2006年NPR美国国家公共电台七月-Fixing a Broken Bike in the City

（单词翻译）

There is still a month left before most children go back to school, and for some kids that means another whole month of afternoon bike rides. Here is a commentary about three of them. They live in Katie Davis' neighborhood of Washington DC.

Three boys lean over an upside-down mountain bike, turn the pedal back, spin it. Smooth the spoke¹, true the wheel. Leon is wearing a faded T-shirt, the one with a picture of his father on it, Julio says I wish my father were dead. Leon looks down at his 12-year-old chest at the letters "rest in peace daddy". He died in prison, says Leon. But the boys already know this. Leon unbends the spoke and sends the wheel spinning. Cyrus grabs the tire, stops it cold. I've never seen my dad, he might be dead. Mine' s in Arizona, Julio says and spits into the street. Last time I saw him, I was eight, Julio spins the wheel again hard and the chain pops off. If he walked up right now, says Julio I'd beat him with this chain. Yeah, nods Cyrus.

I watch these three boys. Truing one wheel and I see the father wheel. They keep working because when a wheel is true, it is steady and balanced, it can take them down Snake Hill to Rock Creek² Park in the river. It can take them away.

【WORLD BANK】
true
to make level, square, balanced, or concentric : bring or restore to a desired mechanical accuracy or form *true up a board* *true up an engine cylinder
pop
[intransitive and transitive] to burst, or to make something burst, with a short explosive sound
A balloon popped.