6 A Strange Reaction

CHAPTER SIX A Strange Reaction Exchange Reaction (noun). This is a chemical reaction where material gets broken down and put back together. It would be like one kid building a new castle out of blocks while his brother was kicking the old one down. DOWNSTAIRS, I PLOPPED in front of the family computer. It was Friday afternoon, and my parents let me spend a little more time on the computer during the weekend. The first thing I did was to look up why the steam from Tala's soup burst out of her thermos. I found out that was because water vapor condensed in the cooler air. I peered out my window to think about what I had just learned. The water vapor must behave more like clouds than smoke. And, scientifically speaking, water vapor is different from steam. That's because steam is just water in the gas phase, and you can't actually see it. I could see the cloud above Tala's lunch because it was made up of

第六章奇特反应交换反应（名词）。 这是一种化学反应，物质被分解并重新组合在一起。 这就像一个孩子用积木搭了一座新城堡，而他的哥哥正在把旧城堡踢倒。 在楼下，我扑通一声坐在家里的电脑前。 那是星期五的下午，我的父母让我在周末多花一点时间在电脑上。 我做的第一件事就是查了查为什么塔拉的热水瓶里会冒出汤里的蒸汽。 我发现那是因为水蒸气在较冷的空气中凝结。 我凝视着窗外，思考着我刚刚学到的东西。 水蒸气的行为一定更像云而不是烟。 从科学的角度来说，水蒸气和蒸汽是不同的。 那是因为蒸汽只是气相的水，你实际上看不到它。 我能看到塔拉午餐上方的云，因为它是由

little droplets of soup. Yum! I thought about how delicious it would be if the clouds in our skies were made from giant vats of chicken soup. I laughed aloud at my silly thought. It seemed like a Memito idea. The next thing I did was start my T-shirt plan. I figured if I ordered a Shedd Aquarium T-shirt before our field trip, then I'd have a shirt just like all of my friends. As I studied the items on the aquarium store site, I noticed something. They didn't have all of the T-shirts from the actual gift shop. They had a really fun shark T-shirt. And a cute beluga whale tee, but no penguin ones. On the website it said that they had a few select items and to visit the aquarium gift shop for a full selection. Ugh! I scrolled again, looking at the beluga T-shirt. It was okay. But it wasn't a cute rockhopper penguin with bright yellow feathers. I guess I'd just have to wait and buy a penguin T-shirt at the aquarium. I counted my money in my atom bank. I'd been saving for a really loooong time. All my chore money for the entire fall. Forty dollars. That was more than enough money to buy myself a wonderful penguin T- shirt. Plus, I could surprise Liam and buy him a stuffed animal since he likes them so much.

小汤滴。Yum !我在想，如果天上的云是用大桶鸡汤做成的，那该有多好吃啊。 我为自己愚蠢的想法放声大笑。 这看起来像是一个备忘录的主意。 接下来，我开始了我的t恤计划。 我想如果我在实地考察之前订了一件谢德水族馆的t恤，那我就会像我所有的朋友一样有一件t恤了。 当我研究水族馆商店网站上的物品时，我注意到了一些事情。 他们没有从礼品店买到所有的t恤。 他们有一件很有趣的鲨鱼t恤。 还有一件可爱的白鲸t恤，但没有企鹅t恤。 网站上说，他们有一些精选的项目，并前往水族馆礼品店进行全面选择。 啊!我又翻了一遍，看着那件白鲸t恤。 还好。但它不是一只长着亮黄色羽毛的可爱跳岩企鹅。 我想我只能等着去水族馆买一件企鹅t恤了。 我数了数原子银行里的钱。 我已经存了很长时间了。 我整个秋天的家务费。 四十美元。这些钱足够我给自己买一件漂亮的企鹅T恤了。 另外，我可以给利亚姆一个惊喜，给他买个毛绒玩具，因为他太喜欢毛绒玩具了。

