8 What’s in the Bag

CHAPTER EIGHT What's in the Bag? Atoms (noun). Atoms are so teeny-tiny that you can't see them with your eyes or even a regular microscope. Atoms are made up of even smaller particles called electrons, protons, and neutrons. Just like soccer balls, they move due to gravity or because of force. ON MONDAY, Mrs. Eberlin held up a brown paper bag. "I've got something exciting to share with all of you." "Brownies?" asked Memito with a hopeful expression. "A tennis ball," guessed Avery. I shot up my hand. "Some atoms. Get it?" I said. "No matter what, that bag is full of atoms and molecules." Birdie giggled. "I hope those atoms are bonded together into some fun art supplies for us." Our teacher rustled the bag. "Inside, I have the names of sea creatures. And you're going to pick one to research, and then you're going to present your

第八章袋子里有什么？ 原子(名词)。原子是如此微小，以至于你无法用眼睛甚至是普通的显微镜看到它们。 原子是由更小的电子、质子和中子组成的。 就像足球一样，它们的移动是由于重力或力的作用。 周一，埃伯林拿出一个棕色纸袋。 “我有一些激动人心的事情要和大家分享。” “布朗尼蛋糕？”梅托满怀希望地问。 “一个网球。”艾弗里猜。 我举起手。“一些原子。 明白了吗?”我说。“不管怎样，那个袋子里装满了原子和分子。” 小鸟咯咯笑了。“我希望这些原子结合在一起，为我们提供一些有趣的艺术用品。” 我们的老师把书包弄得沙沙作响。 “里面有海洋生物的名字。 你要选一个来研究，然后你要展示你的

findings to the class in a five-minute Google Slides presentation. You will offer a description, habitat, diet, behavior, and present status." Mrs. Eberlin had just taught us about present status. That's the phrase scientists use to describe the current numbers in the world. For rockhopper penguins, their present status is a population of about 1.5 million penguins. And the present status of zebras is about 500,000. She continued, "The best part is that you will have a super-duper cool facts section. And I want you to discover three of these facts at the aquarium. Something you learn by observing or by asking questions of an animal expert there or by reading something in an exhibit. Your presentation will be two weeks from today, on Monday, January 31. This way when we get to the aquarium you'll already be experts, because you'll have done most of your research." She glanced up at us. "Isn't it wonderful that you get to meet your sea animal in person at the aquarium?" "That is, if we go," moaned Memito. "We need more chaperones. So far, we just have Avery's dad." Mrs. Eberlin glanced at the calendar. It was Monday, January 17. "We still have eleven days," she said in an upbeat voice. "Yay! Plenty of time," I said. "We're going to go. I'm sure of it." I couldn't help feeling that as the

用5分钟的幻灯片向全班展示他的发现。 你要描述一下，栖息地，饮食，行为和现状。” 埃伯林太太刚刚教了我们关于现状的事。 这是科学家用来描述目前世界上的数字的短语。 对于跳岩企鹅来说，它们目前的数量约为150万只。 目前，斑马的数量约为50万只。 她接着说，“最棒的是你会有一个超级酷的事实部分。 我想让你在水族馆里发现其中的三个事实。 你可以通过观察或向动物专家提问或阅读展览中的一些东西来学习。 你的报告将在两周后的今天，星期一，1月31日。 这样，当我们到达水族馆时，你们就已经是专家了，因为你们已经做了大部分的研究。” 她抬头看了我们一眼。“你能在水族馆亲眼见到你的海洋动物，这不是很美妙吗？”“如果我们去的话，”梅托呻吟道。 “我们需要更多的监护人。到目前为止，我们只有艾弗里的爸爸。” 埃伯林太太瞥了一眼日历。 那天是1月17日，星期一。 “我们还有11天的时间，”她乐观地说。 “耶!“有很多时间。”我说。 “我们要走了。我敢肯定。” 我忍不住觉得那是

