13 Loops and Whorls

CHAPTER THIRTEEN Loops and Whorls Procedure (noun). The plan for how to conduct an experiment or demonstration. Think of it like a recipe for baking cupcakes. If you fail to follow a step (like adding the sugar), it won't turn out very well. "LIAM, DO YOU WANT TO PLAY detective?" My brother and I munched on granola bars at the kitchen table after school. "Can I be a superhero and a detective?" he asked, popping the last bite of bar into his mouth. "Sure, why not—you can be a detective- superhero." "Yes!" He zipped out of the kitchen. Five minutes later, he reappeared in his Batman pajama top with the cape attached. "You look ready!" I exclaimed. I showed him the fingerprint I had collected from my cubby. Then I explained how we were looking for a culprit based on a match. But that we had to identify my own print first to make sure the ones I collected weren't mine.

第十三章环和螺纹程序（名词）。 实验方案：如何进行实验或演示的计划 把它想象成烘焙纸杯蛋糕的食谱。 如果你没有按照步骤去做（比如加糖），那就做不好了。 “利亚姆，你想玩侦探游戏吗？”放学后，我和哥哥在厨房的桌子上大嚼格兰诺拉燕麦棒。 “我能既是超级英雄又是侦探吗？”他问道，把最后一口巧克力塞进嘴里。 “当然，为什么不呢？你可以成为一个侦探——超级英雄。” “是的!”他飞快地走出厨房。 五分钟后，他再次出现在他的蝙蝠侠睡衣上装和斗篷。 “你看起来准备好了！”我叫道。 我给他看了我从橱柜里收集到的指纹。 然后我解释了我们是如何根据匹配来寻找罪犯的。 但我们必须先识别我自己的指纹以确保我收集的指纹不是我的。

"So, the first thing I'm going to do is get my prints." I pushed my thumb down into a pad of blue ink and then pressed it onto a white piece of paper. Then I did the same thing with the rest of my fingers. "Tada! Those are all my fingerprints. And it's the first step in our procedure." Then I wrote my name in big block letters under the print. "I want to do it too." Liam rolled his thumb and his other fingers into the inkpad almost at once. "Tada!" he shouted. Grabbing a red crayon, he wrote his name in huge letters so that there wasn't room for the M in Liam. Flipping his paper over, he wrote a giant M on the other side. I pointed to our prints. "See how they're different? See the pattern of the loops and whorls?" He studied his thumbprint. "It looks like a little hill." Then he examined mine. "Your center swirl is crooked. I want mine to be crooked too." "Sorry, buddy. Can't help you. That's the thing about fingerprints. Every single person has a different one. Even twins." "Hey, that's like snowflakes. Ms. Chen taught us about that. Each one is unique." Ms. Chen is Liam's kindergarten teacher. She has a special handshake for each of her students. And Liam thinks she's the coolest.

“所以，我要做的第一件事就是提取我的指纹。” 我把拇指按到一个蓝色墨水的垫子上，然后按在一张白纸上。 然后我用剩下的手指做了同样的事情。 “恩!那些都是我的指纹。 这是我们手术的第一步。” 然后我把我的名字用大写的印刷体写在下面。 “我也想这么做。”利亚姆几乎立刻把他的拇指和其他手指都揉进了墨水瓶里。 “哒！”他喊道。他拿起一支红色的蜡笔，把自己的名字写得很大，这样利亚姆的名字里就没有M了。 他把纸翻过来，在另一面写了一个大大的M。 我指着我们的指纹。“看到它们的不同了吗？” 看到这些圆圈和螺旋的图案了吗？”他研究了自己的指纹。 “它看起来像一座小山。” 然后他检查了我的。“你的中心漩涡是弯曲的。 我也希望我的是弯的。” “对不起,朋友。我帮不了你。 这就是指纹的特点。 每个人都有不同的想法。 即便是双胞胎。”“嘿，那就像雪花。 陈老师教我们的。 每一个都是独一无二的。”陈女士是利亚姆的幼儿园老师。 她对每个学生都有特别的握手。 利亚姆觉得她最酷。

"Your fingerprint patterns are formed before you were even born," I explained. "When I was in Mommy's tummy?" "Yup. Basically, we leave behind fingerprints all the time. On doorknobs, glasses, tables. But we can't always see them with the naked eye." He pointed to his eyes. "Unless you got x-ray vision. Like me—superhero detective boy." "True," I said. "Okay, now is the moment of truth. We're going to see if there's a match. Or whether someone else has had their hands in my cubby. It's showtime!" If Elijah were here, he'd do a drumroll. My heart fluttered in anticipation. I compared the prints to mine. Also to Liam's, because why not. Nothing matched up. They were completely different prints. All three of them were. Two looked like maybe pointer fingers and one was definitely a thumb. "It's confirmed!" There was someone sabotaging me. Now there was just one problem. I didn't know how to figure out who it could be.

“你的指纹图案在你出生前就形成了，”我解释说。 “当我在妈妈肚子里的时候？”“是的。 基本上，我们总是会留下指纹。 在门把手，玻璃杯，桌子上。 但我们不能总是用肉眼看到它们。” 他指着自己的眼睛。“除非你有x光视力。 像我一样，超级英雄侦探男孩。” “没错，”我说。“好了，现在是揭晓真相的时刻。 我们要看看是否匹配。 还是有人对我的柜子动过手。 showtime !”如果以利亚在这里，他会打鼓的。 我的心因期待而怦怦直跳。 我把指纹和我的做了比较。 还有利亚姆家，为什么不呢。 没有任何匹配。它们是完全不同的指纹。 他们三个都是。两个看起来像是食指，一个肯定是拇指。 “这是证实!”有人在暗中破坏我。 现在只有一个问题。 我不知道该怎么找出是谁。