3 Twinsies!

CHAPTER THREE TWINSIES! Statistical significance (noun). When the result of an experiment doesn't happen randomly. For example, every time you leave a crayon on the back seat of your parents' van on a hot day, it will melt. You might decide that, maybe just maybe, it's a much better idea to draw with your crayons instead! THE NEW GIRL, TALA, WAS PAINTING a purple atom on her arm. She had everything right. A nucleus, the densely packed center, and zippy electrons all around it. I bolted out of my seat and stood next to her. "Hi, I'm Kate Crawford. Sorry I didn't introduce myself before. I love love your tattoo!" "Thanks. It combines two of my favorite things. The color purple and space." "I thought that"—I pointed to the three intersecting ovals above her wrist—"was an atom." "It is." She put down her cotton swab and laughed. "Almost all of an atom is empty space. And that's no different than out there." She pointed up. "Outer space is mostly empty except for particles that are super far apart. Plus dust. And a few other things."

第三章双胞胎！统计显著性（名词）。 当实验结果不是随机发生的时候。 例如，每当你在大热天把一支蜡笔放在你父母面包车的后座上时，它就会融化。 你可能会决定，也许只是也许，用蜡笔画画是一个更好的主意！新来的女孩塔拉正在胳膊上画一个紫色的原子。 她什么都做对了。一个原子核，密集的中心，和它周围活泼的电子。 我急忙离开座位，站在她旁边。 “嗨，我是凯特·克劳福德。对不起，我之前没有自我介绍。 我爱死你的纹身了！”“谢谢。 它结合了我最喜欢的两样东西。 紫色和空间。” “我原以为”——我指着她手腕上三个相交的椭圆——“是一个原子。” “这是。”她放下棉签，笑了。 “几乎整个原子都是空的。 这和外面没有什么不同。” 她向上指了指。“除了相隔极远的粒子外，外层空间基本上是空的。 加上尘埃。还有一些其他的东西。”

I studied Tala's atom. It was such an important concept in chemistry. The building block of the whole universe. I could practically feel the molecules in my body vibrating with excitement. Why hadn't I thought of making an atom? "Hey, Birdie," I called out, motioning with my arm. "You've got to see this." But she didn't answer. With her head bent down, she focused on her parrot tattoo. It was going to be a masterpiece. When Birdie does her art, the whole world pretty much goes away. "I can make you an atom, too." Tala dipped her cotton swab back into the purple mixture. "Really? That would be amazing!" Grabbing an alcohol pad out of my pocket, I wiped down my forearm, and blew on it. "I'm ready." As Tala painted on my atom, I asked her a bunch of questions. And soon, even though we had just met, it felt like we had known each other way longer. Tala was easy to talk to. She told me that her mom was a family doctor and that they had moved to Michigan from California because she had joined a new medical practice. And that her new place was way bigger. Back in San Jose, her family had lived in a cramped two-bedroom apartment. "Here we have a whole house." She stuck her arms out wide. "Talk about space. Wow. My little sister and I don't have to share a room. Which is good since she's a total slob. I can hang up all of my NASA posters. When

我研究了塔拉的原子。这是化学中非常重要的一个概念。 整个宇宙的基石。 我几乎能感觉到我体内的分子因兴奋而振动。 为什么我没有想到制造一个原子呢？ “嘿，小鸟，”我喊道，用手臂做了个手势。 “你得看看这个。”但她没有回答。 她低着头，专注于她的鹦鹉纹身。 这将是一部杰作。 当小鸟在创作的时候，整个世界都消失了。 “我也能把你变成一个原子。” 塔拉用棉签蘸了一下紫色的混合物。 “真的吗?那太棒了！”我从口袋里掏出一个酒精垫，擦了擦前臂，对着它吹了口气。 “我准备好了。”塔拉在我的原子上作画时，我问了她一堆问题。 很快，虽然我们刚刚认识，但感觉我们已经认识很久了。 塔拉很好说话。她告诉我，她妈妈是一名家庭医生，他们从加利福尼亚搬到了密歇根州，因为她加入了一家新的医疗机构。 而且她的新家更大。 在圣何塞的时候，她的家人住在一套狭窄的两居室公寓里。 “这里我们有一整栋房子。” 她张开双臂。 “说到太空。哇。我妹妹和我不用共用一个房间。 这很好，因为她是个十足的懒汉。 我可以把我所有的NASA海报挂起来。 当

