Cali Loses a Tooth卡利掉牙

The little girl stuck1 her finger inmouth. Something felt different. When shetouched her bottom teeth， one of themmoved. She wiggled2 it. It was loose3.

Cali looked at her face in the bathroommirror. Her teeth were all there， but thatfront one on the bottom looked funny. Shepoked4 at it with her tongue5. It moved alittle. “Aunt Lisa！ ”she called. Cali livedwith her aunt and uncle. “My tooth isstrange6！ ”

Her aunt joined her and looked in hermouth. “Don’t worry，” said Aunt Lisa.“You have a loose tooth. That means youare growing up！ ”

“I don’t know if I like that，” saidCali. She loved the idea of growing up， butthinking about one of her teeth coming outmade her feel funny. “Then I will have ahole in my head.”That seemed strange.

小女孩把手指放進嘴里。感覺有什么不對。當她摸到她的下牙時，其中一顆動了。她搖動那顆牙，它是松的。

卡利看著浴室鏡子里自己的臉。她的牙齒都在，但是下面的那顆看起來有點怪。她用舌頭頂了頂它。它動了一下。“麗莎嬸嬸！”她大喊道———卡利和叔叔嬸嬸住在一起。“我的牙好奇怪！”

嬸嬸走到她身邊，看了看她的嘴。“別擔心。”麗莎嬸嬸說，“你有一顆牙齒松動了。那說明你長大了！”

“我不知道我喜不喜歡這樣。”卡利說。她喜歡長大這個說法，但想到她的一顆牙齒掉了，她就覺得好笑。“就是說我腦袋里有個洞了。”這似乎很奇怪。

Cali’s uncle walked by andstopped when he saw them. He laughed.“Cali， my dear， you already have a fewof those！ Think about your ears and yournose and your mouth. One tiny baby toothwon’t make much difference.”Cali neverthought of that before.

“But try not to worry，”said UncleGeorge.“Soon it will fall out， and ashiny7 new big tooth will grow in itsplace.”

“Will it hurt when it comes out？”Cali wondered8 how it would fall out.Should she pull it？

“No， it won’t hurt，”answered AuntLisa. “It will just fall out by itself.”Shewalked out of the bathroom and into thekitchen to prepare a snack9.

“Do you want me to yank10 it outfor you？”teased11 Uncle George.“Thenit would be gone at once！ Maybe I shouldtie a string12 around it， tie the other endto the door and slam13 it？”he asked.

卡利的叔叔從旁邊走過，看到她們然后停下了腳步。他笑了。“卡利，親愛的，你已經有好幾個了！想想你的耳朵、鼻子和嘴巴。一顆小小的乳牙不會有多大影響的。”卡利以前從未想過這一點。

“但是不要擔心。”喬治叔叔說，“很快它就會脫落，一顆閃亮的新大牙就會在它的位置上長出來。”

掉的時候會疼嗎？”卡利想知道它會怎么掉出來。她應該拔它嗎？

“不，不會痛的。”麗莎嬸嬸回答，“它會自己掉出來的。”她走出浴室，進了廚房準備零食。

“你要我幫你拔出來嗎？”喬治叔叔玩笑道，“那這顆牙齒馬上就會掉了！也許我應該在牙齒上系一根繩子，把另一端系在門上，然后砰地關上門？”

“That’s a terrible idea， UncleGeorge！ ”

The dog came over and stoppedfor a quick cuddle14. Uncle Georgerubbed15 Kodiak behind the earswhere he knew the dog liked it best.“What if we get Kodiak to play tug -of -war16 with you， but you use yourmouth like he does？ Then your toothwould pop out17！ ” suggested heruncle. Cali thought a game to play withthe dog would be fun， but it might notbe the safest way to pull out her tooth.

“Maybe I’ll just leave it in for awhile，” decided Cali. She’d hadenough of her uncle’s crazy plans. Shewent to see what her aunt was doing.

Aunt Lisa was cutting up anapple into slices18. She put them in abowl and gave some to Cali.“Thankyou，” Cali said. “You should hearUncle George’s silly ideas for mytooth.” The little girl picked up anapple slice and bit into it.

“這是一個糟糕的主意，喬治叔叔！”

小狗科迪亞克走了過來，它停下來快速躺在喬治叔叔身邊。喬治叔叔摸了摸科迪亞克的耳朵后面，他知道這是狗最喜歡被撫摸的地方。“如果我們讓科迪亞克和你玩拔河，但你像它一樣用嘴，會怎么樣？那你的牙就會蹦出來了！”她叔叔建議道。卡利覺得和狗玩游戲會很有趣，但這可能不是拔掉牙齒最安全的方法。

“也許我該把它留在嘴里一段時間。”卡利決定了。她已經受夠了她叔叔的瘋狂計劃。她轉而去看看嬸嬸在做什么。

麗莎嬸嬸正在把蘋果切成片。她把它們放在碗里，給了卡利一些。“謝謝您。”卡利說，“您真應該聽聽喬治叔叔關于我牙齒的愚蠢想法。”小女孩拿起一片蘋果，咬了一口。

As she crunched19 into it， Cali feltsomething strange. She took out the piece ofapple and looked at it. There， in the middleof the fruit， was her bottom tooth！ It didn’thurt at all. She stuck her tongue in the placewhere her tooth had been， and showed heraunt.“Cool！ ”she said.

Uncle George came into the kitchen.“I’ve had another great idea，”he said witha smile. “How about—”He stopped whenhe saw the tooth.

“Too late， Uncle George！ ”Cali laughed.“It’s out！ ”

卡利嚼蘋果的時候感到有些奇怪。她拿出那塊蘋果看了看。在那里，就在那塊水果的中間，是她那顆下牙！一點都不疼。她把舌頭伸到牙齒所在的地方，然后給嬸嬸看。“太棒了！”她說。

喬治叔叔走進廚房。“我又有了一個好主意。”他笑著說，“你覺得———”當他看到那顆牙齒時，就停了下來。

“太晚了，喬治叔叔！”卡利大笑起來，“它掉了！”

（英語原文選自：readingvine.com）