6 Seeing Is Believing

CHAPTER SIX SEEING IS BELIEVING Electron microscope (noun). This is a special microscope where beams of electrons allow us to see teeny-tiny things like molecules and even atoms. That means you couldn't look at anything big, like your pet snake. For one thing, it would be too wriggly! AFTER I DUMPED THE CONTENTS of the cocoa packets in our mugs, we discussed the all- important party decorations. Like what kind of plates we needed and how we could have a rocket station. Then I came up with the idea of using some liquid nitrogen to create a Jupiter-like atmosphere right outside the garage. I bet Mom could borrow some liquid nitrogen from Ms. Daly, since she's the principal and all. "Great idea, Kate, to have the station outside," said Dad, "since liquid nitrogen is freezing cold and can be dangerous." "You could drop a vat of hot water into a bucket of the liquid nitrogen. Then poof! It would get all cloudy. And look just like Jupiter. Make sure to wear a lab coat, gloves, and goggles, though," I said.

第六章眼见为实电子显微镜（名词）。 这是一种特殊的显微镜，电子束可以让我们看到像分子甚至原子这样微小的东西。 这意味着你不能看任何大的东西，比如你的宠物蛇。 首先，它太扭动了！在我把可可包里的东西倒进我们的杯子后，我们讨论了派对上最重要的装饰。 比如我们需要什么样的盘子，我们怎样才能有一个火箭站。 然后我想到了用一些液氮在车库外创造一个类似木星的大气层。 我敢打赌，妈妈一定能从奥巴马夫人那里借到液氮。 戴利，因为她是校长。 “好主意，凯特，把空间站建在外面，”爸爸说，“因为液氮很冷，很危险。” “你可以把一桶热水倒进装满液氮的桶里。 然后噗!天气会变得多云。 看起来就像木星。 不过一定要穿上实验服，戴上手套和护目镜。”我说。

"Yup, I got it." Dad made the okay sign. "Safety first. Remember what Dr. Caroline taught us." Dad always reminds me about Dr. Caroline when he wants me to be extra careful. She's my favorite chemist on YouTube. And she visited our school for STEM Night last month, and I met her! "Yay! We're going to Jupiter," screamed Liam, interrupting my thoughts about Dr. Caroline's visit. He then said instead of party hats, he wanted everyone to wear alien antenna headbands. "That's awesome, but aliens aren't real," I said. "As far as we know," said Dad with a wink. "Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Once upon a time, people didn't know about molecules or atoms. Then scientists theorized they existed, and later we developed technology to see them. But even before the electron microscope was invented, atoms still existed." "I guess that makes sense when it comes to aliens, but only sort of." I told them about how in chemistry club, the new girl, Tala, brought up how astronomers theorized black holes existed even though they couldn't see them. "Right now, we don't have evidence to really know if little green outer space people exist." "But if we get evidence we could?" asked Liam. "Exactly," said Dad.

“是的，我明白了。”爸爸做了个ok的手势。 “安全第一。还记得Dr。 卡罗琳教我们的。”爸爸总是提醒我关于医生。 当他要我格外小心的时候。 她是YouTube上我最喜欢的化学家。 她上个月来我们学校参加STEM之夜，我遇到了她！“耶!我们要去木星，”利亚姆尖叫着，打断了我对他的想法。 卡罗琳的访问。然后他说，他希望每个人都戴上外星人天线的发带，而不是派对帽。 “太棒了，但外星人不是真的，”我说。 “据我们所知，”爸爸眨眨眼说。 “你看不见的东西并不意味着它不存在。 从前，人们不知道分子和原子。 然后科学家们提出了它们存在的理论，后来我们开发了技术来观测它们。 但即使在电子显微镜发明之前，原子仍然存在。” “我想这对外星人来说是有意义的，但只是在某种程度上。” 我告诉他们，在化学俱乐部里，新来的女孩塔拉（Tala）提出，天文学家虽然看不见黑洞，但他们认为黑洞存在。 “现在，我们没有证据真正知道是否存在绿色的外太空人。” “但如果我们有证据就可以吗？”利亚姆问。 “没错，”爸爸说。

Liam thumped his chest. "I'm gonna find some space monsters." "Go for it," I said. Whiiiiiiieeee. A high-pitched screech came from the other side of the kitchen. I jumped out of my chair. "What's that?" I asked, jerking my head around. "I think it's called the teakettle," said Dad. "Oh, right." Liam and I both laughed. All the talk about bad luck and aliens had spooked me. Grabbing the kettle, I filled the mugs with the hot water. "Let's just stick to science. Like planets, comets, stars, and—" "Black holes that suck everything into them," said Liam with big eyes. "Hey, I want chocolate doughnut holes at my party. Oh, and black hole key chains as party favors." Dad tapped his pen. "I can't write that fast—slow down." "Cake!" yelled Liam. "With planets on it. And a spaceship. No. It should look like a planet or a moon." He held out his arms. "With giant craters." Dad thought a minute. "How about a cheesecake? Everyone knows the moon is made out of green cheese."

