Becky's Puzzle Problem

Becky's Puzzle Problem, written by Mary C. Canavan. Illustrated by Laura Ferraro Close.

《贝琪的拼图难题》，作者：玛丽·C·卡纳万 插画：劳拉·费拉罗·克洛斯

Becky Finds the Perfect Puzzle It was a gloomy, rainy Saturday, but even so, Becky was very excited. Today was the day she would be picking out a new puzzle, a birthday gift from mom and dad. Becky was a puzzle person, or so her mom said. She had started with baby -size wooden ones, progressed to fifty pieces, then one hundred, and then two hundred. Now, it would be a bigger challenge, her first 300 -piece puzzle. And even better, she had a three -day weekend ahead to put it together.

贝琪找到完美拼图 这是个阴雨沉闷的周六，可贝琪依旧格外兴奋 今天就是她挑选新拼图的日子，这是爸妈送她的生日礼物 贝琪妈妈总说，贝琪天生就是爱拼拼图的孩子 她从婴儿款木质拼图开始玩，慢慢能拼五十片，再到一百片，后来到了两百片 现在她要挑战更大的——她的第一副三百片拼图 更棒的是，她有整整三天周末假期，可以慢慢把它拼完

At the toy shop, she was overwhelmed with the array of puzzles. Some had as many as 9 ,000 pieces. At last, she found the 300 -piece puzzle section and saw one she liked. Mom, I found it, Becky said, right here, the one with the animals. It was beautiful, a painting of African wild animals near a watering hole. A snowy mountain was in the background and birds were flying around. It's neat because you can see the whole picture in the water too, she said. It's like having two puzzles in one.

到了玩具店，琳琅满目的拼图让贝琪看得眼花缭乱 有些拼图甚至多达九千片 最后，她找到三百片拼图的专区，一眼看中了一副 “妈妈，我找到了！”贝琪说，“就在这儿，带小动物的这副” 这副拼图美极了，画的是非洲野生动物在水塘边休憩的样子 背景是一座雪山，还有鸟儿在空中盘旋飞翔 “它太酷啦，水塘里还能看到一整幅倒影呢”，贝琪说 就像一副拼图里藏着两幅拼图一样

At home, she carefully cleared off the large dining room table and measured the area the puzzle would cover. The box said 16 by 24 inches. Becky carefully dumped the pieces out onto the table and turned them over right side up. This took a little time and she was impatient to get going. This does look like a lot more pieces, she said. In fact, there were twice as many pieces as the last puzzle she completed.

回到家，她仔细清理出大餐桌，量好了放拼图的位置 盒子上标注成品尺寸是16乘24英寸 贝琪小心地把所有拼块倒在桌上，再把它们全部翻成正面朝上 这花了一点时间，贝琪早就迫不及待想要开始了 “这些拼块看起来真多呀”，她说 实际上，这副的拼块数量是她上一次拼完的两倍

It's all in how you look at it. First, she searched for straight edges to make a frame for the picture. Some of these pieces were easy to spot. Others had just a teeny weeny bit of a straight edge. Then she began to spot pieces that might go together. Pieces of a tree, the zebra's stripes, the distinctive marks of the giraffe. Those pieces she put together in little piles off to the side. She was getting organized. By lunchtime, Becky had two sides completed.

关键要看找对什么方法 首先，她找出所有带直边的拼块，来拼出拼图的外框 有些直边拼块很好辨认 还有一些只有一丢丢小小的直边 接着她开始找能拼在一起的拼块 有画树干的、斑马条纹的，还有长颈鹿特殊斑纹的拼块 她把同部位的拼块分成小堆，放在桌子侧边 她已经整理得井井有条 到午饭时间，贝琪已经拼完两条外框边了

Later that afternoon, her dad came and sat down next to her. How's it going, he asked, as he picked up a piece. Okay, Becky said, but this is taking longer than I expected. I always look for shape first, Dad said. It's a trick I learned from my father. Becky looked up at her dad. Grandpa John? Try as she might, Becky could not imagine her as a little boy doing a puzzle with Grandpa. Dad said, I put all the ones with the loop out over here and the long ones over here. Well now that was news to Becky. She had never considered shape as a way to separate pieces. He continued, this way when you need one like this, He held up a squarish piece. It will be here in this pile. Dad pushed his piece in place and said, Got one!

下午晚些时候，爸爸走过来坐在她身旁 “拼得怎么样啦？”他边问边拿起一块拼块 “还可以，”贝琪说，“不过比我预想的费时间多了” “我找拼块的时候会先看形状，”爸爸说 “这是我从我爸爸那儿学来的小妙招” 贝琪抬头看向爸爸 “是约翰爷爷吗？” 贝琪怎么都没法想象，爸爸小时候当小男孩，和爷爷一起拼拼图的样子 爸爸说：“我把带圆弧凸边的都放在这儿，长条形的放在那边” 这对贝琪来说可是全新的思路 她从来没想过，可以按形状来给拼块分类 他继续说：“这样你找这种形状的时候，”他举起一块方方正正的拼块 “它就在这堆里呀” 爸爸把拼块推到位，说道：“看，拼上啦！”