11 Open Up!

CHAPTER ELEVEN Open Up! Objectivity (noun). Discovering the best explanation by allowing evidence—not bias—to answer the question. In science, it's considered a bias when scientists come to incorrect conclusions based on false data. Sort of like your little brother telling you that your dog ate your chocolate chip cookie and you believing him— when in fact, your brother actually snarfed down your cookie. "IS THERE ANYTHING you'd like to talk about, Kate?" asked Dad. I was pacing by the front door, waiting for Tala and Birdie to arrive with the ingredients for Operation Cheer Up Kate. "You seem upset." We were planning on making chocolate-covered pretzels. Some to eat now and some to pass around as snacks for the field trip on Friday. We needed to make over one hundred so there would be enough for everyone in both fifth-grade classes to have a couple. "Um, not really." I continued to pace.

第十一章开门！客观性(名词)。 用证据而非偏见来回答问题，从而找到最佳解释。 在科学中，当科学家根据错误的数据得出错误的结论时，这被认为是一种偏见。 有点像你的小弟弟告诉你，你的狗吃了你的巧克力饼干，而你相信了他——而事实上，你的弟弟真的把你的饼干吞了下去。 “你有什么想说的吗，凯特？”爸爸问。 我在前门踱来踱去，等着塔拉和伯迪带着让凯特振作起来行动的原料来。 “你看起来很沮丧。”我们打算做巧克力脆饼。 一些现在吃，一些作为周五实地考察的零食分发。 我们需要挣一百多个，这样五年级两个班的每个人都有足够的钱买一对。 “嗯，不太好。”我继续踱步。

"Kate," he said in a gentle reprimand. My dad knew me so well. Plus, he's a psychologist. So then I told him how I was still upset about not getting penguins as my topic for my sea animal presentation. How having to do sea lions just didn't seem as much fun. "You're biased and not being objective," said Dad. "Why don't you focus on making new discoveries about sea lions? You're a curious person. You might surprise yourself. It's good to go outside your comfort zone." "It's not about comfort, Dad. It's about love. You and Mom are the ones who tell me you should pursue what your passions are." "Yes, but there are many paths to take and many lessons to learn. And—" "If you think it's important to go outside your comfort zone, why are you upset about being on the panel for your conference?" "Oh, you've got me there." He smiled with a guilty look. "Maybe it's something we both need to work on, huh, Katie Lane?" Then his phone buzzed in his pocket. "Oh, speaking of the conference." He glanced down at his phone. "That's one of the conference organizers." Then he walked into his office, just as Birdie and Tala burst into the house, carrying a shopping bag full of

“凯特，”他温和地斥责道。 我爸爸非常了解我。另外，他还是个心理学家。 然后我告诉他，我仍然为没有把企鹅作为我的海洋动物演讲的主题而感到沮丧。 和海狮打交道似乎没那么有趣。 “你有偏见，不客观，”爸爸说。 “你为什么不专注于对海狮做出新的发现呢？” 你是个好奇的人。你可能会大吃一惊。 走出你的舒适区是件好事。” “这不是舒适的问题，爸爸。 这是关于爱的。是你和妈妈告诉我，你应该追求自己的梦想。” “是的，但是有很多路要走，有很多教训要学。 “如果你认为走出自己的舒适区很重要，那你为什么对参加会议的小组讨论感到不安呢？”“哦，你把我难住了。” 他露出内疚的微笑。 “也许这是我们都需要努力的地方，对吧，凯蒂·莱恩？”然后他口袋里的手机响了起来。 “哦，说到会议。” 他低头看了看手机。 “那是会议组织者之一。” 然后他走进了他的办公室，就在这时，伯迪和塔拉冲了进来，提着一个购物袋，里面装满了

