20 The Testy Test Subject

CHAPTER TWENTY THE TESTY TEST SUBJECT Experiment (noun). A scientific protocol that's used to test a hypothesis. If you think that chocolate milk tastes better with three scoops of cocoa instead of two, you'll have to test it out. "LIAM!" I CRIED. "LIAM!" I searched in the family room. Nope. No little brother in sight. Or in the garage. Or outside tossing a basketball in his little kid-sized hoop. Dribble wagged his tail and brushed up against me. "Where's Liam, Dribble?" I asked, rubbing under his chin. "Probably in his room." As I bounded upstairs, Dribble trotted after me. The hallway and the bedroom were dark. "Liam!" I called, flicking on the hall light. "I'm not here!" called Liam. I charged into his pitch-black bedroom. The shades were drawn, and there was a Liam-shaped lump under the covers. "What are you doing?"

第二十章易测试的实验对象（名词）。 一种用来检验假设的科学协议。 如果你认为三勺可可豆比两勺可可豆味道更好，那你就得试一试。 “利亚姆!”我哭了。“利亚姆!”我在客厅里找过了。 不。没有看到小弟弟。 或者在车库里。或者在外面用他的小孩大小的篮筐扔篮球。 小运球摇了摇尾巴，朝我擦了过来。 “利亚姆呢，运球？”我一边问，一边揉着他的下巴。 “可能在他的房间里。”我蹦蹦跳跳地上楼时，小运球跟在我后面小跑。 走廊和卧室里一片漆黑。 “利亚姆!”我喊道，打开了大厅的灯。 “我不在这儿！”利亚姆喊道。 我冲进他漆黑的卧室。 窗帘被拉下了，被子下面有一个liam形状的肿块。 “你在干什么？”

"Pretending the power went out. Like what happened to you at drama camp. Only I can't use my flashlight to survive." "Why not?" "It doesn't have batteries." He let out a whoosh of air. "It's getting really boring in here. There's nothing to see." "Hey, I've got a great idea. And it's waaaaaay better than a fake power outage." Five minutes later, Liam sat in a kitchen chair. "Will it hurt?" he asked, pointing at the glue. Then the horn. "No, it's going to feel cool. As in literally cool and not warm." He squirmed in his chair. "Stop moving." The experiment wouldn't work unless he did. But I might as well have told him to stop breathing. "Liam, I mean it." "I can't." He leaned over and tapped his forehead. "Can't get a song out of my brain." Grabbing him by the waist, I tipped him upside down. "Now your song will fall right out of your ears," I said. He giggled and told me it dripped out of his left ear. I got him right side up again to test out the white glue. With a paintbrush, I coated his forehead

“假装停电了。 就像你在戏剧营发生的事。 只是我不能用手电筒生存。” “为什么不?”“它没有电池。” 他呼了一声气。 “这里越来越无聊了。 没什么可看的。”“嘿，我有个好主意。 这比假装停电要好得多。” 五分钟后，利亚姆坐在厨房的椅子上。 “会痛吗？”他指着胶水问。 然后是号角。“不，它会感觉很酷。 就像字面上的凉爽而不是温暖。” 他在椅子上扭动身子。“停止运动。” 除非他这么做，否则实验不会成功。 但我还不如让他停止呼吸。 “利亚姆，我说真的。”“我不能。” 他俯身拍了拍额头。 “脑子里总忘不了一首歌。” 我抓住他的腰，把他倒在地上。 “现在你的歌将从你的耳朵里传出来，”我说。 他咯咯地笑着告诉我这是从他的左耳里滴出来的。 我又把他的侧面竖起来测试白胶的效果。 我用画笔在他的额头上涂了一层

with a dab of the glue and plonked on a horn that I had made out of a paper towel roll. "Okay, now hold it in place," I urged. "At the count of ten, let go. One Mississippi. Two Mississippi—" "Why do you say Mississippi? We don't live there." "It's just the state you're supposed to say when you count, Liam." "That's not fair to the other states. Say Michigan," he insisted. "Fine." I began to count using Michigan. Only when I got to six, Liam wiggled so much that the horn slid right off. "How about you hold it until twenty-five Michigan?" I suggested. That didn't work either. Neither did one hundred Michigan. Liam said he was as bored as sitting in the dark. "Maybe you could glue it on Dribble," he said. "No. He's got fur. I've got to figure out something that will stick to people's skin." The problem had to be that my formula was water- based like Elmer's. Which meant basically any kind of moisture would mess it up. Including five-year-old kid sweat. "How about use Super Glue," suggested Liam.

