8 The Right Stuff

CHAPTER EIGHT THE RIGHT STUFF Baking soda (noun). A substance that reacts with acids (like vinegar) to form carbon dioxide gas. The scientific name for baking soda is sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), and when you bake with it, it makes your cookies all soft and fluffy. Science sure can taste good! "WELL, I THINK WE SHOULD do two kinds of rockets," said Tala. After school, we had planted ourselves at the kitchen table. Right away I had given her a tour of our house, and she had met Liam. Steaming mugs of hot chocolate sat in front of us. "For Liam's party, you could make double balloon rockets," continued Tala. "And for the chemistry club, I think we should stick to baking soda bottle rockets." After she explained the difference between the two, I told her it sounded like an awesome idea. For the balloon rockets, you needed long balloons like the kind for balloon animals and a few other supplies. And she said that when it was done, the rockets would whoosh all over the living room. Dribble stood next to me, sniffing the hot chocolate, his brown eyes hopeful he would get some. I petted him behind his ears. "None for you, buddy. Bet you can't

第八章正确的东西小苏打（名词）。 与酸（如醋）反应生成二氧化碳气体的物质。 小苏打的学名是碳酸氢钠（NaHCO3），当你用它烘焙时，它会让饼干变得柔软蓬松。 科学真的很好吃！“嗯，我想我们应该做两种火箭。”塔拉说。 放学后，我们坐在厨房的桌子旁。 我马上带她参观了我们的房子，她见到了利亚姆。 热气腾腾的热巧克力摆在我们面前。 “在利亚姆的派对上，你可以做两个气球火箭，”塔拉继续说。 “至于化学俱乐部，我认为我们应该坚持使用小苏打瓶火箭。” 在她解释了两者的区别之后，我告诉她这听起来是个很棒的主意。 对于气球火箭，你需要像气球动物那样的长气球和一些其他用品。 她说，当它完成后，火箭会在客厅里呼啸而过。 Dribble站在我旁边，嗅着热巧克力，他的棕色眼睛里充满了希望。 我抚摸着他的耳后。 “没有给你的，伙计。我打赌你不能

wait for the balloon rockets. You'll chase them all over, barking like mad. Of course, Liam's friends will love it." As if he could understand, Dribble thumped his tail. I glanced at Tala as she blew on her hot chocolate. "Hey, will you tell me the secret ingredient for the baking soda bottle rocket?" She tapped her chin. "Hmm. You like figuring out things, right?" "Oh, yeah!" With a sly smile, she nodded. "So you'll have to figure out the secret yourself." "Well, I just solved a mystery," I said. "Last month Ms. Daly came up with an escape room. We were locked in a lounge at school and couldn't get out until we found an image of a deadly virus before this bad guy did. Even though it was nerve-racking, we were able to solve all the puzzles. It was awesome!" Tala took a sip of her hot chocolate. "Wow. I'm bummed I missed that. But it sounds like you'll have no problem learning the secret ingredient for the bottle rocket." "I like the way you think," I said. Then I explained how I was planning on telling Ms. Daly how safe and fun the chemistry club rockets would be. Plus, Ms. Daly had access to almost all the supplies in her lab. It was important to let her know that our plan would be simple

等待气球火箭。 你会追着它们到处跑，疯狂地吠叫。 当然，利亚姆的朋友们会喜欢的。” 好像他能理解，点点拍着尾巴。 塔拉吹着她的热巧克力，我瞥了她一眼。 “嘿，你能告诉我小苏打瓶火箭的秘密成分吗？”她轻拍下巴。 “嗯。你喜欢搞清楚事情，对吧？”“哦,是的!”她带着狡黠的微笑点了点头。 “所以你必须自己找出这个秘密。” “嗯，我刚刚解开了一个谜，”我说。 上个月，戴利想出了一个逃生室。 我们被锁在学校的休息室里出不去直到我们在这个坏人之前找到了致命病毒的图像。 尽管很伤脑筋，我们还是解决了所有的难题。 太棒了！”塔拉喝了一口热巧克力。 “哇。我很遗憾我错过了。 不过，听起来你学习瓶子火箭的秘密成分不成问题。” “我喜欢你的思考方式，”我说。 然后我向她解释了我是如何打算告诉她的。 每天，化学俱乐部的火箭会多么安全有趣啊。 另外，戴利女士可以使用她实验室里几乎所有的材料。 让她知道我们的计划很简单是很重要的

