炎炎夏日，瞧那蔚藍浩瀚的大海，怎叫人不心動呢？泳池和大海總是清涼暢快的好去處。然而，學游泳總是困難重重。憋氣的痛苦，四肢的不協調，甚至心理上對水的恐懼，都常常會讓我們嗆一大口水，再掙扎著沉入水底。但也許只有經過許多次畏畏縮縮的嘗試和落荒而逃的失敗，才能真正徜徉于陽光下的水面吧。所謂一通百通，正是學游泳的過程讓作者明白了一點：鍥而不舍定能戰勝一切困難。

By Aaron Anthony Vessup

董翌佳 注

“You be careful, you hear me?”

My mother had that worried look, creased forehead, and familiar warning voice.

My father just laughed moving from the sandy beach into the swirling waters.

I followed slowly behind him because he had promised to show me how swimming was done.

There was a lull in the active water around us. My father was in the ocean on his stomach like a huge brown whale.

“Come on. Get on my back. Now!”

I struggled to climb on his wet, slippery back with my desperate arms clinging around his neck.

Again my mother’s voice came from the distance.

“Be careful! Please be careful!”

We moved fast as my father’s strong long brown arms stroked the water in a synchronized rhythm. We surged as if an invisible magic engine propelled our bodies. Every now and then my tiny frame would separate from my father’s back lifting free with cold water between us. I struggled to grip the safety of the brown whale with my small short legs. The water was deep and black, I could not see the bottom. Suddenly a huge mountain of water slammed into us like a giant wet blanket. I was now free from my father and swallowing salt water in gulps.

“I told you to be careful out there didn’t I?”

Those words rang in my head as I my father dragged me from the jaws of angry waves that threatened to pull me back underwater.

“Come on boy. You’re supposed to hold on tighter. You want to try again?”

I nervously shook my head clutching the safe blanket on the sand near mother. Shivering with cold, I tried to stop my teeth from chattering. Learning how to swim that day was not in the cards.

A few summers later my older brother and I started going to Willow brook swimming pool, because most of our schoolmates were there. By now I had much practice holding my breath underwater in our bathtub at home. I hoped to show-off in a real pool. We had fun at the Willow brook pool when the lifeguard was not looking. On a dare I could sneak on the low diving board and try to do a “Jack-knife” dive. I was not afraid of deep water that did not move. Sometimes mean kids would splash water in your face when you came up for air, or suddenly pull you underwater just to see if you could actually swim. I was lucky because of my ability to hold my breath. Unfortunately, a boy accidently drowned at the Willow brook pool, and it was closed down. We were no longer allowed to go to any public pool. Mom wanted us to be careful.

After that early crisis an unnerving event occurred in the yard next to our own home. Melrose, our neighbor, was trying to help her own small son overcome fear of water. His challenge was far greater than mine. He would not even submerge his head in a small tub of water while kneeling on the grass. But his mother was a swimming life guard at the El Segondo pool. What greater parental care could there be for her to help her son erase his fear. However, this small boy could not bear the idea of his nose touching the water even though his was not inside the small tub of water. He would close his eyes, place his face a few inches from the warm water and let out a blood curdling scream like a wounded lion. This noise was a disturbance in our quiet neighborhood, and continued intermittently for almost one hour. Finally, to our relief his mother gave up her efforts.

Years later as a High School student, our gym class focus was on swimming. In this class I was happy to be a fish in the shallow area of the pool. Sometimes I would venture to a middle area that reached my nose, or stand on the tips of my toes bouncing up and down close to the semi-deep water. However, most of the time I was happy to snorkel under water at the shallow end. However, one day the gym teacher challenged the class. Anyone with nerves could try to swim across to the short side of the pool.

“Come on! I know you can do it. I’ve seen you swimming underwater. What’s the big deal? Come on give it a try!”

The coach blew his shrill whistle and along with the others I dove into the water of flailing arms and legs. I propelled myself across the short distance to the side of the pool. With the other swimmers I turned and proceeded to paddle back to the opposite side.

Suddenly, my body stopped and my wild swimming motions ceased. Soon I was sinking down to the bottom of the pool. As my feet touched the cement floor I looked up to see the water surface far above my head. Pushing frantically against the pool bottom launched my body upwards, and in seconds my head broke the water surface. This was long enough for me to gulp a mouthful of air. My lungs seemed at a point of bursting, I needed more air and I was still far from the safety of the pool’s edge. At this moment my body became a stone. I could not move, and I was sinking again. I doubted that I would be coming up again. At that moment one of my classmates jumped into the water and reached for one of my arms. With easy effort he towed me back to the side of the pool, and other students helped me out of the water. I lay on the ground gasping and panting like a wounded fish. I never returned to that swim class again.

