Kamal has never judged a science fair before. He volunteered because a neighbor teaches at the school. Now he is standing in a busy gym with a clipboard. Forty tables are covered with posters, plants, and small machines.
卡迈勒以前从没给科学展当过评委。他自愿来，是因为一位邻居在这所学校教书。现在他拿着写字夹板，站在一间熙熙攘攘的体育馆里。四十张桌子上摆满了海报、植物和小机器。
Two other judges walk beside him. One is a retired engineer, and the other is a teacher who has done this for years. They have a simple rule: ask questions, then score the answers.
另外两位评委走在他身边。一位是退休的工程师，另一位是干了多年的老师。他们有一条简单的规矩：先提问，再给回答打分。
The first project that stops Kamal belongs to a twelve-year-old girl named Zelda. Her poster is plain, with a few photographs of thin, yellow bean plants.
第一个让卡迈勒停下脚步的项目，属于一个名叫泽尔达的十二岁女孩。她的海报很朴素，只有几张瘦弱发黄的豆苗照片。
"My idea was that plants grow faster with music," Zelda says. "It didn't work. The plants with music grew slower than the quiet ones."
“我的想法是，植物听音乐会长得更快，”泽尔达说，“没有成功。听音乐的植物比安静的那几株长得还慢。”
Kamal waits for her to explain it away. Instead, she keeps going. "I think I made mistakes. I put the music plants near the window, so they got too much sun. If I did it again, I would keep all the plants in the same place."
卡迈勒等着她给自己找借口。可她却继续说了下去。“我想我犯了错误。我把听音乐的植物放在窗边，所以它们晒了太多太阳。要是再做一次，我会把所有植物都放在同一个地方。”
"Why did you write that on your poster?" Kamal asks.
“你为什么把这些写在海报上？”卡迈勒问。
Zelda shrugs. "Because it's what happened. And now I know what to change."
泽尔达耸耸肩。“因为事情就是这样。而且现在我知道该改什么了。”
A few tables later, he sees a project about water filters. It looks perfect: clean graphs, a shiny model, and a long printed report. But when Kamal asks how the filter removes dirt, the student only repeats a line from the report. He can't say why the sand goes at the bottom.
再往前几张桌子，他看到一个关于净水器的项目。它看上去完美无缺：整洁的图表，闪亮的模型，还有一份长长的打印报告。可当卡迈勒问净水器是怎么去除脏东西的时候，那个学生只是重复了报告里的一句话。他说不出为什么沙子要放在最下面。
At the judges' table, the three of them compare their notes. The engineer thinks the filter project should win. "The results are impressive," he says. "It's the most polished one here."
在评委席上，三个人对照各自的笔记。工程师认为净水器项目应该获奖。“结果令人印象深刻，”他说，“这是这里最精致的一个。”
"It is polished," Kamal says. "But I don't think the student understands it. Zelda understands her project better than anyone, and hers failed."
“确实精致，”卡迈勒说，“但我觉得那个学生并不理解它。泽尔达比任何人都更懂她的项目，而她的失败了。”
The teacher raises an eyebrow. "A failed experiment can't win first prize."
老师扬起一边眉毛。“失败的实验拿不了一等奖。”
"Then let's give her something else," Kamal says. "A prize for honest science. If she keeps thinking like this, she might become a better scientist than any of us."
“那我们给她别的奖，”卡迈勒说，“一个诚实科学奖。如果她一直这样思考，她可能会成为比我们任何人都出色的科学家。”
They argue for ten minutes. Finally, the engineer sighs and smiles. "Fine. But I want to hear about her next experiment."
他们争了十分钟。最后，工程师叹了口气，笑了。“好吧。不过我想听听她的下一个实验。”
When Kamal hands Zelda the small gold ribbon, she looks at it for a long time. Then she opens her notebook, turns to a clean page, and writes, "Experiment two."
卡迈勒把那条小小的金色缎带交给泽尔达时，她盯着它看了很久。然后她打开笔记本，翻到干净的一页，写下：“实验二。”
