10 A Science Spell

CHAPTER TEN A SCIENCE SPELL Liquid (noun). The molecules are waving their arms and sidestepping because they have more space than they do when they're a solid. Like the difference between chocolate milk and brownies, sort of. IT WAS MY FAULT. I hadn't tightened the cap on the bottle of glue in Mom's bag. I had checked, and it had been loose. Now I had to deal with a sticky mess. In the family room after play rehearsal, Liam and I watched Dr. Caroline. Normally, I love Dr. Caroline. Normally, I binge-watch it. But today, my mind was completely stuck on the globs of glue wedged inside Mom's bag. To make things worse, Mom clanked around the kitchen, scrubbing the sink. Which meant she was stressed. Which meant I had to wait until she was gone before digging under the sink to find something to

第十章科学咒语液体（名词）。 分子挥舞着手臂，闪开，因为它们比固体有更大的空间。 就像巧克力牛奶和布朗尼的区别一样。 是我的错。我没有把妈妈包里那瓶胶水的瓶盖盖紧。 我检查过了，它是松的。 现在我得处理一堆黏糊糊的东西。 戏剧排练结束后，利亚姆和我在家庭活动室里看了看。 卡洛琳。通常情况下，我喜欢博士。 卡洛琳。通常情况下，我会一口气看完。 但是今天，我的脑子完全被塞在妈妈包里的胶水粘住了。 更糟糕的是，妈妈在厨房里叮当作响地擦洗水槽。 这说明她压力很大。 也就是说我得等她走了再从水槽底下挖东西

clean her bag. "Look! Dr. Caroline is doing something dangerous," cried Liam, waving at a tub of boiling liquid nitrogen on the computer screen. This was one of my favorite experiments. Basically, Dr. Caroline dunked balloon animals into chilly liquid nitrogen. Actually, super-freezing—as in four times colder than the North Pole in the middle of a blizzard. "Will she get hurt?" asked Liam, a little too enthusiastically. "Don't worry. She's got extra-special gloves. Plus, she's wearing goggles and a lab coat." In the kitchen, Mom rinsed out all of the soap in the sink. Hopefully, she would scoot into her office really soon. "Hey, Dr. Caroline's doing a spell!" said Liam, fixing his eyes on the computer screen. The balloon animals shriveled like raisins when they hit the sizzling liquid nitrogen. When Dr. Caroline scooped them out of the tub, they blew back up again. "It looks like magic, but it's just science." Charles' Law to be specific. As the temperature dropped, the volume went down, causing the balloons to shrink. As temperature rose, the volume increased, causing the balloons to plump back up again.

清理她的包。“看!卡洛琳医生正在做一件危险的事情，”利亚姆喊道，向电脑屏幕上一盆沸腾的液氮挥手。 这是我最喜欢的实验之一。 基本上，卡洛琳博士把气球动物浸泡在寒冷的液氮中。 实际上，超级寒冷——在暴风雪中比北极还要冷四倍。 “她会受伤吗？”利亚姆问，有点过于热情。 “别担心。她有特别的手套。 另外，她戴着护目镜，穿着实验服。” 在厨房里，妈妈把水槽里的肥皂都洗干净了。 希望她能尽快回到办公室。 “嘿，卡洛琳博士在施咒！”利亚姆说，眼睛盯着电脑屏幕。 当气球动物碰到滋滋作响的液氮时，它们像葡萄干一样枯萎了。 当卡洛琳医生把它们从浴缸里捞出来时，它们又爆炸了。 “这看起来像魔法，但它只是科学。” 具体来说就是查理定律。 随着温度的下降，体积减小，导致气球收缩。 随着温度升高，体积增大，使气球再次鼓起来。

Mom stopped running the water. "Kids," she called out, glancing down at her phone. "Good news. I just found out that the school's a finalist for that community grant I applied for." "Yay!" cried out Liam. "I knew it!" I said. Humming happily, Mom polished the sink with a soft dry cloth. "They're going to interview me tomorrow. I want to bring in those scrapbooks showing off the school garden. The grant committee can visualize our farm-to-table lunch program." "Our school's turning into a farm?" asked Liam, bouncing off the couch. "Well, sort of." Mom folded up the cloth. "Kids can harvest veggies. In the fall, the plan is to eat lunch from the garden once a week. That is, if we win the grant." "I want to be a harvest kid," exclaimed Liam.