I grow up, I want to become an astronaut." "That's so cool. I want to be a chemist," I said. "Maybe we can work on the International Space Station together. And stare down at our big, blue marble spinning through the galaxy." "Our marble?" I asked, confused. "Oh, the blue marble is kind of like a nickname for Earth," said Tala. "It's from a famous photograph taken by the crew of Apollo 17, which was the last moon landing, a long time ago in 1972." "Wow. You know so much about space," I said, and she beamed. I told her that her International Space Station idea sounded like an awesome plan. Then we started talking more about science and astronomy. Tala really knew so many cool facts. Like how comets are sometimes called dirty snowballs. "I bet you didn't have that back in California." I pointed to the actual snow outside. "Nope. Not unless you drove hours up to the mountains. Seeing snow in my neighborhood is the best thing ever. I just hope it sticks around so I can take lots more photos today. I want to send them to my friends

长大后，我想成为一名宇航员。” “这太酷了。我想成为一名化学家，”我说。 “也许我们可以一起在国际空间站工作。 凝视着我们这个巨大的蓝色弹珠在银河系中旋转。” “我们的大理石吗?”我疑惑地问。 “哦，蓝色的大理石有点像地球的昵称，”塔拉说。 “这是阿波罗17号宇航员拍摄的一张著名照片，这是1972年很久以前的最后一次登月。” “哇。你对太空了解得真多。”我说，她笑了。 我告诉她，她的国际空间站的想法听起来是个很棒的计划。 然后我们开始更多地谈论科学和天文学。 塔拉真的知道很多很酷的事实。 就像彗星有时被称为脏雪球一样。 “我敢打赌，你在加州的时候肯定没有。” 我指着外面真正的雪。 “不。除非你开了几个小时的车到山上。 看到我家附近下雪是最美好的事。 我只希望它能留下来，这样我今天就能拍更多的照片了。 我想把它们送给我的朋友们

back home." She paused. "My old home. This is home now." I thought I heard a sigh, but maybe I was imagining things. Then she told me about the science club she'd belonged to at her old school. Last year, they celebrated the start of winter break by setting off rockets that zoomed above the houses. "That's so cool!" I glanced at the purple atom above my wrist. "Hey, we match." We put our wrists together, shook hands, and laughed. "Twinsies," said Tala. "Yes, twinsies!" Her old club got me thinking about rockets. "My little brother, Liam, loves everything to do with outer space. It would be great to learn how to make a rocket to show him. Plus, it would just be so cool." "I definitely could show you." "Really? Seriously? Wow. His birthday party is coming up, and he'd love it." "Sure. I could even come over and help you make the rockets for the party." "Yes!" And then we tapped our new tattoos together and giggled at our new secret handshake. More than anything, I wanted to make Liam's birthday party extra special. Last year, when he had turned five, it hadn't worked out so well. A week before his party, I had gotten a little stomach bug. I was better pretty fast, but then the morning of Liam's party, he said his tummy

回家。”她停顿了一下。“我的老家。 现在这里就是家了。”我以为我听到了一声叹息，但也许是我在胡思乱想。 然后她给我讲了她在旧学校参加的科学俱乐部。 去年，他们通过在房屋上方发射火箭来庆祝寒假的开始。 “太酷了！”我瞥了一眼手腕上方的紫色原子。 “嘿，我们很般配。”我们把手腕合在一起，握了握手，笑了。 “双胞胎。”塔拉说。“是的,twinsies !”她以前的俱乐部让我想到了火箭。 “我的弟弟利亚姆喜欢与太空有关的一切。 如果能学会如何制造火箭给他看就太好了。 另外，这也太酷了。” “我绝对可以指给你看。” “真的吗?严重吗?哇。他的生日派对快到了，他会喜欢的。” “当然。我甚至可以过来帮你做派对用的火箭。” “是的!”然后我们一起轻拍我们的新纹身，为我们新的秘密握手而咯咯笑。 最重要的是，我想让利亚姆的生日派对特别一点。 去年，当他满五岁的时候，事情就不那么顺利了。 在他的派对前一周，我得了胃病。 我很快就好了，但利亚姆派对那天早上，他说他的肚子

