17 Seeking Solutions

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Seeking Solutions Erlenmeyer flask (noun). A container with slanted sides and a narrow neck named after the chemist Emil Erlenmeyer. Since they're often made of special material that doesn't break under heat, you could easily make hot chocolate in one over the stove. IT WAS WEDNESDAY, and a day had passed since Birdie had figured out how to solve the mystery. Now there were more and more volunteer parents helping out in the classroom because STEM Night was just two days away. How could we find an opportunity to test our samples without getting caught? It seemed impossible. Inside the classroom, my eyes scanned the poems on the bulletin board for the hundredth time. Specifically, the poems in blue written by the suspects: Avery, Jeremy, Elijah, and Rory. "Is everything okay, Kate?" asked Mrs. Eberlin.

第十七章寻求解决办法厄伦迈尔烧瓶（名词）。 一种侧面倾斜、颈部狭窄的容器，以化学家埃米尔·厄伦迈耶的名字命名。 因为它们通常是由特殊材料制成的，在加热下不会破裂，所以你可以很容易地在炉子上制作热巧克力。 这天是星期三，距伯蒂想出如何解开这个谜团已经过去了一天。 现在有越来越多的志愿者家长在教室里帮忙，因为离STEM之夜只有两天了。 我们怎样才能在不被发现的情况下找到测试样本的机会呢？ 这似乎是不可能的。在教室里，我的眼睛扫视了布告栏上的诗歌一百次。 具体来说，是嫌疑人艾弗里，杰里米，以利亚和罗里写的蓝色诗。 “一切都好吗，凯特？”埃伯林太太问。

"Yes, it's fine. I'm just thinking." "About your STEM project, I bet." "I was." Although more about how to catch a culprit messing up my project. "Well, I was glad to see that your squashed strawberry got fixed," she said. "Luckily"—she glanced up at the clock—it's lunchtime. If you want to get in some extra minutes for your project, you can eat your lunch in the lab. Ms. Daly will be there." Normally, I would jump at that offer. But for the first time ever, I didn't want to go to the lab. Instead, I wanted to stay behind and test the ink. But for now, that didn't seem like it was going to happen. Mrs. Eberlin usually ate her lunch at her desk. So I left the room to meet Birdie in the cafeteria. After I gobbled down my ham sandwich, I headed to the lab with Birdie to work on finishing up my poster. I had all of my materials. And my explanation on how my Rube Goldberg machine worked was almost done. I was proud of the fact that my demonstration would touch on engineering, physics, earth science, geology, botany, and, of course, chemistry. Six sciences total. "Your strawberry makes the machine seem extra yummy," I said.

“是的，很好。我只是在想。” “我猜是关于你的STEM项目吧。” “我是。”虽然更多的是关于如何抓住扰乱我项目的罪魁祸首。 “嗯，我很高兴看到你压扁的草莓修好了，”她说。 “幸运的是”——她抬头看了一眼钟——现在是午餐时间。 如果你想为你的项目争取一些额外的时间，你可以在实验室吃午饭。 戴利女士会去的。”通常情况下，我会欣然接受这个提议。 但有生以来第一次，我不想去实验室。 相反，我想留下来测试墨水。 但就目前而言，这似乎不会发生。 埃伯林太太通常在她的办公桌上吃午饭。 所以我离开房间去餐厅见伯迪。 狼吞虎咽地吃完火腿三明治后，我和伯迪一起去实验室完成我的海报。 我有我所有的材料。 我对鲁比·戈德堡机器的工作原理的解释也差不多完成了。 令我自豪的是，我的演示将涉及工程学、物理学、地球科学、地质学、植物学，当然还有化学。 总共六门科学。“你的草莓让这台机器看起来格外美味，”我说。

"I think Dr. Caroline will love it," said Birdie. "She's going to love yours too." "Maybe." Birdie sighed. "But the tissue paper keeps tearing. It's not going to look good." "Why don't you use a coffee filter instead?" I pulled out a bunch of filters from my bag. "I tried it out for my Rube Goldberg machine and it was too strong when it got wet. The little arm wouldn't pop up to hit the calculator. But it would be perfect for you. Filters are pretty tough." I pulled on one to demonstrate. Birdie's eyes brightened. "That's a great idea, Kate. Thanks so much." "No, thank you," I said. "No, thank you." And then we got into a huge thank-you contest and burst out laughing. That's when Memito and Jeremy strolled into the lab. Memito stopped in front of my poster. "Hey, what are you laughing about?" he asked. Birdie and I looked at each other. "You sort of had to be there," I said, grabbing the strawberry. "Hey, that looks so real." He patted his stomach. "Luckily, I just ate my lunch. Otherwise, I'd be hungry."

