The Great Eel 1Race 鳗鱼赛跑

Tina Holt

武汉市光谷五小陈佳选译

Ten year old Aeran dreaded2 Field Dav. She wasn't fast. and the other kids laughed at thewav she flapped3 her arms when she ran.

10岁的艾兰害怕运动会日。她的速度不快，并且其他孩子嘲笑她跑步时挥舞手臂的方式。

Aeran thought she would much rather be inside painting a picture or doing math problems.

艾兰觉得她宁愿在教室里画画或者做做数学题。

Throughout the warm October afternoon， Aeran hobbled4 through the relay race， panted"through the long distance course， and was dragged along the ground in a hard tug-of-war match.

在十月里这个温暖的下午，艾兰一瘸一拐地通过接力赛，气喘吁吁地跑过长距离赛道，又在一场艰苦的拔河比赛中被拽着走。

“Students， line up for the next contest！" the teachers called. "For this race， you will run 25meters to the buckets in the field. Pick up the item you find there. then run the remaining 75meters to the finish line. The first one to finish is the winner."

“同学们，整队参加下一场比赛吧！”老师们喊道，“这场比赛，你们要先跑到25米开外地上的桶那儿。拿起你在那里找到的物品，然后跑完剩下的75米到达终点线。第一个完成的人获胜。”

The children took their places on the starting line. Aeran stepped in beside the others. Shewaited only a few seconds before the starter pistol6 echoed7 in her ears. Aeran did her best. butshe still fell behind all other players.

孩子们在起跑线上就位了。艾兰走到其他人旁边。只等了几秒钟，发令枪声就在她耳边响起。艾兰尽力了，但她仍然落在所有人的后面。

She knew something strange was happening when the first runners to reach the bucketssquealeds. Other kids hopped backwards and pointed.

当第一个跑到桶前面的人发出尖叫时，她知道有奇怪的事情发生了。其他孩子向后一跳，指着桶里。

Swimming in the buckets were long， live， slimy9， baby eels！ A few of the braver kids reachedin to catch the swimming creatures. but the eels wiggledIo out of their hands and jumped back intothe buckets.

在桶里游来游去的是长长的、活蹦乱跳的、黏黏的小鳗鱼！几个勇敢点的孩子伸手去抓游来游去的小家伙，但鳗鱼从他们手里扭脱出来，跳回了桶里。

Arms and eels flew everywhere. and children bumpedll into each other in the：onfusion.

到处都是舞动的胳膊和鳗鱼，孩子们在混乱中撞作一团。

Bv the time Aeran reached her bucket. she had a plan. She cupped her hands and scoopedout a young eel.

當艾兰到达她的水桶前时，她已经有了个计划。她伸出双手，捧出一条小鳗鱼。

Instead of grasping it tightly， she placed it gently onto the ground and sprinkled12 dirt ontop of it.The dirt allowed her to pick it up without slipping out of her hands.

她没有紧紧抓住它，而是把它轻轻地放在地上，并在上面撒上泥土。泥土使她能抓住鳗鱼，而不会让它从手中滑出来。

As fast as she could. Aeran raced towards the finish line. Some kids tried to follow. but theslippery eels jumped out of their hands. slowing them down.

艾兰以最快的速度跑向了终点线。一些孩子试图按照她那样做，但滑滑的鳗鱼从他们手中跳了出来，放慢了他们的速度。

The finish line drew close. TeaChers and classmates cheered her on. Three more steps， and...Aeran threw the eel into the finish line bucket！

终点线接近了。老师和同学们都在为她加油。又跑了三步……艾兰把鳗鱼扔进了终点线的桶里！

A crv went out.“Hoorav！ That was awesome. Aeran！ First Place in the Eel Race！”

一阵惊呼响起。“万岁！太棒了，艾兰！你得了鳗鱼赛跑的第一名！”

（英语原文选自：the-office.com）

[Notes]

1.eel [i?l]n.鳗鱼

2.dread[dred] v.惧怕，担心

3.flap [fl?p] v.快速摆动

4.hobble[?h?bl] v.蹒跚;跛行

5.pant[p?nt]v.气喘吁吁地跑

6.pistol ['pistl]n.信号枪

7.echo [?ek??] v.发出回声

8.squeal [skwi?l] v.长声尖叫

9.slimy[?sla?m?]adj.黏滑的

10. wiggle ['wigl]v.使摆动，扭动

II. bump[b?mp]v.碰撞

12. sprinkle[?spr??kl] v.撒，洒