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.

小女孩把手指放进嘴里。感觉有什么不对。当她摸到她的下牙时，其中一颗动了。她摇动那颗牙，它是松的。

卡利看着浴室镜子里自己的脸。她的牙齿都在，但是下面的那颗看起来有点怪。她用舌头顶了顶它。它动了一下。“丽莎婶婶！”她大喊道———卡利和叔叔婶婶住在一起。“我的牙好奇怪！”

婶婶走到她身边，看了看她的嘴。“别担心。”丽莎婶婶说，“你有一颗牙齿松动了。那说明你长大了！”

“我不知道我喜不喜欢这样。”卡利说。她喜欢长大这个说法，但想到她的一颗牙齿掉了，她就觉得好笑。“就是说我脑袋里有个洞了。”这似乎很奇怪。

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.

卡利的叔叔从旁边走过，看到她们然后停下了脚步。他笑了。“卡利，亲爱的，你已经有好几个了！想想你的耳朵、鼻子和嘴巴。一颗小小的乳牙不会有多大影响的。”卡利以前从未想过这一点。

“但是不要担心。”乔治叔叔说，“很快它就会脱落，一颗闪亮的新大牙就会在它的位置上长出来。”

掉的时候会疼吗？”卡利想知道它会怎么掉出来。她应该拔它吗？

“不，不会痛的。”丽莎婶婶回答，“它会自己掉出来的。”她走出浴室，进了厨房准备零食。

“你要我帮你拔出来吗？”乔治叔叔玩笑道，“那这颗牙齿马上就会掉了！也许我应该在牙齿上系一根绳子，把另一端系在门上，然后砰地关上门？”

“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.

“这是一个糟糕的主意，乔治叔叔！”

小狗科迪亚克走了过来，它停下来快速躺在乔治叔叔身边。乔治叔叔摸了摸科迪亚克的耳朵后面，他知道这是狗最喜欢被抚摸的地方。“如果我们让科迪亚克和你玩拔河，但你像它一样用嘴，会怎么样？那你的牙就会蹦出来了！”她叔叔建议道。卡利觉得和狗玩游戏会很有趣，但这可能不是拔掉牙齿最安全的方法。

“也许我该把它留在嘴里一段时间。”卡利决定了。她已经受够了她叔叔的疯狂计划。她转而去看看婶婶在做什么。

丽莎婶婶正在把苹果切成片。她把它们放在碗里，给了卡利一些。“谢谢您。”卡利说，“您真应该听听乔治叔叔关于我牙齿的愚蠢想法。”小女孩拿起一片苹果，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！ ”

卡利嚼苹果的时候感到有些奇怪。她拿出那块苹果看了看。在那里，就在那块水果的中间，是她那颗下牙！一点都不疼。她把舌头伸到牙齿所在的地方，然后给婶婶看。“太棒了！”她说。

乔治叔叔走进厨房。“我又有了一个好主意。”他笑着说，“你觉得———”当他看到那颗牙齿时，就停了下来。

“太晚了，乔治叔叔！”卡利大笑起来，“它掉了！”

（英语原文选自：readingvine.com）