ish, fun, and require materials that would be easy to access. "I like the way you think, too," said Tala. I grabbed one of Dad's yellow notepads. "I guess we can get started." Tala wrote out a list of the items we would need for Liam's balloon rockets. And then a list of materials to make the rockets for chemistry club, including empty soda bottles, vinegar, baking soda, a cork, and a rocket base. Then, with a big grin on her face, she drew a giant X for the secret material. "Is it a stopwatch?" I asked. "To see how long it takes for the rocket to explode?" "Well, it's always good to time stuff. But no." "A test tube?" I asked. "No." "Orange soda?" I asked. "Nope." "Paint? A dime? A wire?" "No. No. No." She giggled. "All right. I'm going to have to think about this. Let's move on to the balloon rockets for Liam's party." "I heard my name!" screeched Liam as he sped into the kitchen. Then he eyed our steaming ceramic mugs. "Hey! You got hot chocolate. No

有趣，并且需要易于获取的材料。 “我也喜欢你的想法。”塔拉说。 我抓起爸爸的一个黄色笔记本。 “我想我们可以开始了。” 塔拉列出了利亚姆气球火箭所需的物品清单。 然后是化学俱乐部制作火箭的材料清单，包括空汽水瓶、醋、小苏打、软木塞和火箭底座。 然后，她咧嘴一笑，画了一个巨大的X代表秘密材料。 “是秒表吗？”我问。 “看看火箭爆炸需要多长时间？”“嗯，计时总是好的。 但是没有。”“试管？”我问。 “没有。”“橙汁汽水?”我问。 “不。”“画画?一毛钱吗?一个线吗?”“没有。 否。没有。”她咯咯笑了。“好吧。 我得好好想想。 我们继续为利亚姆的派对准备气球火箭吧。” “我听到我的名字了！”利亚姆尖叫着冲进厨房。 然后他看了看我们热气腾腾的陶瓷杯子。 “嘿!你有热巧克力。 否

fair." I gestured at a lion-head-shaped mug across from me. It was a present from Grandpa Jack for Liam's birthday last year. I swallowed hard, remembering how sad Liam had been when his party was canceled. "Who do you think that mug is for?" I asked. "An imaginary friend?" guessed Liam. "You, silly!" I shook my head. He picked up the mug of hot chocolate and blew on it. "Thanks, Kate. It's got marshy mellows." "Marshmallows," I corrected with a wink. "Look, Liam," said Tala. "Here's a list of materials you'll need for the double balloon rockets for your birthday party." "Cool!" shouted Liam. She read out the list: "Balloons, straws, light clamps, fishing line, cardboard rolls, clear tape, a balloon pump, scissors." I clapped my hands. "Yay! We've pretty much got everything. Dad has tons of fishing line." Jumping up, I paced around the table. "The cardboard rolls sound perfect for the rocket body." Tala sipped her hot chocolate. "Yup, since it's got to be aerodynamic." "What does that mean?" asked Liam, who plopped down in a seat across from Tala.

公平。”我指着对面一个狮头形状的杯子。 这是杰克爷爷去年给利亚姆的生日礼物。 我使劲咽了口气，想起利亚姆的派对被取消时是多么伤心。 “你以为那杯子是给谁的？”我问。 “想象中的朋友？”利亚姆猜测。 “你,傻!”我摇了摇头。 他拿起那杯热巧克力，对着它吹了口气。 “谢谢你,凯特。它有沼泽般的圆润。” “棉花糖。”我眨了眨眼睛纠正道。 “看，利亚姆，”塔拉说。“这是你生日聚会上制作双气球火箭所需材料的清单。” “酷！”利亚姆喊道。她念了单子：“气球、吸管、光夹子、钓鱼线、纸板卷、透明胶带、气球泵、剪刀。” 我拍了拍手。“耶!我们差不多什么都有了。 爸爸有很多钓鱼线。” 我跳起来，绕着桌子踱来踱去。 “纸板卷听起来很适合火箭体。” 塔拉啜饮着热巧克力。 “是的，因为它必须符合空气动力学。” “这是什么意思？”利亚姆问，他扑通一声坐在塔拉对面的座位上。

