The Butterfly Swimmer蝶泳运动员

Sheila Renfro

“I cant do it，”Misty whispered toher best friend， Allie.“Ive already comein last twice！ ”

Instead of a swimsuit， Allie hadshown up at the swim meet with her leftarm in a hot pink cast. “I cant swim forsix weeks. Youve been practicing withme. You can do it.”

They both looked at the rival1 teamcheering after the third straight win.

Misty groaned2.

Allie encouraged her. “Youll dofine. Remember， its better to havesomeone than no one at all.”

Misty shrugged3. The whistle4 blew.It was time for her to line up. Sheshivered， waiting for the race to start.Stealing a glance， she met her teamsgaze5. All eyes were focused6 on her.Allie raised her pink cast and smiledencouragingly.

The shrill7 of the whistle rang out.Stretching her arms high over her head，Misty took a deep breath before jumpinginto the cold water.

“Oh，”she thought，“now Ill come inlast for sure.”

She tried hard to pull her arms andhands in front of her as she dipped up anddown in the water. Then she pushed herhands down， pushing against the water toraise herself up. She gulped in air mixedwith sprays8 of water. Then she dove intothe water.

Her goggles9 kept the water from hereyes， but she couldnt see the end of thepool. But each time her head came abovethe water， she could hear the loudestcheer from the crowd. She could see theblur10 of Allies pink cast and recognized11her shout.

Suddenly， Allies face appeared beforeher.“Turn！ Turn！ ”she screamed12

Mistys hands pushed hard againstthe edge of the pool. She bunched13 herknees up to make the turn. Then she shotout like a missile14. She gained speed.

She could hear the crazy screams ofthe crowd as she kept rising and falling inthe water. All she could see was the blackline on the bottom of the pool.

Her breath came harder and faster. Shehad to keep going.

“Come on！ ”She said to herself.

The edge came up fast， and then sheslapped the wall. She pulled off her gogglesand searched for the board with the times.

She could see Allie rounding thecorner of the pool， coming towards her witha big smile on her face.

“You did it！ ”Allie shouted excitedly.“You came in second！ You are a goodbutterfly swimmer， too.”

“我做不到。”米斯蒂低聲对她最好的朋友阿莉说，“我已经得了两次最后一名了！”

阿莉没有穿泳装，而是左臂打着粉红色的石膏出现在游泳比赛现场。“我已经六个星期无法游泳了。你一直在和我练习。你能行。”

他们都看着对手在三连胜后欢呼雀跃。

米斯蒂呻吟着。

阿莉鼓励她。“你会做得很好的。记住，有人参加总比没有人参加好。”

米斯蒂耸耸肩。哨声响起，她该排队了。她颤抖着，等待比赛开始。她偷偷瞥了一眼，撞上了队员们的目光。团队所有人的目光都集中在她身上。阿莉举起她粉红色的石膏，露出鼓励的微笑。

尖锐的哨声响起。米斯蒂将双臂高高地举过头顶，深吸了一口气，纵身跳进冰冷的水中。

“哦，”她想，“现在我肯定会是最后一名。”

在水里沉浮时，她努力把胳膊和手伸向身前。然后，她把手向下压，划着水，把自己推出水面。

她大口大口地吸入混合着水花的空气。然后，她又潜入水中。

她的护目镜防止她的眼睛进水，但她看不到泳池的尽头。但每次她的头露出水面时，她都能听到人群最响亮的欢呼声。她可以看到阿莉粉红色石膏模糊的影子，并辨别出她的喊叫声。

突然，阿莉的脸出现在她面前。“转身！转身！”她尖叫道。

米斯蒂的双手用力推着的泳池边缘。她屈膝转身。然后她像导弹一样飞射而出。她加快了速度。

当她在水里沉浮的时候，她能听到人群疯狂的尖叫声。她能看到的只有池底的黑线。

她的呼吸越来越急促。她必须继续前进。

“加油！”她自己对自己说。

水池的边缘很快映入眼帘，然后她触壁了。她摘下护目镜，寻找计时牌。

她可以看到阿莉绕过游泳池的一角，带着灿烂的笑容向她走来。

“你做到了！”阿莉激动地喊道，“你得了第二名！你也是一名优秀的蝶泳运动员了。”

Notes

1. rival 竞争对手；竞争的

2. groan  呻吟；叹息

3. shrug  耸肩

4. whistle 哨子；口哨声

5. gaze 凝视；注视

6. focus  集中；关注

7. shrill  尖叫声

8. spray  浪花；飞沫

9. goggle  护目镜

10. blur 模糊不清的事物

11. recognize 认识；辨别出

12. scream 尖叫

13. bunch  收紧

14. missile 导弹