12 CANDY

CHAPTER 12 CANDY Back at the house, I sat at the kitchen table and wrote in my science journal: I think candy can work like a trap plant for grumplets! Sassafras jumped up and snuggled into my lap. "OK, I think it could work! We just need to put candy in the forest. Or… give our friends candy to throw when they start feeling grumpy? Or…?" I looked down at Sassafras. He bumped my chin with his head. "Meow." "Yeah, there's no way we can actually use candy. It would get all gross in the forest. It works, but it's still not actually a solution. Great." I crossed my arms on the table and lay my head down.

回到家，我坐在厨房的桌子旁，在我的科学日记上写道：我认为糖果可以像诱捕小矮人的植物一样起作用！黄樟跳了起来，依偎在我的腿上。 “好吧，我想这行得通！”我们只需要在森林里放些糖果。 或者，当我们的朋友开始生气时，给他们糖果扔？ 还是……?”我低头看着黄樟。 他用头撞了我的下巴。 “喵。”“是的，我们不可能真的用糖果。 在森林里会很恶心的。 它是有效的，但它仍然不是一个真正的解决方案。 好了。”我双臂交叉放在桌子上，低下了头。

"Hey, kiddo!" I felt a hand on my head. "Hey, Dad," I grumbled. "It sounds like you could use a snack, huh?" "Mrrowww!" Sassafras leapt down from my lap and wove between my dad's legs. Dad laughed and went to the fridge. "OK, buddy, a snack for you too." When I heard the sound of a plate being set in front of me, I finally lifted my head. "Thanks." He frowned. "You OK?" "Yeah." I leaned my head on my hand. "Just stuck on a problem." "Want any help?" "I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually," I said. And then I crossed my fingers under the table because I really hoped I was right about that.

“嘿,老兄!”我感到有一只手在我头上。 “嘿，爸爸，”我抱怨道。“听起来你需要吃点零食，是吧？”“Mrrowww !”黄樟从我的腿上跳下来，在我爸爸的两腿之间编织。 爸爸笑着走到冰箱前。 “好吧，伙计，给你也来点零食。” 当我听到盘子放在我面前的声音时，我终于抬起了头。 “谢谢。”他皱起了眉头。“你还好吗?”“是的。” 我把头靠在手上。 “只是被一个问题卡住了。” “需要帮忙吗？”“我相信我最终会弄明白的，”我说。 然后我在桌子下面交叉手指，因为我真的希望我是对的。

Dad grabbed a can of cat food from the pantry. I heard the grating sound of the electric can opener whirring. Sassafras also heard it, and began prancing with joy. At least someone was happy. "Ugh. Why can't I just plant candy!?!" I exclaimed. I popped a strawberry in my mouth. Dad chuckled. "Good one, Zoey! Plant candy!" "Huh?" I said through a mouthful of berry. "Isn't that what you said?" Dad set Sassafras's snack down. "I couldn't hear over the can opener. I thought you called your berries 'plant candy,' which is pretty clever! I mean, they are sort of exactly that, right?" Plant candy! That was it!!! I leapt up and gave him a big squeeze. "You're a genius, Dad!" "Uh, thanks?" said Dad with one eyebrow raised as he headed back to his office. A head peeked in the kitchen. "What did I miss?" asked Mom.

爸爸从食品储藏室拿了一罐猫粮。 我听到电动开罐器发出刺耳的嗡嗡声。 萨萨弗拉斯也听到了，高兴得跳了起来。 至少有人很开心。 “哎。为什么我不能种植糖果！？！”我叫道。 我把草莓塞进嘴里。 爸爸笑了。“好样的，佐伊！”植物糖!”“嗯?”我嘴里含着浆果说。 “你不是这么说的吗？”爸爸把黄樟的零食放下。 “我听不见开罐器的声音。 我以为你把你的浆果叫做“植物糖”，这很聪明！我的意思是，他们就是那种人，对吧？”植物糖!就是这样！！我跳起来紧紧地挤了他一下。 “你真是个天才，爸爸！”“嗯，谢谢你？”爸爸扬起一条眉毛说，一边朝办公室走去。 一个人在厨房里偷看。 “我错过了什么？”妈妈问。

I gave her a quick summary of everything I'd figured out. "Interesting hypothesis!" she said. "What are you going to do next?" Hmmm. I looked at the notes in my science journal. "Well, I think I'll try what I did last time with Pip, but maybe this time I'll have him throw the food toward the grumplets from the start. That way maybe they'll eat the berries right away and leave Pip's happiness alone!" "That sounds like a great plan," said Mom. "Meow!" added Sassafras. "Oh! And if that works, then we need to find berries in the forest. Or could we plant them in a part of the forest farther away? The monsters said the grumplets eventually move on to other places. Maybe if we get them to start heading somewhere else, we can have the rest of the summer to play without grumpiness!" Sassafras purred. "I'll get Pip to run another test with me, but this time with berries," I said. "While we do that, could you figure out if there's a patch of forest berries

我把我弄明白的一切都给了她一个简短的总结。 “有趣的假设！”她说。 “你下一步打算做什么？”嗯。 我看了看我科学杂志上的笔记。 “好吧，我想我会尝试上次对匹普所做的，但也许这次我会让他从一开始就把食物扔给小矮人。 那样的话，也许它们会立刻吃掉浆果，而不去打扰匹普的幸福！”“听起来是个很棒的计划，”妈妈说。 “喵！”黄樟补充道。“哦!如果成功了，那我们就得在森林里找到浆果。 或者我们可以把它们种在更远的森林里？ 怪物们说，小矮人最终会转移到其他地方。 也许如果我们让他们开始去别的地方，我们就可以在夏天剩下的时间里尽情玩耍了！”黄樟呼噜。 “我会让皮普和我一起做另一个测试，但这次是用浆果做的，”我说。 “当我们这样做的时候，你能弄清楚那里是否有一片森林浆果吗

somewhere at the edge of the forest away from my friends?" Mom smiled. "I'd be happy to." "All right, Sass, let's go find—" I was about to say "Pip" when the magic doorbell rang. Sassafras and I exchanged a look and ran off to the barn.

在森林边缘的某个地方，远离我的朋友们？”妈妈笑了。 “我很乐意。”“好吧，萨斯，我们去找——”我刚想说“匹普”，神奇的门铃响了。 萨萨弗拉斯和我交换了一下眼神，然后跑向谷仓。