利亚姆捶打着胸膛。“我要去找一些太空怪物。” “去吧，”我说。Whiiiiiiieeee。 厨房的另一边传来一声尖锐的尖叫声。 我从椅子上跳了起来。“那是什么?”我扭着头问道。 “我想它叫茶壶，”爸爸说。 “噢,对的。”利亚姆和我都笑了。 所有关于厄运和外星人的讨论都把我吓坏了。 我抓起水壶，往杯子里倒满了热水。 “让我们坚持科学。 比如行星、彗星、恒星，还有——”“黑洞，把所有东西都吸进去，”利亚姆睁大眼睛说。 “嘿，我想在我的派对上吃巧克力甜甜圈。 哦，还有黑洞钥匙链作为派对礼物。” 爸爸敲了敲他的笔。“我写不了那么快——慢一点。” “蛋糕！”利亚姆喊道。“上面有行星。 还有宇宙飞船。否。它应该看起来像一颗行星或一颗卫星。” 他伸出双臂。“有巨大的陨石坑。” 爸爸想了一会儿。“来块奶酪蛋糕怎么样？” 每个人都知道月亮是绿色奶酪做的。”

"It's actually made from rock, and there's silicon and magnesium and iron in the middle," I said excitedly. "Tala was telling me about it. She loves space just like Liam." "I don't want a cheesecake." Liam harrumphed. "Have you ever had one?" asked Dad. "No, and I'm not going to. Ever." Liam squinched up his face. "Cheesecake is yucky." "What about cupcakes, then?" I said brightly. Liam folded his arms. "I want an ice cream cake with a Saturn on it. 'Cause the rings look like a racetrack. And I want Mr. Arvanites at McSweeny's to make it. Desmond got an ice cream cake there, and it looked like a real land of dinosaurs. With a T. rex on it. And grass that was icing." He licked his lips. That's when Mom strode into the kitchen. "I couldn't help but overhear the last part of your conversation," she said, "and it's much more interesting than the budget meeting I just finished up at school." She placed her hand on Liam's shoulder. "Honey, you invited your entire class to come from eleven a.m. until two p.m. If we pick the ice cream cake up in the morning, it will melt before your guests arrive, and we don't have anyplace to store a large one." "Sorry, buddy," said Dad, rubbing Liam's head. Liam slumped in his chair. "It's not fair."

“它实际上是由岩石构成的，中间有硅、镁和铁，”我兴奋地说。 塔拉跟我说过这件事。 她和利亚姆一样热爱太空。” “我不想要芝士蛋糕。” 利亚姆哼了一声。“你有过吗？”爸爸问。 “不，我也不打算去。 ”。利亚姆皱起了脸。 “芝士蛋糕很难吃。”“那纸杯蛋糕呢？”我高兴地说。 利亚姆双臂交叉。“我想要一个有土星图案的冰淇淋蛋糕。 因为戒指看起来像跑道。 我希望麦克斯威尼餐厅的阿凡尼先生能来。 德斯蒙德在那里买了一个冰淇淋蛋糕，那里看起来就像一个真正的恐龙之地。 上面有一头霸王龙。还有结了冰的草。” 他舔了舔嘴唇。这时，妈妈大步走进厨房。 “我无意中听到了你们谈话的最后一部分，”她说，“这比我刚在学校开完的预算会议有趣多了。” 她把手放在利亚姆的肩膀上。 “亲爱的，你从上午11点就邀请全班同学过来了。 直到下午两点。如果我们早上去取冰淇淋蛋糕，在你的客人到达之前，它就会融化，而且我们没有地方储存大的。” “对不起，孩子，”爸爸揉着利亚姆的头说。 利亚姆瘫坐在椅子上。 “这不公平。”

"Hey, I could pick up the cake in the wagon," I said. "It's only ten blocks away." Then I thought about how Birdie could come with me. As long as she was acting like herself again. Not all weird and distant. "I could get it during the party. Right before we eat," I added. "I could bring Birdie." Dad took a sip of his hot chocolate. "I don't see why not." "I guess as long as it's not snowing," said Mom. "No. Let it snow, snow, snow!" Liam pointed out the window. "If it's a huge snowstorm, then my friends can stay with us an entire week!" "Oh boy," said Mom. "If it's the snowstorm of the century, we'll have to take a rain check on the birthday party." "Or rather a snow check." Dad handed Mom his mug of hot chocolate. She took a slow sip. "All right. If your sister is careful, then yes, you can have your ice cream cake. And it would definitely be good to have Birdie with you." "Yay!" Liam gave me a giant hug. "You're the best sister in the entire universe." "Let's not forget the multiverse." Dad winked. "I can't wait until my birthday," said Liam. "'Cause it's going to be the best luck day ever!" "Definitely," I said, giving him a high five. "Because there is no such thing as bad luck. It's a

“嘿，我可以把蛋糕放在马车上，”我说。 “离这儿只有十个街区。” 然后我想到了如何让小鸟和我一起去。 只要她能恢复正常就行。 不是所有的怪异和疏远。 “我可以在派对上拿到它。 就在我们吃饭之前。”我补充道。 “我可以带上小鸟。”爸爸喝了一口热巧克力。 “我看没什么不可以的。”“我想只要不下雪就行，”妈妈说。 “没有。下雪，下雪，下雪！”利亚姆指着窗外。 “如果是一场大暴风雪，那么我的朋友们可以和我们一起呆整整一个星期！”“哦，天哪，”妈妈说。 “如果是世纪罕见的暴风雪，我们的生日派对就只好改期了。” “或者更确切地说，是雪地支票。”爸爸递给妈妈一杯热巧克力。 她慢慢地喝了一口。“好吧。 如果你妹妹很小心，那么是的，你可以吃你的冰淇淋蛋糕。 有小鸟和你在一起肯定很好。” “耶!”利亚姆给了我一个大大的拥抱。 “你是全宇宙最好的姐姐” “别忘了多元宇宙。” 爸爸眨了眨眼。“我等不及要过生日了，”利亚姆说。 “因为这将是有史以来最幸运的一天！”“当然，”我说着，跟他击掌。 “因为不存在坏运气这回事。 这是一个

scientific improbability." "I sure hope so," said Liam, looking into his now empty mug. "I know so," I said.

科学不。” “我当然希望如此，”利亚姆说，看着他已经空了的杯子。 “我知道，”我说。