4 An Educated Guess

CHAPTER FOUR AN EDUCATED GUESS Hypothesis (noun). Sometimes people call it an educated guess. That doesn't mean that a guess is super smart. It just means that you are going to make a prediction based on really checking something out. "I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT'S HAPPENING." My fingers furiously tapped on my iPad. "I just popped ten bubbles. At once. I didn't know that was a thing." "It is a thing," said Birdie, who stood on her head across from me in our family room. Her long black hair spread like a curtain onto the beige carpet. It had been only a day since the fire breathing demo, and I was itching for a new science adventure. But I hadn't come up with anything. You really can't count Bubble Zap, although I had been practicing a lot, since it was Saturday. "This is a miracle," I said. "Since I'm awful at Bubble Zap." "And now you're a legend."

第四章有根据的猜测假设（名词）。 有时人们称之为有根据的猜测。 这并不意味着猜测是非常聪明的。 它的意思是你要根据实际情况做出预测。 “我简直不敢相信发生了什么。” 我的手指疯狂地敲击着iPad。 “我刚爆了十个泡泡。 在一次。我不知道这是一件事。” “这是一件事，”在我们的家庭活动室里，站在我对面的伯迪说。 她长长的黑发像窗帘一样铺在米色的地毯上。 距离喷火演示才过了一天，我很想进行一次新的科学冒险。 但我什么也没想出来。 虽然我从星期六开始练习了很多次，但你真的不能算Bubble Zap。 “这真是个奇迹，”我说。 “因为我不擅长《Bubble Zap》。” “现在你是一个传奇。”

"Wait until we tell Elijah. I'm going to destroy his top score!" Pop! Pop! Pop! I continued to rack up points. But a couple of bubbles vanished before I could get them. Then all at once the game was over. "What?!!! It can't just end. I was so close. This thing is rigged!" I flung the iPad so that it bounced against a pillow, landing with a soft thud on a stack of magazines on the coffee table. Birdie snapped out of her headstand. "Hey, easy on that." Her face was firework red. The super bright kind made from a gray carbon powder called strontium carbonate. Birdie plopped next to me on the couch. "You never give up on games. What's going on?" "I should have beaten Elijah's score with those ten bubbles at once." I harrumphed. "Oh, c'mon. It's just Bubble Zap. It's so dumb they should pay us to play it." A smile crept onto my face, so I bit my bottom lip. I didn't want Birdie to stop cheering me up. I sighed like my grandma Dort.

"等着我们告诉以利亚吧。 我要打破他的最高分！”流行!流行!流行!我继续得分。 但在我拿到它们之前，几个泡泡就消失了。 突然间，游戏结束了。 “什么? ! !它不能就这样结束。 我就差那么一点。这东西被人操纵了！”我把iPad扔了出去，结果它撞在枕头上，砰的一声落在咖啡桌上的一叠杂志上。 小鸟突然从她的倒立中跳出来。 “嘿，别闹了。”她的脸红得像烟花。 超亮的那种是由一种叫做碳酸锶的灰色碳粉制成的。 小鸟扑通一声坐在我旁边的沙发上。 “你永远不会放弃游戏。 发生了什么事？”他说，“我一下子就能打出十个泡泡，超过以利亚的分数。” 我哼了一声。“哦,来吧。这只是Bubble Zap。 这太蠢了，他们应该付钱让我们玩。” 我的脸上浮现出一丝微笑，于是我咬了咬下唇。 我不想让伯迪停止给我打气。 我像我奶奶波特一样叹了口气。

"Seriously, what's really up?" asked Birdie softly. Flopping back against the couch, I tried to figure out the best way to explain that I'd been worrying about fall break camp all week. I really wanted to do it with Birdie and Elijah. But I didn't think there were any choices that all three of us would want to do together. "We can't do chemistry camp during fall break since Ms. Daly will be gone," I said. "But that's the only camp we'd both like. Elijah, too. And I'd miss you if I did math camp while you did art camp." "That's why you're in a bad mood?" Birdie flopped back next to me. "I'd miss you, too! I can't believe Ms. Daly is going away to St. Paul. But I'm sure we can figure out something." "I mean, Ms. Daly deserves an awesome vacation. But still. Kids need science as much as breathing. I mean, every time we"—I made a gulping sound—"breathe, it's science. Oxygen molecules going in and"—I exhaled—"carbon dioxide molecules going out."

“说真的，到底发生了什么事？”小鸟轻声问道。 我靠在沙发上，想找个最好的方式来解释我整个星期都在担心秋季夏令营的事。 我真的很想和伯蒂和以利亚一起做。 但我不认为有什么选择是我们三个人愿意一起做的。 “我们不能在秋假期间做化学营，因为mrs。 戴利要走了，”我说。 “但这是我们俩都喜欢的唯一一个营地。 以利亚。如果我去数学营，而你去艺术营，我会想你的。” “这就是你心情不好的原因吗？”小鸟扑通一声落在我身边。 “我也会想你的！”我真不敢相信。 戴利要去圣保罗。 但我相信我们能想出办法。” “我的意思是，戴利女士应该有一个很棒的假期。 但仍然。孩子们需要科学，就像需要呼吸一样。 我的意思是，每次我们”——我发出了一声吞咽的声音——“呼吸，这是科学。 氧分子进去，”——我呼了口气——“二氧化碳分子出去。”