felt like there was a fish flopping inside of it. A few minutes later, he threw up all over his lion paper plates right before the guests were supposed to arrive. Mom had to frantically text all the parents and cancel the party. It was so sad since we had spent hours decorating the house in a lion theme with papier-maché lions and a fake den where the kids would hide. Liam wore a lion tail and ears. Even though it wasn't my fault, I felt responsible for the party being canceled. After all, I was the one who had gotten Liam sick and ruined everything. That very day, I had promised myself I would make it up to him. That for this next birthday, when he turned six, I would use all of my science skills to make his party awesome. A few weeks ago, when he said he wanted a spacethemed party, I was all in. "Seriously, I can't tell you what good timing this is," I told Tala as she continued to work on putting another atom on her upper arm, "since my brother's party is coming up in two weeks. Meeting you feels like it's..." I almost said magical. But I don't believe in magic. "Statistically significant." That basically means a result that's not due to chance. "Well, maybe we could also make rockets here?" Tala put down her cotton swab. "Like a special club project or something?"

感觉里面有条鱼在扑腾。 几分钟后，就在客人应该到达之前，他吐了他的狮子纸盘子上。 妈妈不得不疯狂地给所有家长发短信取消派对。 我们花了好几个小时把房子装饰成狮子的主题，用纸制的狮子和一个孩子们可以藏起来的假洞。 利亚姆戴着狮子尾巴和耳朵。 虽然这不是我的错，但我觉得派对被取消是我的责任。 毕竟，是我害利亚姆生病毁了一切。 就在那天，我向自己保证一定要补偿他。 下一个生日，当他满六岁的时候，我会用我所有的科学技能把他的派对搞得很棒。 几周前，当他说他想要一个太空主题的派对时，我全力支持。 “说真的，我无法告诉你这是一个多么好的时机，”塔拉继续在她的上臂上放另一个原子时，我对她说，“因为我哥哥的聚会两周后就要开始了。 见到你感觉就像……” 我差点说魔法。但我不相信魔法。 “显著”。 这基本上意味着一个不是偶然的结果。 “嗯，也许我们也可以在这里制造火箭？”塔拉放下棉签。 “像一个特别的俱乐部项目之类的？”

"That would be great," I said. "I'm going to ask Ms. Daly and see what she thinks." "Awesome." Tala waved her tattooed arm. Later, I tried to ask Ms. Daly about the rocket. I really did, but every time I went up to her, she was busy helping out kids who were asking for stuff like more drink mix packages for their tattoos. Finally, at the end of our meeting, I hurried over to where Ms. Daly was wiping down the counter. "I wanted to talk about a new project idea," I said. "Launching rockets!" Ms. Daly ran her fingers through her short hair as if my suggestion made her head itch. "If the rockets involve actual fuel and the potential for anything explosive, my answer is going to be no. I don't need to tell you I'm retired air force, do I? That safety is number one and—" "Well, I'm not sure if the rockets use fuel. I mean, I don't know the details, but I'll find out. And do research!" Then I nodded over at the table, where Tala was working on her third atom tattoo. I explained how Tala had launched rockets at her old school. "Here's a suggestion, Kate." Ms. Daly glanced up at the clock. It was 3:45 p.m. "Get me when I'm not right at cleanup and when it's not time to go. Show me

“那太好了，”我说。 “我去问问戴利女士，看看她怎么想。” “酷毙了”。塔拉挥动着她那有纹身的手臂。 后来，我试着问戴利关于火箭的事。 真的，但每次我去找她，她都在忙着帮孩子们帮忙那些孩子们想要更多的饮料混合包来装饰他们的纹身。 最后，在我们的会议结束时，我匆忙地走到mrs。 戴利在擦柜台。 “我想谈谈一个新项目的想法，”我说。 “发射火箭!”戴利女士用手指捋了捋她的短发，好像我的建议使她感到头疼似的。 “如果火箭涉及实际燃料和潜在的爆炸物，我的答案是否定的。 我不需要告诉你我是退役空军，对吧？ 安全是第一位的，而且——”“嗯，我不确定火箭是否使用燃料。 我是说，我不知道细节，但我会查清楚的。 还要做研究！”然后我朝桌子点了点头，塔拉正在那里做她的第三个原子纹身。 我向她解释塔拉是如何在她以前的学校发射火箭的。 “给你个建议，凯特。” 戴利女士抬头看了一眼钟。 那是下午3点45分。“当我打扫得不好，或者还没到该走的时候，就叫我。 给我