9 What’s the Matter

CHAPTER NINE What's the Matter? Law of Conservation of Matter (noun). A law that tells us that an amount of matter stays the same even when it changes form. Matter is basically anything with mass that takes up space. That means if you took a bite of your piece of pizza and offered it to your friend, in some sense the amount of matter that made up the slice stays the same. Only now some of that matter is inside your tummy and some of it is in your bestie's! "BEFORE WE START our math lesson, I want to collect field trip permission slips," said Mrs. Eberlin on Friday, January 21. It was a week before we were going to the Shedd. Some kids opened up their notebooks, while others had to race to their backpacks to get them. Mine was in an envelope that Mom had given me. "Thanks so much," said Mrs. Eberlin as she set down her mug of coffee. It was so warm I could practically see the steam. And boy, did the air smell good. It made me think of the law of conservation, which states that even if a little bit of the coffee

第九章怎么了？ 物质守恒定律（名词）。 这个定律告诉我们，一定数量的物质即使改变了形态也保持不变。 物质基本上是任何占据空间的有质量的东西。 这意味着，如果你咬了一口披萨，把它递给你的朋友，在某种意义上，构成这片披萨的物质的数量保持不变。 只是现在有些物质在你的肚子里，有些在你闺蜜的肚子里！“在我们开始上数学课之前，我想收集实地考察的许可单，”1月21日星期五，埃伯林夫人说。 那是在我们去谢德的前一周。 一些孩子打开了笔记本，而另一些孩子不得不跑向书包去拿。 我的在妈妈给我的一个信封里。 “非常感谢，”埃伯林太太说着，放下了咖啡杯。 天气很暖和，我几乎可以看到蒸汽。 天啊，空气闻起来真香。 这让我想到了守恒定律，它说即使有一点点咖啡

changed from a liquid to gas, the amount of particles didn't change. It's just that some of the water in the coffee had evaporated. "Remember that the deadline to turn in your signed permission forms is Monday," said Mrs. Eberlin as she went down the aisle collecting permission slips. "Since the entry fee is in the school budget, that part is covered. But if you want anything extra from the gift shop, that will be up to you." I thought about my forty dollars in my atom bank. Yeah, luckily, I had that part covered. "Also, I wanted to check on chaperones," continued Mrs. Eberlin. "I reached out to your parents again last night via email, and I know a bunch of your parents were checking their schedules, which is good. As a reminder, we'll need to have our definite list of chaperones set before we go." She didn't add the or else. But she didn't need to. Everyone knew that if we didn't find the chaperones really soon, our field trip next Friday could be canceled. But the animal presentation wouldn't. I had been working on my sea lion presentation all week. Honestly, the research was going a little slowly

从液体变成气体，粒子的数量没有改变。 只是咖啡里的一些水蒸发了。 “记住，上交你签过字的许可表格的最后期限是周一，”埃伯林夫人一边说，一边走下过道收集许可表格。 “由于报名费在学校预算中，所以这部分是可以支付的。 但如果你想从礼品店额外买些什么，那就由你决定了。” 我想到了我原子银行里的40美元。 幸运的是，这部分我已经搞定了。 “还有，我想检查一下有没有监护人，”埃伯林太太继续说。 “我昨晚又通过电子邮件联系了你的父母，我知道你的很多父母都在查看他们的日程安排，这很好。 提醒一下，我们得在出发前确定好监护人的名单。” 她没有加上“否则”。 但她不需要这么做。每个人都知道，如果我们不能尽快找到监护人，我们下周五的实地考察可能会取消。 但是动物的展示不会。 我整个星期都在准备我的海狮报告。 说实话，研究进展得有点慢

since I had so much to learn. Unlike with penguins, especially rockhoppers, where I knew facts just off the top of my head. For example, I know that rockhoppers are awesome rock climbers because they have sharp claws that help to grip the boulders. So far, I had gotten the information for the habitat and behavior sections for the sea lion as well as the description. I just needed to learn more about their diet and present status. I had no idea what the present status of sea lions was. Once I solved that mystery, I needed to complete my super-duper facts section, which hopefully would be from actual research at the aquarium, but right now I wasn't so sure. "Hey, I've got good news," called out Elijah. "My mom can come." "What? Really?" I said. Since Elijah lives next door to me, I usually hear everything firsthand. "When did that happen?" "She told me last night," said Elijah. "She convinced one of the other doctors to cover her shift at the hospital. And another one for the clinic." "That's wonderful news," said Mrs. Eberlin. "Elijah's mom is a pediatrician. That means we'll have first aid more than covered. Now we just need two more chaperones." She crossed her fingers. Usually, just like a proton, I'm positive.

因为我有很多东西要学。 不像企鹅，尤其是跳岩企鹅，我对事实的了解就在我的脑海里。 例如，我知道跳岩企鹅是很棒的攀岩者，因为它们有锋利的爪子，可以帮助抓住巨石。 到目前为止，我已经得到了关于海狮栖息地和行为部分的信息以及描述。 我只是需要更多地了解他们的饮食和现状。 我不知道海狮的现状是什么。 一旦我解开了这个谜团，我需要完成我的超级事实部分，希望这将来自水族馆的实际研究，但现在我不太确定。 “嘿，我有个好消息，”以利亚说。 “我妈妈可以来。”“什么?真的吗?”我说。 因为以利亚住在我隔壁，所以我通常都是亲耳听到的。 “那是什么时候发生的？”以利亚说：“她昨晚告诉我的。” 她说服了另一位医生替她在医院值班。 再给诊所一个。” “这真是个好消息，”埃伯林太太说。 以利亚的妈妈是一名儿科医生。 这意味着我们的急救费用绰绰有余。 现在我们还需要两个监护人。” 她交叉着手指。通常，就像质子一样，我带正电。

But right now, I was more like an electron. Negative and upset that I couldn't do a penguin presentation. "At least the weather report is good for the day of our trip," said Mrs. Eberlin. "Cold temps but no snow. For now. It's a long-term forecast and a week away, so anything can happen between now and then. Also, I wanted to remind you all that we're going to leave for the field trip first thing in the morning. So nobody can be late. And we definitely don't want to be late since we've signed up for the eleven o'clock aquarium show, and we don't want to miss that. They change up the animals in the show. But I have heard that ours will be penguins and belugas." I started to clap. Penguins! That was just awesome. That meant I'd actually be able to get really close to them. The field trip was just a week away, but I already knew that it would be one long week.

但现在，我更像是一个电子。 因为我不能做企鹅演讲而消极沮丧。 “至少天气预报对我们旅行那天是好的，”埃伯林太太说。 “天气很冷，但没有下雪。现在。 这是一个一周后的长期预报，所以从现在到那时任何事情都可能发生。 还有，我想提醒大家我们明天一大早就要出发去实地考察了。 所以没有人可以迟到。我们肯定不想迟到，因为我们已经报名了11点的水族馆表演，我们不想错过。 他们在表演中更换动物。 但我听说我们的猎物是企鹅和白鲸。” 我开始鼓掌。企鹅!太棒了。 这意味着我实际上可以非常接近他们。 离实地考察只有一个星期了，但我已经知道这将是漫长的一周。