“我想卡罗琳医生会喜欢的，”小鸟说。 “她也会爱你的。” “也许吧。”小鸟叹了口气。“但是纸巾一直在撕扯。 它看起来不会很好。” “你为什么不用咖啡滤纸呢？”我从包里拿出一堆过滤器。 “我在我的Rube Goldberg机器上试过，它湿了的时候太结实了。 小胳膊不会弹出来敲计算器。 但对你来说再合适不过了。 过滤是相当困难的。” 我穿上一件来做示范。 小鸟的眼睛亮了。“这是个好主意，凯特。 非常感谢。”“不，谢谢，”我说。 “不，谢谢。”然后我们进入了一个巨大的感谢比赛，爆发出笑声。 这时，米托和杰里米走进了实验室。 Memito停在我的海报前。 “嘿，你笑什么呢？”他问。 伯蒂和我面面相觑。 “你一定要在那儿，”我说着，抓起草莓。 “嘿，这看起来真像真的。” 他拍了拍自己的肚子。“幸运的是，我刚吃完午饭。 否则，我就饿了。”

"Luckily, your project happens to be fruit leather," said Birdie. Memito smacked his lips. "On STEM Night, a taste of my delicious fruit leather will make people hungry for more. You better hope nobody tries to eat that strawberry." Or smashes it, I thought. But I didn't say anything. "Kate shouldn't even be allowed to use that." Jeremy pointed to my calculator. "Because it's a teacher's." "That's ridiculous," I said. "What about your project? You borrowed flasks from the classroom." "That's different." Jeremy folded his arms. "Those are classroom ones for the science lab. Yours is Ms. Daly's personal calculator." From halfway across the room, Avery pressed her lips together. Today, they were peach colored. "I saw the calculator come off of Ms. Daly's desk too," she said. "Yes, but a calculator is for educational purposes." I studied the flasks. "I don't see the difference between your flasks and my calculator. They're both being borrowed. Anyway, the point is —I made two actual batteries with lemons!" Avery waved her little tin of lip gloss. "So far my peach gloss has stayed on for forty-two minutes,

“幸运的是，你的项目恰好是水果皮革，”小鸟说。 梅托咂咂嘴。“在STEM之夜，品尝我美味的水果皮革会让人们更加渴望。 你最好祈祷没人想吃那个草莓。” 或者打碎它，我想。但我什么也没说。 “凯特甚至不应该被允许使用它。” 杰里米指着我的计算器。 “因为这是老师的。” “这太荒谬了，”我说。 “你的项目怎么样了？”你从教室里借了烧瓶。” “那是不同的。”杰里米双臂交叉。 “那些是科学实验室的教室用的。 你的是戴利女士的个人计算器。” 艾弗里在房间的另一边抿紧了嘴唇。 今天，它们是桃色的。 “我看到计算器掉下来了。 还有戴利的桌子，”她说。 “是的，但是计算器是用于教育的。” 我研究了烧瓶。“我看不出你的烧瓶和我的计算器有什么区别。 它们都被借走了。 不管怎样，重点是——我用柠檬做了两个真正的电池！”艾弗里挥动着她那一小罐唇彩。 “到目前为止，我的桃色光泽已经保持了42分钟，

just as long as the store-bought one. Can't wait to see how much longer it lasts. But either way, it looks great." Phoenix smiled at Avery. "It really does." "And it isn't made of bad chemicals." Avery smacked her lips. "I think I'm going to win because Dr. Caroline and Mrs. Eberlin both wear lipstick." "Ms. Daly doesn't," I pointed out. "Anyway, lip gloss and lipstick aren't the same." Avery shrugged. "I'm sure the other judges will outvote Ms. Daly." She tilted her neck as if someone were taking a photo of her. "I'm going to use the prize to get new curtains for the theater." She looked at me expectantly. "What will you do if you win?" She said it like I couldn't possibly come up with anything good. "Maybe we should upgrade the science lab?" I realized that my voice lifted in a question. I was still unsure. And that really bugged me. "Are you saying our lab isn't good enough?" asked Avery, loud enough for Ms. Daly, who was in the back of the classroom organizing equipment for STEM Night, to hear. "I didn't mean it like that." I could feel my cheeks turning pink. I felt bad about even the possibility of hurting Ms. Daly.

只要是店里买的就行。 等不及要看它还能撑多久了。 但不管怎样，它看起来都很棒。” 菲尼克斯朝艾弗里笑了笑。“确实如此。” “而且它不是由有害的化学物质制成的。” 埃弗里咂咂嘴唇。“我想我会赢的，因为。 卡罗琳和埃伯林太太都涂口红。” “戴利女士不知道，”我指出。 “不管怎么说，唇彩和口红是不一样的。” 艾弗里耸耸肩。“我相信其他评委的投票肯定会超过她。 戴利。”她歪着脖子，好像有人在给她拍照。 “我打算用这笔奖金给剧院买新窗帘。” 她期待地看着我。 “如果你赢了，你会做什么？”她说得好像我想不出什么好东西似的。 “也许我们应该升级科学实验室？”我意识到我的声音在提问时提高了。 我仍然不确定。这让我很困扰。 “你是说我们的实验室不够好吗？”艾弗里问。 在教室后面为STEM之夜整理设备的戴利听到了。 “我不是那个意思。” 我能感觉到我的脸颊变红了。 即使是有可能伤害到她，我也感到很难过。 戴利。

And then it hit me. Avery sounded really upset. Could she be the one who was sabotaging my stuff?

然后我突然想到。艾弗里听起来真的很沮丧。 会不会是她在破坏我的东西？