The Jellyfish and the Shaking Microphone- 適合中級的英語短篇故事

Lena placed a slim microphone at the edge of the old wooden pier. A dreamy haze blurred the horizon, and the ocean rolled under it with slow, even breaths. Salt drifted across the boards, mixing with the rubber smell of her recorder case. A mottled gull stood near her boot, head tilted, as if weighing her strange tool. She has worked with an oceanographer during school break, so she checked cable knots with practiced hands. Today her simple plan sounded clear in her head: capture gentle wave noise for a class project before the lunch bell rang.

Two forces fought her plan almost at once. Wind flicked the microphone sideways, and the dog that had followed her from the beach pulled its leash around the tripod leg. Metal legs scraped; the gull flapped upward. While she steadied the stand, a pale jellyfish floated beside the lower ladder step, drifting closer each second. The rising water lifted the creature until its bell brushed the tripod foot. Lena shifted. She slid the stand behind a stack of marine ropes that blocked the breeze, then clipped the leash to an iron ring on the railing. Sound settled; the recorder light blinked green. The gull glided back and perched on the silent microphone arm.

莉娜把細長的麥克風放在舊木碼頭的邊緣。朦朧的海平面像薄霧般柔軟，海浪以緩慢而均勻的節奏推移。鹹味越過木板，和收音機盒的橡膠味混在一起。一隻斑點海鷗站在她鞋尖旁，歪著頭打量這奇怪的器材。她曾在學校假期跟海洋學家實習，所以熟練地檢查線結。今天，她腦中只有一個簡單計畫：在午鐘響前錄下溫柔的浪聲。

計畫幾乎立刻遇到兩股阻力。風把麥克風吹得歪斜，而從沙灘跟來的小狗把牽繩纏在三腳架上。金屬腳架摩擦，海鷗振翅向上。她穩住支架時，一隻淡色水母漂到下方梯階旁，每秒更近。上升的海水抬高生物，直到傘形身體擦到腳架底端。莉娜換了位置。她把支架滑到一堆阻擋微風的海事繩後，再把牽繩夾在欄杆的鐵環上。聲音穩定下來，錄音燈閃著綠光。海鷗再次滑翔回來，停在安靜的麥克風臂上。