2015-01-23

【Aiden in English】

        What is Science? Science is all about asking questions. Why? How? When? Where? However, asking scientific questions means to ask a question of purpose and to ask a question for knowledge. Yet scientific questions aren’t always nerdy ones like formulas and blueprints, but simple, easy questions of normal day life. A dove deep into it can prove to be a great scientific question and may not seem to be as simple as thought on the first glance.

        Montgomery ES has had a Science Night for longer than I’ve been here. Although I usually don’t come, fun and crazy stories always spring up at school about things exploding and kids got something in their eyes. This year was going to be different though. This year I’m determined to go. Why? You might ask why this year out of my six years going to Montgomery. Well, I had two huge reasons. One, this is my final year at Montgomery ES. And two, I had a science project to display. In fact, the sixth grade of Montgomery ES was hosting a Science Fair. Every kid in the sixth grade had asked a simple, everyday life question and made a project about it.

        My question was how I could separate the water in orange juice from the sugar and flavor, while at the same time the water was collected. First of all, I cut a plastic cup in half as a container, placed it in a bowl, filled the bottom of the bowl with orange juice, and covered the top with a plastic food wrap. I put the bowl and its contents on an air vent in my room at home, and waited for the temperature to go up when the heat was turned on. It would feel like I watched grass grow and paint dry as hours went by. The bowl would fog up. When the water vapor began to turn into water droplets, I would put a marble on top of the wrap to make sure the water fall into the cup inside the bowl. My tri-fold poster board was jam packed with construction paper and my hypothesis, procedures, and other required elements of our projects. When the time came for Science Fair, I brought the board, the bowl with the hardened orange or sticky residue, and hand sanitizer for anyone who wished to be brave and touch it. Although the residue was completely fine to touch, I knew some people who were a little to clean, if you know what I mean, and not naming any names, the girls know who they are (even though, I’m sorry to say, a few boys are pretty chicken, too).

        As I walked into the gym of Montgomery ES, I knew this Science Fair was a success. You see, Montgomery has never had a science fair before, so this year’s sixth grade happened to be sort of a Guinea pig. By the looks of this experiment, the results seemed pretty good. The gym was full with tables, and students were slowly trickling in with science projects. It was just a matter of minutes before the crowds struck. I quickly got to my little poster station, placed down my stuff, and let the wait begin. 

        This science fair, like I’d said before, was kinda in a beta stage, looking for problems and trying to troubleshoot for next year. Adults went and came, scanning our projects, but only scanning. The students couldn’t really do anything because their posters really explained it all. The kids were left to wander and socialize, with nothing to do. Occasionally we would leave our own post to see someone else’s poster. Other than our friends, we just walked around. However, at least there was some entertainment located at other projects. One kid’s question was “Can Different Fruits Create Electricity?” My first thought was a person sticking two wires into a watermelon and getting electrocuted. What the kid did was to stick a bent paper clip and a brass wire into different small fruits and veggies. He let people test it by putting the wires on their tongues. When I tried it, a cold tingling sensation came through my tongue. It was nothing I expected. Then, I saw my friend’s poster. It was about the angle of a blade on a windmill and which angle would spin the fastest. I extremely liked the one that was about multitasking because one, it was a competition between boys versus girls, and two, boys won by a lot. I don’t know what happened, but that probably wasn’t true. There was also a project about a penny in soda, and now I’ve got a new New Year’s resolution not to drink soda because the penny was sparking clean after taking it out. The acid burned the rust away, like it would probably do it to my stomach. There were many, many more, but I didn’t bother even looking. 

        The school also had some activities set up and those were pretty cool. However, I really didn’t like the changes after I experienced those activities. I made some fake snow and the big punch stuck. There was a station set up that allowed kids to put Skittles in hot water. The color came off and changed the water’s color. Then, a girl who supervised the station let it rip and said that the color that came off was candle wax. Now I don’t know about you, but I prefer to have my stomach candle-wax-free. I guess that’s another thing on my New Year’s resolution.

        This year’s science fair made a major success. People looked happy, kids were getting grades (although that’s not always a good thing), a perfect turnout. Even though the sixth graders basically talked to each other the whole night, I don’t think that it’s going to change the teacher’s thoughts on doing this again. Not one bit. 

