9 The Proposal

CHAPTER NINE THE PROPOSAL Proposal (noun). This is a paper that proposes a research project in science, and scientists hope that the proposal will help them get money to fund the project. You could write up a proposal to clean your neighborhood pond, so you can get funding to buy nets and trash bags to make the job easier! ONCE TALA LEFT, I turned our ideas into a proposal. Scientists write proposals to get grants, which give them money to do their project. I wanted to make the proposal official, so I typed it up and put it into an orange folder. The next morning, Tala and I met up in front of the school. We were early, twenty minutes before the first bell rang. "Ms. Daly is big on being on time, from her air force days," I explained to Tala, who had dressed up for the occasion. As we walked into the school, I admired her sweater with silver ribbons woven through it, and she had silver ribbons in her hair, too. In my jeans and sweatshirt, I felt a little plain. "So anyway," I continued. "Ms. Daly even taught us military time. Scientists use it, too. They have a twenty-four-hour clock to avoid errors

提案（名词）。 这是一篇提出科学研究项目的论文，科学家们希望该提案能帮助他们获得资助该项目的资金。 你可以写一份提案来清理你家附近的池塘，这样你就可以得到资金来买网和垃圾袋，让这项工作变得更容易！塔拉一走，我就把我们的想法变成了一个提案。 科学家们写提案来获得资助，这给了他们资金来做他们的项目。 我想让这个提案正式一些，所以我把它打了出来，放进一个橙色的文件夹里。 第二天早上，塔拉和我在学校门口见面。 我们早到了，离第一声铃响还有二十分钟。 “从她在空军服役的日子起，戴利女士就很注重准时，”我向塔拉解释道，塔拉为这个场合精心打扮了一番。 当我们走进学校的时候，我欣赏着她那件用银带编织的毛衣，她的头发上也系着银带。 穿着牛仔裤和运动衫，我觉得自己有点朴素。 “不管怎样，”我继续说。”女士。 戴利甚至教我们军事时间。 科学家也使用它。他们有24小时制以避免出错

and confusion. So one thirty p.m. is really thirteen thirty hours." "Cool," said Tala. "I know astronauts use a twenty-four-hour clock, but I didn't know other scientists did, too." She blew on her bangs as we stood outside the science lab. "I'm kind of nervous," she admitted. I waved the folder. "Nothing to worry about. We have our proposal. She'll love it." I glanced at the door and knocked. Nobody answered. It was open though, so Tala and I walked in. Ms. Daly stood near the sink frowning at the tile floor. "Um, hi, Ms. Daly," I said. "Is everything okay?" She grabbed a rag off the table. "It's not coming up." She pointed at the floor, which was shiny-looking in one spot. "And it's sticky as flypaper." "What happened?" asked Tala. "I thought it was just water. But now I'm pretty sure one of the fourth graders spilled some liquid adhesive bandage during chemistry club. Because it's not coming up. Earlier, I even tried soap." "Wait! I've got an idea. What about acetone?" I exclaimed. "You might be right, Kate. Go grab it." I sped to the supply cabinet and pulled out a plastic bottle from the bottom shelf. I held it up. "Acetone will dissolve the glue because it's a solvent."

和混乱。下午一点半。 实际上是13点半。” “酷。”塔拉说。“我知道宇航员使用24小时制，但我不知道其他科学家也这么做。” 我们站在科学实验室外面时，她吹着刘海。 “我有点紧张，”她承认。 我挥动着文件夹。“没什么好担心的。 我们有我们的建议。她会喜欢的。” 我看了一眼门，敲了敲门。 没有人回答。但它是开着的，所以我和塔拉走了进去。 戴利女士站在水池边，对着瓷砖地板皱着眉头。 “嗯，你好，戴利女士，”我说。 “一切都好吗？”她从桌上抓起一块抹布。 “它不会出现。”她指着地板，地板上有一个地方闪闪发光。 “它像苍蝇纸一样粘。” “发生了什么事？”塔拉问。 “我以为那只是水。 但现在我很确定有个四年级的学生在化学课上洒了一些液体绷带。 因为它不会出现。 早些时候，我甚至试过肥皂。” “等等!我有个主意。那丙酮呢？”我叫道。 “也许你是对的，凯特。 去拿吧。”我快步走到供应柜前，从最下面的架子上拿出一个塑料瓶。 我把它举起来。“丙酮会溶解胶水，因为它是溶剂。”

