That evening, Mr Bucket’s newspaper announced the finding of not only the third Golden Ticket, but the fourth as well. TWO GOLDEN TICKETS FOUND TODAY, screamed the headlines. ONLY ONE MORE LEFT.

那天晚上,巴克特先生带回家的晚报宣布不但第三张金奖券,连第四张金奖券也找到了。大标题触目惊心地写着:两张金奖券今天已经找到,只剩一张了!

“All right,” said Grandpa Joe, when the whole family was gathered in the old people’s room after supper, “let’s hear who found them.”

“好吧,”晚餐后当全家聚在四位老人家的房间里时,约瑟夫爷爷说,“让我们来听听是谁找到了它们。”

“The third ticket,” read Mr Bucket, holding the newspaper up close to his face because his eyes were bad and he couldn’t afford glasses, “the third ticket was found by a Miss Violet Beauregarde. There was great excitement in the Beauregarde household when our reporter arrived to interview the lucky young lady — cameras were clicking and flashbulbs were flashing and people were pushing and jostling and trying to get a bit closer to the famous girl. And the famous girl was standing on a chair in the living room waving the Golden Ticket madly at arm’s length as though she were flagging a taxi. She was talking very fast and very loudly to everyone, but it was not easy to hear all that she said because she was chewing so ferociously upon a piece of gum at the same time.”

“第三张奖券,”巴克特先生念道,他把报纸凑到脸前,因为他的视力不好,又买不起眼镜戴,“第三张奖券由维奥莉特·博雷加德小姐找到。当我们的记者来到博雷加德家访问这位幸运的年轻小姐时,她家正热闹非凡——摄影机咔嚓咔嚓地响,闪光灯闪个不停,人们又推又搡,想更靠近这位出了名的小姐一点儿。这位出了名的小姐正站在客厅里的一把椅子上,举起手臂拼命地挥动那张金奖券,好像在挥手叫出租汽车似的。她又快又响地对大家说话,但是要听清楚她所有的话实在不容易,因为她同时在拼命地大嚼一片口香糖。”

“‘Now, Violet,’ Mrs Beauregarde said from a far corner of the room where she was standing on the piano to avoid being trampled by the mob.”

“‘好了,维奥莉特。’博雷加德太太说。她在房间远远的一角,正站在钢琴上面,怕被人群踩着。”

“‘I’m a gum chewer, normally,’ she shouted, ‘but when I heard about these ticket things of Mr Wonka’s, I gave up gum and started on chocolate bars in the hope of striking lucky. Now, of course, I’m back on gum. I just adore gum. I can’t do without it. I munch it all day long except for a few minutes at mealtimes when I take it out and stick it behind my ear for safekeeping. To tell you the truth, I simply wouldn’t feel comfortable if I didn’t have that little wedge of gum to chew on every moment of the day, I really wouldn’t. My mother says it’s not ladylike and it looks ugly to see a girl’s jaws going up and down like mine do all the time, but I don’t agree. And who’s she to criticize, anyway, because if you ask me, I’d say that her jaws are going up and down almost as much as mine are just from yelling at me every minute of the day.'”

“‘其实我爱嚼口香糖,’她大叫着说,‘但是一听说旺卡先生的这些奖券,我就不嚼口香糖,开始改吃巧克力糖了,希望能幸运地得到奖券。现在,我当然回过头来吃我的口香糖。我就是热爱口香糖。我不能没有它。我整天嚼口香糖,除了吃饭时的几分钟我会把它从嘴里拿出来,为了安全地放好,我把它贴在我的耳朵后面。老实告诉你们吧,如果一天里有一分钟不嚼口香糖,我简直就浑身不舒服,实在不舒服。我妈妈说,看见一个姑娘像我这样整天上下不停地动着上下颌,着实不像一位小姐,太难看了,但是我不同意这话。她算什么,竟然批评起我来了。如果你们问我,我可以告诉你们,她的上下颌几乎就像我的一样,整天上下不停地动,她每分钟都在对我大叫大嚷。’”

“‘All right, Mother, keep your hair on!’ Miss Beauregarde shouted. ‘And now,’ she went on, turning to the reporters again, ‘it may interest you to know that this piece of gum I’m chewing right at this moment is one I’ve been working on for over three months solid. That’s a record, that is. It’s beaten the record held by my best friend, Miss Cornelia Prinzmetel. And was she furious! It’s my most treasured possession now, this piece of gum is. At night-time, I just stick it on the end of the bedpost, and it’s as good as ever in the mornings -a bit hard at first, maybe, but it soon softens up again after I’ve given it a few good chews. Before I started chewing for the world record, I used to change my piece of gum once a day. I used to do it in our lift on the way home from school. Why the lift? Because I liked sticking the gooey piece that I’d just finished with on to one of the control buttons. Then the next person who came along and pressed the button got my old gum on the end of his or her finger. Ha-ha! And what a racket they kicked up, some of them. You get the best results with women who have expensive gloves on. Oh yes, I’m thrilled to be going to Mr Wonka’s factory. And I understand that afterwards he’s going to give me enough gum to last me for the rest of my whole life. Whoopee! Hooray!'”

