? 点击下方卡片听易读猫姐姐讲故事」

1、学习天文知识：光强遮星光、恒星与太阳

2、培养观察力：白天找星星、对比亮光

3、激发好奇心：提问与探索、科学思维

有的小朋友一定发现过这个神奇的现象：晚上一抬头，满天的星星像撒了亮片一样，一闪一闪的，可好看啦！可是呢，等到第二天太阳公公一出来，咦？那些星星全都消失不见了，一个影子都找不到。

Some kids must have noticed this amazing thing before: At night, when you look up, the sky is full of stars, sparkling like glitter. It's so pretty! But then, when the sun comes out the next day, hmm? All those stars are gone, and you can't find even one.

你猜怎么着？有时候小朋友会站在阳台上，使劲儿往天上瞅，可天空蓝汪汪的，除了几朵白云和那个又大又亮的太阳，什么都没有。“白天看不到星星，它们都去哪了呀？”有的小朋友会这样问妈妈。

Guess what? Sometimes kids stand on the balcony and look up at the sky really hard. But the sky is just blue, blue, blue. There are a few white clouds and a big, bright sun. Nothing else. "I can't see stars during the day. Where did they all go?" some kids ask their mom.

妈妈可能会说：“星星回家睡觉啦。”可星星真的回家睡觉了吗？它们总不可能白天睡觉，晚上起床，像我们一样有作息时间吧？哈哈，那才不是呢！让我们一起悄悄地去探个险，找找星星白天到底藏在哪里。

Mom might say, "The stars have gone home to sleep." But do the stars really go home to sleep? They can't sleep during the day and wake up at night, like we do with our bedtime routine, right? Haha, that's not it! Let's go on a secret adventure and find out where the stars hide during the day.

有一天，有一个小朋友（我们叫他小眼睛吧，哦不对，不能有名字，那就叫“有的小朋友”）——这个小朋友特别好奇，他决定亲自去找星星。他跑到院子里，抬头看天空，蓝得晃眼睛。他大声喊：“星星！星星！你们在哪？”没有声音回答他。

One day, there was a little kid (let’s call him Small Eyes — oh no, no names, so let’s call him “a little kid”). This little kid was very curious. He decided to go and find the stars all by himself. He ran into the yard, looked up at the sky — it was so blue it made his eyes blink. He shouted loudly, “Stars! Stars! Where are you?” But no one answered him.

忽然，一只小鸟“啾啾啾”地飞过来，落在树枝上，歪着脑袋看他。小朋友问小鸟：“小鸟小鸟，你整天飞在天上，你看到星星了吗？它们白天都去哪了？”小鸟叽叽喳喳地说：“啾啾！我可是白天出来玩的，晚上我就回窝里睡觉了。星星？我好像从来没在白天见过它们。不过我知道，它们肯定还在天上，只是被太阳的亮光遮住了。就像你用手电筒照我，我就睁不开眼睛啦！”说完，小鸟扑棱一下翅膀飞走了。

Suddenly, a little bird flew over with a cheerful "chirp, chirp, chirp." It landed on a branch and tilted its head to look at the child. The child asked the little bird, "Little bird, little bird, you fly in the sky all day. Have you seen the stars? Where do they go during the day?" The little bird chirped back, "Chirp, chirp! I come out to play during the day, and at night I go back to my nest to sleep. Stars? I don't think I've ever seen them in the daytime. But I know they're still up there, just hidden by the sun's bright light. It's like when you shine a flashlight at me — I can't open my eyes!" Then, with a flutter of its wings, the little bird flew away.

小朋友想了想，手电筒？对呀，晚上看星星的时候，周围黑黑的，星星就特别亮。可是白天太阳一出来，整个世界都亮堂堂的，好像有一亿盏大灯照着天空。星星呢？它们其实还在原来的地方，一点都没动，可是太阳光太强太强了，把星星的光都盖住了。

The little kid thought for a moment. A flashlight? That's right! When we look at stars at night, it's dark all around, so the stars look very bright. But when the sun comes out during the day, the whole world is bright and shiny, like a billion big lamps are shining in the sky. What about the stars? They are still right where they were, not moving at all. But the sunlight is so, so strong that it covers up the stars' light.

