1 The Great Unknown Assembly

Kate THE CHEMIST THE STEM NIGHT DISASTER DR. KATE BIBERDORF WITH HILLARY HOMZIE MAKE YOUR OWN LEMON BATTERY! EXPERIMENT INSIDE!

凯特药剂师，干夜灾难医生。 凯特·比伯多夫和希拉里·homzie做你自己的柠檬电池！实验里面!

CHAPTER ONE The Great Unknown Assembly Inference (noun). The process of drawing a conclusion based on evidence. Like if your little brother has cheeks full of crumbs, you can infer that he just ate the last cookie. WAITING WAS TORTURE. The entire fifth grade sat in the auditorium. Any moment the administration was supposed to make a huge announcement. I bounced in my seat. I twirled my hair. I sucked in my cheeks. "C'mon, Kate," said Elijah Williams, one of my closest friends. "Tell us what's going on." "I wish I knew." I had to practically shout. All around us students were chatting and chairs were squeaking so loudly I could barely hear. Birdie Bhatt studied the white cinder-block walls. "Maybe we're going to paint a giant mural." This didn't surprise me. Birdie and I had been BFFs since kindergarten, and she was all about art.

第一章伟大的未知集合推理（名词）。 根据证据得出结论的过程。 比如，如果你的小弟弟脸颊上满是面包屑，你可以推断他刚刚吃了最后一块饼干。 等待是一种折磨。整个五年级的学生都坐在礼堂里。 任何时候，政府都应该发表重大声明。 我在座位上跳来跳去。我捻了捻头发。 我吸了吸脸颊。“来吧，凯特，”我最亲密的朋友之一伊利亚·威廉姆斯（Elijah Williams）说。 “告诉我们发生了什么事。” “我希望我知道。”我不得不大喊大叫。 我们周围的学生都在聊天，椅子发出刺耳的声音，我几乎听不见。 伯蒂·巴特仔细研究着白色的煤渣砖墙。 “也许我们要画一幅巨大的壁画。” 这并不令我惊讶。伯蒂和我从幼儿园起就是最好的朋友，她对艺术很感兴趣。

Next to me, Memito Alvarez patted his middle. "I hope they're going to announce a cooking club." "Doubtful." Avery Cooper shook her head and her blonde braids swayed. "I think they're going to make the cafeteria go completely green. My student council committee has already drawn up a proposal." "No plastic straws or paper napkins," explained Phoenix Altman from the row in front of us. "And more options for vegetarians." "I'm fine as long as there are no Brussels sprouts." Jeremy Rowe leaned back in his chair. "Bet you a dollar none of you are right," he said, smirking. "I haven't guessed anything yet." Elijah pointed in my direction. "I'm going to go with whatever Kate thinks. 'Cause of Mrs. Crawford." Of course, at that moment, it got quiet enough so everyone could hear Elijah. All the kids looked at me. Even the rows farther away. That was because Mrs. Crawford happened to be the principal of Rosalind Franklin Elementary School. And she also happened to be my mother. But truly, I had no idea what was going on. Ms. Gottfried, the librarian, who was our audio-visual guru, adjusted the height of a

在我旁边，梅托·阿尔瓦雷斯（Memito Alvarez）拍了拍自己的腰。 “我希望他们会宣布成立一个烹饪俱乐部。” “怀疑”。艾弗里·库珀摇了摇头，她的金色辫子摇晃着。 “我想他们会把自助餐厅变成完全绿色的。 我的学生会已经起草了一份提案。” “没有塑料吸管和餐巾纸，”坐在我们前排的菲尼克斯·奥特曼（Phoenix Altman）解释道。 “素食者也有更多的选择。” “只要没有抱子甘蓝，我就没事。” 杰里米·罗靠在椅子上。 “跟你赌一美元，你们都不对，”他傻笑着说。 “我还没猜到。” 以利亚指着我的方向。 “凯特怎么想我就怎么做。 因为克劳福德太太。”当然，在那一刻，一切都安静下来，每个人都能听到以利亚的声音。 所有的孩子都看着我。 即使是更远的一排排。 那是因为克劳福德夫人恰好是罗莎琳德·富兰克林小学的校长。 她碰巧也是我的母亲。 但说真的，我完全不知道发生了什么。 图书管理员戈特弗里德女士是我们的视听专家，她调整了一个