“‘好吧,妈妈,不要发脾气!’博雷加德小姐叫道。‘现在,’她转向记者们说,‘你们也许有兴趣知道,我正在嚼的这片口香糖,我已经嚼了整整三个月。这是一个记录,它打破了我最好的朋友康妮莉亚·普林茨梅特尔小姐所保持的记录。她气坏了!现在这片口香糖是我最珍惜的宝贝。夜里我把它贴在床柱上,到早晨又像原来一样好——起先也许硬一点儿,但用力嚼几下就变软了。在我准备嚼出世界记录以前,我总是每天换一片口香糖,也总是放学回家时在电梯里换。为什么在电梯里换呢?因为我喜欢把刚嚼完时黏糊糊的口香糖贴在电梯的按钮上。等到下一个人来乘电梯,一按按钮,我的旧口香糖就粘在他——男的或者女的——的手指上了。哈哈!有些人会大叫大嚷。碰到戴名贵手套的女人效果最好。噢,对的,要到旺卡先生的工厂去我很高兴。我知道他接下来还要送给我够吃一辈子的口香糖。好啊!万岁!’”

“Despicable!” said Grandma Georgina. “She’ll come to a sticky end one day, chewing all that gum, you see if she doesn’t.”

“真下流!”乔治娜姥姥说,“嚼那么多口香糖,她有一天也会变得黏糊糊的,不变才怪呢!”

“Beastly girl,” said Grandma Josephine.

“讨厌的小姑娘。”约瑟芬奶奶说。

“And who got the fourth Golden Ticket?” Charlie asked.

“谁拿到第四张金奖券了?”查理问道。

“Now, let me see,” said Mr Bucket, peering at the newspaper again. “Ah yes, here we are. The fourth Golden Ticket,” he read, “was found by a boy called Mike Teavee.”

“让我看看。”巴克特先生说着又看报纸。“啊,对了,在这里。第四张金奖券,”他念道,“是一个叫迈克·蒂维的男孩找到的。”

“Another bad lot, I’ll be bound,” muttered Grandma Josephine.

“我敢说,又是一个坏家伙。”约瑟芬奶奶咕哝道。

“Don’t interrupt, Grandma,” said Mrs Bucket.

“奶奶,别打断他的话。”巴克特太太说。

“The Teavee household,” said Mr Bucket, going on with his reading, “was crammed, like all the others, with excited visitors when our reporter arrived, but young Mike Teavee, the lucky winner, seemed extremely annoyed by the whole business. ‘Can’t you fools see I’m watching television?’ he said angrily. ‘I wish you wouldn’t interrupt!'”

“我们的记者来到蒂维家时,”巴克特先生念下去,“他家跟其他几家一样挤满了兴奋的来访者,但幸运的奖券得主小迈克·蒂维似乎给整件事情惹烦了。‘你们这些傻瓜没有看到我正在看电视吗?’他生气地说,‘我希望你们别打扰我!’”

“The nine-year-old boy was seated before an enormous television set, with his eyes glued to the screen, and he was watching a film in which one bunch of gangsters was shooting up another bunch of gangsters with machine guns. Mike Teavee himself had no less than eighteen toy pistols of various sizes hanging from belts around his body, and every now and again he would leap up into the air and fire off half a dozen rounds from one or another of these weapons.”

“这个九岁的男孩正坐在一台大电视机前两眼紧紧地盯住荧光屏,在看两帮匪徒用机关枪对射的电影。迈克·蒂维身上的几根背带挂满了大小不同的玩具枪,不下十八支。他不时跳起来,用这支枪或者那支枪嗒嗒嗒开六七枪。”

“That’s quite enough!” snapped Grandma Josephine. “I can’t bear to listen to it!”

“够了,够了!”约瑟芬奶奶厉声说,“听这种话我简直受不了!”

“Of course not,” said Mr Bucket, smiling at the old lady in the bed. “Some do, of course. In fact, quite a lot of them do. But not all.”

“当然不是,”巴克特先生对床上这位老太太微笑着说,“自然,有些孩子是这样,事实上有不少孩子是这样,但不是所有的孩子都这样。”

“‘Quiet!’ he shouted, when someone tried to ask him a question. ‘Didn’t I tell you not to interrupt! This show’s an absolute whiz-banger! It’s terrific! I watch it every day. I watch all of them every day, even the rotten ones, where there’s no shooting. I like the gangsters best. They’re terrific, those gangsters! Especially when they start pumping each other full of lead, or flashing the old stilettos, or giving each other the one-two-three with their knuckledusters! Gosh, what wouldn’t I give to be doing that myself! It’s the life, I tell you! It’s terrific!'”

“‘别响!’有人想向他提问他就大叫,‘我不是告诉过你们不要打扰我吗!这个节目真是呱呱叫!太棒了,我每天都看。我每天所有的节目都看,连不开枪的戆节目也看。我最喜欢强盗。那些强盗真了不起!特别是碰到他们互相噼噼啪啪开枪,亮出旧匕首,或者快速地用铜指套相击的时候!唉,如果我也能这样干就好了!告诉你们,这才是生活!真棒!’”

“Nor me,” said Grandma Georgina. “Do all children behave like this nowadays — like these brats we’ve been hearing about?”

“我也一样,”乔治娜姥姥说,“难道现今所有的孩子都这样,像我们刚才听到的那些小坏蛋一样吗?”

“And now there’s only one ticket left!” said Grandpa George.

“现在只剩下一张奖券了!”乔治姥爷说。

“Quite so,” sniffed Grandma Georgina. “And just as sure as I’ll be having cabbage soup for supper tomorrow, that ticket’ll go to some nasty little beast who doesn’t deserve it!”

“一点儿不错,”乔治娜姥姥深深吸了一口气,“就像我明天晚餐要吃卷心菜汤一样千真万确,那张奖券一准又要落到一个不配得到它的小流氓手里!”


yewandou

一个人要有坚强的毅力,否则他将一事无成

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