2 An Educated Guess

CHAPTER TWO AN EDUCATED GUESS Flash freeze (verb). When objects are frozen pretty much right away, often by direct contact with liquid nitrogen, which is extremely cold and which you should never ever touch. You don't ever want to flash freeze your brother, but it's great to flash freeze food, especially ice cream! MS. DALY SET HER HANDS on the sides of the mystery box. "O-pen it! O-pen it!" some boys chanted in the back of the room. "Sure thing," said Ms. Daly. With a grunt, she heaved the box over her head. "Phew, it's heavy." With a wink, she set it down. "Just making sure everything's still in there. Plus, I want to torture you kids a little longer." Lifting the flaps, Ms. Daly opened up the carton. With a big grin, she lifted out a yellow tub of cornstarch. "Told you it was food!" shouted Memito, waving his finger. "Dude, you said it was candy." Elijah elbowed his table partner.

第二章有根据的猜测。 当物体几乎立即冻结时，通常是通过直接接触液氮，液氮非常冷，你永远不应该接触。 你永远不会想要快速冷冻你的兄弟，但是快速冷冻食物是很棒的，尤其是冰淇淋！MS。 戴利把手放在神秘盒子的两边。 “O-pen它!哦，打开它！”一些男孩在教室后面高呼。 “当然，”戴利说。 她哼了一声，把箱子举过头顶。 “唷，好重啊。”她眨了眨眼，把它放下了。 “只是确保所有东西都在里面。 另外，我还想再折磨你们一段时间。” 戴利女士掀起盖子，打开了纸箱。 她咧嘴一笑，拿出一盆黄色的玉米淀粉。 “告诉过你这是食物！”梅托挥舞着手指喊道。 “老兄，你不是说那是糖果吗？” 以利亚用肘撞了他的同桌。

"Cornstarch is used in lots of experiments," I said. "Even non-food ones." "Not sure how you can be good observers if you're talking all at once." Ms. Daly tapped her foot. "Oops! Sorry!" Sometimes when I'm super excited, I get a little hyper. With a wave of my arm, I zipped my lips. Next Ms. Daly pulled out a glass jar of green powder. Then a jar of liquid bandage, alcohol pads, bowls, spoons, a package of cotton swabs, and beakers. Honestly, it didn't make sense. Nothing seemed to go together. "So, what do you think this is all about?" asked Ms. Daly. "Respond one at a time please." I made my best educated guess. "To create a first- aid kit?" "To make mummies," called out Steven from the back. "Exactly," said Birdie. "But green ones." "I like your ideas," said Ms. Daly. "But you people are as wrong as snow in July in Michigan." We laughed as she glanced out the window as snow flurries drifted down from the heavy gray sky. We were all buzzing with excitement since our first snowfall came early this year. "Now I'll give you one last clue." Ms. Daly poured

“玉米淀粉在很多实验中都有使用，”我说。 “即使是非食物的。”“我不确定，如果你们一次都在说话，怎么能成为一个好的观察者。” 戴利敲了敲脚。“哎呀!对不起!”有时候当我超级兴奋的时候，我会变得有点亢奋。 我挥挥手臂，合上了嘴。 接着，戴利拿出一罐绿色粉末。 然后是一罐液体绷带、酒精垫、碗、勺子、一包棉签和烧杯。 老实说，这说不通。 一切似乎都不协调。 “那么，你认为这是怎么回事？” 戴利。“请一次回答一个。” 我做了我最有根据的猜测。 “做一个急救箱？”“去做木乃伊。”史蒂文从后面喊道。 “没错，”小鸟说。“但是绿色的。” “我喜欢你的想法。” 戴利。“但是你们这些人就像密歇根七月的雪一样错了。” 当她向窗外看时，我们都笑了，只见雪花从灰暗的天空飘下来。 自从今年的第一场雪来得很早，我们都很兴奋。 “现在我给你最后一个提示。” 戴利女士说

a quarter cup of water and mixed it with the powder to make a bright green liquid. Then, in one huge swallow, she drank it. I gasped. In chemistry, you never ever ever drink experiments. Mostly because chemicals can be way too hot or cold, or even worse, toxic. Ms. Daly waggled a finger. "All right, kiddos. Don't do this at home. Or ever. I only drank that because I knew what it was." She pulled out a packet of lime- flavored drink mix. "See?" "Yum!" Memito bopped in his seat. "Smells like lime and watermelon and summer. I'm drinking a gallon!" "Sorry. Not today," said Ms. Daly. "This afternoon, we're making fake tattoos." A bunch of kids cheered, especially Birdie, who's an amazing artist. "I already know what tattoo I'm going to make," she said with a shy smile. Of course she did. Back in kindergarten, when I was drawing stick figures, she was figuring out shading. Now, in fifth grade, I'm still drawing stick figures and she's making Mona Lisas. "Great!" I said to Birdie. "I mean about knowing what you're going to do for your tattoo." Only I was glad she didn't ask me what I planned to do. Because I seriously had no idea. When it comes to art, my brain definitely flash freezes. Birdie studied me. "Just draw what you like."

