14 Looking for a Solution

CHAPTER FOURTEEN LOOKING FOR A SOLUTION Soluble (adjective). If a scientist says that a substance is soluble, it means that it will dissolve. Lots of inks are soluble in alcohol, which means you can use it to wipe graffiti off desks and tables. But the best thing to do is not write on your desk in the first place! "OKAY, LIAM," I SAID, "I think it won't fall down now." A little over a week had flown by, and I still had not been able to get to the bottom of what was going on with Birdie. It was Saturday, the morning of Liam's birthday, about an hour before the party. We were taping up a blanket of stars in the entryway to our house. It wasn't an actual blanket but a roll of paper with silver stars. Liam studied the stars and all the other decorations. "They look good," he cried. "I know!" And they did, especially with the helium- filled planet balloons floating in front. Saturn with its rings and Jupiter with its big spot looked especially cool. Earlier, we had tied them to strings so they wouldn't drift all the way up to the ceiling. I peered down at my phone. Birdie still hadn't called me back. Earlier, I had tried to call her so that

第十四章寻找可溶解的溶液（形容词）。 如果一个科学家说某种物质是可溶的，意思就是它会溶解。 许多墨水可溶于酒精，这意味着你可以用它来擦去桌子上的涂鸦。 但是最好的办法就是不要在你的桌子上写字！“好吧，利亚姆，”我说，“我想它现在不会掉下来了。” 一个多星期过去了，我仍然没有弄清楚小鸟到底发生了什么。 那是星期六，利亚姆生日的早晨，大约在派对开始前一个小时。 我们正用胶带把星星毯贴在我们家的入口处。 这不是一条真正的毯子，而是一卷带有银星的纸。 利亚姆仔细研究了星星和其他装饰品。 “它们看起来不错，”他叫道。 “我知道!”他们确实做到了，尤其是在充满氦气的行星气球漂浮在前面的时候。 有光环的土星和有大斑点的木星看起来特别酷。 早些时候，我们把它们绑在绳子上，这样它们就不会一直飘到天花板上。 我低头看了看手机。 小鸟仍然没有给我回电话。 早些时候，我试着打电话给她

once we figured everything out, we could go to the rocket launch together and pick up Liam's cake. It was almost like she was avoiding me. In fact, all during school the past week, I had tried to get her alone to talk, but it had never worked. So now I was desperate. And I had resorted to the phone. Only she wasn't answering. So I left a message. Birdie has her own cell phone. It's not for texting. It's for emergencies. I figured this was sort of an emergency. Then I used a messaging app on my iPad and typed a message there, too. No response. Next I called Mrs. Bhatt's cell phone since they don't have a landline. Only she didn't pick up either. I left a message asking Birdie to call me. I told myself that with all of those messages, I would hear from Birdie soon. I just had to! Right now, Mom was outside tying more planet balloons to the mailbox. Dad was in the kitchen getting all of the snacks prepared. In the entranceway, Liam was all flushed and excited. Grandma Dort would say he was "on cloud nine," and I would say somewhere out in the stratosphere. That's the second layer of Earth's atmosphere. I tried to pretend that I was up there in the

一旦我们把事情弄清楚，我们就可以一起去火箭发射现场拿利亚姆的蛋糕。 她好像在躲着我。 事实上，在过去的一个星期里，我一直试图让她单独说话，但从来没有成功过。 所以现在我绝望了。我只好求助于电话。 只是她没有回答。 所以我留了言。小鸟有她自己的手机。 不是用来发短信的。这是应急用的。 我以为这是紧急情况。 然后，我在iPad上使用了一款即时通讯应用，也在上面输入了一条信息。 没有回应。接下来我打了巴特夫人的手机，因为他们没有固定电话。 只是她也没接电话。 我留言让伯迪给我打电话。 我告诉自己，有了这些信息，我很快就会收到小鸟的消息。 我必须这么做！现在，妈妈正在外面把更多的行星气球绑在邮箱上。 爸爸在厨房准备所有的零食。 在入口处，利亚姆满脸通红，兴奋不已。 多特奶奶会说他“飘飘然”，而我会说他在平流层的某个地方。 这是地球大气层的第二层。 我试着假装我在上面

