14 A KNOCK

A KNOCK? CHAPTER 14 Sassafras watched me check on my African violet babies at the dining room table from the safety of my lap. I carefully brushed the soil away from the leaf stem I'd planted in the dirt and lifted the leaf out. Yes! I could see tiny little nubs starting to grow at the bottom of the stems.

敲门吗?第十四章黄樟看着我坐在餐桌旁，安全地坐在我的大腿上看我的非洲紫罗兰宝宝。 我小心地拂去我种在泥土里的叶茎上的泥土，把叶子拔了出来。 是的!我可以看到茎的底部开始长出小疙瘩。

I dangled the leaf in front of Sassafras' face. "Look! Baby roots! My friends are going to freak out when I show them that I made a leaf grow into a new plant." Sassafras blinked in agreement, then whipped his head to the side, and pointed his ears toward the kitchen.

我把叶子悬在萨萨弗拉斯的面前。 “看!小根!当我向我的朋友们展示我让一片叶子长成一棵新植物时，他们会吓坏的。” 萨萨弗拉斯眨了眨眼睛表示同意，然后猛地把头扭到一边，把耳朵指向厨房。

"Meow?" "Do you hear something, Sass?" I strained my ears. I didn't hear anything. Sassafras leaped out of my lap and ran for the back door. I followed, still straining to hear any noise. Sassafras meowed impatiently and stretched his front legs up to the doorknob. "Maybe someday you'll be able to open doors. But for now, how about I help you?" I grinned at him and twisted the doorknob. There on the doorstep was a bundle of catnip. With a teeny tiny note attached. I picked it up and took a look:

“喵?”“你听到什么声音了吗，萨斯？”我竖起耳朵。 我什么也没听到。黄樟从我腿上跳下来，向后门跑去。 我跟在后面，仍然竭力想听到任何声音。 黄樟不耐烦地喵喵叫着，把前腿伸到门把手上。 “也许有一天你能打开门。 但现在，我来帮你怎么样？”我朝他咧嘴一笑，拧了拧门把手。 台阶上有一束猫薄荷。 附上一张小纸条。 我把它捡起来看了看：

A big smile spread across my face. "I believe these are for you, Sassafras," I said, bending down. Sassafras took a step toward the catnip. "Meow?" He looked up at me. "Yes, go ahead! It's yours!" I waved him on. He dissolved into a writhing, purring, drooling mess of happiness. I looked again at the miniature note and saw a tiny paw print. That was sweet of the caterflies—I couldn't believe they had so much catnip to spare. Unless... unless... "Sassafras!" I shouted. He looked up at me. Some drool and crumpled catnip leaves were smeared down one side of his face. "The caterpillars! They must have made their chrysalises! That's why they don't need the catnip anymore. We've got to see them!" "Meooow!" Sassafras cried and pawed at the pile of wet catnip. "OK, two more minutes. Then I really want to go see." I looked at the note one more time and realized I should add it to my science journal before

我的脸上绽开了灿烂的笑容。 “我相信这些是给你的，萨萨法拉斯。”我说着，弯下腰。 黄樟向猫薄荷走了一步。 “喵?”他抬头看着我。 “是的，去吧！”这是你的!”我挥手示意他继续。 他沉浸在扭动、咕噜、流口水的幸福之中。 我又看了看那张小纸条，看到了一个小小的爪印。 这是甜蜜的毛毛虫——我不敢相信他们有这么多猫薄荷多余。 除非…除非…“黄樟!”我叫道。 他抬头看着我。一些口水和皱巴巴的猫薄荷叶从他的一侧脸上抹了下来。 “毛毛虫!它们一定是化蛹了！所以他们不再需要猫薄荷了。 我们一定要去看看他们！”“Meooow !”黄樟哭着用爪子抓着那堆湿漉漉的猫薄荷。 “好吧，再给你两分钟。我真的很想去看看。” 我又看了看那张纸条，意识到我应该早点把它写进我的科学日记

it got lost. It was just too cute. I went to my room and glued it next to my entry on caterflies, across from that silly photo of Sassafras with the tiny caterpillar on his nose. I leaned in close to the photo and could barely make out the faint purrs of the caterpillar. I couldn't wait to see the chrysalises they'd made! I leaped up and rushed past my desk. The whoosh of air flipped my journal open to a new page. A blank page, just waiting for whatever creature we'd help next...

它迷路了。它太可爱了。 我回到自己的房间，把它粘在我关于毛毛虫的条目旁边，就在那张愚蠢的黄樟鼻子上有小毛毛虫的照片对面。 我凑近照片，几乎听不清毛毛虫微弱的呼噜声。 我迫不及待地想看看它们孵出的蛹！我跳起来，冲过我的桌子。 嗖嗖的气流把我的日记翻到了新的一页。 一张白纸，等待着我们下一步要帮助的生物……

GLOSSARY Camouflage: When the natural coloring of an animal blends into its surroundings, which makes it harder for predators to find them. Chrysalis: A life stage that comes after a caterpillar but before a butterfly or moth. Freezing point: When a liquid turns to a solid. The freezing point for water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius): that's when water turns to ice. Host plant: Where a mother butterfly lays her eggs, and where the baby caterpillars eat. Different butterflies and moths have different host plants. Nymph: A kind of baby insect.

伪装：动物的自然颜色与周围环境融为一体，使捕食者更难找到它们。 蝶蛹：在毛毛虫之后，蝴蝶或飞蛾之前的生命阶段。 凝固点：液体变成固体的时候。 水的冰点是32华氏度（0摄氏度）：这是水变成冰的时候。 寄主植物：蝴蝶母亲产卵的地方，也是幼虫觅食的地方。 不同的蝴蝶和飞蛾有不同的寄主植物。 仙女：一种小昆虫。