10 YOU’VE GOT TO STOP!

CHAPTER 10 YOU'VE GOT TO STOP! The kids running the car wash were cleaning up for the day. We'd caught them just in time. We got out of the car and walked over. As we got closer, I

第十章你必须停下来！洗车场的孩子们正在为一天的工作做准备。 我们及时抓住了他们。 我们下了车走了过去。 当我们靠近时，我

realized they were big kids. Maybe even high schoolers. One of the kids turned to us, and my mom sort of pushed me forward. Ummm, she expected me to talk to them? But they were so... tall. The tall girl smiled down at me. "Oh, hi. We're all done for the day, sorry. But we'll be here again next Saturday." I swallowed. I glanced back at my parents, who nodded at me to go ahead. I took another step forward and cleared my throat. "Uh, you can't do your car wash anymore," I squeaked out. Now all the kids turned and stared at me. One boy laughed. He looked at my parents, but they didn't say anything. So he bent down to me and asked, "Oh? Why not?"

意识到他们都是大孩子了。 甚至高中生。 其中一个孩子转向我们，我妈妈推了我一把。 嗯，她希望我和他们谈谈？ 但是他们太……高。那个高个子女孩朝我微笑着。 “哦,你好。今天就到这里了，抱歉。 不过我们下周六还会来的。” 我吞下了。我回头看了看父母，他们点头示意我继续。 我又向前迈了一步，清了清嗓子。 “呃，你不能再洗车了。”我尖声说。 现在所有的孩子都转过身来盯着我看。 一个男孩笑了。他看着我的父母，但他们什么也没说。 于是他弯下腰问我：“哦？ 为什么不呢?”

"It's hurting the stream. It's killing the stream bugs, and it's really bad for the, um, creatures that live in the stream." A few of the kids looked around. The girl who'd first talked pointed up and down the street. "But there's no stream here. See? It's just a parking lot. If anything, it's making the ground nice and clean."

“它正在伤害河流。它会杀死溪流中的虫子，对生活在溪流中的生物来说真的很糟糕。” 几个孩子环顾四周。 第一个说话的女孩指了指街上的上下。 “但是这里没有小溪。 看到了吗?那只是个停车场。 如果有什么区别的话，那就是它让地面变得又好又干净。”

I turned to my parents again, but they only smiled at me. They really weren't going to help me out here, huh? Well, OK then. "I know it sounds weird," I continued, "but here, come with me." I gestured and the kids, now curious, followed me. "If we follow the soapy water from your car wash, you'll see what I mean." I led them to the sidewalk and pointed down in the gutter, where a stream of soapy water was still traveling. We all walked along the sidewalk until I spotted the storm drain. The soapy water disappeared into the pipe right before our eyes. "See? The soapy water travels in pipes underground, and then it pours into our stream. The soap foam from your car wash is polluting the

我再次转向父母，但他们只是对我微笑。 他们真的不打算帮我吗？ 那好吧。“我知道这听起来很奇怪，”我继续说，“但是来，跟我来。” 我做了个手势，孩子们好奇地跟着我。 “如果我们顺着你洗车的肥皂水走，你就会明白我的意思了。” 我把他们带到人行道上，指着下面的阴沟，那里仍有一股肥皂水在流动。 我们都沿着人行道走，直到我发现了排水沟。 肥皂水就在我们眼前消失在管子里了。 “看到了吗?肥皂水在地下的管道中流动，然后流入我们的溪流。 洗车时的肥皂泡沫污染了

water. The things that live in the stream aren't used to the soap chemicals. It's killing them." "Whoa," said the boy. He looked up at my parents, who'd followed us to the storm drain. "Does this really go to the stream?" "Yes, everything she said is true," said my mom. "We do need you to stop the car wash." "Aw, man," said the boy. "We were doing such a good job raising money for our class trip, though." "We're almost halfway to our goal." The girl sighed. "But we don't want to pollute the stream. We had no idea." "Honest, we didn't," added the boy. I looked up at my mom and dad. "Isn't there something they could still do? Like maybe they could move their car wash to the parking lot at Sam's Car Wash. It has the special drains that don't take the soapy water to the stream, right?" Mom thought for a minute. "Well, I don't think they could use the parking lot at Sam's Car Wash. Although I seem to remember hearing that Sam's offers a fundraising program. Something about selling coupons." She turned to my dad. "Does that

水。生活在溪流中的生物不习惯肥皂中的化学物质。 这会害死他们的。”“哇，”男孩说。 他抬头看着我的父母，他们跟着我们来到了排水沟。 “这东西真的能到小溪里去吗？”“是的，她说的都是真的，”我妈妈说。 “我们确实需要你停止洗车。” “噢，伙计，”男孩说。“不过，我们在为班级旅行筹集资金方面做得很好。” “我们几乎完成了一半的目标。” 女孩叹了口气。“但我们不想污染河流。 我们不知道。”“老实说，我们没有。”男孩补充说。 我抬头看着爸爸妈妈。 “难道他们就不能做点什么吗？” 也许他们可以把洗车店搬到山姆洗车店的停车场。 它有特殊的排水管，不会把肥皂水带到小溪里，对吗？”妈妈想了一会儿。 “嗯，我觉得他们不能用山姆洗车店的停车场。 不过我好像记得听说山姆有一个筹款项目。 卖优惠券什么的。” 她转向我爸爸。“这

sound familiar?" "I think I saw an article about that in the paper," he said. "Do you want me to call Sam's and check?" The kids and I all said, "Yes!" at the same time. This would be great. A solution that helped the stream and the kids! My dad called and talked to someone at Sam's.

听起来是不是很熟悉?”“我想我在报纸上看到了一篇关于这方面的文章，”他说。 “你要我打电话给山姆店确认一下吗？”我和孩子们异口同声地说：“好！” 这太好了。一个对河流和孩子们都有帮助的解决方案！我爸爸打电话给萨姆家的人。