8 THE PRESERVATIVE HUNT

CHAPTER 8 THE PRESERVATIVE HUNT "Preservatives, preservatives. Where are you, preservatives?" I muttered as I walked around the kitchen. I decided to start by looking on our counters. I saw some cooking oil we'd had forever and checked the ingredient list. The only ingredient listed was cooking oil. Hmmm. Maybe that was a preservative? I set it aside to check with my mom. Next, I picked up a can of beans we'd had for at

“防腐剂，防腐剂。 你在哪儿，防腐剂？”我一边在厨房里走来走去，一边喃喃自语。 我决定先看看我们的柜台。 我看到了一些我们用了很久的食用油，查看了配料表。 唯一列出的成分是食用油。 嗯。也许那是防腐剂？ 我把它放在一边和我妈妈核对。 接着，我拿起一罐我们吃了很久的豆子

least a year. Beans, water, and salt. Another vote for salt as a great preservative. A jar of pickles from our garden caught my eye. We'd made them ourselves at the end of last summer, so those were pretty old too. Oh! And Mom had said that pickling the cucumbers would preserve them. I closed my eyes and tried to remember what we added. Tiny cucumbers! They were so cute. Then we poured something over them. My nose wrinkled from the memory of the smell. It was vinegar! I really don't like the smell of vinegar. Which is funny because I actually use it a lot. I love playing with baking soda and vinegar. I never get tired of watching them foam and bubble when they mix. I used to make horrible faces while I played until my mom invented an awesome trick. She adds a few drops of peppermint extract to each cup of vinegar she gives me. When I make my pretend volcanoes erupt, it smells like candy canes are floating through the air.

至少一年。豆子，水和盐。 盐是一种很好的防腐剂。 我们花园里的一罐泡菜引起了我的注意。 我们在去年夏末自己做的，所以它们也很旧了。 哦!妈妈说过把黄瓜腌制可以保存。 我闭上眼睛，努力回忆我们加了些什么。 小黄瓜!他们太可爱了。 然后我们把一些东西倒在他们身上。 我的鼻子因想起那气味而起皱。 那是醋！我真的不喜欢醋的味道。 这很有趣，因为我实际上经常用它。 我喜欢摆弄小苏打和醋。 当它们混合在一起时，我永远看不腻。 我以前玩的时候总是做鬼脸直到我妈妈发明了一个很棒的把戏。 她给我的每一杯醋里都加了几滴薄荷精。 当我让我的假火山喷发时，它闻起来就像棒棒糖漂浮在空中。

Sassafras interrupted my thoughts with a meow and pawed at the fridge. "Great idea! I'll check the fridge next." I grabbed the vinegar and set it next to the oil. I opened the fridge and poked around. Milk, eggs, butter. All had only one ingredient, like the cooking oil. But unlike the oil, we kept them in the fridge. So maybe they didn't prevent mold on their own. I was pretty sure the cold from the fridge was keeping them from spoiling. Then my hand landed on some raspberry jelly. Hmmm. That was interesting. I'd been working on eating this giant jar of jelly for weeks now, and it was still good. It was in the fridge, but we also kept fresh raspberries in the fridge, and black mold spots still started growing on them after a few days.

黄樟叫了一声，打断了我的思绪，用爪子抓着冰箱。 “好主意!接下来我去看看冰箱。” 我拿起醋，放在油旁边。 我打开冰箱，翻来翻去。 牛奶，鸡蛋，黄油。它们都只有一种原料，比如食用油。 但与油不同的是，我们把它们放在冰箱里。 所以也许它们自己并不能防霉。 我很确定冰箱里的寒冷使它们不会变质。 然后我的手碰到了一些覆盆子果冻。 嗯。这很有趣。 几个星期以来，我一直在努力吃这一大罐果冻，但它仍然很好吃。 它在冰箱里，但我们也在冰箱里放了新鲜的覆盆子，几天后它们上仍然开始长出黑霉斑。

Which meant there just might be something special in the jelly to keep it from molding. I took it out and read the ingredients: raspberries, water, sugar. Sugar? Hmmm. Maybe. I set the jelly on the counter next to my other guesses. I looked through the pantry next, but all the crackers and cereal I found only listed strange- sounding ingredients at the end. Those were probably the chemicals made in factories my mom had talked about. I couldn't even read some of the names. They sounded like another language! I smiled down at Sassafras, who had decided to

这意味着果冻中可能有某种特殊的东西可以防止它成型。 我把它拿出来，看了看配料：覆盆子、水、糖。 糖吗?嗯。也许吧。我把果冻放在柜台上，旁边是我的其他猜测。 接下来，我翻遍了食品储藏室，但我找到的所有饼干和麦片都只在最后列出了听起来奇怪的成分。 这些可能是我妈妈说过的工厂生产的化学物质。 我甚至连一些名字都看不清。 它们听起来像是另一种语言！我低头朝萨萨弗拉斯微笑，她已经决定这么做了

sit on my right foot. "Any other ideas?" Sassafras seemed to think for a minute and then left the kitchen. I followed. He ended up hopping into my mom's lap and purring. I guess that meant he was all out of ideas, too! Mom looked up and smiled. "Do you have some

坐在我的右脚上。“还有别的主意吗？”黄樟似乎想了一会儿，然后离开了厨房。 我跟着。最后它跳到我妈妈的腿上，呜呜地叫着。 我想这意味着他也没有主意了！妈妈抬起头，笑了。 “你有吗？

guesses for me?" I nodded. "We found a bunch of stuff that uses salt. That's a popular preservative. Our next guesses are oil, vinegar, and maybe sugar?" Mom grinned. "Great work! Those are all preservatives. I think they'd all be great to test. Are you ready to finish setting up your experiment? Just remember to change only one thing and..." "I know, I know," I interrupted, "and keep everything else the same. I will, Mom."

猜猜看？”我点了点头。 “我们发现了很多使用盐的东西。 那是一种很流行的防腐剂。 我们的下一个猜测是油、醋，也许还有糖？”妈妈笑了。 “伟大的工作!这些都是防腐剂。 我觉得它们都很适合测试。 你准备好完成你的实验了吗？ 只要记住只改变一件事……” “我知道，我知道，”我打断他说，“其他的一切都保持原样。 我会的，妈妈。”