7 OH NO!

CHAPTER 7 OH NO! Following our usual routine, Sassafras and I burst into the barn right after breakfast, full of excitement. "I bet they are going to be enormous, Sass!" I skipped over to the table and skidded to a stop. "Oh no!!!" I gasped. The pots with rocks, potting soil, and yard dirt looked completely empty. I stepped closer. Where there had been plants, there was now nothing but… purple ashes? All the plants in those pots were dead. My lip quivered. My stomach tightened. "We need Mom!" Sassafras and I dashed back to the house. I wiped my tears so Dad wouldn't worry. He couldn't see anything magical, and I couldn't explain what was wrong without talking about a magical seed pod. Dad would be so confused.

第七章哦，不！像往常一样，早餐后，我和萨萨弗拉斯满怀兴奋地冲进谷仓。 “我打赌它们一定很大，萨斯！”我蹦蹦跳跳地走到桌子旁，滑了一下停了下来。 “哦,不! !”我喘息着说道。装着石头、盆栽土和院子里的土的罐子看起来完全是空的。 我走近一些。曾经有植物的地方，现在除了……紫色的灰烬什么都没有了？ 那些花盆里的植物都死了。 我的嘴唇颤抖着。我的胃收紧了。 “我们需要妈妈！”萨萨弗拉斯和我冲回了房子。 我擦了擦眼泪，免得爸爸担心。 他看不出有什么神奇的东西，而我不谈到一个神奇的种子荚，就无法解释出什么问题。 爸爸会很困惑的。

I took a few deep breaths to steady myself, and then went straight to Mom's office. She took one look at me and opened her arms. "Oh honey, what's wrong?" The tears started again. "It's about the seeds. Pip and Sassafras and I discovered that music helped them grow last night and they were all doing great

我深吸了几口气，让自己稳定下来，然后径直去了妈妈的办公室。 她看了我一眼，张开了双臂。 “哦，亲爱的，怎么了？”眼泪又流下来了。 “这是关于种子。皮普、萨萨弗拉斯和我昨晚发现音乐帮助它们成长，它们都做得很好

"Right—you showed me your data, and it was all great. Did they stop growing?" "Worse! The plants in three of the containers are completely dead. All that's left in the pots are purple ashes." Mom was confused by this, too, so she came out to the barn and took a look herself. "How strange! These must be very delicate magical plants. You did a great job—there was no way we could have known they would turn to ashes like that. I would have done the same things you did." I sniffled. That did make me feel better. But still, I only had twelve plants left. If these were the last twelve of their kind, I needed to be extra super- duper careful. I didn't want to be the one to make such a beautiful and rare magical plant go extinct. "We can talk through the rest of your plans together and make sure we're being careful with the seeds we have left. Let's start with what you learned here." Mom scooted a ruler and my science journal over to me.

“对，你给我看了你的数据，一切都很棒。 它们停止生长了吗？”“糟糕!其中三个容器里的植物已经完全死亡。 罐子里剩下的都是紫色的灰烬。” 妈妈也被弄糊涂了，于是她自己来到谷仓看了看。 “多么奇怪!这些一定是非常精致的魔法植物。 你做得很好——我们不可能知道他们会那样化为灰烬。 我也会做和你一样的事。” 我抽泣著。这确实让我感觉好多了。 但是，我只剩下12株了。 如果这是最后的12个同类，我需要格外小心。 我不想成为那个让如此美丽和稀有的神奇植物灭绝的人。 “我们可以一起讨论你剩下的计划，确保我们对剩下的种子都很小心。 让我们从你在这里学到的开始吧。” 妈妈把尺子和我的科学杂志递给了我。

I carefully measured the plants we had left and added the information to my data chart. Then I spoke as I wrote:

我仔细地测量了我们留下的植物，并将这些信息添加到我的数据图表中。 然后我边写边说：

"Perfect," said Mom. "What are you planning to do next?" "Because the plants are so much taller in the sand-and-moss mix, I think I should move the plants in water and sand into pots with sand and moss. And then the next thing I need to figure out is how much to water them."

“太好了，”妈妈说。“你下一步打算做什么？”“因为植物在沙子和苔藓的混合物中要高得多，我想我应该把水和沙子中的植物移到有沙子和苔藓的花盆里。 接下来我需要弄清楚的是给它们浇多少水。”

Mom nodded. "And you have a bit of a clue there about the water…" I tapped my Thinking Goggles. "I know that the amount of water I gave them to start was maybe OK, since the plants in sand and moss are still growing." "Mmmm-hmmm," said Mom. "And one more thing… ?" "Ummm…" Pip cleared his throat near the pot of plants in water.

妈妈点了点头。“你对那里的水有一点了解……”我敲了敲我的思考镜。 “我知道我一开始给他们的水量可能还可以，因为沙子和苔藓中的植物还在生长。” “嗯，嗯，”妈妈说。“嗯……”匹普在一盆浸在水里的植物旁清了清嗓子。