2015-03-19

【Aiden in English】

        The nervous tension before something important always makes people want to snap. Anything moves or speaks seem so frightening to you, and there’s always a need to tap your feet or whistle. In these situations, everyone feels like the slightest push can send you over the edge. The author of the book Head above Water gives you the feeling because of the descriptive words and the perspective. It’s about a girl named Skye, and she is swimming to qualify for the state. The word choice really gives the readers a detailed visual in their heads, feeling what Skye feels, hearing what she hears. With all the nervous energy and the tenacity challenge in her competition, Skye gets into the state finals, but it’s a tough ride.

        From coming out of the locker room to getting a past qualifying time, Skye goes through a lot of feelings. Before the race, Skye is very tense and is trying to ventilate herself. She is extremely nervous because if she won this race, it meant a pass to the state finals, or the alternative, a trip home. The stakes are very high, and the story really lets the reader know when the author says different ways she was trying to comfort herself. Skye was taking deep breathes, letting her calm down, and taking her time to come out of the locker rooms. Another sign of nervousness was that Skye ran the race over in her head, thinking of the things to do to get the advantage. This showed that she needed every trick in the book to win and was trying to calm down by shifting her thoughts away from the nervousness. Then, Skye’s mood takes a huge swing. Right before her time to shine, Skye seems to be able to pull her scattered self together into a different person. She became focused on the up-coming race, blocking out of all the unnecessary noise. In the text, the author writes “I was finely tuned-seeing, hearing, feeling everything; yet seeing, hearing, feeling nothing but the upcoming race.” The mood of Skye changed dramatically from the nervous girl to the mentally prepared swimmer at that time, and her mind was focused on one and only one task. Her feelings took another turn during the race. Skye was swimming a two-hundred free style, and during the middle of the laps, she was afraid that she couldn’t keep up with such fast pace. The author writes “simple, uncomplicated pain” as a sentence, signifying and emphasizing the pain Skye felt. At this point, her feelings changed again. She was determined to win the race, and with every ounce of strength in her, she pushed herself to the limit, straining to keep the pace. Skye became relentless, telling herself to not slow until the end, and when she touched the wall, her emotions softened, turning into joy. She had gotten a passing time, and, as the author put it, jumped “nearly three feet out of the water.” Her pain had receded in a flash, replaced by the sweetness of a well-earned victory.

        Skye’s experience in Head above Water isn’t something that only happens to her, because everyone has a time where the butterflies somehow sneak down your throat and into your stomach. Yet what set Skye apart from most of the other kids out there in the world is how she was able to overcome that nervous tension, and become that great swimmer and happy, joyful champion with, with words straight from the book, have “the whole world in the palm of my hand.”

【紅霞譯文】

        每每重要事情發生之前，人們神經緊張，哪怕一點動靜或聲音都會引起心理上極度恐懼，以致下意識地輕跺腳尖吹起口哨，在這種情況下，仿佛稍有不慎，整個身心大有可能陷入瀕臨崩潰的邊緣。《浮出水面》作者運用生動的筆觸和深邃的洞察力和盤道出你的心聲。本書女主人公名叫斯凱，正準備參加州級游泳資格賽。書中字字句句如同繪畫圖像深深影印在人們的腦海，而斯凱的所思所聞無不引發讀者共鳴，經過白熱化激烈角逐，她過五關斬六將，終於如願出線。

        當走出更衣室得知贏得進軍決賽資格時，斯凱心潮起伏。賽前她情緒不安，試圖想盡辦法來緩解壓力。斯凱明白，如果戰勝隊手，意味着自己有望晉級參加下一輪比賽；而敗走麥城則只能打道回府。前途未卜，故事跌宕起伏，作者有意將人們的注意力吸引到斯凱如何調整心態的細節上。她先做深呼吸，努力讓自己鎮定下來，然後不慌不亂地走出更衣室。造成斯凱心情過度緊張的還有，她滿腦子裝的儘是比賽，並且只想為贏而戰。書中着重描述了幾種解決方法，使得斯凱有效地轉移了注意力，從過度緊張中解放出來。正因為斯凱的思緒發生了巨大改變，在大賽到來之際，她才能放棄各種顧慮，以嶄新的姿態出現在游泳池畔。斯凱集中精力，排除任何不必要的紛擾，正如書中作者所述：“我已從視覺、聽覺、感覺各個方面做好了充分準備，這樣才有助於投身參與。”斯凱從一位沉不住氣的小姑娘搖身變成鎮定自信的游泳健將，踏踏實實迎接每一個挑戰，接下來的賽事再度見證了這種轉變。斯凱參加二百米自由泳比賽，在中途較量期間，曾一度擔心自己趕不上對手，作者用“無緣無故的煩惱”來象徵性刻畫其內心不安，但她馬上找回自我，下定決心要拿下這場比賽。她竭盡全力拼命加速向前，始終保持頑強的鬥志，並告誡自己不到終點決不退縮；當觸摸到池壁最後時刻，她激動得熱淚盈眶，看到自己取得的可喜成績，禁不住又蹦又跳，竟然“一下子竄出水面達三英尺之高”，所有委屈全部被池水沖刷得乾乾淨淨，從前辛苦的耕耘終於換來今天甜美的果實。

        《浮出水面》裡斯凱的經驗並非僅僅適用她本人，因為誰都體會過蝴蝶卡住嗓子掉進胃裡的緊張時刻。與眾不同地，斯凱在征服內心恐懼的同時，不僅成為一名了不起的運動員，而且還是一位幸福快樂的游泳冠軍，直接借用小說原話，“我主宰自己的世界”。