Leah Under the Gym Roof- 適合中級的英語短篇故事

Leah knelt beside a small metal dish on the school gym floor. Together with her friend Marco, she had built a pocket-size weather satellite for the science fair. The grey cube was no bigger than a lunch box. It rested on a thin support system of folded wires that kept its camera steady. A tablet lay open beside them, ready to receive the first image. The buzzer echoed. Visitors streamed between tables, and the rising chatter bounced from wall to wall. Leah tapped the device’s power switch, yet nothing appeared on the screen. An overhead lamp flickered, throwing moving shadows across their dish and scrambling the signal.

The demonstration time had arrived, but the satellite remained silent. Marco shrugged; Leah tightened the last loose screw, which had been hidden beneath a foil flap. Still no picture. Two rows away, the robotics team activated a spinning wheel. Its motors produced a sharp buzz that interfered with every short-range connection. Leah glanced upward; the school roof held a skylight that had been opened for fresh air. She lifted the tablet, angled it toward the gap, and the signal skipped past the noisy hall. Unexpectedly, the image routed through a real communications satellite orbiting above, then slid back onto their screen. A clear photo of the playground popped up, and nearby students burst into applause. Leah set the tablet down, and the dish rested steady on its wires.

莉雅跪在學校體育館的地板上，面前放著一個小金屬碟。她和朋友馬可一起為科學展製作了一顆掌上型氣象衛星。那個灰色立方體不比午餐盒大，卻穩穩地架在用折疊金屬絲組成的支撐系統上，鏡頭因此保持平穩。旁邊的平板電腦已經打開，準備接收第一張影像。蜂鳴器響起，參觀者在各桌間穿梭，逐漸升高的談話聲在牆面間來回反射。莉雅按下裝置的電源鍵，螢幕卻毫無反應。頭頂的燈閃了又閃，移動的影子掠過金屬碟，也干擾了訊號。

示範時間到了，衛星依舊沉默。馬可聳聳肩；莉雅旋緊最後一顆藏在錫箔片下的鬆動螺絲，影像仍然沒有出現。兩排之外，機器人隊啟動了旋轉輪。馬達發出的尖銳嗡嗡聲干擾了所有短距離連線。莉雅抬頭，看見屋頂那扇為了通風而打開的天窗。她舉起平板，對準天窗空隙，訊號越過吵雜的展場。不意間，影像經由真正的通訊衛星繞行，再度落回他們的螢幕。操場的清晰照片跳了出來，周圍的學生立刻拍掌歡呼。莉雅把平板放下，小金屬碟穩穩地停在支撐絲上。