石上不再移動。

這個下午變成他口袋與雙手的研究：一艘瓶蓋小船、一個橡皮筋推進器，以及一根和他前臂一樣長的小樹枝。

他蹲下，把小船舉向主水道，又在水流能把它從他手裡扯走之前收了回來。

他改放在石旁一個像腳跟印的淺水窪裡，橡皮筋帶動樹枝旋轉，輕輕推著船沿著慢慢的弧線移動。

小船碰了一下邊緣，轉身，又撞了一下；一連串細小的碰撞在像濕茶葉顏色的沙上寫出搖晃的軌跡。

在石檐那裡，只剩一塊發白的長方形石面原封不動，像一張沒有身影坐著的乾淨座位。

再往下，在支渠貼著田地的地方，一隻青蛙已經佔住新濕的邊緣，趾端壓進剛變深的細沙裡。

Barrett 用手指沿著石壁上的沉積線劃過，每一道都是一個季節；在水曾偏向另一條路的地方，後來的痕更高一些。

在他膝邊，水池接住木板滴下的每一滴，向外推出單一的圓圈，像一座安靜的時鐘標著水閘的接縫。

他站起來，拍掉掌上的細砂，沿著乾路跟在 Rafael 往轉彎處走去，他們的影子從冰涼的石面上滑開。

鐵把手上，一枚手掌留下的濕潤橢圓在陽光裡慢慢失去光澤。

瓶蓋小船靠上一粒小石子停住，橡皮筋鬆在樹枝上不再繃緊。

石檐下面，那道凹口依舊乾淨；田邊沿著一條更深色的細線，剛沾濕的土還留著新的光澤。