Chapter 1

The Great Germ Hunt

伟大的细菌搜寻

1 "Achooooooo!" Violet sneezed. "Bless you!" Pablo eyed his best friend. "Do you need…a tissue?" he asked. "No, thanks. I've got one," Violet replied. She opened her backpack and removed a small packet of tissues. She blew her nose. "Are you sure you're feeling better?" asked Pablo. Violet was finally back at school after being home with a really bad cold last week. "Definitely! My fever's gone. My body doesn't ache anymore. I've been feeling great

1“Achooooooo !”紫罗兰打喷嚏。 “保佑你!”巴勃罗注视着他最好的朋友。 “你需要……纸巾吗？”他问。 “不,谢谢。我有一个，”维奥莱特回答。 她打开背包，取出一小袋纸巾。 她擤了擤鼻子。“你确定你感觉好些了吗？”巴勃罗问。 维奥莱特上周得了重感冒，回家后终于回到了学校。 “当然!我退烧了。 我的身体不再疼痛了。 我感觉很好

since yesterday! But my dad wanted to keep me home an extra day. Just in case." Violet cleared her throat. "It's probably my allergies." She blew her nose again. Loudly. "You know I always get them in the fall." "Yeah, that's true," Pablo agreed.

从昨天起!但我爸想让我多待一天。 以防万一。”维奥莱特清了清嗓子。 “可能是我过敏的缘故。” 她又擤了擤鼻子。大声。 “你知道我总是在秋天买的。” “是啊，这倒是真的，”巴勃罗同意道。

Mr. Eng's third-grade students waited patiently for the day to begin. Violet was so happy to be in class again. Being home sick wasn't fun. Even though her parents let her have a lot more screen time than normal, she was lonely and missed school. And she really missed Pablo. Pablo missed Violet, too. They were best friends, after all! They usually did just about everything together. They played soccer during recess. They sat next to each other during lunch and ate their favorite food: pickles! And every day they walked home together. But while Violet was sick, Pablo had to do all those things alone. "Mira!" Pablo stretched his neck as he looked over Violet's shoulder. He pointed with his nose toward the round tables in the Science Space at the back of the classroom. The Science Space was filled with cool equipment. It had everything from magnifying glasses and magnets to drones and telescopes. Today, each table had its very own microscope sitting in the middle!

伍启芳的三年级学生们耐心地等待着这一天的开始。 维奥莱特很高兴又回到教室了。 想家可不好玩。 尽管她的父母让她比平时有更多的屏幕时间，但她还是很孤独，也没去上学。 她真的很想念巴勃罗。 巴勃罗也想念维奥莱特。毕竟他们是最好的朋友！他们通常做什么事都在一起。 他们在课间休息时踢足球。 午餐时，他们坐在一起，吃着他们最喜欢的食物：泡菜！每天他们一起走回家。 但在维奥莱特生病的时候，巴勃罗必须一个人做这些事。 “米拉!”巴勃罗伸出脖子，从维奥莱特的肩膀上看过去。 他用鼻子指着教室后面科学空间里的圆桌。 科学空间里摆满了很酷的设备。 从放大镜、磁铁到无人机和望远镜，这里应有尽有。 今天，每个桌子中间都有自己的显微镜！

Violet's eyes grew wide with excitement. She rubbed her hands together. "This is exactly what I'm going to be doing when I grow up. Looking at squirmy germs under a microscope," she said with a smile.

维奥莱特兴奋得睁大了眼睛。 她搓着手。 “这正是我长大后要做的事情。 在显微镜下观察蠕动的细菌，”她笑着说。

Both Violet and Pablo loved science. Pablo's favorite was learning about planets and faraway galaxies. He hoped to travel to space one day in his very own spaceship. Violet was fine staying on Earth. She wanted to run her own laboratory and become famous for curing different types of diseases—especially colds. "Achooooooo!" Violet sneezed again.

维奥莱特和巴勃罗都热爱科学。 巴勃罗最喜欢的是了解行星和遥远的星系。 他希望有一天能乘坐自己的宇宙飞船去太空旅行。 维奥莱特待在地球上挺好的。 她想经营自己的实验室，以治疗不同类型的疾病——尤其是感冒——而闻名。 “Achooooooo !”维奥莱特又打了个喷嚏。