9 WHAT ARE HICCUPS

Chapter nine, What are hiccups? "So, Pip and Tiny seem safe from any more unexpected changes in the barn?" Mom asked. I nodded. "I think the hiccups are making Wishy's magic go all wonky. So we just need to cure her hiccups. That should be easy, right?" I looked hopefully at Mom. "Well… they can sometimes be a bit tricky," Mom said. "There's not really a proven cure." "Great." I flopped my head on the table, then turned it to the side to look at Mom. "What even are hiccups? And why can't you just decide to stop hiccupping?" "Those are excellent questions," Mom said with a twinkle in her eye. "I could tell you, but

第九章，什么是打嗝？ “那么，匹普和蒂尼似乎不会再在谷仓里发生意外的变化了？”母亲问。 我点了点头。“我想打嗝让维希的魔法变得不稳定了。 所以我们只需要治好她的打嗝。 这应该很容易，对吧？”我满怀希望地看着妈妈。 “嗯……他们有时会有点棘手，”妈妈说。 “目前还没有行之有效的治疗方法。” “好了。”我把头放在桌子上，然后把头转到一边看着妈妈。 “打嗝是什么？”为什么你就不能停止打嗝呢？”“这些都是很好的问题，”妈妈说，眼睛里闪烁着光芒。 “我可以告诉你，但是

I'd rather show you." I perked up. "Show me?" Mom smiled. "You go find a plastic bottle from the recycling and grab two balloons and some tape. I'll get the scissors." I grabbed the supplies and brought them to the table. "This part is tricky," Mom said, using the scissors to cut the bottle in half, "so an adult needs to do it." She set the bottom half of the bottle aside and passed the top half and the scissors to me. "Now it's your turn," she continued. "Squeeze one of the balloons through the mouth of the bottle— that's the top part you drink from. Good. Now stretch the opening of the balloon over the mouth of the bottle." She handed me the other balloon and had me cut the skinny part off. Then I stretched the remaining part of the balloon over the open bottom of the bottle and taped it in place. I held up the finished product. One balloon dangled down inside from where it was stretched over the mouth of the bottle, and the other covered the entire bottom part of the bottle.

我宁愿让你看看。”我振作起来。 “给我?”妈妈笑了。“你去回收处找一个塑料瓶，拿两个气球和一些胶带。 我去拿剪刀。”我抓起补给品，端到桌子上。 “这部分很棘手，”妈妈说，用剪刀把瓶子剪成两半，“所以需要一个成年人来做。” 她把瓶子的下半部分放在一边，把瓶子的上半部分和剪刀递给了我。 “现在轮到你了，”她继续说。 “把其中一个气球挤进瓶口——这是你喝水的顶部。 好。现在把气球的开口伸到瓶口上。” 她递给我另一个气球，让我把细的部分剪掉。 然后我把气球的剩余部分拉到瓶子的底部，用胶带固定好。 我举起成品。 一个气球从瓶口上方垂下来，另一个则覆盖了瓶子的整个底部。

"This is a pretty simple model of your lungs. You really have two lungs, of course, but for this we'll pretend like you have one." She pointed to the whole balloon hanging from the top of the bottle. "This balloon is your lung." She tapped the plastic bottle. "This is your rib cage." And then she tapped the stretched-out balloon on the bottom of the bottle. "And this is your diaphragm." I raised an eyebrow. "Diaphragm?" Mom pointed to a place on her stomach above her belly button. "Your diaphragm is a big muscle at the bottom of your rib cage that you use without thinking to breathe," she said. "OK, now pinch the center part of the lower balloon

“这是一个非常简单的肺模型。 当然，你真的有两个肺，但为了这个，我们就假装你只有一个肺。” 她指着挂在瓶子顶端的整个气球。 “这个气球是你的肺。” 她轻敲塑料瓶。 “这是你的胸腔。”然后，她把拉长的气球轻拍在瓶子的底部。 “这是你的隔膜。” 我扬起眉毛。“隔膜呢?”妈妈指着她肚脐上方的一个地方。 “你的横膈膜是胸腔底部的一块大肌肉，你可以不假思索地用它来呼吸，”她说。 “好，现在捏下气球的中间部分

and pull it down." "WHOA!" I shouted. "When I pull that down, the lung balloon blows up!" "That's how you breathe in," said Mom. "When you tighten your diaphragm, it pulls down and your lungs inflate with air. Now push the diaphragm balloon up." "Whoa!" I said again. "So when my diaphragm goes up, my lungs breathe out?" "You've got it!" Mom said. I paused. "But what does this have to do with hiccups?" "Aha, good question. Make the diaphragm move up and down really quickly." I did, and the lung balloon started looking a bit wonky. "Remember how I said you don't think about breathing—you just do it? Well, that's because your brain sends a message to your diaphragm to move. But if your brain sends weird signals, it makes your diaphragm all jumpy. That's part of what makes you feel uncomfortable. But it also makes you breathe out faster than normal, and when you do that, your vocal cords close and

然后把它拉下来。”“哇!”我叫道。 “当我把它拉下来的时候，肺气球就爆炸了！”“你就是这样吸气的，”妈妈说。 “当你收紧隔膜时，它会向下拉，你的肺部就会充满空气。 现在把隔膜气球推上去。” “哇!”我又说。“所以当我的隔膜上升时，我的肺就会呼出？”“你说对了！”母亲说。 我停了下来。“但这和打嗝有什么关系呢？”“啊哈，好问题。 让隔膜快速上下移动。” 我照做了，肺球囊看起来有点不稳定。 “还记得我是怎么说的吗？不要想呼吸，只管呼吸。” 那是因为你的大脑向你的横膈膜发出了移动的信息。 但如果你的大脑发出奇怪的信号，它会让你的隔膜跳起来。 这就是让你感到不舒服的部分原因。 但它也会让你比平时更快地呼气，当你这样做的时候，你的声带会闭合

make a hic sound." "Ohhhhhh," I said. "And no one really knows how to make your brain stop sending weird signals to your diaphragm to make the hiccups stop?" Mom nodded. "Every family kind of has their own cure, but there's not one thing that always works. Like we have you hold your breath, right? And it sometimes works, but sometimes not." I sat up straighter. "So… other families might have different ideas to try?" "Mm-hmm. Why are you smiling?" Mom

发出嘘声。”“哦，”我说。 “没有人真正知道如何让你的大脑停止向你的隔膜发送奇怪的信号，让打嗝停止？”妈妈点了点头。 “每个家庭都有自己的治疗方法，但没有一种方法总是有效的。 就像我们让你屏住呼吸一样，对吧？ 有时有效，有时无效。” 我坐直了身子。“那么……其他家庭可能会有不同的想法？”“嗯哼。 你为什么在笑？”妈妈

asked. "Because I've got a plan! Thanks, Mom!" I grabbed the lung model and dashed out the door.

问。“因为我有一个计划！”谢谢你,妈妈!”我抓起肺模型冲出门去。