Chapter 8

Chapter 8 SCIENTIFIC SUCCESS! AWKWARD PERSONAL MOMENTS! By Monday, Harper and Theo's coral had already started to grow. "It's incredible!" Harper said. She double- checked their log. "If it keeps growing at this rate, our coral will be ready for ocean transport in a few weeks."

第八章科学的成功！尴尬的私人时刻！到了周一，哈珀和西奥的珊瑚已经开始生长了。 “这是难以置信的!”哈珀说。 她再次检查了他们的航海日志。 “如果它继续以这个速度生长，我们的珊瑚将在几周内准备好进行远洋运输。”

Although they had started with a single piece of coral, Doc had asked them to break the coral into smaller pieces. She had explained that breaking the coral would cause it to grow faster. Some of the pieces had only grown a couple of millimeters. Some had grown by centimeters. But they were all growing. Theo looked around at his classmates' aquariums. "Our samples are definitely doing the best." He grinned shyly. "Not that it's a competition." "Right," said Harper. Then she grinned back. "But that is pretty cool."

虽然他们是从一块珊瑚开始的，但医生要求他们把珊瑚分成更小的碎片。 她解释说，折断珊瑚会使它生长得更快。 有些碎片只长了几毫米。 有些已经长了几厘米。 但他们都在成长。 西奥环顾了一下同学们的水族馆。 “我们的样品绝对是最好的。” 他害羞地笑了笑。“这不是一场竞争。” “对。”哈珀说。然后她也咧嘴一笑。 “但这很酷。”

Harper snuck a peek at a neighboring aquarium. Theo was right. Not everyone was having the same success. She made sure to write down the exact temperature of their water. They also recorded the pH level and the salinity. If their coral continued to do well, those numbers would be important to scientists all over the world. "Hey," Theo said. "Are you playing Minecraft after school today?" Harper froze. "Uh, why?" she asked. Theo shrugged. "Isn't that what you and your

哈珀偷看了附近的一个水族馆。 西奥是对的。并不是每个人都取得了同样的成功。 她一定要记下他们家水的确切温度。 他们还记录了pH值和盐度。 如果他们的珊瑚继续表现良好，这些数字对全世界的科学家来说都很重要。 “嘿，”西奥说。“你今天放学后玩《我的世界》吗？”哈珀冻结。 “呃，为什么？”她问。西奥耸耸肩。 “这不是你和你的

friends do in the computer lab after school? I saw you go in there every day last week. My locker's right there." "Oh," Harper said. "Yeah. We play Minecraft and stuff." "I'm a gamer, too," he said. "I've put some of my builds online. You should check them out." "Yeah," Harper said. "I definitely will. Definitely!" An awkward silence followed. Harper had a feeling Theo was waiting for an invitation. But she couldn't bring someone new into the group, could she? For one thing, they didn't have an extra headset. For another, there was real danger in that virtual world. She'd felt it when that creeper had exploded. How could she put someone else

朋友放学后在电脑室做什么？ 上周我看见你每天都去那里。 我的储物柜就在那儿。”“哦，”哈珀说。 “是的。我们玩《我的世界》之类的游戏。” “我也是个游戏玩家，”他说。 “我已经把我的一些作品放到了网上。 你应该去看看。” “是啊，”哈珀说。“我肯定会的。 当然!”接着是一阵尴尬的沉默。 哈珀觉得西奥在等着邀请。 但她总不能带新人来吧？ 首先，他们没有额外的耳机。 另一方面，在虚拟世界中存在着真正的危险。 当那棵爬山虎爆炸时，她感觉到了。 她怎么能把别人放进去呢

in harm's way? "Oh!" Harper said. "I totally forgot. I was supposed to refill Baron Sweetcheeks's water today." It wasn't technically true. But Harper felt more and more awkward the longer the silence lasted. And the class hamster could always use fresh water. She took her time with the task. She was still at the hamster cage when the bell rang and students started filing out of the classroom.

有危险吗？“噢!”哈珀说。 “我完全忘了。我今天应该给甜颊男爵续水的。” 这在技术上是不正确的。 可是沉默越久，哈帕越觉得尴尬。 而且班仓鼠总是可以使用淡水。 她不慌不忙地做这项工作。 下课铃响时，她还在仓鼠笼旁，学生们纷纷走出教室。

When she walked back to her table, Theo was already gone. She felt guilty. She didn't like keeping secrets from anyone. But the idea of inviting someone new into their special group would have to be discussed by everyone. As she put her books into her backpack, she noticed something strange. It looked like a piece of coral was missing from their aquarium. That can't be, she thought. But Theo had their logbook, so she couldn't double-check. She'd have to look into it tomorrow.

当她走回自己的桌子时，西奥已经走了。 她感到内疚。她不喜欢对任何人保守秘密。 但是邀请新人加入他们的特殊小组的想法必须经过每个人的讨论。 当她把书放进背包时，她注意到一些奇怪的事情。 看起来像是他们水族馆里少了一块珊瑚。 这不可能，她想。 但西奥有他们的航海日志，所以她无法再次确认。 她明天得去调查一下。