supplies. Thirty minutes later, Tala, Birdie, and I stood in my kitchen making our chocolate-covered pretzels. "We definitely will have more than enough for our field trip to the aquarium," said Tala. She pointed at all the pretzel rods we had already dipped in chocolate. It had been Birdie's idea to decorate them with rainbow sprinkles. "To make them pizzazz-y for our trip," said Birdie. Soon enough, Liam was in the kitchen begging us to take him with us so he could see the aquarium and eat chocolate pretzel snacks. He clasped his small hands together. "I want to go. Please. Please. Please take me with you! I'll squish into your backpack." "Oh, I wish you could go," I said. "But, buddy, it's just for fifth graders." Liam sighed heavily. "No fair. How come old kids get to have all the fun?" He still looked disappointed, along with Dribble, our dog. Who was pitifully begging with his eyes all big and his tongue lolling. "Here," I said, handing Liam a pretzel. "This will cheer you up."

供应。30分钟后，塔拉、伯迪和我站在厨房里做巧克力脆饼。 塔拉说：“我们肯定会有足够的钱去水族馆实地考察。” 她指着我们已经蘸过巧克力的椒盐脆饼棒。 用彩虹色的糖屑装饰它们是伯蒂的主意。 小鸟说：“为了让我们的旅行更有活力。” 很快，利亚姆就在厨房求我们带他一起去看水族馆，吃巧克力椒盐脆饼。 他把两只小手握在一起。 “我想去。请。请。 请带上我吧！我会挤进你的背包。” “哦，我希望你能去，”我说。 “但是，伙计，这只是给五年级学生的。” 利亚姆重重地叹了口气。“不公平。 为什么老孩子们就能享受所有的乐趣呢？”他仍然看起来很失望，还有我们的狗Dribble。 他睁大眼睛，耷拉着舌头，可怜地乞求着。 “给，”我说，递给利亚姆一个椒盐卷饼。 “这会让你高兴起来的。”

"Thanks," he said, biting into it. "It's yummy!" Then he took off for the family room, with a hopeful Dribble at his heels. Forty-five minutes later, we almost had all of the pretzels dipped into chocolate. Except for the ones we were dipping in white chocolate. I broke up the white chocolate into small, bite- sized pieces, and then I put them into the glass bowl. Next Birdie dumped in three tablespoons of vegetable shortening. "This stuff is so icky looking." "Yeah, but you need it," I said. "Anyway, it melts, so you can't tell it's there." After popping the bowl into the microwave, I checked the chocolate. It looked nice and creamy. I was just about to start dipping again when there was a knock on the door. Dribble started barking. "Calm down," I told him. "Maybe it's someone delivering a package," said Tala. "No chance," I said. "My parents are on a break from ordering stuff online. They want to support local businesses this month." Dribble followed me to the door, his tail wagging. It was Elijah with Memito and Jeremy too. "Hey," I said. "What's up?" "Well, the guys were just hanging out when we had this idea," said Elijah.

“谢谢。”他说着，咬了一口。 “好吃!”然后他向客厅走去，身后跟着一个满怀希望的运球。 45分钟后，我们几乎把所有的椒盐脆饼都蘸上了巧克力。 除了我们用白巧克力蘸过的那些。 我把白巧克力掰成一口大小的小块，然后把它们放进玻璃碗里。 接下来，小鸟倒入三勺蔬菜起酥油。 “这东西看起来真恶心。” “是的，但你需要它，”我说。 “不管怎样，它会融化，所以你看不出它在那里。” 把碗放进微波炉后，我检查了一下巧克力。 它看起来很漂亮，像奶油一样。 我正准备再开始洗澡，这时有人敲门。 Dribble开始叫。“冷静点，”我告诉他。 塔拉说：“也许是有人在送包裹。” “不可能，”我说。他说：“我父母暂时不上网订购东西了。 他们希望这个月支持当地企业。” Dribble跟着我走到门口，摇着尾巴。 是以利亚和米托还有杰里米。 “嘿，”我说。“怎么了?”“嗯，当我们有这个想法的时候，这些家伙只是在闲逛，”以利亚说。