就像你在屋里点一根小蜡烛，烛光闪闪的；可是如果你把窗帘拉开，外面艳阳高照，那根小蜡烛的光就根本看不见了。星星就是那根小蜡烛，而太阳就是超级无敌大灯泡！

It’s like when you light a small candle in your room, and its flame flickers and glows. But if you open the curtains and the bright sun shines in, you can’t even see the little candle’s light anymore. The stars are like that little candle, and the sun is like a super, super big light bulb!

小朋友又往前走，来到一片小树林里。一只小松鼠“嗖”地一下从树上跳下来，尾巴毛茸茸的，它正在找松果呢。小朋友问：“小松鼠，你见过星星白天去哪里了吗？”

The little child walked on and came to a small forest. A little squirrel hopped down from the tree with a swoosh. Its tail was fluffy, and it was looking for pinecones. The child asked, "Little squirrel, have you seen where the stars go during the day?"

小松鼠抱着松果，挠挠头说：“吱吱？星星呀，我猜它们躲到云朵后面去啦！你看天上的云，有的厚厚的，白白的，星星可能就在云后面睡大觉呢。”

The little squirrel held a pinecone, scratched its head, and said, "Squeak? The stars? I think they're hiding behind the clouds! Look at the clouds in the sky—some are thick and white. The stars might be sleeping right behind them."

小朋友抬头看云，一片软绵绵的白云飘过来，像棉花糖一样。可他知道，云是会动的，如果星星藏在云后面，那云飘走了星星不就露出来了吗？他再仔细看，等云走了，天空还是蓝蓝的，根本没有星星的影子。看来小松鼠猜错了。

The little kid looks up at the clouds. A soft white cloud floats by, just like cotton candy. But he knows clouds move. If stars are hiding behind the cloud, when the cloud goes away, won't the stars come out? He looks more closely. When the cloud moves, the sky is still blue. There are no stars at all. It looks like the little squirrel was wrong.

这时候，一阵风吹过来，树叶“沙沙沙”地响。小朋友自言自语：“风婆婆，你知道吗？”风当然不会说话啦，但小朋友想到了一个新主意：也许星星白天根本不是不见了，而是它们变隐身了？就像变色龙一样，把自己藏起来了？

At that moment, a wind blew. The leaves went "rustle, rustle, rustle." The little kid said to themself, "Grandma Wind, do you know?" Wind cannot talk, of course. But the little kid had a new idea: maybe the stars don't disappear during the day — maybe they turn invisible? Just like a chameleon, hiding themselves away?

他决定去问问太阳公公。可是太阳太刺眼，怎么问呢？他用手挡住眼睛，眯着眼往天上看，“太阳公公，你能不能告诉我，星星们到底在哪？”太阳当然没法回答，可是太阳的光芒洒在大地上，亮闪闪的。

He decided to ask Mr. Sun. But the sun was too bright. How could he ask? He covered his eyes with his hand and squinted up at the sky. “Mr. Sun, can you tell me, where are the stars?” Of course, the sun couldn’t answer. But the sun’s light spread across the ground, shining and sparkling.

突然，小朋友想到：对了，老师们说过，星星和太阳其实都是会发光的天体，只不过太阳离我们特别特别近，而星星离我们超级远——远到数都数不清的那么远。所以，太阳的光到了地球上，就像一个大喇叭在喊：“我在这！”而星星的光呢，就像很小很小的虫子嗡嗡叫，白天的时候，大喇叭的声音把嗡嗡声全盖住了。小朋友越想越觉得有道理。

Suddenly, the little kid thought: Oh right, the teachers said that stars and the Sun are both shiny balls in the sky, but the Sun is super, super close to us, and the stars are super, super far away—so far that we can’t even count how far. So, the Sun’s light comes to Earth like a big loudspeaker shouting, “I’m here!” And the stars’ light is like tiny little bugs buzzing. During the daytime, the loudspeaker’s sound covers up all the buzzing. The more the little kid thought about it, the more it made sense.

