生平第一次骑马（第一次骑马的故事）

林肯曾说：“要战胜恐惧，而不是退缩。”面对生活中的各种挑战，不要逃避，不要退缩，只有直面它的勇者，才能不断突破极限，超越自我。

Ready, Rosie?

准备好了吗，罗茜？

By Carol Coven Grannick

Illustrated by Rachel Dougherty

音频图文授权：Cricket

故事简介：自罗茜很小的时候起，每当她同父母出城，她都会想象自己在父母的车外，骑在一匹骏马上疾驰，长发随风舞动。所以当得知有为期两周马术训练营的时候，罗茜没有半点犹豫就报名了。整个冬天，她都在期待着这一天的到来，憧憬着自己骑在马背上的样子。可是当她的梦想就快要实现的时候，一切却又不一样了。面对现实中的高头大马，罗茜开始紧张起来。尽管她嘴上不承认，但谁都能看出来她的胆怯。舍友萨莎也来了，她家就在这附近，所以她从小就会骑马，早就是老骑手了。和她一比，罗茜感到更害怕了。幸而教练凯莉过来教罗茜如何抚摸马儿，如何上马，如何控制缰绳。罗茜渐渐地放松下来，特别是当萨莎骑着马跑到罗茜身边，悄悄地告诉她起初自己也怕骑马时，罗茜终于彻底释然，策马向前！

“Hey! Don't tell me you’re scared!” Sasha smirked at Rosie, then leaned into her horse’s cheek and circled his head with her arms, as if he were nothing but a big stuffed animal.

“I’m not.” The lie didn’t sound as definite as Rosie wished it did. She turned away from Sasha. How could her bunkmate be so comfortable around these huge animals?

Rosie shuddered, backing away from where she stood outside the ring as Nugget blew out a long snort from her post inside. After begging to come to two weeks of riding camp instead of trailing after her violinist dad and French horn-playing mom on the symphony’s summer tour, Rosie’s cowgirl riding dreams had dried up like the red-brown dirt at her feet.

All winter Rosie had pictured herself galloping on a palomino down the country roads and fields in the camp brochure. Since she was little, whenever she and her parents headed out of town to where Chicago turned into country, Rosie would imagine she was outside the car, galloping on the back of a beautiful horse, hair long and windblown, instead of a tight mass of frizzy curls against her head.

“You are so, scared,” Sasha said. “I can tell.” A weird smile grew on her face. “It’s in the eyes,” Sasha said in a goofy, eerie voice.

Rosie pulled on a curl that hung stubbornly over her forehead. She kicked at some sand and shifted her weight from foot to foot, trying to scuff up her shiny new boots. Rosie had earned money to chip in for their cost by watering plants and feeding the cat next door while the Riccardis were away for the winter. Now all she wanted to do was get them to look like Sasha’s scuffed up boots.

Sasha looked like a real cowgirl in old jeans, flannel shirt, and used-to-horses boots, her every-which-way hair sticking out around a face freckled and patched red by the sun. And really, she was a cowgirl. She lived on a ranch nearby and came to camp free each summer because her folks provided hay to Spring Oaks at a big discount. Why hadn’t Rosie thought to look less like a city girl in new jeans, glittery T-shirt, and shiny boots? Maybe that would have made her less afraid. Looking at pictures of real horses all her life sure wasn’t the way to become a cowgirl.

Rosie forced a smile and took a small step toward Nugget. “Hi,” she said softly, reaching out an arm …

本文刊登在《英语沙龙》（原版阅读）2022年8月刊

责任编辑：Zan