What Pushed the Ladder- 適合中級的英語短篇故事

Leo rolled a narrow ladder along the library's tallest wall. He wanted a field guide that sat high above two dusty globes. The air inside felt dry, yet a distant skylight leaked thin sunlight. A mounted harrier, its wings spread wide, watched from a beam. As he climbed, the wood under his boots wobbled. An informative atlas lay open on a side table below, showing rivers crossing mountains. Rows of volumes stored decades of knowledge, and Leo planned to add another fact to his notes.

Halfway up, a gust pushed through a side vent that had been hidden behind a curtain. The sudden wind flipped the atlas pages, sending a loose map gliding off the table. The sheet landed on a glass pitcher, tilting it just enough for water to pour across the table edge. The flow drummed on the floorboards, then slipped beneath the ladder wheels. The ladder rolled backward; Leo gripped a rung and kicked the brake. His boot jammed the wheel against a knot in the wood, halting the slide. Water kept traveling, vanishing into a crack where steam pipes rattled below. The window curtain flapped but stayed short of the vent. The ladder stayed half-steady. A thin ribbon of water trickled beneath it toward the far shelf.

利奧把一架細長的梯子沿著圖書館最高的牆推動。他想拿到放在兩個蒙塵地球儀上方的野外指南。室內空氣乾燥，遠處的天窗漏下細細日光。一隻展翼的鷂標本棲在橫樑上仿佛注視著他。當他往上爬時，靴底下的木頭微微晃動。旁邊桌上攤開的資訊豐富地圖冊顯示河流穿過群山。書架上成排卷冊保存了數十年的知識，利奧打算再為筆記添上一條資料。

爬到一半時，一股風從一塊被窗簾遮住的側面通風口衝進來。突如其來的風掀動地圖冊的頁面，一張鬆動的地圖滑下桌面。那張紙落在玻璃水壺上，剛好把它傾斜，水便沿桌邊潑下。水流敲打木地板，接著鑽到梯子輪子下面。梯子向後滑動；利奧抓緊橫檔，一腳踢住剎車。他的靴子把輪子卡在木板的一個節點上，止住了移動。水繼續流動，消失在下方蒸汽管道發出叮噹聲的裂縫裡。窗簾仍在拍動，卻離通風口還有一段距離。梯子維持著半穩狀態。一條細細的水痕在梯子下方向遠處書架蜿蜒。