Birdie dramatically puffed out air. "Yup. There go some molecules right now. See ya"—she waved —"have a nice life." "Not just some molecules. Billions and billions. A whole galaxy." "Wow," said Birdie. "I never thought of it that way. I'll have to sketch this galaxy." "You could during fall science camp." I hopped off the couch. "If it existed." "Wait, maybe you could run camp! If any kid could do that, it'd be you, Kate." I thought about that. I could totally run a science camp. I knew so many experiments from watching Dr. Caroline on YouTube. "Hm," I said,

小鸟戏剧性地吹气。 “是的。现在有一些分子出去了。 再见，”她挥了挥手，“祝你生活愉快。” “不仅仅是一些分子。数以亿计。 整个星系。”“哇，”小鸟说。 “我从来没有那样想过。 我得把这个星系画出来。” “你可以在秋季科学营的时候。” 我从沙发上跳下来。“如果它存在的话。” “等等，也许你可以管理夏令营！”如果有孩子能做到这一点，那就是你了，凯特。” 我想过这个。我完全可以办个科学营。 我从观看Dr。 卡洛琳在YouTube上。“嗯，”我说，

pondering the idea. "I could definitely come up with some fun experiments and demos." "But probably don't do the fire breathing one." Birdie glanced at the fire extinguisher in our kitchen. "It went amazing yesterday. But that poor cactus." "Good point. But there's a glue demo I could try." "Ooh, and then we could use it to make a collage!" Birdie said. I took a deep breath. "Okay, so all I have to do is convince my mom I could lead fall break chemistry camp. Which means I need to get her in a really good mood. You came up with the perfect solution, Birdie!" Birdie took a bow. "What are best friends for?" she asked. Pacing back and forth in front of the couch, I talked to myself. "Think, Kate. C'mon. I could wash her car. Except it's already clean. She just waxed it." I tapped my head, trying to think harder. Tap. Tap. Tap. "Are you trying to pop bubbles in your brain?" joked Birdie. "I sure hope not," I said. "Hey, I got it! Mom just bought a new bag of chocolate pieces. Which means she is getting ready to bake brownies. But

思考这个想法。“我肯定能想出一些有趣的实验和演示。” “但可能不要做喷火的那个。” 伯迪瞥了一眼我们厨房里的灭火器。 “昨天真是太棒了。 但是那可怜的仙人掌。”“好点。 但我可以尝试一下胶水的演示。” “哦，然后我们可以用它来做一个拼贴画！”小鸟说。 我深吸了一口气。“好吧，所以我要做的就是说服我妈妈我可以领导秋季化学夏令营。 也就是说我得让她心情好起来。 你想出了一个完美的解决方案，小鸟！”小鸟鞠了一躬。 “最好的朋友是做什么的？”她问。 我在沙发前踱来踱去，自言自语。 “想想,凯特。来吧。我可以帮她洗车。 但它已经很干净了。 她刚给头发上了蜡。”我轻拍自己的头，试图更努力地思考。 水龙头。水龙头。水龙头。“你是想在脑子里吹泡泡吗？”小鸟开玩笑说。 “我当然不希望，”我说。 “嘿，我找到了！”妈妈刚买了一袋巧克力。 也就是说她准备烤布朗尼了。 但

with her grant due, she hasn't had time. We'll make them for her! That's perfect!" "It'll make me happy, too," said Birdie, licking her lips. We both jumped together like we were on the trampoline. Then Birdie suddenly stopped. "That's a good sign," she said. "That she bought the chocolate, I mean." Birdie was big into signs and omens. Not me. The only way to know the future was by testing out a hypothesis, which was basically an educated guess. Based on the number of bags of semisweet chocolate pieces Mom had purchased in her lifetime, especially when she was worried, I could safely guess she was craving brownies, her absolute favorite dessert. Since last night, she had been holed up in her office working on that grant for a school garden. The deadline was Monday. She wanted to name the garden in honor of a second- grade teacher, Mrs. Farwell, who was retiring this year. Super chocolaty brownies were definitely the answer. They just had to be.

助学金到期了，她没有时间。 我们会给她做的！那是完美的!”“它也会让我高兴的，”小鸟说，舔着她的嘴唇。 我们一起跳，就像在蹦床上一样。 然后小鸟突然停了下来。 “这是个好迹象，”她说。 “我是说她买了巧克力。” 伯蒂对征兆和预兆很感兴趣。 不是我。知道未来的唯一方法是检验一个假设，这基本上是一个有根据的猜测。 根据妈妈一生中购买的半甜巧克力块的袋数，尤其是在她担心的时候，我可以有把握地猜出她很想吃布朗尼，这是她最喜欢的甜点。 从昨晚起，她就一直躲在办公室里忙学校花园的拨款事宜。 截止日期是周一。她想以今年即将退休的二年级老师法威尔夫人的名字来命名这座花园。 超级巧克力布朗尼绝对是答案。 他们只是不得不这样。