【红霞译文】

        科学是什么? 其实无非就是提问题，原因？方法？时间？地点？好在科学问题都是围绕考量目的检验知识展开的，因此不是总局限于呆板的计算公式和机械的蓝图草案，而是涉及到日常生活中那些简单不起眼的方方面面，只要深入探究，你就会发现其中的问题带有科学性，也许不像开始想象得那么单纯。

        自我进入蒙哥马利小学以来，学校一直设有“科学之夜”，尽管我通常不来参加活动，但可笑的令人抓狂的趣事轶闻时有发生，更有甚者，有人把东西弄进了眼球。今年将有所改变，我决定要亲自出马。为什么呢？想必你心生疑虑，为什么六年来偏偏这回非去不可。好吧，让我来告诉你两大原因：其一，这是我在本校的最后一年；其二，我要展出自己的研究课题。实际上，我们六年级的学生参与主办科学博览会，也就是说，人人必须从喜闻乐见的日常生活中发掘问题并找出答案。

        我的课题是如何将橙汁的水分与糖精香味分离出来，与此同时还要保存好这些水。首先，我把塑料杯切成一半当作容器放到碗里，然后将橙汁倒入碗底，再用保鲜膜将碗表封严并搁在暖气通风口上面，暖气启动以后，我静候温度上升。随着时间推移，我越发感觉如同观看绿草生长油漆挥干，碗里开始雾气蒙蒙。等水气浓缩成水珠之后，我在保鲜膜正中再放一玻璃球，以确保挥发的水珠能够集中落到碗里放的小杯中去。我准备好三折海报板，上面密密麻麻贴满了假想设计、操作步骤以及其它相关内容。科学博览会上，我用它和那只里面早已干化变硬但仍然粘了巴叽的橙汁碗，外加洗手液，为那些斗胆前来触摸验证的大无畏者提供卫生保障。我知道有些人干净得要死，假如你明白我的意思，在这里省得我指名道姓，女生们清楚这些同伴是谁（尽管如此，我不无抱歉地说，个别男生也缩手缩脚）。

        当一进入蒙哥马利小学体育馆，我立刻察觉到首次科学博览会举办得圆满成功。正因为史无前例，所以今年六年级才有幸成为试验品，从效果上看，成绩相当可观。放眼望去，体育馆内到处摆满了桌子，学生们先后各就各位，没过多久整个会场人山人海。我来到自己的海报前归置好东西，一切准备就绪。

        与此同时，学校增设不少其它有趣的活动。逐一体验过后，我真心希望学校继续保留这些娱乐项目。我自做了人工假雪，末了挥拳重力击去。大家还把彩虹糖扔进热水里，糖色脱落，污染了水的洁白。接着，负责演示的那位女生把糖捏碎并告诫我们，糖外表涂得都是一些蜡烛性的东西。不知你意下如何，反正我要确保胃里不能含有此种东西，这大概是我另一个新年愿望吧。

        正如我前面所说，本次科学博览会尚处在试验阶段，许多地方有待完善，有助于明年再接再厉。期间，家长们进进出出，大多匆匆扫上一眼；到场的同学没啥好忙活的，该讲的全部罗列在海报上面，大家索性四处溜达，科学博览会一时成了社交场所。当然我们彼此之间也间或观摩对方的海报，但若不是朋友的展出，谁都有一搭无一搭。不过有些海报还是挺有意思的，像“不同的水果能产电吗？”起先我以为仅仅将两根电线插入西瓜就会触电，但这位同学却用弯回形针和铜丝把各种水果和蔬菜串联一起，并让人用舌头进行测试。我试了一下，除有针扎的触痛之外，别的什么感觉也发现。另有一朋友讲风车的叶片角度，讨论什么角度转速最快。我特别喜欢这种同时涉及多件事情的话题，理由之一男女生可以相互比试，理由之二男生肯定遥遥领先。不知怎么搞的，其结果与事先预见的不同。还有一个海报展示苏达饮料中的硬币，看过之后立马引发出我全新新年誓言，决不再喝苏达饮料，因为经过浸泡后的硬币锃明瓦亮，酸水将硬币上的污泥杂物洗得干干净净，这酸水同样可以漂清我的胃囊。海报不胜枚举，我没有一一过目。

        今年科学博览会取得了巨大成功，人人兴高采烈，个个获得好评（虽然并不总是一件好事），十分圆满。尽管六年级全体学生整场都在拉呱聊天，但我觉得老师毫不介意，重在参与嘛。