18 IT’S TIME!

Marshmallow was surprisingly silent moving through the forest—and somehow he could weave between the trees despite his enormous size. "Shhhh," Pip reminded us once we caught up to him. He pointed to a log, and Sassafras, Mom, and I silently squatted down behind it. Marshmallow stopped by some trees and started shimmering. I rubbed my eyes. I could barely see him—his scales shifted to the same colors as the trees behind him. Mom tapped me and pointed at two proud hippogriff parents nudging a tiny wobbly baby

棉花糖出人意料地沉默地穿过森林——尽管他体型巨大，但不知怎么的，他可以在树木之间穿梭。 “嘘，”当我们追上他时，皮普提醒我们。 他指了指一根圆木，萨萨弗拉斯、妈妈和我静静地蹲在圆木后面。 棉花糖停在一些树旁，开始发光。 我揉了揉眼睛。我几乎看不见他——他的鳞片变成了和他身后的树一样的颜色。 妈妈拍拍我，指着一对骄傲的鹰头马身有翼兽父母，他们正在推着一个摇摇晃晃的小婴儿

forward. The baby hippogriff took a few toddling steps and tumbled over. It let out a little tiny eagle shriek. The dad hippogriff came over and gave it a gentle head bump, and the baby huffed as it got to its feet again. It tottered over to a forest rose and gobbled it down. Its little wings wiggled and sparkled and… grew a tiny bit. "Whoaaaa," I whispered. Pip glared at me, and I put a hand over my mouth. He nodded once, and we both looked back over at the baby who had toddled to another rose bloom.

前进。小鹰头马身有翼兽蹒跚地走了几步，就摔倒了。 它发出一声小小的鹰叫声。 鹰头马身有翼兽爸爸过来轻轻地碰了一下它的头，小鹰头马身有翼兽又站了起来，发出一阵喘息声。 它摇摇晃晃地走到一棵森林玫瑰跟前，狼吞虎咽地把它吃掉了。 它的小翅膀抖动着，闪闪发光，还长了一点点。 “哇……”我低声说。匹普怒视着我，我用手捂住了嘴。 他点了点头，我们俩都回头看了看那个蹒跚学步走向另一朵玫瑰花的婴儿。

I felt my chest swell with pride. All the rose bushes in this clearing were completely healthy— and completely covered in delicious-smelling rose blooms. Once the baby gobbled a second bloom, its wings shook again, grew a bit more, and then started beating faster and faster. After it ate a third rose, the baby flew up into the air! The parents gave a cry and started flying off toward the mountains, and the baby gave a tiny cry in return and followed. Their beating wings blew a single rose petal over to our log. I picked it up and sniffed. "This would be so cool to keep in my science journal," I said, but then I sighed and put it back on the forest floor. "I'll leave it for the baby hippogriffs, though." Pip picked it up and handed it to me. "Thanks to you, there are plenty of forest roses now. You should keep this one." I looked over at Mom and she nodded. We said our thank-yous and goodbyes to Marshmallow and Pip—after all that work delivering the bips they were both exhausted, but oh so proud.

我感到我的胸脯因骄傲而膨胀。 这片空地上所有的玫瑰花丛都很健康——完全覆盖着芬芳的玫瑰花。 当婴儿狼吞虎咽地吃下第二朵花时，它的翅膀又抖动起来，长得更大了，然后开始越来越快地拍打。 在它吃了第三朵玫瑰之后，婴儿飞到了空中！父母叫了一声，开始向山上飞去，婴儿也轻轻地哭了一声，跟着飞了出去。 它们扇动的翅膀把一片玫瑰花瓣吹到了我们的圆木上。 我把它捡起来闻了闻。 “把它放在我的科学日记里太酷了，”我说，但随后我叹了口气，把它放回了森林的地板上。 “不过我还是把它留给小鹰头马身有翼兽吧。” 皮普把它捡起来递给我。 “多亏了你，现在有很多森林玫瑰了。 你应该留着这个。” 我看着妈妈，她点了点头。 我们向“棉花糖”和“皮普”表示了感谢和告别——在完成了运送皮普的所有工作后，它们都筋疲力尽了，但还是很自豪。

As soon as we got home, I pressed the rose petal into my science journal right after the pages on bip experiments. I flipped the page and piled some books on the left side of my journal to help press and preserve the magical forest rose petal. The right side of my science journal was open to a new blank page, ready for the next magical creature we would meet.

我们一回到家，我就把玫瑰花瓣压在我的科学杂志上，就在髋部实验的那几页之后。 我翻了一页，在日记的左边堆了一些书，以帮助压制和保存神奇的森林玫瑰花瓣。 我的科学日记的右侧翻开了新的空白页，准备迎接下一个我们将遇到的神奇生物。

GLOSSARY Algae: Plantlike things that have chlorophyll (for photosynthesis!) but don't have true stems, roots, or leaves (so they're not plants even though they can look like them). Bacteria: Tiny microscopic living things that can be helpful or harmful, depending on the type. Data: Information about your experiment that you write down. Data can be measurements or observations. Fungus: A living thing that is neither a plant nor an animal. A mushroom is a kind of fungus. Grow light: A special kind of lamp or bulb that makes light similar to sunlight so you can grow plants inside. Lichen: A living thing made up of alga or cyanobacteria living alongside fungus in a special relationship. You can usually find it growing on trees and rocks in forests. Photosynthesis: The process by which green plants use sunlight to make their own food.

藻类：类植物的东西，有叶绿素（用于光合作用！），但没有真正的茎、根或叶（所以它们虽然看起来像植物，但不是植物）。 细菌：微小的微生物，根据种类的不同，可能有益，也可能有害。 数据：你写下的关于实验的信息。 数据可以是测量值或观察值。 真菌：既不是植物也不是动物的生物。 蘑菇是一种真菌。 种植灯：一种特殊的灯或灯泡，可以发出类似阳光的光，这样你就可以在里面种植植物了。 地衣：由藻类或蓝藻组成的生物，与真菌有着特殊的关系。 你通常可以在森林里的树木和岩石上找到它。 光合作用：绿色植物利用阳光制造食物的过程。