principal's daughter, I was somehow extra responsible for stuff. Which is probably ridiculous, but I couldn't help it. Especially since deep down, I wasn't so sure it would all work out. Folding her hands, Mrs. Eberlin gazed at the entire class. "I sent emails to your parents asking them to look at their schedules. No doubt we'll hear from some more folks soon." Then she shook the brown paper bag so it crinkled. "It's time to pick your sea creature for your presentation." The first person she walked up to was Birdie. Birdie reached her hand into the bag and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Slowly, she unwrapped it. "I'm aging a hundred years," said Jeremy. "Tell us." "A seahorse," said Birdie softly. I could tell she was a little disappointed. I bet she wanted something more colorful that she could draw. Next up was Elijah, who pulled out an otter. There was a collective "Ooooh, so cute," and Elijah had a big grin on his face. Jeremy rubbed his hands together. "I'm going to get a shark. I can feel it. Bring on the predator, bay

作为校长的女儿，我对一些事情负有额外的责任。 这可能很荒谬，但我忍不住。 尤其是在内心深处，我不太确定这一切是否会成功。 埃伯林太太双手交叉，凝视着全班同学。 “我给你父母发了邮件，让他们看看他们的日程安排。 毫无疑问，我们很快就会收到更多的人的来信。” 然后她摇了摇棕色纸袋，把它摇皱了。 “是时候为你的演讲挑选海洋生物了。” 她走到的第一个人是伯迪。 伯蒂把手伸进包里，拿出一张叠好的纸。 她慢慢地打开包裹。“我老了一百岁，”杰里米说。 “告诉我们的。”“一只海马，”小鸟轻声说。 我看得出来她有点失望。 我敢打赌她想要画一些更鲜艳的东西。 接下来是以利亚，他拉出了一只水獭。 大家都说“哦，太可爱了”，以利亚脸上露出了灿烂的笑容。 杰里米搓着手。 “我要去抓鲨鱼。 我能感觉到。让捕食者来吧，贝

bee!" He stirred his arm and pulled out his paper. His face fell. "Parrotfish? Is that a real fish? If it's a bird, then she"—he pointed at Birdie—"should have it." Then he made a caw-caw sound like a crow. "Jeremy," said Mrs. Eberlin. "That's not appropriate. I'm going to have to write your name on the whiteboard." She wrote Jeremy in red marker on the section of the board she reserved for people who had strikes against them. Three strikes and you get sent to my mom. Luckily, I have never gotten three strikes. "And that means no recess unless you can show me better behavior." Jeremy slumped in his seat. "Okaaaay," he murmured. Outside it was pretty sunny, so there was definitely going to be outdoor recess, which made me feel more than a tiny bit happy. Next Phoenix got a jellyfish, which seemed to make her smile. And Avery got a shark. Lots of kids whistled for that one, including me. When it was my turn, I dug my hand in real fast. Please, please let it be a penguin. Quickly, I unfolded the paper. "A sea lion," I said. I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice. Because I love penguins so much. If I'm ever stressed out, I will watch penguin cams and penguin videos on YouTube.

蜜蜂!”他摇动手臂，抽出报纸。 他的脸沉了下来。“鹦嘴鱼? 那是真的鱼吗？如果是只鸟，那么她”——他指着小鸟——“应该得到它。” 然后他发出像乌鸦一样的叫声。 “杰里米，”埃伯林太太说。 “这是不合适的。我要把你的名字写在白板上。” 她用红色记号笔在黑板上写下了杰里米的名字，这是她为那些反对他们的人保留的。 三振出局，你就会被送去见我妈。 幸运的是，我从来没有三振出局过。 “也就是说，除非你表现得更好，否则不准休息。” 杰里米瘫坐在座位上。 “好吧，”他喃喃地说。外面阳光明媚，所以肯定会有户外休息，这让我感到非常高兴。 接着，凤凰得到了一只水母，这似乎使她笑了。 艾弗里得到了一条鲨鱼。很多孩子都吹口哨，包括我。 轮到我的时候，我很快地把手插了进去。 求你了，求你让它是一只企鹅吧。 我迅速地展开了那张纸。 “一只海狮，”我说。我努力不让失望的情绪流露出来。 因为我非常喜欢企鹅。 如果我有压力，我会在YouTube上看企鹅的镜头和企鹅视频。

