8 SASSAFRAS

CHAPTER 8 SASSAFRAS? I waded back to the opposite side of the stream with Pip once again on my shoulder. He hopped down when we got to shore. "I'm really worried about those poor merhorses, Zoey. They're so hungry! I don't think I can find any mooflies, but someone in the forest might have something they can eat. I'll check back with you later?" I gave a big sigh of relief. "That is a wonderful

第八章黄樟？我再次把皮普驮在肩上，涉水回到小溪的对岸。 我们靠岸时，他跳了下来。 “我真的很担心那些可怜的马，佐伊。 他们太饿了！我想我找不到任何木虱，但森林里的人可能有什么东西可以吃。 我过会儿再来找你？”我松了一口气。 “那太好了

idea, Pip. They definitely need to eat. You work on that, and I'll try to figure out where the pollution is coming from." Pip hopped into the forest. I opened my journal and added everything I'd just learned. QUESTION: Where is the stream pollution coming from? OBSERVATIONS: Seems like soap is being dumped on weekends? pollution started about a week ago. I looked up to see my mom and dad coming toward me, but I didn't see Sassafras anywhere. He

主意,皮普。他们肯定需要吃东西。 你负责这个，我来找出污染来自哪里。” 匹普跳进了森林。 我打开日记，把刚学到的东西都记了下来。 问：河流污染从何而来？ 观察：似乎肥皂在周末被倾倒？ 污染开始于大约一周前。 我抬头看到爸爸妈妈向我走来，但我没有看到黄樟。 他

was probably hiding up in a tree again, freaked out that a drop of stream water might get on him. "Sassafras?" I called. "Sassafras!" Where was that cat? My mom and dad joined me. "Sassafras," we all hollered. Finally we heard a faraway "Meeoooooow!" "What is Sassafras doing way down there?" I asked. We headed toward the distant meowing. Every few feet we stopped and called "Sassafras!" And each time the meow got louder. We rounded a bend in the stream and found him balancing on a log. His tail was all fluffed up and he was growling at some white foam caught behind a log. Wait... foam! Soap! "Sassafras!" I said. "You found the soap!" I ran over to pet him, and I noticed a pipe above his head. "Mom! Dad! What is this weird pipe? It must be where the soap is coming from." Mom bent down, swiped some of the soap foam, and sniffed it.

他可能又躲在树上了，生怕一滴溪水会溅到他身上。 “黄樟?”我叫。“黄樟!”那只猫在哪里？ 我的妈妈和爸爸也加入了我。“黄樟。”我们一起喊道。 最后，我们听到了一声遥远的“meeoooooooow !”“黄樟在下面做什么？”我问。 我们朝远处的喵喵走去。 每隔几英尺我们就停下来喊一声“黄樟！”每次喵喵声都越来越响。 我们绕过小溪的一个弯道，发现他在一根圆木上保持平衡。 它的尾巴都卷了起来，对着一根圆木后面的白色泡沫咆哮。 等待……泡沫!肥皂!“黄樟!”我说。 “你找到肥皂了！”我跑过去抚摸它，发现它头顶上有一根烟斗。 “妈妈!爸爸!这个奇怪的管子是什么？ 肥皂一定是从那里来的。” 妈妈弯下腰，擦了擦肥皂泡沫，闻了闻。

"Um, Mom? Why are you smelling it?" Mom laughed. "That must look strange! I was checking to make sure that it wasn't natural foam. Sometimes when leaves and other bits of the forest break down, they can make bubbles that look similar to soap bubbles. But there's no mistaking the smell of store-bought soap. Here, see what I mean?" Mom put her foam-covered hand out to me, and I sniffed. It smelled sort of like dish soap. Definitely not at all like a forest or leaves or stream water.

“嗯,妈妈?你为什么闻它？”妈妈笑了。 “那看起来一定很奇怪！”我在确认这不是天然泡沫。 有时，当树叶和森林的其他部分分解时，它们会产生看起来像肥皂泡的气泡。 但商店里买的肥皂的味道是不会错的。 瞧，明白我的意思了吧？”妈妈把沾满泡沫的手伸给我，我闻了闻。 闻起来有点像洗洁精。 绝对不像森林、树叶或溪流。

"I still don't get it," I said peering into the pipe. "What is this pipe? Where is this water coming from?" "It's stormwater," Mom and Dad said at the same time. I looked at them, completely confused. Stormwater? It wasn't raining. And I was pretty sure that water from storms came from the sky and the clouds, and not from pipes in the ground. "When it rains, what happens to the rain here in the forest?" Mom asked. "It goes into the ground and makes mud and stuff?" I answered. "Exactly," said Mom. "Now, what happens when it rains on sidewalks and roads?" "Hmmm." I thought. "It makes puddles? And it makes little rivers in the gutters?" "Right, and where do those little rivers in the gutters go?" asked Mom. I thought and thought, but I wasn't sure. I mean, the water must go somewhere. I needed my Thinking Goggles! I squinched my eyes tight, pretended my Thinking Goggles were on my head,

“我还是不明白，”我盯着水管说。 “这是什么烟斗？”这水是从哪里来的？”“这是雨水，”妈妈和爸爸同时说。 我看着他们，完全困惑了。 雨水吗?没有下雨。 我很确定暴风雨中的水来自天空和云层，而不是地下的管道。 “下雨的时候，森林里的雨水会怎么样？”母亲问。 “它会进入地下，变成泥土之类的东西？”我回答。 “没错，”妈妈说。“那么，当雨水落在人行道和道路上时会发生什么呢？”“嗯。” 我想。“它会弄水坑？” 它会在水沟里形成小河吗？”“好吧，那排水沟里的小河往哪里流呢？”妈妈问。 我想了又想，但还是不确定。 我是说，水总得有去处。 我需要我的思考镜！我紧闭双眼，假装我的思维护目镜戴在头上，

and tried to think about little rivers of water in gutters. I stretched and reached for a distant memory in my mind. There it was! My friend Sophie and I had been waiting by the side of the road for our bus in the pouring rain. We'd broken some sticks into little pieces and dropped them into the gutter river. The sticks zoomed along, and they went down into some sort of drain! "Into a drain thingy!" I announced proudly. "Yes, a storm drain," Mom said. "If we didn't have them, our roads and sidewalks would flood. Rain can't soak into sidewalks and roads like it can into the forest dirt. So we collect all the extra water in gutters and it goes into a storm drain—" "And then it comes out here? At the stream?" I

我试着想象排水沟里的小河。 我伸了伸懒腰，伸手去找脑海中遥远的记忆。 它就在那儿！我和朋友索菲冒着倾盆大雨在路边等公共汽车。 我们把一些树枝掰成小块，扔进了排水沟里。 树枝嗖嗖地移动着，掉进了一个排水沟里！“掉进排水沟里！”我自豪地宣布。 “是的，一个排水沟，”妈妈说。 “如果没有它们，我们的道路和人行道就会被洪水淹没。 雨水不能像渗入森林泥土那样渗入人行道和道路。 所以我们把所有多余的水收集在排水沟里，然后把它们排入雨水渠——”“然后从这里出来？ 在小溪边？”我