When I was thirty years old and teaching a University speech class. Curiosity bugged me as to why I avoided pool chlorine smells and continued to fear deep water. One of my students claimed to have been a Summer Life Guard for a few years. While standing in the room wearing her full-piece bathing suit, which definitely riveted our attention, she illustrated the basic breathing techniques. The entire class of students, including myself, were impressed. She made swimming seem easy. The emphasis on relaxation of the body, and short practices of specific techniques, were points driven home .

I hurried to visit the local YMCA indoor swim pool. Learning to relax while practicing alone the step-by-step sequence inhaling and exhaling with proper head positions. I had to learn how to trust my own self. Soon I was able to swim several laps non-stop in a single pool lane. At the age of thirty one I had finally learned how to swim. My confidence in the water grew to the point where I was able to add at least four different swim strokes to my repertoire. I began to look forward to swimming as a way to exercise and meditate.

Learning how to swim has become a rewarding venture and hobby. Traveling around the world with swimming skills has afforded me opportunities for fun and adventures. I no longer fear ocean waves, or have a death-grip on edges of hotel swimming pools. For me, facing my fear of deep waters has been personally instructive and motivating. I have learned that critical information about techniques is vital to learning any skill. Also, attitude and persistence make a big difference in learning outcomes. Facing challenging is an important personal growth experience. Learning how to swim is more than simply “playing” in water. Yet, one must still remember to “be careful out there!”

Vocabulary

1. creased: 有皺紋的，有折痕的。

2. swirling: 打旋的，起旋渦的。

3. lull: 間歇，暫停，暫時平靜。

4. synchronized: 同步的，協調的。

5. 我們在海面急速翻涌，仿佛有一個隱形的魔力引擎在推動著我們的身體。surge: 洶涌，涌動；propel: 推進，驅使。

6. frame: 身軀，身材。

7. slam: 使勁一推，猛勁一摔。

8. gulp: 一大口（尤指液體），吞咽。

9. 洶涌而狂暴的海浪幾欲將我拖入海中，當父親把我從這險象環生的虎口中拽出時，母親的話語在我的腦海中回蕩。jaw: 下頜，下巴，險境。

10. chatter: （因冷或害怕）打顫。

12. in the cards: 似乎會發生的。

13. bathtub: 浴缸，澡盆。

14. on a dare: （因某人鼓勵而）鼓起勇氣；“Jack-knife” dive: 屈體跳水。

15. mean: 卑鄙的，惡意的。

16. unnerve: 使緊張不安使害怕。

17. 他會閉上雙眼，將頭保持在離溫水幾英寸遠的地方，發出恐懼而慌張的尖叫聲，宛如一頭受傷的獅子。curdle: 使凝結。此處的用法來自“make someone’s blood curdle”，指把某人嚇得血液凝固，使極度恐慌。

18. intermittently: 間歇地。

19. snorkel: 使用水下呼吸管潛泳。

20. 有什么大不了的呢？

21. 教練吹響了尖銳的口哨聲，我和其他人一起蜂擁著跳入水中，大家揮動著的四肢擠在一起胡亂碰撞著。shrill: 尖銳的，刺耳的；flail: 用力地胡亂揮動。

22. paddle: 劃槳。

23. frantically: 瘋狂似地，狂暴地。

24. gulp: 大口呼吸。

25. tow: 拖，拽，牽引。

26. pant: 大口喘氣，喘粗氣。

27. bug: 煩擾，糾纏；chlorine: 氯（常用于水的消毒）。

28. full-piece bathing suit: 連身泳衣，也叫one-piece bathing suit。

29. rivet: 牢牢吸引住。

30.drive home: 使人理解。

31. 我一邊學著放松，一邊獨自按部就班地通過正確的頭部姿勢來練習連續換氣。sequence: 一連串的動作；inhale: 吸氣；exhale: 呼氣。

32. 我的自信心隨著游泳技能的進步不斷增加著，畢竟現在我已經學會了至少四種新的泳姿。stroke: 游泳的姿勢；repertoire: 全部技能，全部本領。

33. meditate: 冥想，沉思。

34. death-grip: 死亡之握，因為極度恐懼，常出現被淹者死死抓住救援者，導致兩人同時喪命。

35. persistence: 堅持不懈，毅力。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：董靜）