stratosphere, too. Just thinking about happy-birthday thoughts and not about when I would hear from Birdie. "It's like we stepped into a planetarium or something," I said. Before Liam was born, we had gone to the planetarium in Chicago. And in that dark, domed room, I had felt as if I were floating in outer space, visiting faraway constellations. Now it felt that way in our own home. "Did you know that stars are like the hugest nuclear reactors ever?" I said. "That's because atoms split apart and release a ridiculous amount of energy." Liam flexed his muscles. "I'm going to release a lot of energy at my party!" he cried. "Yes, you sure will." He studied my long-sleeved T-shirt. It said LIAM'S SPACE CREW for his birthday party. He had his own shirt that said SPACE COMMANDER. Mom had ordered them especially for today. "I can't wait for my party," he said. Seeing him so pumped up lifted my mood. Everything was going to be perfect. "Guess what?" said Liam. "I'm going to put up more stars in the bathroom." "Great idea."

平流层。只想着生日快乐而不是想着什么时候能收到小鸟的消息。 “就像我们走进了天文馆之类的地方，”我说。 利亚姆出生前，我们去了芝加哥的天文馆。 在那间黑暗的圆顶房间里，我感觉自己仿佛漂浮在外太空，造访遥远的星座。 现在在我们自己的家里也是这种感觉。 “你知道恒星就像有史以来最大的核反应堆吗？”我说。 “这是因为原子分裂并释放出大量的能量。” 利亚姆舒展了一下肌肉。“我要在我的派对上释放很多能量！”他喊道。 “是的，你一定会的。”他端详着我的长袖t恤。 上面写着利亚姆生日派对的宇航员。 他有自己的衬衫，上面写着太空指挥官。 妈妈特地为今天订的。 “我等不及我的派对了，”他说。 看到他这么兴奋，我的心情也好起来了。 一切都会很完美。 “你猜怎么着？”利亚姆说。“我要在浴室里多挂几颗星星。” “好主意。”

As he sprang away, I hung up some silver and black streamers. Meanwhile, I was listening hard, waiting for the phone to ring. It didn't. I tried to keep my mind on the birthday party. There were going to be so many activities for the kids. Pin-the-tail-on-the-comet. Making moon phases with Oreos. Bobbing for planets. A pi.ata in the shape of Saturn. Then the phone rang. My heart leaped. I raced to get it. But Dad had already picked it up. I could hear him saying, "Yes, the party starts at eleven" and then "Great idea." What would be a great idea would be for Birdie to call me back. I trudged over to the entryway, where I used some more tape to hold up the streamers. A few minutes later, Liam sprinted toward me. "You got to see what I did. It looks soooo awesome. There's a planet in the bathroom." "A planet? I don't remember the glow-in-the-dark kit coming with a planet." "That's 'cause I made it myself." He waved a red Magic Marker in the air. "With this!" Sure enough, when I went over to check, on the bathroom wall next to

当他跳开时，我挂了一些银色和黑色的飘带。 与此同时，我全神贯注地听着，等着电话铃响。 它没有。我努力把注意力集中在生日聚会上。 孩子们会有很多活动。 Pin-the-tail-on-the-comet。 用奥利奥做月相。 寻找行星。一个π。它的形状像土星。 然后电话响了。我的心怦怦直跳。 我跑过去拿。但是爸爸已经把它捡起来了。 我听见他说：“是的，晚会11点开始。”然后又说：“好主意。” 最好是让伯迪给我回个电话。 我艰难地走到入口，在那里我又用了一些胶带把彩带固定起来。 几分钟后，利亚姆向我冲了过来。 “你得看看我做了什么。 它看起来太棒了。浴室里有颗行星。” “一颗行星?我不记得在黑暗中发光的装备有行星。” “那是因为我自己做的。” 他在空中挥舞着一支红色魔笔。 “这个!”果然，当我过去查看时，在浴室旁边的墙上