I let them into the house. "It's Elijah," I called out. "And Memito," said Memito. "And Jeremy," said Jeremy. The boys waltzed into the kitchen. Immediately, Memito beelined for the tray of pretzels. "Sorry, you'll have to wait," I said. "Until the field trip," chorused Birdie and Tala. "About that," said Elijah. "We have something to tell you. It's that—" "Technically, white chocolate isn't real chocolate," said Memito. "Because it doesn't have any cocoa solids. It's made from sugar, cocoa butter, milk stuff, and vanilla." "Let me see." Jeremy stuck his fingers into the chocolate mixture. "Tastes good! I don't care about technical stuff." "Hey, stop that," I said. "You just spread your germs everywhere." Jeremy could be so infuriating. "But I just washed my hands," said Jeremy. "With mud and oil and decaying stuff from the garbage." Tala scrunched up her face and plugged her nose like she could smell the stink. "He's just kidding," said Elijah. "His hands are clean. My mom makes him sanitize before stepping

我让他们进了屋子。 “我是以利亚。” “还有Memito，”Memito说。 “还有杰里米，”杰里米说。 男孩们大摇大摆地走进厨房。 梅梅托立刻走向那盘椒盐脆饼。 “对不起，你得等一等。”我说。 “直到实地考察，”小鸟和塔拉齐声说。 以利亚说：“是这样。” “我们有事要告诉你。 “严格来说，白巧克力并不是真正的巧克力，”Memito说。 “因为它不含任何可可固体。 它是由糖、可可脂、牛奶和香草制成的。” “让我看看。”杰里米把手指伸进巧克力混合物里。 “味道很好!我不关心技术上的东西。” “嘿，别这样，”我说。“你只是把细菌到处传播。” 杰里米可能很让人生气。 “但我刚洗完手，”杰里米说。 “用泥土、油和垃圾里的腐烂物。” 塔拉皱起脸，堵住鼻子，仿佛闻到了臭味。 “他只是在开玩笑，”以利亚说。 “他的手很干净。我妈让他踩踏板前先消毒

into our house." Elijah's mom, the doctor, is super serious about everything being clean. I put my hands on my hips. "So, did you guys seriously come here to tell us that white chocolate isn't real chocolate?" Memito looked at Elijah, and Elijah looked at Jeremy, who shrugged. "Actually, we're here because we had this idea," Elijah said, resting his elbow on the counter. Immediately, it slid out from underneath him and he lost his balance, toppling into Birdie. She tried to catch him, but her arms were full with the bowl of melted white chocolate. Before we knew it, the two of them were in a pile on the floor, and the white chocolate was everywhere. It was dead silent for a nanosecond before we all burst into laughter. Through giggles, Elijah asked, "Hey! What did you put on there? Grease?" "Um, yeah. It's called vegetable shortening," said Memito, who was laughing so hard he could barely help Birdie up. "Can you please just tell us your plan?" I begged Elijah. Although he could barely understand me because I couldn't stop laughing at my two best friends covered in chocolate.

进我们的房子。”以利亚的妈妈，那个医生，对一切都要保持干净非常认真。 我把手放在屁股上。 “那么，你们真的是来告诉我们白巧克力不是真正的巧克力吗？”梅托看着以利亚，以利亚看着杰里米，杰里米耸耸肩。 “实际上，我们在这里是因为我们有这个想法，”以利亚说，他的胳膊肘搁在柜台上。 立刻，它从他身下滑了出来，他失去了平衡，摔倒在小鸟身上。 她想抓住他，但她的手臂上满是一碗融化的白巧克力。 在我们反应过来之前，他们俩已经在地板上堆成一堆，白巧克力到处都是。 沉默了一纳秒之后，我们都笑了起来。 以利亚咯咯地笑着说：“嘿！你在上面放了什么？ 油脂吗?”“嗯,是的。这叫植物起酥油，”梅托说，他笑得太厉害了，几乎不能把小鸟扶起来。 “你能告诉我们你的计划吗？”我恳求以利亚。 虽然他几乎听不懂我说的话，因为我总是忍不住笑我两个最好的朋友浑身都是巧克力。