"Sea lions are so much fun," said Phoenix. "When my family visited San Francisco, we saw them at Fisherman's Wharf. They make a barking sound almost like a dog." "Nice," I said, still trying to sound upbeat. Then Phoenix started chatting about her family's trip to San Francisco, but it was really hard to pay attention because instead I was looking over at Julia. Julia, who was smiling. Julia, who was waving a slip of paper and going, "I got penguins, you guys!" She didn't get just any penguins. She got my rockhopper penguins. "I don't know anything about them," Julia said. "Except they live in the North Pole and they're cute!" "Actually, they live in the South Pole," I said. "Antarctica, parts of southern Africa, and South America. The only thing in the North Pole is Santa's workshop." "Oh, cool," said Julia. "Literally. Since it's freezing cold wherever there are penguins." I bit my lip. Some penguins live at the tip of Africa, where temperatures can be a bit balmy. Even in Antarctica they sometimes have temperatures that are

“海狮太有趣了，”菲尼克斯说。 “当我的家人去旧金山的时候，我们在渔人码头看到了他们。 它们发出的叫声几乎和狗叫一样。” “很好，”我说，仍然努力让自己听起来乐观。 然后菲尼克斯开始聊起她全家去旧金山的旅行，但我真的很难集中注意力，因为我一直在看着茱莉亚。 茱莉亚，她在微笑。茱莉亚，她挥舞着一张纸条说：“我有企鹅，伙计们！”她得到的不是普通的企鹅。 她买了我的跳岩企鹅。 “我对他们一无所知，”茱莉亚说。 “除了它们生活在北极，而且它们很可爱！”“实际上，它们住在南极。”我说。 “南极洲、非洲南部部分地区和南美洲。 北极唯一的东西就是圣诞老人的工作室。” “哦，真酷，”茱莉亚说。”字面上。 因为有企鹅的地方都很冷。” 我咬着嘴唇。有些企鹅生活在非洲的最南端，那里的温度可能有点温和。 即使在南极洲，有时气温也是

not so freezing during the summer. When I turned around, I noticed that Birdie was super quiet and slumpy. She looked as disappointed as I was. "You wanted jellies," I said. "Yeah," she admitted. "I was really looking forward to drawing them for our report. I mean, I like seahorses too. But with jellies I wanted to work on my shading skills and showing how they're translucent and reflect the light." "Why don't you ask to switch with Phoenix? You know that she loves horses. And seahorses are as close as you can get underwater." "Kate, that's a great idea!" Birdie went over to Phoenix and asked if she would swap. I couldn't hear Phoenix's response, but she jumped up and hugged Birdie. They exchanged their little pieces of paper, and then Birdie skipped back to her seat. Now she was suddenly humming and doodling jellies all over her notebook paper. I sighed in a good kind of way. It made me happy to see my friends happy. Now I just needed to do the same for myself. But when Mrs. Eberlin heard that Birdie and Phoenix had swapped, she said, "Going forward, I'd prefer if the rest of you didn't switch with others." Mrs. Eberlin didn't say no to swapping. She just said prefer. There was a difference, I told myself. As

夏天就不那么冷了。 当我转身的时候，我注意到小鸟非常安静和懒散。 她看上去和我一样失望。 “你要的是果冻，”我说。 “是的，”她承认。“我真的很期待在我们的报告中画出它们。 我的意思是，我也喜欢海马。 但对于水母，我想提高我的阴影技巧，展示它们是半透明的，如何反射光。” “你为什么不要求和菲尼克斯交换呢？” 你知道她喜欢马。 而海马是你在水下最接近的地方。” “凯特，这是个好主意！”伯迪去找菲尼克斯，问她是否愿意交换。 我听不见菲尼克斯的回答，但她跳起来拥抱了伯迪。 他们交换了他们的小纸片，然后小鸟跳回她的座位。 现在她突然哼起歌来，在笔记本纸上到处乱画果冻。 我善意地叹了口气。 看到我的朋友们开心我很开心。 现在我只需要为自己做同样的事情。 但当埃伯林夫人听说伯迪和菲尼克斯交换了名字时，她说，“今后，我希望你们其他人不要和别人交换。” 埃伯林太太并没有拒绝交换。 她只是说更喜欢。这是有区别的，我告诉自己。 作为