他蹦蹦跳跳地来到小河边，河水“哗啦啦”地流。他蹲下来，看水里的倒影——咦？水里有太阳的影子，亮闪闪的，可是没有星星。他又往水深的地方看：如果水很深，会不会星星躲在河底呢？他伸手搅了搅水，什么都没发现。

He hopped and skipped to the little river. The water went "whoosh, whoosh" as it flowed. He squatted down to look at his reflection in the water — oh? There was the sun's shadow in the water, shiny and bright, but no stars. Then he looked deeper into the water: if the water was very deep, could the stars be hiding at the bottom? He dipped his hand in and swirled the water around, but he didn't find anything.

这时候，天快傍晚了，太阳慢慢往西边落下去，天空开始变成橙红色，然后越来越暗。小朋友坐在门前的台阶上，等着天黑。过了一会儿，天空变成了深蓝色，像一块巨大的绒布。

It was getting late in the day. The sun was slowly going down in the west. The sky turned orange-red, then darker and darker. The little boy sat on the steps in front of the door, waiting for night to come. After a while, the sky turned deep blue, like a big, soft blanket.

忽然，他看见了一颗亮晶晶的小点——接着是第二颗、第三颗…“哇！星星出来啦！”他兴奋地跳起来。原来星星一直没走，它们就在那里，只是白天我们看不到它们而已！

Suddenly, he saw a tiny, shiny dot — and then a second one, a third one… "Wow! The stars are coming out!" he shouted, jumping up and down. The stars were always there, you see. They just hide in the daytime, so we can't see them!

现在，我们终于知道秘密了：白天看不到星星，不是它们跑掉了，也不是它们睡着了，而是因为太阳光太强大啦，就像我们在大白天用手机看星星——根本看不到嘛。你想想，如果晚上你在房间里点一盏小夜灯，然后同时打开头顶的大吊灯，小夜灯的光是不是就看不见了？星星的故事也是一样的。

Now, we finally know the secret: during the day, we can't see the stars. But it's not because they run away or go to sleep. It's because the sunlight is too strong! It's like trying to see stars on your phone in the middle of the day—you just can't see them at all. Think about it: if you turn on a small nightlight in your room at night, and then turn on the big ceiling light, you can't see the little nightlight anymore, right? The same thing happens with the stars.

而且，我们白天看到的蓝天，其实是太阳光撞到大气层里的空气分子、小水滴，散射出来的颜色。

And the blue sky we see during the day is actually the color that comes from sunlight bumping into air and tiny water drops in the sky.

这个散射光特别亮，把星星那一点点可怜的光芒全给淹没了。只有到了晚上，太阳下山了，天空变暗了，星星的光才能透过来，被我们的眼睛看见。

This scattered light is very bright. It covers up the little, tiny light from the stars. Only when night comes, the sun goes down, and the sky gets dark, can the stars' light come through and be seen by our eyes.

有的小朋友可能会问：那如果飞机飞到很高的地方，或者宇航员叔叔飞到太空里，白天能看到星星吗？嘿，这个问题问得好！告诉你吧，在太空中，没有大气层，太阳光不会散射，所以天空不是蓝色的，而是黑黑的——哪怕太阳就在旁边，也是黑黑的！

Some kids might ask: "What if an airplane flies really high, or an astronaut goes into space? Can they see stars in the daytime?" Hey, that's a great question! Here's the answer: In space, there's no air around, so sunlight doesn't scatter. The sky isn't blue—it's dark, even when the sun is right there!

宇航员在太空里看，白天和晚上都能看到星星，只不过太阳太亮了，他们得躲在阴影里才能看清楚。所以，星星从来都没离开过我们，它们一直挂在那里，安安静静地亮着，就像你的好朋友，永远在那里等你。