四分之一杯的水和粉末混合成一种亮绿色的液体。 然后，她一口气把它喝了下去。 我喘息着说道。在化学课上，你绝对绝对绝对不能喝实验品。 主要是因为化学物质可能太热或太冷，甚至更糟，有毒。 戴利摇了摇手指。 “好了，孩子们。不要在家里这样做。 或。我喝那个是因为我知道那是什么。” 她拿出一包酸橙味的混合饮料。 “看到了吗?”“好吃!”梅托在座位上跳了起来。 “闻起来有酸橙、西瓜和夏天的味道。 我喝了一加仑！”“对不起。 今天不行，”戴利说。 “今天下午，我们要做假纹身。” 一群孩子欢呼起来，尤其是小鸟，她是一个了不起的艺术家。 “我已经知道我要纹什么了，”她害羞地笑着说。 当然了。回到幼儿园，当我在画简笔画的时候，她在研究阴影。 现在，五年级了，我还在画简笔画，而她在画蒙娜丽莎。 “太好了!”我对小鸟说。 “我的意思是知道你要怎么做你的纹身。” 只有我很高兴她没有问我打算做什么。 因为我真的不知道。 一提到艺术，我的大脑就会瞬间冻结。 伯迪打量着我。“你喜欢怎么画就怎么画。”

"Oh sure, that would be real easy." I like rockhopper penguins, but I don't think I could draw one. And I love chemistry, but how would I draw that? Chemistry is the part of science that deals with the form of matter and its surroundings. Like how a snowflake sparkles on your winter jacket, how cheese gets gooey on your pizza, and why there are shimmering pink rings around Saturn. So yeah, pretty much everything. I had to find one awesome tattoo idea. But what? From the box, Ms. Daly pulled out more drink mix packages, like blueberry, strawberry, grape, lemon, cherry, and watermelon. "You're going to pick one of these. If you're adventurous, you can pick a bunch. Each color requires a quarter cup of cornstarch and a quarter cup of warm water. Mix up your ingredients, and you're just about ready to make your tattoos." Soon enough, all the chemistry club members raced up to grab materials, and Ms. Daly handed out the directions on how to make fake tattoos. I chose watermelon since pink is my favorite color. Birdie choose grape, lime, and orange. Back at our table, after studying the directions, we got started. Only when I dipped my cotton swab into the pink mixture and tested it, it dribbled down my arm. Meanwhile Birdie had already painted the outline of a parrot on her skin. "That's so good," I said. "Not

“哦，当然，那真的很容易。” 我喜欢跳岩企鹅，但我想我画不出一只。 我喜欢化学，但我该怎么画呢？ 化学是研究物质形态及其周围环境的科学的一部分。 比如雪花如何在你的冬季夹克上闪闪发光，奶酪如何在你的披萨上变得粘稠，以及为什么土星周围会有闪闪发光的粉红色环。 所以，是的，几乎所有的事情。 我得找个很棒的纹身点子。 但是什么?从盒子里，mrs。 戴利拿出了更多的饮料混合包装，比如蓝莓、草莓、葡萄、柠檬、樱桃和西瓜。 “你要从这些中选择一个。 如果你喜欢冒险，你可以摘一堆。 每种颜色都需要四分之一杯玉米淀粉和四分之一杯温水。 把材料混合起来，你就可以开始纹身了。” 很快，所有的化学俱乐部成员都跑过来拿材料。 戴利分发了制作假纹身的说明。 我选择了西瓜，因为粉红色是我最喜欢的颜色。 小鸟选择葡萄，酸橙和橙。 回到我们的餐桌上，看完说明后，我们就开始了。 只是当我把棉签蘸进粉红色的混合物里测试时，它才顺着我的手臂滴下来。 与此同时，小鸟已经在她的皮肤上画出了鹦鹉的轮廓。 “太好了，”我说。“不

just good. Amazing." Her amazingness made me feel a little bit like giving up. Or maybe trying something easy like a smiley face. Birdie studied the streaky drips on my arm. "Did you put in too much water?" "Probably." Grabbing the spoon, I spun the mixture so hard it swirled like a whirlpool. Birdie blew on the parrot tattoo on her arm. "See how it's lightening up? That means I can use the liquid bandage to lock it into place. Then I'll get started on a new color. Orange for the tail feathers." "That will look great, Birdie. Guess I'll make a smiley face." "Mmmhhm." But she wasn't really listening. She was stirring up the orange. I smushed my swab down in the beaker. Maybe that would get the pink mixture to stick to the tip of the swab. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something incredible across the room. Something incredible and way unexpected!

刚刚好。神奇的。”她的神奇让我有点想放弃。 或者尝试一些简单的东西，比如笑脸。 伯蒂仔细研究着我手臂上的条纹。 “你是不是放了太多水？”“可能”。 我抓起勺子，使劲地搅拌着，搅拌得像漩涡一样。 伯蒂吹了吹她手臂上的鹦鹉纹身。 “看到它怎么变亮了吗？” 这意味着我可以用液体绷带把它固定住。 那我就换个新颜色。 尾羽是橙色的。” “那看起来很棒，小鸟。 我想我会做一个笑脸。” “Mmmhhm。”但她并没有真正在听。 她正在搅橘子。 我把棉签塞进烧杯里。 也许这样可以让粉色混合物粘在棉签的尖端。 然后，从眼角的余光里，我看到了房间那头一些不可思议的东西。 令人难以置信和意想不到的事情！