14 Something Stinks

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Something Stinks Bacteria (noun). These are one-celled organisms that are also called germs. They exchange chemical signals in order to communicate and attack healthy cells. So next time you use soap, you might be interrupting bacteria having a conversation. "SEA LIONS SURE KNOW how to have fun," I said. "For one, they like to bodysurf." On Thursday, at the dinner table, I was reporting some of my sea lion research to my family. I guess it was a way to practice my presentation, which was just about done. Well, all except for the three super-duper facts I'd find at the aquarium tomorrow. I could hardly wait. "I want to learn to surf," declared Liam. "Me too," said Mom. Dad set down his water glass. "Not for me, thank you. I remember one summer during college my buddy and I took a trip out to California. And we saw sea lions swimming not too far from the surfers." He

细菌（名词）。 这些是单细胞生物，也被称为细菌。 它们交换化学信号以进行交流并攻击健康细胞。 所以下次你用肥皂的时候，你可能会打断细菌的对话。 “海狮肯定知道怎么找乐子，”我说。 “首先，他们喜欢身体冲浪。” 周四，在餐桌上，我向家人报告了我对海狮的一些研究。 我想这是我练习演讲的一种方式，我的演讲马上就要结束了。 好吧，除了我明天在水族馆会发现的三个超级真相。 我几乎等不及了。“我想学冲浪，”利亚姆说。 “我也是，”妈妈说。爸爸放下水杯。 “我不用了，谢谢你。我记得大学期间的一个夏天，我和我的朋友去加利福尼亚旅行。 我们看到海狮在离冲浪者不远的地方游泳。” 他

scratched his head. "I wonder if I still have those photos somewhere." "I want to see the photos," said Liam. He hopped out of his chair and spread out his arms like he was riding a huge wave. "I'm a surfing seal." "Sea lion," I corrected. "Seals and sea lions are different. Sea lions have ear flaps. Plus, their flippers can rotate under them and they can walk on land. Seals can only sort of slither." "See, Kate, you really are learning quite a bit about sea lions," said Dad. "Arfff!" said Liam. He clapped his flippers together. "Arrf." "Okay, Mr. Sea Lion," said Mom. "It's dinnertime. Come and eat your salmon." She glanced at his empty seat. Liam climbed back into his seat. "Yuck," he said, staring at the pink fillet. "I guess I can't be a sea lion after all. Fish is yucky." "You like salmon, you just forgot," said Mom. "And you love fish sticks." Dad grabbed the ketchup bottle and poured a blob next to his potatoes and on top of his salmon. "This will disguise the fish taste." "Not you too." Mom shook her head. "Just don't want to have fish breath for my panel and talk tomorrow," joked Dad. "Ketchup breath is

挠挠头。“我想知道我是否还把那些照片放在什么地方。” “我想看看照片，”利亚姆说。 他从椅子上跳起来，张开双臂，就像在骑一个大浪。 “我是一只冲浪海豹。”“海狮，”我纠正道。 “海豹和海狮是不同的。 海狮有耳膜。此外，它们的鳍状肢可以在身下旋转，还可以在陆地上行走。 海豹只能滑行。” “看，凯特，你真的学到了很多关于海狮的知识，”爸爸说。 “呸！”利亚姆说。他拍打着脚蹼。 “Arrf。”“好的，海狮先生，”妈妈说。 “这是晚餐时间。来吃你的鲑鱼吧。” 她瞥了一眼他的空座位。 利亚姆爬回座位。 “恶心，”他盯着粉红色的鱼片说。 “我想我终究不能成为一只海狮。 鱼很难吃。”“你喜欢鲑鱼，你只是忘了，”妈妈说。 “你喜欢鱼条。” 爸爸抓起番茄酱瓶子，在土豆旁边和鲑鱼上面浇了一团。 “这会掩盖鱼的味道。” “你也不行。”妈妈摇了摇头。 爸爸开玩笑说：“我只是不想在明天的小组讨论和谈话中有鱼气。” “番茄酱味是

better." Both Liam and I giggled as Mom calmly explained how there was no way to have fish breath overnight. Then I remembered how I once watched a Dr. Caroline video on bad breath. When you wake up in the morning, you have billions of bacteria in your mouth. They take in food and excrete waste. The waste—some of it in the form of gas—is what makes your breath stinky. "Just remember to brush your teeth tonight, Dad. Extra long. Good luck at your conference tomorrow," I said. "And have fun on your trip to the aquarium," said Dad. Liam stared down at his food. "I still don't see why I can't come with you." "Because you can't miss school, silly," I said. "But you'll have a chance to go." I looked anxiously up at my parents. "Right?" Dad popped a potato in his mouth. "Definitely. It will be a whole family thing." "This summer," added Mom. "That's a hundred million months away," said Liam. "Six months, kiddo," said Mom. "We'll have to work on your math skills," I added. And then reminded him that there was ice cream for dessert. Liam started to smile a little.