Even though I wouldn't have an aquarium T-shirt right away, I'd have one in less than two weeks. I could live with that. That is, if we had enough chaperones to go to the aquarium. But we would. I was sure of it. Maybe Dad could be our second chaperone. Then we'd just need two more. From my room, I grabbed Mr. Penguin, my stuffed animal that my parents bought for me at the Shedd when I was little. He's been ripped up and sewn back together a couple of times—my mom even found a new beak for him from another penguin that she had bought at a garage sale. After all these years, Mr. Penguin was basically the result of a complicated exchange reaction. Where old parts were taken away. And new parts were added. And then suddenly, I knew exactly what I would do with Mr. Penguin. At dinner I hid Mr. Penguin behind my back. "So guess where my class is going in two weeks?" I said in a mysterious voice. "Well, as long as we get enough parents to chaperone."

虽然我不会马上拥有一件水族馆t恤，但我将在两周内拥有一件。 我可以忍受。前提是我们有足够的陪护去水族馆。 但我们会的。我很确定。 也许爸爸可以做我们的第二个监护人。 那么我们还需要两个。 从我的房间里，我抓起了企鹅先生，那是我小时候父母在谢德给我买的毛绒玩具。 他被撕了几次又被缝了几次——我妈妈甚至从她在跳蚤市场买的另一只企鹅身上给他找到了一个新的喙。 这么多年过去了，企鹅先生基本上是一个复杂的交换反应的结果。 旧的部分被拿走了。 而且还添加了新的部件。突然间，我知道该怎么对付企鹅先生了。 晚饭时，我把企鹅先生藏在我背后。 “猜猜我的课两周后要去哪里？”我用一种神秘的声音说。 “嗯，只要我们有足够的家长来陪伴就行。”

Mom looked like she was going to say something, so I gave a warning look. "You're not allowed to guess. So the rest of you—guess!" "A planetarium," said Dad. "To the moon," said Liam. "Sure, in our imagination." I giggled. "I'll give you guys a huge clue." Then, with a flourish, I whipped out Mr. Penguin from behind my back. Liam leaped for it, but I yanked Mr. Penguin away. "My Spidey sense tells me you're not going to the South Pole," said Dad. "Unless your mom has applied for a really large grant. And while I believe your mom can do anything, chartering a plane to take the entire fifth grade to one of the coldest places on Earth might be stretching it just a bit." "I am pretty good at grant writing." Mom smiled as she chewed her salad. I held up Mr. Penguin in front of my face and put on a pretend high voice. "So any real guesses?" "How about the aquarium?" said Dad. "You got it!" I tossed Mr. Penguin up in the air so he did a complete twirl. "It's going to be awesome. Liam, did you know that there are thirty-two thousand sea creatures there? And not just fish? Also snakes, birds, and even insects."

妈妈看起来好像要说什么，所以我给了她一个警告的眼神。 “你不能猜。 剩下的人——猜猜看！”“天文馆，”爸爸说。 “去月球。”利亚姆说。“当然，在我们的想象中。” 我咯咯笑了。“我会给你们一个巨大的线索。” 然后，我挥挥手，从我背后把企鹅先生揪了出来。 利亚姆跳过去抢，但我把企鹅先生拽走了。 “我的蜘蛛侠直觉告诉我，你不会去南极的，”爸爸说。 “除非你妈妈申请了一笔很大的助学金。 虽然我相信你妈妈无所不能，但包租一架飞机带整个五年级的学生去地球上最冷的地方可能有点过分了。” “我很擅长申请拨款。” 妈妈一边嚼沙拉一边笑着。 我把企鹅先生举到我面前，装出一副高嗓门。 “有什么真正的猜测吗？”“去水族馆怎么样？”爸爸说。 “你说对了！”我把企鹅先生抛到空中，他做了一个完整的旋转。 “这将会非常棒。 利亚姆，你知道那里有三万两千种海洋生物吗？ 不只是鱼吗？还有蛇，鸟，甚至昆虫。”

