9 The Sweet Spot

CHAPTER NINE The Sweet Spot Matter (noun). Anything that takes up space, which means it has mass. It can be a solid, liquid, or gas. That means the air in a balloon is matter, the water that comes out of your kitchen sink is matter, and you're matter, too. I PULLED A LARGE and very plump strawberry out of a wicker box on a shelf above my bed. Liam charged into my bedroom. His eyes grew big. "Can I eat it? Yum!" "Sorry, but it's not real." "Aw, man." His little shoulders sagged. "It sure looks real." "It's real in that it's made out of matter. But you can't eat this strawberry because it's wax." "Like a candle?" asked Liam regretfully. "Yup! It was a birthday candle Birdie made for me, but it was so pretty I never asked Mom or Dad to light it." If it had been an actual strawberry, it would have decomposed like the orange in Phoenix's experiment. Luckily, it was art. Birdie

第九章甜点问题（名词）。 任何占据空间的东西，都有质量。 它可以是固体、液体或气体。 这意味着气球里的空气是物质，从厨房水槽里流出的水是物质，你也是物质。 我从床上架子上的柳条盒子里拿出一颗又大又肥的草莓。 利亚姆冲进我的卧室。 他的眼睛睁大了。“我能吃吗？” Yum !”“对不起，这不是真的。” “啊,人。”他的小肩膀下垂了。 “看起来确实是真的。”“它是真实的，因为它是由物质构成的。 但是你不能吃这个草莓，因为它是蜡。” “像蜡烛一样？”利亚姆遗憾地问。 “是的!这是小鸟为我做的生日蜡烛，但它太漂亮了，我从来没有要求爸爸妈妈点燃它。” 如果它是一个真正的草莓，它就会像凤凰实验中的橙子一样腐烂。 幸运的是，这是艺术。小鸟

gave it to me when I turned eight. She makes me something every year: a heart made out of yarn and Popsicle sticks, a hand-knitted scarf, a purple friendship bracelet. Each birthday present is awesome, and I kept all of them in my wicker box in my bedroom where Dribble, our dog, can't get to them. But the wax strawberry might be the cutest. I loved the green stem and the little black wax seeds. "I can use this as part of my STEM project." "Are you going to melt it?" asked Liam. "No way." I shuddered, thinking about it all drippy and melty. "It's going to be part of my Rube Goldberg machine, just like in that Dr. Caroline video. Only I'm going to use lots of branches of science." My fingers brushed over the smooth cool surface of the strawberry. "Maybe the strawberry will plop into a cup and cause—" "A flood?" I laughed. "Something really awesome will definitely happen. You can count on it!"

在我八岁的时候送给我的。 她每年都会给我做一些东西：用纱线和冰棒棒做成的爱心，一条手工编织的围巾，一条紫色的友谊手镯。 每个生日礼物都很棒，我把它们都放在卧室的柳条盒子里，这样我们的狗狗Dribble就拿不到它们了。 但蜡草莓可能是最可爱的。 我喜欢绿色的茎和黑色的小蜡籽。 “我可以把它作为我的STEM项目的一部分。” “你要把它融化吗？”利亚姆问。 “没有办法”。我打了个寒颤，想着那湿漉漉的、融化了的东西。 “它将成为我的鲁比·戈德堡机器的一部分，就像那个。 卡洛琳的视频。只是我要用到很多科学分支。” 我的手指拂过草莓光滑凉爽的表面。 “也许草莓会扑通一声掉进杯子里，引起——”“洪水？”我笑了。 “一定会有很棒的事情发生。 你放心好了！”