"Well, aerodynamics is the study of forces and how easily an object goes through the air," said Tala. "Pretty easy!" Liam picked up a gooey marshmallow out of his mug and tossed it into his mouth. "Like this!" "Exactly," I said with a snort. "Between the two of you, it's like I've entered the astronaut zone. Right now, I feel like my life is out of this world." I covered my mouth. "Wow. I've turned into Ms. Daly. Sorry about that. I can't stop making corny jokes." "I forgive you," said Tala. "I don't." Liam crossed his arms. "Space isn't funny. It's serious. 'Cause it's for my party. And it's going to be the awesomest with the yummiest ice cream cake. Even better than Desmond's dinosaur one." "We know," I said. A few minutes later, Tala and I got started getting the supplies ready for Liam's double rockets. We figured we'd decorate the toilet paper rolls so they would look extra cool. Luckily, in our house we always save rolls for art supplies. I dragged out tempera paint so we could paint the rolls sky blue. While I laid down newspaper on the table, Tala grabbed brushes, and Liam waited with his smock on. All of the art supplies made me think of my best friend. I felt a weird tightness in my throat like I was getting a cold. But it wasn't a cold.

塔拉说：“空气动力学研究的是力，以及物体在空气中穿行的容易程度。” “很简单!”利亚姆从杯子里拿起一块黏糊糊的棉花糖，扔进嘴里。 “这样!”“没错，”我哼了一声说。 “在你们两个之间，我就像进入了宇航员区。 现在，我觉得我的生活脱离了这个世界。” 我捂住嘴。“哇。我已经变成了。 戴利。很抱歉。我不能停止讲那些老掉牙的笑话。” “我原谅你。”塔拉说。 “我不。”利亚姆交叉双臂。 “太空并不好玩。这是非常严重的问题。 因为这是为了我的派对。它会是最棒的，配上最美味的冰淇淋蛋糕。 甚至比戴斯蒙德的恐龙画还要好。” “我们知道，”我说。几分钟后，塔拉和我开始为利亚姆的双火箭准备补给。 我们想把厕纸卷装饰一下，让它们看起来特别酷。 幸运的是，在我们家，我们总是把面包卷留作美术用品。 我拿出蛋彩画颜料，这样我们就可以把汽车漆成天蓝色了。 我把报纸放在桌子上，塔拉抓起刷子，利亚姆穿着工作服等着。 所有的美术用品让我想起了我最好的朋友。 我感到喉咙发紧，好像感冒了。 但那不是感冒。

"I wish Birdie was here," I admitted. "She'd know how to mix the blue and white to make the perfect color." "Yeah, judging from that tattoo she made, she's an incredible artist," said Tala. At first Birdie had said she was going to come over after school, but then she backed out at the last minute because she had to help her sister. She wouldn't tell me what they had to do though. Honestly, I was starting to get kind of worried. But if something was really wrong, Birdie would have told me. We always tell each other everything. Just a couple of weeks ago, Birdie had confessed that she borrowed her mom's new headphones without asking. And I admitted that while shopping I had dropped my gum and could only get 90 percent of it off the mall floor. So yeah, we always tell each other everything. "Too bad Birdie couldn't be here," said Tala. "Yeah, well, she told me that something came up." I shrugged and tried not to let it bother me. "I wish I were better when it comes to art like Birdie," said Tala. "But you made that atom tattoo that was so cool." Mine had washed off over the weekend but it had been pretty awesome.

“我希望伯蒂在这里，”我承认。 “她知道如何把蓝色和白色混合在一起，做出完美的颜色。” “是的，从她的纹身来看，她是一个不可思议的艺术家，”塔拉说。 起初，伯迪说她放学后要过来，但后来她在最后一刻退缩了，因为她必须帮助她的妹妹。 但她不肯告诉我他们要做什么。 说实话，我开始有点担心了。 但如果真的出了什么事，伯迪会告诉我的。 我们总是无话不谈。 就在几个星期前，伯迪承认她没有征得妈妈的同意就借了她妈妈的新耳机。 我承认，在购物的时候，我把口香糖弄掉了，只能把90%的口香糖从商场地板上捡起来。 所以，我们总是无话不谈。 “可惜小鸟不能在这里，”塔拉说。 “是啊，她告诉我出了点事。” 我耸了耸肩，尽量不让这件事打扰我。 塔拉说：“我希望自己在艺术方面能比小鸟做得更好。” “但是你做的那个原子纹身太酷了。” 我的周末被洗掉了，但它非常棒。