"Wow. You sound like a brochure," Dad said, biting into his chicken leg. "Well, we've been learning about it. I mean, you guys know that they have whales. Not every aquarium has that. Belugas, which are sort of like dolphins, only bigger. Plus that Caribbean Reef exhibit with ninety thousand gallons of water. It's got a bonnethead shark, stingrays, and huge fish called tarpons." "Oh, I remember that exhibit," said Mom. "There was a sweet green sea turtle in there." "Yes," I said. "He's still there. His name is Nickel, and they have this diver who will go into the tank and talk to people. I'm so excited to go to the aquarium for a second time." "Correction," said Mom. "Your third time. Dad and I brought you when Grandpa Jack and Grandma Dort visited from Texas. You were two, and we pushed you around in a stroller. You kept on yelling about the penguins." Dad shook his head and laughed. "Not much has changed." "Hey, no fair." Liam slumped back in his chair. "I haven't even gone once." He harrumphed.

“哇。你听起来像一本小册子，”爸爸说，咬着他的鸡腿。 “嗯，我们一直在了解它。 我是说，你们知道他们有鲸鱼。 不是每个水族馆都有。 白鲸有点像海豚，只是体型更大。 加上加勒比海珊瑚礁展览，有9万加仑的水。 那里有帽头鲨、黄貂鱼和一种叫做大海鲢的大鱼。” “哦，我记得那个展览，”妈妈说。 “里面有一只可爱的绿海龟。” “是的，”我说。“他还在那儿。 他的名字叫尼克尔，他们有一个潜水员会进入水箱和人们交谈。 我很兴奋能第二次去水族馆。” “纠正一下，”妈妈说。“第三次了。 杰克爷爷和波特奶奶从德州来的时候，我和爸爸把你带来了。 你才两岁，我们把你推到婴儿车里。 你一直在喊企鹅的事。” 爸爸摇摇头笑了。 “变化不大。”“嘿，这不公平。” 利亚姆瘫倒在椅子上。 “我一次都没去过。” 他哼了一声。

"You'll get your chance, Liam," said Mom. "Maybe we'll go this summer. It's just that I'm so busy during the year." Mom looked at Dad, who was glancing down at his phone. "Greg, wouldn't July be perfect?" Midsummer is basically the only time that Mom is actually free. In early and later summer, she has meetings. Liam grabbed the penguin from me and clutched it to his chest. "Hey, can Snowie be mine again?" Even though Mr. Penguin was mine, Liam had loved him so much that I said he could borrow him sometimes. And whenever he borrows him, he renames him. I'm fine with that, honestly. I'm not a go-to-bed-with-a-stuffed-animal kind of person anyway. "So, Dad, I bet you'd like to see all that great stuff at the aquarium," I said enthusiastically. "Plus, it's in Chicago. You could wave hi to the Bulls." "Well, you can definitely wave for me." "No, I mean in person. As a chaperone." "When is it again?" asked Dad. "Two weeks from today. Say yes, please? The zebra shark is a threatened species. Which means if you don't see it at the Shedd, it'll be hard to see anywhere. And it's a great opportunity to support them. The sharks, I mean." And then I started listing

“你会有机会的，利亚姆，”妈妈说。 “也许我们今年夏天去。 只是我这一年太忙了。” 妈妈看了看正在低头看手机的爸爸。 “格雷格，七月不是很好吗？”盛夏基本上是妈妈唯一有空的时候。 在初夏和夏末，她有会议。 利亚姆从我手里抢过企鹅，把它抱在胸前。 “嘿，斯诺伊能再次成为我的吗？”虽然企鹅先生是我的，利亚姆太爱他了，所以我说他有时可以借他。 每次他借他的时候，他都会给他重新命名。 老实说，我不介意。 反正我也不是那种跟毛绒玩具上床的人。 “那么，爸爸，我敢打赌你一定想看看水族馆里所有的好东西，”我热情地说。 “另外，它在芝加哥。你可以向公牛队挥手致意。” “嗯，你当然可以为我挥手。” “不，我是说当面。作为一个监护人。” “又是什么时候？”爸爸问。 “两周后的今天。请答应我，好吗？ 斑马鲨是濒危物种。 也就是说，如果你在谢德看不到它，那就很难在其他地方看到了。 这是一个支持他们的好机会。 我是说鲨鱼。”然后我开始列举