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(jìn)嘴里。感覺(jué)有什么不對(duì)。當(dāng)她摸到她的下牙時(shí)，其中一顆動(dòng)了。她搖動(dòng)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(lái)有點(diǎn)怪。她用舌頭頂了頂它。它動(dòng)了一下。“麗莎嬸嬸！”她大喊道———卡利和叔叔嬸嬸住在一起?！拔业难篮闷婀?！”

嬸嬸走到她身邊，看了看她的嘴?！皠e擔(dān)心?！丙惿瘚饗鹫f(shuō)，“你有一顆牙齒松動(dòng)了。那說(shuō)明你長(zhǎng)大了！”

“我不知道我喜不喜歡這樣?！笨ɡf(shuō)。她喜歡長(zhǎng)大這個(gè)說(shuō)法，但想到她的一顆牙齒掉了，她就覺(jué)得好笑?！熬褪钦f(shuō)我腦袋里有個(gè)洞了?！边@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(guò)，看到她們?nèi)缓笸Ｏ铝四_步。他笑了?！翱ɡ?，親愛(ài)的，你已經(jīng)有好幾個(gè)了！想想你的耳朵、鼻子和嘴巴。一顆小小的乳牙不會(huì)有多大影響的?！笨ɡ郧皬奈聪脒^(guò)這一點(diǎn)。

“但是不要擔(dān)心?！眴讨问迨逭f(shuō)，“很快它就會(huì)脫落，一顆閃亮的新大牙就會(huì)在它的位置上長(zhǎng)出來(lái)。”

掉的時(shí)候會(huì)疼嗎？”卡利想知道它會(huì)怎么掉出來(lái)。她應(yīng)該拔它嗎？

“不，不會(huì)痛的。”麗莎嬸嬸回答，“它會(huì)自己掉出來(lái)的?！彼叱鲈∈?，進(jìn)了廚房準(zhǔn)備零食。

“你要我?guī)湍惆纬鰜?lái)嗎？”喬治叔叔玩笑道，“那這顆牙齒馬上就會(huì)掉了！也許我應(yīng)該在牙齒上系一根繩子，把另一端系在門上，然后砰地關(guān)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(gè)糟糕的主意，喬治叔叔！”

小狗科迪亞克走了過(guò)來(lái)，它停下來(lái)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?！叭绻覀冏尶频蟻喛撕湍阃姘魏?，但你像它一樣用嘴，會(huì)怎么樣？那你的牙就會(huì)蹦出來(lái)了！”她叔叔建議道。卡利覺(jué)得和狗玩游戲會(huì)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(shí)間。”卡利決定了。她已經(jīng)受夠了她叔叔的瘋狂計(jì)劃。她轉(zhuǎn)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(shuō)，“您真應(yīng)該聽(tīng)聽(tīng)喬治叔叔關(guān)于我牙齒的愚蠢想法?！毙∨⒛闷鹨黄O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(shí)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(diǎn)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(shuō)。

喬治叔叔走進(jìn)廚房?！拔矣钟辛艘粋€(gè)好主意?！彼χf(shuō)，“你覺(jué)得———”當(dāng)他看到那顆牙齒時(shí)，就停了下來(lái)。

“太晚了，喬治叔叔！”卡利大笑起來(lái)，“它掉了！”

（英語(yǔ)原文選自：readingvine.com）