I handed Ms. Daly the bottle. "Here you go," I said. "Thanks! Let's see." After throwing on some gloves, she poured the liquid onto the rag and rubbed the floor. Suddenly a smile stretched across her face. "This was the perfect idea, Kate." I clapped my hands. "Yay for solvents!" Glancing at Tala, I grabbed my folder. "So we figured out what we need for our rocket launch," I said, pulling out the proposal. Ms. Daly took a moment to read it. She was nodding, which was a good sign. I pointed to the list of materials. "The budget will be low since we can ask students to bring in empty plastic bottles. And no flammables needed. Just a couple of chemical reactions that use some vinegar and baking soda, which we already have in the lab. The rockets will go super high because of a special material that Tala won't tell me about. She says I have to figure it out." Beside me, Tala nodded. "Well, you can tell me," said Ms. Daly. Tala leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

我把瓶子递给戴利女士。 “给你，”我说。“谢谢!让我们看看。” 戴上手套后，她把液体倒在抹布上，擦了擦地板。 突然，她脸上露出了笑容。 “这是个完美的主意，凯特。” 我拍了拍手。“溶剂万岁！”我瞥了塔拉一眼，抓起我的文件夹。 “所以我们弄清楚了火箭发射需要什么，”我说着，拿出了提案。 戴利花了一点时间读了一下。 她在点头，这是个好兆头。 我指了指材料清单。 “预算会很低，因为我们可以让学生带空塑料瓶来。 而且不需要可燃物。只是一些化学反应，用一些醋和小苏打，我们已经在实验室里有了。 火箭会飞得很高，因为有一种特殊的材料塔拉不肯告诉我。 她说我必须弄清楚。” 塔拉在我身边点了点头。“好吧，你可以告诉我。” 戴利。塔拉倾身向前，在她耳边低语。

"Aha!" said Ms. Daly. "That makes a lot of sense because of all the pressure." "Oh, you've given me a clue," I said. "Now I'll figure it out." "I'm sure you will, Kate." Ms. Daly winked at me. "I believe in that brain of yours." "So does this mean the chemistry club gets to have a rocket launch too?" I asked. "Yes," said Ms. Daly. "And I think doing it the weekend before winter break is a great idea. That way, we can have the field to ourselves on Saturday, which would be good for safety." She whipped out her phone. "And the weather appears as if it will cooperate." She smiled. "Not that weather forecasts are perfect. But they are based on science." Later, out in the hall, Tala started making some cool moves. She twisted around, kicked out her legs, and twirled three times with a clap and a snap. Elijah and Birdie both watched. "What's that called?" I asked. "My happy dance," said Tala. And I laughed because it made me happy just watching her. "Want to learn how?" she asked. "Oh yeah!" I shouted. I turned to Birdie and Elijah. "Want to learn with me?" Elijah shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

“啊哈！”戴利女士说。“这很有道理，因为压力很大。” “哦，你给了我一个提示，”我说。 “现在我会想办法的。”“我相信你会的，凯特。” 戴利小姐向我眨了眨眼睛。“我相信你的脑子。” “那这是不是意味着化学俱乐部也要发射火箭了？”我问。 “是的，”戴利说。“我认为在寒假前的周末做这件事是个好主意。 这样一来，周六的比赛场地就只有我们俩了，这对安全也有好处。” 她拿出手机。 “天气似乎也会配合。” 她笑了。并不是说天气预报是完美的。 但它们都是基于科学的。” 后来，在大厅里，塔拉开始做一些很酷的动作。 她转过身来，踢出双腿，拍了一下，啪了一下，转了三圈。 以利亚和伯蒂都看着。 “那叫什么？”我问。 “我的快乐舞蹈。”塔拉说。 我笑了，因为光是看着她我就很开心。 “想学怎么做吗？”她问。 “噢,是的!”我叫道。我转向伯蒂和以利亚。 “想跟我一起学吗？”以利亚耸耸肩。 “当然可以，为什么不呢？”

