Tara Beside the Bare Patch- 適合中級的英語短篇故事

Tara joined the Saturday park crew as a volunteer. A long patch of ground beside the playground waited for flowers. She had brought a small hand-powered launcher that could toss seed balls farther than a shovel. She has practiced with the launcher in her backyard. Yet the morning wind swept across the open field without pause. Several seed balls had been packed with care. Each was wrapped by a damp sponge strip that soaked up last night’s rain. The leader of a group of gardeners lifted a tray of seedlings nearby. Tara studied the moving branches and kept her thumb on the spring. Her goal sounded simple: deploy the seeds before the lunch whistle.

She waited for a quieter gust, pressed the trigger, and the first ball shot outward. The wind curved it toward a puddle. The soaked sponge added weight, so the ball fell short of the bare soil. Tara blinked, then swapped tactics. She tore the sponge into thinner rings, squeezed out water, and packed two lighter balls together. When the next lull arrived, she angled the launcher lower. The double ball soared, split in the air, and scattered seeds exactly over the empty patch. A cheer rose from the gardeners, yet Tara only loaded the remaining balls and repeated the new method. Minutes later the ground held soft mounds of seed. The afternoon sun slipped through clouds and sat lightly on the fresh soil.

塔拉以志工身分加入星期六的公園工作隊。遊樂場旁那長長的裸地正等待花朵。她帶來一支小型手動發射器，比鏟子能把種子球丟得更遠。她之前在後院練習過這發射器。然而晨風不停掠過開闊場地。幾顆種子球已細心裝好，每顆外面都綁著昨夜吸滿雨水的濕海綿條。園丁小隊的領隊在旁邊抬起一盤幼苗。塔拉觀察搖動的樹枝，拇指仍壓在彈簧上。她的目標很簡單：在午餐哨聲前完成種子投放。

她等到風稍弱，扣下扳機，第一顆球射了出去。風把它彎向水窪，濕海綿增加了重量，所以球落在裸土前。塔拉眨了眨眼，改變策略。她把海綿撕成薄圈，擠出水分，再把兩顆較輕的球一起裝入。下一次風隙到來時，她把發射器調低角度。雙球飛出，在空中分開，正好把種子灑在空地上。園丁們響起歡呼，塔拉只是重新裝填剩下的球，重複新方法。幾分鐘後，土地上形成一個個柔軟的種子丘。午後陽光穿過雲層，輕輕落在新翻的土壤上。