Chapter 18

18 LUFFY WHITE CLOUDS DRIFT ACROSS THE BRIGHT FBLUE SKY OVER the field in the middle of the Midville Woods. Rays of morning sunlight beam down to the trees, the grass field, the hundreds of dark blue panels angled toward the sun. These panels are the Midville Solar Array. The energy from the sunlight is absorbed by the hundreds of panels covering the field. This sunlight energy frees electrons in the layers of solar-panel material. And these free electrons then flow as electricity.

在米德维尔森林中央的田野上，飘过明亮的蓝天的白云。 早晨的阳光照在树上，照在草地上，照在数百块朝向太阳的深蓝色嵌板上。 这些电池板是米德维尔太阳能电池阵列。 来自阳光的能量被覆盖在场地上的数百块电池板吸收。 这种阳光能量释放了太阳能电池板材料层中的电子。 然后这些自由电子以电流的形式流动。

A pair of bright orange-and-black monarch butterflies flap over the sea of solar panels. A red-breasted robin sweetly tweets. A curious chipmunk pops his head out of his hole and sits, looking oh so cute, until— WHAAAAAAAMMMM! WHAAAAAAAMMMM! WHAAAAAAMMMM! The solar panels, metal supports, robin, and

一对明亮的橙黑相间的帝王蝶在太阳能电池板的海洋上飞舞。 一只红胸知更鸟甜蜜地鸣叫。 一只好奇的花栗鼠从洞里探出头来，坐在那里，看起来好可爱，直到——哇！WHAAAAAAAMMMM !WHAAAAAAMMMM !太阳能板，金属支架，知更鸟，还有

curious chipmunk are smashed in an explosion of broken solar-panel bits and pieces. The butterflies are blown away by a blast of black engine exhaust. WHAAAAAAAMMMM! WHAAAAAAAMMMM! WHAAAAAAAMMMM! Enormous spiked-metal feet shatter panel after panel after panel with their stomping steps. A flock of crows escapes to the trees, panicked and cawing the whole way. More freaked-out chipmunks, terrified field mice, and one slow groundhog dive to safety underground. WHAAAAAAAMMMM! WHAAAAAAAMMMM! WHAAAAAAMMMM! The giant feet clomp-stomp-smash-shatter their way up one solar row, and blam-stampbust down another.

好奇的花栗鼠在太阳能电池板碎片爆炸中被砸碎。 这些蝴蝶被一股黑色的引擎废气吹走了。 WHAAAAAAAMMMM !WHAAAAAAAMMMM !WHAAAAAAAMMMM !巨大的尖钉金属脚用他们的脚步声打碎了一块又一块的面板。 一群乌鸦逃到树上，惊慌失措，一路叫个不停。 更多惊恐的花栗鼠，受惊的田鼠，还有一只缓慢的土拨鼠潜入地下安全地带。 WHAAAAAAAMMMM !WHAAAAAAAMMMM !WHAAAAAAMMMM !这些巨大的脚跺着，踩着，踩着，踩着，踩着，踩着，爬上一排太阳，然后踩下另一排太阳。

WHAAAAAAAMMMM! WHAAAAAAAMMMM! WHAAAAAAAMMMM! The giant feet are attached to thick mechanical legs. The legs are powered by a squat motor body. A glass cab sits atop the motor body. And in the glass cab of this custom-built Bigfoot Stomper machine, a chimpanzee push-pulls the two hand levers back and forth, back and forth, raising and lowering the monster metal feet. Edison, wearing his orange safety helmet, yells over the noise of the Bigfoot engine and the shattering solar panels. "Beautiful! Just beautiful!"

WHAAAAAAAMMMM !WHAAAAAAAMMMM !WHAAAAAAAMMMM !巨大的脚连着粗壮的机械腿。 腿是由一个深蹲的电机体提供动力。 一个玻璃驾驶室位于电机体的顶部。 在这台定制的大脚踩踏机器的玻璃驾驶室里，一只黑猩猩前后推拉着两个手杠杆，前后推拉，抬高和降低怪物的金属脚。 戴着橙色安全帽的爱迪生，在“大脚”引擎和太阳能电池板破碎的噪音中大喊大叫。 “漂亮!只是漂亮!”

Mr. Chimp pauses, pulls, holds the huge right foot over the last solar panel. He signs:

黑猩猩先生停顿了一下，拉了拉，把巨大的右脚放在最后一块太阳能电池板上。 他的迹象:

And pushes the lever to drop the steel foot and smash the last panel into broken junk. T. Edison pulls out his notebook and makes one last big check in it. Fluffy white clouds still drift across the bright blue sky. Rays of sunlight still beam down to the grassy field. But there are no solar panels left. Nothing to gather the energy of the sun. Nothing to convert sunlight to electricity.

推杠杆，让钢脚掉下来，把最后一块板砸成碎片。 爱迪生拿出他的笔记本，在上面做了最后一次大检查。 蓬松的白云仍然飘过明亮的蓝天。 阳光依然照在草地上。 但是已经没有太阳能电池板了。 没有东西可以收集太阳的能量。 没有什么能把阳光转化为电能。