Birdie squished up her face, like my question was a bitter lemon. "No thanks." "But you love dancing," I said, confused and a little frustrated. Birdie shook her head, which made no sense. Just a few months ago, we had learned the steps of an old dance from YouTube. It was called the pretzel, and we had gotten as tangled up together as a game of Twister. We had laughed so hard that we had cried. Right now, I almost felt like crying. But I held in any tears. This was supposed to be a happy moment. We were going to have a rocket launch. "All you have to do is twist around, kick out your legs twice, then spin, spin, spin with a clap and a snap," said Tala, demonstrating the moves. "Now it's your turn." There was no way this moment was going to be spoiled. I twisted, kicked, twirled, clapped, and snapped. Then wow, did I get dizzy. "Glad you're not on the dance team," said Birdie, which seemed a little mean and not like her at all. I wanted to say something back to her, but I didn't want to get into a fight. "That was good, Kate," said Tala. "Except it looked like you were trying to kick a soccer ball into a goal." "Yeah. I was worried you thought my head was a soccer ball," joked Elijah.

伯蒂皱起了脸，好像我的问题是一个苦涩的柠檬。 “不,谢谢”。“但你喜欢跳舞啊，”我说，有点困惑和沮丧。 伯蒂摇了摇头，这是不合理的。 就在几个月前，我们从YouTube上学习了一段古老舞蹈的舞步。 它叫椒盐卷饼，我们就像玩扭扭游戏一样纠缠在一起。 我们笑得都哭了。 现在，我几乎想哭。 但我忍住了泪水。这本该是一个快乐的时刻。 我们要发射一枚火箭。 塔拉在演示这些动作时说：“你所要做的就是转一圈，把腿踢出去两次，然后旋转、旋转、旋转，同时拍手和啪地一声。” “现在轮到你了。”这一刻不可能被破坏了。 我扭动着，踢着，旋转着，鼓掌着，啪地一声。 然后，哇，我晕了。 “很高兴你不在舞蹈队，”小鸟说，这似乎有点刻薄，一点也不像她。 我想跟她说点什么，但又不想跟她吵架。 “太好了，凯特，”塔拉说。 “除了它看起来像你试图把足球踢进球门。” “是的。我很担心你会把我的头当成足球，”以利亚开玩笑说。

Birdie let out a low chuckle. Okay, maybe I was imagining all of this drama, which wasn't there. "Hey, I'm going next," said Elijah, who immediately got the happy dance perfect, except for the end when he snapped instead of clapped. I glanced over at Birdie. Although her lips tugged into a tiny smile, her eyes weren't smiling at all. Then I thought about something. My dad always says when something doesn't feel right, just ask general questions. I studied my best friend. "What's wrong?" "If you can't figure it out, I'm not going to tell you." Then Birdie darted away down the hall. I stared in her direction for a while before I heard Tala whisper, "I don't think Birdie likes me." I whipped around and looked at Tala, confused. "No way," I said. "You're awesome. How could Birdie not like you?"

小鸟发出一声低笑。 好吧，也许这一切都是我想象出来的，但根本不存在。 “嘿，下一个轮到我了，”以利亚说，他立刻把快乐的舞蹈跳得很完美，只是最后他没有鼓掌，而是啪了一下。 我瞥了伯迪一眼。虽然她的嘴唇挤出一丝微笑，但她的眼睛根本没有笑。 然后我想到了一件事。 我爸爸总是说，当感觉不对劲的时候，就问一些一般性的问题。 我研究了我最好的朋友。“怎么了?”“如果你想不出来，我就不告诉你了。” 然后，小鸟沿着走廊飞奔而去。 我朝她的方向看了一会儿，然后听到塔拉低声说：“我觉得伯迪不喜欢我。” 我转过身来，困惑地看着塔拉。 “不可能，”我说。“你太棒了。 小鸟怎么会不喜欢你呢？”