更好。”利亚姆和我都咯咯地笑着，妈妈平静地解释说，一夜之间是不可能有鱼腥气的。 然后我想起我曾经看过一个医生。 卡洛琳的口臭视频。 当你早上醒来的时候，你的嘴里有数十亿的细菌。 它们吸收食物并排泄废物。 这些废物——其中一些以气体的形式存在——就是让你的口气发臭的原因。 “爸爸，记住今晚要刷牙。 额外的长。祝你明天的会议好运。”我说。 “祝你去水族馆玩得开心，”爸爸说。 利亚姆低头盯着他的食物。 “我还是不明白为什么我不能和你一起去。” “因为你不能缺课，傻瓜，”我说。 “但你会有机会去的。” 我焦急地抬头看着我的父母。 “对吧?”爸爸把一个土豆塞进嘴里。 “绝对。这将是整个家庭的事情。” “今年夏天，”妈妈补充说。“那是一亿个月之后的事，”利亚姆说。 “六个月，孩子，”妈妈说。 “我们得训练一下你的数学技能，”我补充说。 然后提醒他甜点有冰淇淋。 利亚姆开始微微一笑。

And I knew what would get him to smile even more. After dinner, I counted the money in my atom bank. Yup, I still had my forty dollars. Then I went on the computer to recheck prices at the aquarium gift shop. It looked like I had just enough for a shirt for me and a stuffed animal for Liam. I couldn't wait to surprise him with the gift. But at that very moment, Liam popped into the family room. He peered right over my shoulder. "Hey," he said. "What's that?" And he pointed at a group of stuffed animals on the screen. "They're cephalopods," I explained. "The first one is a squid, which you can tell by its elongated body with eight arms and two tentacles. The one in the middle that looks like an underwater elephant is called a cuttlefish. Ms. Daly, our chemistry club advisor, calls them cuttles. And you already know the last one, the octopus. It looks kind of like a squid, with eight arms, but it doesn't have any tentacles. Plus, the octopus's arms are way more flexible. They all belong to the cephalopod family because they have three hearts and squirt ink to defend themselves against predators."

我知道怎样才能让他笑得更开心。 晚饭后，我数了数原子银行里的钱。 是的，我还有我的40美元。 然后我在电脑上重新查看了一下水族馆礼品店的价格。 看起来我的钱只够给我买件衬衫，给利亚姆买个毛绒玩具。 我迫不及待地想给他一个惊喜。 但就在这时，利亚姆突然走进了客厅。 他从我的肩膀后面偷看。 “嘿，”他说。“那是什么?”他指着屏幕上的一组毛绒玩具。 “它们是头足类动物。”我解释说。 “第一个是鱿鱼，你可以从它细长的身体上看出来，它有八个手臂和两个触手。 中间那个看起来像水下大象的叫做墨鱼。 我们化学俱乐部的指导老师戴利女士称它们为乌贼。 你已经知道了最后一个，章鱼。 它看起来有点像鱿鱼，有八只手臂，但它没有任何触手。 另外，章鱼的手臂更灵活。 它们都属于头足类动物，因为它们有三个心脏，会喷射墨水来抵御捕食者。”

"That's cool." Liam grabbed the pen next to my notebook and uncapped it. "But the arms and the tentacles look the same." "Yeah, it's hard to tell, but if you look really closely, you can see the difference. Tentacles have suction cups only at the ends of their limbs, whereas arms have suction cups all over," I said, looking over at Liam. "What are you doing?" "Nothing." "Don't even think about squirting it. You're not a cephalopod. Plus," I added, looking around the room, "I don't see any predators." His eyes shifted over to the money from the atom bank and then back to the screen. "Are you buying one of those stuffed animals?" "I might be," I said, giving him a wink. "For someone you know?" "There's a good possibility." "Someone you know super-duper well? So well you might be related?" "That's entirely possible." "And does his name start with an L?" "That just so happens to be one of my favorite letters in the alphabet." "Mine too." Now Liam was jumping up and hugging my legs.

“这很酷。”利亚姆抓起我笔记本旁边的那支笔，打开了封盖。 “但是手臂和触手看起来是一样的。” “是的，很难分辨，但如果你仔细看，你可以看到区别。 触手只在四肢末端有吸盘，而手臂上到处都有吸盘。”我看着利亚姆说。 “你在干什么？”“没什么。” “想都别想。 你不是头足类动物。另外，”我环视了一下房间，补充说，“我没有看到任何食肉动物。” 他的目光转向原子银行里的钱，然后又回到屏幕上。 “你要买一个毛绒玩具吗？”“也许吧。”我说着，朝他眨了眨眼睛。 “给你认识的人？”“很有可能。” “某个你非常熟悉的人？” 你们可能是亲戚吗？”“这完全有可能。” “他的名字是以L开头的吗？”“这恰好是我最喜欢的字母之一。” “我也是。”现在利亚姆跳起来拥抱我的腿。

"I just can't tell this person who I know super- duper well and whose name starts with an L because it's a surprise. So don't say anything." "I won't," said Liam. "I promise with eight arms and three hearts. 'Cause I'm an octopus." He waved around his arms like he was underwater. Then he raced away upstairs, singing to himself, "I'm Octopus Boy." And I knew that I couldn't wait to "surprise" my little brother with my gift. Then my eyes slid back to my computer screen. And I checked the weather. And saw a giant snowflake next to the forecast. Which meant only one thing. Snow.

“我就是不能告诉这个我非常熟悉的人，他的名字以L开头，因为这是一个惊喜。 所以什么也别说。”“我不会的，”利亚姆说。 “我保证用八臂三心。 因为我是一只章鱼。”他像在水下一样挥动双臂。 然后他跑上楼，一边唱着：“我是章鱼男孩。” 我知道我迫不及待地想用我的礼物给我的小弟弟一个惊喜。 然后我的目光又回到了电脑屏幕上。 我还查了天气。 看到天气预报旁边有一片巨大的雪花。 这只意味着一件事。 雪。