妈妈停止了放水。 “孩子们，”她喊道，低头看了看手机。 “好消息。我刚发现这所学校入围了我申请的社区拨款的决赛。” “耶！”利亚姆叫道。“我就知道！”我说。 妈妈高兴地哼着歌，用一块柔软的干布擦着水槽。 “他们明天要面试我。 我想把那些展示学校花园的剪贴簿带进来。 拨款委员会可以设想我们从农场到餐桌的午餐计划。” “我们的学校要变成农场了？”利亚姆从沙发上跳起来问道。 “嗯，算是吧。”妈妈把布叠起来。 “孩子们可以收割蔬菜。 到了秋天，他们的计划是每周在花园里吃一次午餐。 前提是我们赢得了拨款。” “我想成为一个收获的孩子，”利亚姆喊道。

"You can!" Mom hung her gloves under the sink. "Kate, you know that leather backpack you borrowed? I'd like it back for the meeting tomorrow. It'd be perfect to load up with the scrapbooks." "Sure," I said, hoping my warm face wasn't giving away my inner panic. What should I do? Tell her the truth? Her happiness would shrivel up faster than the liquid nitrogen balloon. Plus, she would think I was irresponsible. "Um, it's in my room. The bag, I mean. I'll get it for you in a sec." My throat swelled with worry. Normally, my mom thought I was pretty responsible, which is why she let me do lots of stuff on my own. But after last week's glass bowl explosion in the kitchen and now the glue in the backpack, I wasn't so sure. Maybe she would tell Mrs. Hansberry I shouldn't be the assistant director. Then I couldn't be with Birdie or Elijah. "I'm sorry to snatch that bag back." Mom strolled over to the couch. "I feel terrible." "Oh, don't. Seriously." I rubbed my chin. "But... maybe you could use a more official- looking bag. Like a briefcase?" "Hmmm. I thought about that, but it'd look too corporate. Like the school doesn't need the money. A nice backpack is perfect."

“你可以!”妈妈把手套挂在水池下面。 “凯特，你知道你借的那个皮背包吗？” 明天开会时我要拿回来。 把剪贴簿装满是再好不过了。” “当然，”我说，希望我温暖的脸不会暴露出我内心的恐慌。 我该怎么办？告诉她真相？ 她的幸福会比液氮气球枯萎得更快。 而且，她会觉得我不负责任。 “嗯，在我的房间里。我是说袋子。 我马上就给你拿来。” 我担心得嗓子肿了起来。 通常，我妈妈认为我很负责任，所以她让我自己做很多事情。 但在上周厨房的玻璃碗爆炸和现在背包里的胶水之后，我就不那么确定了。 也许她会告诉汉斯伯里太太我不该当副局长。 那我就不能和伯蒂和以利亚在一起了。 “我很抱歉把包抢回来了。” 妈妈慢悠悠地走到沙发前。 “我感觉糟透了。”“哦,不。 严重。”我揉了揉下巴。 “但是……也许你可以用一个看起来更正式的包。 比如公文包？”“嗯。我想过，但看起来太公司化了。 好像学校不缺钱似的。 一个漂亮的背包是完美的。”

Actually, her backpack was the opposite of perfect right now. "Thanks, honey." Mom kissed my forehead and then Liam's cheek. "You guys are the best—just sitting there watching a science show." She clasped her hands, beaming down at us. "How did I ever get so lucky?" I opened my mouth to tell her that she didn't get that lucky, but my lips stuck together as if they'd been glued. As soon as Mom left, I barreled into the kitchen. "Hey," said Liam. "Can we do that Dr. Caroline spearmint together?" "It's called an experiment. And no, it's too dangerous without a grown-up around and the proper gear. But I have another experiment, and it's called cleaning. Want to try?" "No way!" That's exactly what I thought, and what I was counting on.

事实上，她的背包现在一点都不完美。 “谢谢,亲爱的。”妈妈亲了我的额头，然后是利亚姆的脸颊。 “你们是最棒的——就坐在那里看科学节目。” 她双手合十，微笑着俯视着我们。 “我怎么会这么幸运呢？”我张开嘴想告诉她，她没有那么幸运，但我的嘴唇却粘在一起，好像被粘住了一样。 妈妈一走，我就冲进厨房。 “嘿，”利亚姆说。“我们能做到吗？” 卡罗琳，一起吃薄荷？”“这叫做实验。 没有大人在旁边，没有合适的装备，太危险了。 但我还有另一个实验，叫做清洁。 想试试吗？”“不可能!”这正是我所想的，也是我所指望的。