4 SOLID OR GHOSTLY

CHAPTER 4 SOLID OR GHOSTLY? You still have the doll," Claire said when she opened the box, and Kaz, Little John, and the doll floated out into the library. "Didn't your friend want it back?" "It wasn't hers," Little John said. "But guess what?" Kaz floated beside Claire. "Little John's ghost friends know about transformation!" Beckett looked up from the book he was reading. "Transformation?" "That's what it's called when a ghost takes a solid object and turns it into a ghostly object," Kaz said. "It isn't something any ghost can do," Little

第四章是实体还是幽灵？ 你还留着那个娃娃。”克莱尔打开盒子说，卡兹、小约翰和娃娃飘进了图书馆。 “你的朋友不想要回它吗？”“不是她的，”小约翰说。 “但是你猜怎么着？”卡兹漂浮在克莱尔身边。 “小约翰的鬼魂朋友知道什么是变形！”贝克特从他正在看的书中抬起头来。 “转变?”卡兹说：“这就是所谓的鬼魂把一个固体物体变成鬼一样的东西。” “这不是任何鬼魂都能做的事，”利特尔说

John explained. "Chester said, 'A ghost is either born with the ability to transform an object or he's not.'" "Who's Chester?" Beckett asked with a scowl. "He's Kiley's dad," Little John said. "Chester also said that you can tell if a ghostly object was ever solid because it won't shrink," Kaz said. "Let's see if it's true." He wafted over to the ghostly lamp that floated above the table, grabbed hold of it, then shrank down... down... down... The lamp did not shrink with him. "Wow!" Claire said. She took her detective's book out of her bag and opened it to Kaz's page. Then she wrote: He can transform objects.

约翰解释说。“切斯特说，‘鬼魂要么天生就有改变物体的能力，要么就没有。“切斯特是谁？”贝克特皱着眉头问道。 “他是基利的爸爸，”小约翰说。 “切斯特还说，你可以判断一个幽灵物体是否曾经是固体，因为它不会收缩，”卡兹说。 “让我们看看是不是真的。”他飘过桌子上方那盏幽灵般的灯，抓住它，然后缩回身子…… 下来……下来……灯并没有随着他而缩小。 “哇!”克莱尔说。她从包里拿出侦探书，翻到卡兹的那一页。 然后她写道：他可以改变物体。

"I'm not sure it counts if he can't do it on purpose," Beckett grumbled as he read over her shoulder. Claire wrinkled her nose at him. "You're just jealous that Kaz can do something you can't." "Hmph," Beckett grunted. "Chester says it's a very rare skill," Kaz told Beckett. "Very few ghosts have it. Chester only knew about it because his sister Molly had it." Kaz could hardly believe he had it. He just had to figure out how it worked.

“如果他不是故意这么做的，我不确定这算不算，”贝克特一边在她身后看书一边抱怨道。 克莱尔对他皱起鼻子。 “你只是嫉妒卡兹能做你做不到的事。” “嗯，”贝克特哼了一声。“切斯特说这是一种非常罕见的技能，”卡兹告诉贝克特。 “很少有鬼魂有它。切斯特知道这件事，是因为他妹妹莫利有。” 卡兹简直不敢相信他得到了它。 他只需要弄清楚它是如何工作的。

Other ghosts, most ghosts, simply didn't have the skill to begin with. "So, once a solid object is transformed into a ghostly object, can it be transformed back to solid form?" Claire asked as she turned a page in her notebook. Kaz and Little John looked at each other. "I don't know," Kaz replied. It wasn't a question either of them had thought to ask the other ghost family. "Chester might not know, either," Little John said. "His sister, Molly, blew away a long time ago. When they were kids. I don't think he knows a lot about transformation." "I wonder if I'll ever meet a ghost who can teach me about it," Kaz moaned. "I think you will," Little John said. "We know there's another ghost around who has that skill, too. Unless this doll just floated in by itself one day." He raised the ghostly doll above his head. "I don't think that doll floated in by itself,"

其他鬼魂，大多数鬼魂，一开始就不具备这种技能。 “那么，一旦一个固体物体变成幽灵物体，它还能变回固体吗？”克莱尔一边翻着笔记本一边问道。 卡兹和小约翰面面相觑。 “我不知道，”和子回答。 他们俩都没想过要问另一个鬼魂家族这个问题。 “切斯特可能也不知道，”小约翰说。 “他的妹妹莫莉很久以前就去世了。 当他们还是孩子的时候。我觉得他对变形了解不多。” “我不知道我是否会遇到一个能教我的鬼魂。”卡兹呻吟道。 “我想你会的，”小约翰说。 “我们知道附近还有一个鬼魂也有这种技能。 除非有一天这个娃娃自己飘进来了。” 他把幽灵般的娃娃举过头顶。 “我不认为那个娃娃是自己飘进来的。”

Claire said. "Otherwise, how did it end up in the secret room? The ghost who transformed it must have put it there. But who transformed it?" "And why did they transform it?" Kaz asked. "Did they do it on purpose or was it an accident? Like when I transformed the lamp?" "Maybe it's not such a rare skill after all," Little John said. "Are you sure you've never met another ghost who could transform solid objects?" Claire asked Beckett. "If I did, they didn't tell me about it," Beckett said. "And you don't remember when that doll got here?" Kaz asked. "Was it here when you moved in?" "I've been here for twenty years, Kaz," Beckett said. "Do you really expect me to remember what was here then and what wasn't?" "I would remember," Claire said. "Because I would write it down." She raised her notebook.

克莱尔说。“不然，它怎么会在密室里呢？” 一定是改造它的鬼魂把它放在那里的。 但是是谁改造了它呢？”“他们为什么要改造它？”Kaz问道。 “他们是故意的还是意外的？” 就像我改造那盏灯一样？”“也许这并不是一项罕见的技能，”小约翰说。 “你确定你从来没有遇到过另一个能变形的鬼魂吗？”克莱尔问贝克特。 “就算我知道了，他们也不会告诉我，”贝克特说。 “你不记得那个娃娃是什么时候来的吗？”Kaz问道。 “你搬进来的时候它在这里吗？”“我在这里已经20年了，卡兹，”贝克特说。 “你真的指望我记得当时这儿有什么，那儿没有什么吗？”“我会记得的，”克莱尔说。 “因为我会把它写下来。” 她举起笔记本。

"Hmph," Beckett replied. "Maybe we should take a closer look at some of the other objects in the secret room," Kaz suggested. "We could try shrinking them and see if any more of them were ever solid." Claire nodded. "That's a good idea, Kaz. In fact, you could start with that jack-in-the-box over there." She pointed at the ghostly box that floated in the corner of the room, right where Little John had left it. "Let me try! Let me try!" Little John swam over, picked up the jack-in-the-box, and shrank down... down... down... The box did not shrink with him. Little John expanded back to his usual size. "This was solid, too!" he cried, glowing with excitement. The glow in his body spread through the jack-in-the-box.

“嗯，”贝克特回答。“也许我们应该仔细看看密室里的其他东西。”卡兹建议道。 “我们可以试着缩小它们，看看它们中是否还有固态的。” 克莱儿点了点头。“好主意，卡兹。 事实上，你可以从那边的玩偶盒开始。” 她指着飘在房间角落里的幽灵般的盒子，就在小约翰留下的地方。 “让我试试！”让我试试！”小约翰游过去，拿起玩偶盒，缩回去…… 下来……下来……盒子并没有随着他而缩小。 小约翰又恢复了平常的身材。 “这也是实心的！”他激动地叫道。 他身体里的光芒透过玩偶盒扩散开来。