the sink, he had scribbled what appeared to be the planet Mars. Covering my mouth, I stifled a gasp. "Oh, Liam. Wow." "It looks awesome, right?" "It sure does." Somehow, I had to gently break the news to him. "I love how it's red just like Mars. But how will it come off?" His face fell. "I didn't think about that." "It's a cool idea, really. It's just that Mom and Dad had the bathroom painted, sort of recently. As in last summer. Remember?" "No," he said in a small voice. "I mean, I guess, kind of." Then he made a cross between a harrumph and a big sigh. "Mom's going to be soooo mad. And Dad will say he's 'disappointed' in me." "You don't know that," I said. When his little shoulders slumped, I felt awful. "I knew today was going to be a bad luck day," he murmured. "No, Liam, it's not." Although part of me thought that maybe it was. I paced. And paced some more. "There's got to be some way to fix this." Then I thought about what Dr. Caroline might do. She has all of these cool demos and teaches you about what it's like to be a real scientist. She says, when you're stuck, get a little creative and get curious.

在水槽里，他潦草地写了一个似乎是火星的东西。 我捂住嘴，憋住了一口气。 “哦,利亚姆。哇。”“看起来很棒，对吧？”“确实如此。” 不管怎样，我不得不委婉地把这个消息告诉他。 “我喜欢它像火星一样的红色。 但它将如何实现呢？”他的脸沉了下来。 “我没想到这一点。” “这是一个很酷的想法，真的。 只是爸爸妈妈最近刚把浴室刷了漆。 就像去年夏天一样。还记得吗?”“不，”他低声说。 “我的意思是，我想，有点吧。” 然后他发出一声呻吟和一声长叹。 “妈妈会很生气的。 爸爸会说他对我很失望。” “这你可说不准，”我说。 当他的小肩膀耷拉下来时，我感到很难受。 “我就知道今天会是倒霉的一天，”他喃喃地说。 “不，利亚姆，不是的。”虽然我觉得也许是这样。 我踱步。又走了几步。 “一定有办法解决这个问题。” 然后我想到了Dr。 卡罗琳可能会。她有很多很酷的演示，教你如何成为一名真正的科学家。 她说，当你陷入困境时，要有一点创造力和好奇心。

I, Kate Crawford, was definitely curious. But I was also worried. Definitely worried. Mom and Dad would check on us any minute now. I didn't want them to see Liam's very red and very big planet on those freshly painted mint-green walls. His party hadn't even started and things were already getting messy. Literally. And Birdie hadn't called. Nothing was going right. Guests were supposed to arrive in less than thirty minutes. Yikes. This wasn't looking good. "Kate," said Liam. "You can fix it, right?" "Um... yeah," I said, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt. I just had to figure out how. I could hear Mom opening the front door. Okay, Kate, I told myself. Stop panicking and take a deep breath. Ask yourself some questions. Get curious. So I wondered aloud, "What might break down the ink?" "A magic wand?" said Liam. "Nope," I said, getting an idea. "We don't need a wand. Not when we have a solvent. Because a solvent dissolves stuff." That's because of its chemical structure. From the cleaning closet, I grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a clean rag. Onto the rag, I poured a splotch of rubbing alcohol. "Liam, you go for it. Rescue the walls. From the"—I tried to think of something appealing—"alien poison."

我，凯特·克劳福德，当然很好奇。 但我也很担心。肯定担心。 妈妈和爸爸随时都可能来看我们。 我不想让他们看到利亚姆又红又大的星球挂在新漆的薄荷绿墙上。 他的派对还没开始，事情就已经变得一团糟了。 字面上。小鸟也没有打电话来。 一切都不顺利。客人应该在30分钟内到达。 呵。这看起来不太好。 “凯特，”利亚姆说。“你能修好的，对吧？”“嗯…… 我说，希望自己听起来比实际更自信。 我只是想知道怎么做。 我能听到妈妈打开前门的声音。 好吧，凯特，我告诉自己。 别慌，深呼吸。 问自己一些问题。 好奇的。所以我大声地想，“什么能把墨水分解掉？”“魔杖？”利亚姆说。 “不，”我说，有了个主意。 “我们不需要魔杖。当我们有溶剂的时候就不是了。 因为溶剂可以溶解物质。” 这是因为它的化学结构。 我从清洁柜里拿了一瓶外用酒精和一块干净的抹布。 我在抹布上倒了一点外用酒精。 “利亚姆，你去吧。拯救城墙。 从“ -我试着想一些吸引人的东西- ”外星毒药"