抹了一点胶水，砰的一声落在我用纸巾卷做的喇叭上。 “好吧，现在把它固定好，”我催促道。 “数到十，放手。 一个密西西比。两个密西西比——”“你为什么说密西西比？ 我们不住在那里。”“这就是你数的时候应该说的状态，利亚姆。” “这对其他州不公平。 说密歇根，”他坚持说。 “很好。”我开始用密歇根数。 我数到六的时候，利亚姆扭得太厉害，喇叭都滑掉了。 “你把它保留到密歇根25号怎么样？”我建议。 这也没起作用。100个密歇根人也没有。 利亚姆说他就像坐在黑暗里一样无聊。 “也许你可以把它粘在运球上，”他说。 “没有。他有毛。我必须想出一种能粘在人们皮肤上的东西。” 问题是我的配方和埃尔默的一样是水基的。 这意味着基本上任何水分都会破坏它。 包括五岁小孩的汗水。 “用强力胶怎么样？”利亚姆建议道。

"No way. You want me to pull off your skin?" "Yeah! So I can be a skeleton for Halloween." I laughed. "Only you would think of that." Checking online, I finally found a face glue that I could modify. I gathered: 1 1/2 cups water 1/2 cup cornstarch 1/4 cup corn syrup 2 teaspoons white vinegar 2 teaspoons food coloring 1/2 teaspoon glitter 1 medium bowl craft sticks Then I put everything in a saucepan over medium heat. Liam stirred constantly until it was well blended and thick. "I want to try it!" cried Liam. "First it has to cool down." I wanted the glue to blend in with the horn, so I added some yellow food coloring and glitter.

“没门。你要我剥掉你的皮吗？”“是啊!这样我就可以在万圣节变成骷髅了。” 我笑了。“只有你才会想到这个。” 我上网查了一下，终于找到了一种可以修改的脸胶。 我收集了：1杯半水，1/2杯玉米淀粉，1/4杯玉米糖浆，2茶匙白醋，2茶匙食用色素，1/2茶匙闪光剂，1个中碗，工艺棒，然后把所有的东西放入平底锅，中火加热。 利亚姆不停地搅拌，直到混合得很好，很浓为止。 “我想试试！”利亚姆叫道。 “首先它必须冷却下来。” 我想让胶水和牛角融为一体，所以我加了一些黄色食用色素和亮片。

This time, we put it on the horn, and Liam held it in place for about a minute. He began to neigh. The horn didn't fall off. "Toss your head." It still didn't fall off. "Jump up and down," I instructed. "And toss your head at the same time." Liam jumped and tossed his head, yelling, "Neigh! Neigh!" Both Mom and Dad poked their heads into the kitchen. "What are you up to?" asked Dad. "I'm a unicorn," cried Liam. "And I might be one forever. Because we don't know if the horn will be stuck until I'm old and shriveled like Grandpa Jack." "That's not nice, Liam," scolded Mom. "Okay, just old and wrinkled," said Liam. "You know how to put things very pleasantly." Dad put his hands up to his face, but I could see he was grinning. "Let's all pull Liam's horn together," suggested Mom, "and see what happens." "Maybe my face will come off," said Liam hopefully. At the count of three Michigan, we pulled the horn right off. Everything was fine, except that my hands were gluey. When I went to open my bag to grab some tissues inside the side zippered

这次，我们把它放在喇叭上，利亚姆拿着它大约一分钟。 他开始嘶叫。号角没有掉下来。 “摇你的头。”它仍然没有掉下来。 “跳上跳下，”我指示道。 “同时还要摇头。” 利亚姆跳了起来，摇着头，大喊：“嘿！马嘶声!”爸爸妈妈都把头探进了厨房。 “你在做什么？”爸爸问。 “我是独角兽，”利亚姆叫道。 “我可能永远都是一个。 因为我们不知道这只角是否会卡住，直到我老了，像杰克爷爷一样干瘪。” “这可不好，利亚姆，”妈妈责备道。 “好吧，只是又老又皱，”利亚姆说。 “你知道如何把事情说得很愉快。” 爸爸双手捂着脸，但我能看到他在咧嘴笑。 “让我们一起拉利亚姆的角，”妈妈建议，“看看会发生什么。” “也许我的脸会掉下来，”利亚姆满怀希望地说。 数到三密歇根的时候，我们把喇叭拔了下来。 一切都很好，除了我的手黏糊糊的。 当我打开包拿纸巾的时候，旁边的拉链里有

compartment, it was filled with glue. Plus, the tissues in the compartment were filled with glue. I couldn't figure out what had happened. I hadn't opened it all day. And there had never been that much glue on my hands. It was time to do some more investigating. After swiping inside the compartment with my finger, I inspected it. Just as I thought. It was the same bad unicorn glue. Avery's glue. It just had to be Avery. Again. I thought we were done with this!

隔间里装满了胶水。 另外，隔间里的纸巾里都是胶水。 我弄不明白发生了什么事。 我一整天都没打开它。 我的手上从来没有沾过那么多胶水。 是时候做更多的调查了。 我用手指在车厢里刷了一下，检查了一下。 和我想的一样。是同样的劣质独角兽胶。 艾弗里的胶水。一定是艾弗里 再一次。我以为我们已经结束了！