microphone in front of the stage area. A banner below the scoreboard read: Today is THE day! "C'mon, Kate," insisted Elijah. "Tell us what's up." I wracked my brain. "I really don't know." "What does your gut tell you?" Phoenix leaned forward, her parrot earrings swishing. "That I'm super hungry," joked Memito. "I only had one waffle for breakfast and it's almost lunchtime." We all laughed. "Just guess what you think is going to happen, Kate," pleaded Elijah. "Scientists don't guess," I said in my most patient voice. Elijah, who is my next-door neighbor, has heard me say this about a billion times before. "Guesses are often random." You see, I'm interested in science—chemistry, especially. Actually, strike that. I'm obsessed. Because chemistry is everything. It's everywhere. It's how your stomach breaks down the candy bar you've just inhaled. How laundry detergent scrubs the dirt off your socks. Why popcorn pops in your microwave and tastes so yummy.

麦克风在舞台前面。 记分牌下面的横幅上写着：就是今天！“来吧，凯特，”以利亚坚持说。 “告诉我们发生了什么事。”我绞尽脑汁。 “我真的不知道。”“你的直觉告诉你什么？”菲尼克斯身体前倾，她的鹦鹉耳坠嗖嗖作响。 “我超级饿，”Memito开玩笑说。 “我早餐只吃了一块华夫饼，现在都快到午餐时间了。” 我们都笑了。“猜猜看你觉得会发生什么，凯特，”以利亚恳求道。 “科学家是不会猜测的。”我用最耐心的声音说。 以利亚，我的隔壁邻居，已经听我说过十亿次了。 “猜测往往是随机的。” 你知道，我对科学很感兴趣，尤其是化学。 实际上，敲击它。我着迷。 因为化学就是一切。 它无处不在。这是你的胃如何分解你刚刚吸入的糖果棒。 洗衣粉如何洗掉袜子上的污垢。 为什么爆米花在微波炉里会爆开，而且味道如此美味。

Birdie gently poked me. "Then make a hypothesis." A hypothesis is an explanation that can be tested. I think about the most recent observations I've made surrounding the mystery at our school. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to test out anything. "I could make an inference." I shrugged. "You know, come up with an idea based on evidence." Ms. Gottfried tapped the microphone. "Testing," she said. "Testing, one. Two. Three." The microphone wasn't working. We could barely hear Ms. Gottfried's voice from across the auditorium. Kids whipped around to look up front. Some students in the back were getting squirmy. The chatter in the room grew louder. Jeremy's gaze followed the teachers scurrying up front with clipboards. "The assembly is going to start any second," he said. "If you want to win the bet, you've got to make your predictions right now." "You mean, make an inference." I grinned at him. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." Jeremy shrugged. "An inference, then." That got me thinking about all of the observations I had made in the past week. I definitely knew there was a mystery going on

小鸟轻轻地戳了戳我。“那就做一个假设。” 假设是一种可以被检验的解释。 我想到了我最近在学校里对这个谜团所做的观察。 不幸的是，我没有时间去测试任何东西。 “我可以做个推断。” 我耸了耸肩。“你知道，基于证据提出一个想法。” 戈特弗里德敲了敲麦克风。 “测试，”她说。”其中一个测试。 两个。三。”麦克风坏了。 我们几乎听不到礼堂对面戈特弗里德女士的声音。 孩子们转过身来看前面。 后排的一些学生开始坐立不安。 房间里的说话声越来越大。 杰里米的目光跟随那些拿着写字板匆匆走到前面的老师。 “大会随时都会开始，”他说。 “如果你想赢，你现在就得做出预测。” “你的意思是，做个推论。” 我朝他咧嘴一笑。“是啊，是啊，随便吧。” 杰里米耸耸肩。“那么，这是一个推论。” 这让我想起了过去一周我所做的所有观察。 我就知道这里面有个谜团

around school. And I was about to use my powers of observation to figure it out!

在学校。我正准备用我的观察力来找出答案！