“There’s no such place,” said Mrs Salt.
“没有这样一个地方。”索尔特太太说。
“Imported direct from Loompaland,” said Mr Wonka proudly.
“直接从伦帕地区进口的。”旺卡先生自豪地说。
“Excuse me, dear lady, but…”
“对不起,亲爱的女士,但是…”
“Oompa-Loompas!” everyone said at once. “Oompa-Loompas!”
“奥帕—伦帕人!”大家不约而同地说,“奥帕—伦帕人!”
“Mr Wonka,” cried Mrs Salt. “I’m a teacher of geography…”
“旺卡先生,”索尔特太太叫道,“我可是一个地理教师…”
“Then you’ll know all about it,” said Mr Wonka. “And oh, what a terrible country it is! Nothing but thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the world — hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles. A whang-doodle would eat ten Oompa-Loompas for breakfast and come galloping back for a second helping. When I went out there, I found the little Oompa-Loompas living in tree houses. They had to live in tree houses to escape from the whangdoodles and the hornswogglers and the snozzwangers. And they were living on green caterpillars, and the caterpillars tasted revolting, and the Oompa-Loompas spent every moment of their days climbing through the treetops looking for other things to mash up with the caterpillars to make them taste better — red beetles, for instance, and eucalyptus leaves, and the bark of the bong-bong tree, all of them beastly, but not quite so beastly as the caterpillars. Poor little Oompa-Loompas! The one food that they longed for more than any other was the cacao bean. But they couldn’t get it. An Oompa-Loompa was lucky if he found three or four cacao beans a year. But oh, how they craved them. They used to dream about cacao beans all night and talk about them all day. You had only to mention the word ‘cacao’ to an Oompa-Loompa and he would start dribbling at the mouth. The cacao bean,” Mr Wonka continued, “which grows on the cacao tree, happens to be the thing from which all chocolate is made. You cannot make chocolate without the cacao bean. The cacao bean is chocolate. I myself use billions of cacao beans every week in this factory. And so, my dear children, as soon as I discovered that the Oompa-Loompas were crazy about this particular food, I climbed up to their tree-house village and poked my head in through the door of the tree house belonging to the leader of the tribe. The poor little fellow, looking thin and starved, was sitting there trying to eat a bowl full of mashed-up green caterpillars without being sick. ‘Look here,’ I said (speaking not in English, of course, but in Oompa-Loompish), ‘look here, if you and all your people will come back to my country and live in my factory, you can have all the cacao beans you want! I’ve got mountains of them in my storehouses! You can have cacao beans for every meal! You can gorge yourselves silly on them! I’ll even pay your wages in cacao beans if you wish!'”
“那么让你听一听,知道知道吧,”旺卡先生说,“噢,那是一个多么可怕的地方啊!那里只有浓密的丛林,住满了世界上最危险的野兽——独角兽、怪鼻兽和一些可怕凶恶的丑怪兽。一头丑怪兽一顿早餐可以吃十个奥帕—伦帕人,不够又跑回来再吃。我到那里去,看到那些小奥帕—伦帕人住在树上的屋里。他们只好住在树屋里躲避独角兽、怪鼻兽和丑怪兽。他们靠吃绿毛虫为生,毛虫的味道实在叫人恶心,于是奥帕—伦帕人整天在树梢上爬,找别的东西来跟毛虫拌在一起捣碎了吃,使味道好一些,比方说红甲虫、桉树叶、梆梆树皮,全都不好吃,但比毛虫好吃一些。可怜的小奥帕—伦帕人!在所有的食物中,他们最渴望吃到的是可可豆,但是他们往往吃不到。一个奥帕—伦帕人一年能找到三四粒可可豆就算是幸运的了。但是,他们多么渴望吃到可可豆啊!他们总是整夜在做可可豆的梦,整天在谈可可豆。你只要对一个奥帕—伦帕人提到‘可可豆’,他就会流口水。可可豆,”旺卡先生说下去,“长在可可树上,正好是制造巧克力的原料。没有可可豆就制造不成巧克力。可可豆就是巧克力。我这家工厂每星期要用上亿万粒可可豆。因此,我亲爱的小朋友们,当我发现奥帕—伦帕人爱这种食物爱得发狂时,我就爬上他们的树屋,把头伸到部落酋长家的门里。那可怜的小家伙看上去又瘦又饿,正坐在屋里设法吃满满一碗绿毛虫糊而不作呕。‘你听我说,’我对他说道(当然我用的不是英语而是奥帕—伦帕语),‘你听我说,如果你和你部落所有的人都跟我到我的国家,住在我的工厂里,你们就能吃到所有你们要吃的可可豆!我的仓库里可可豆堆积如山!你们每一餐都可以吃可可豆!你们可以大吃特吃!如果你们希望的话,我甚至可以用可可豆来付你们的工钱!’”
“‘Of course I mean it,’ I said. ‘And you can have chocolate as well. Chocolate tastes even better than cacao beans because it’s got milk and sugar added.'”
“‘当然是真的,’我说,‘你还可以吃巧克力糖。巧克力糖比可可豆的味道更好,因为它加进了牛奶和糖。’”
“‘You really mean it?’ asked the Oompa-Loompa leader, leaping up from his chair.”
“‘你这话当真?’奥帕—伦帕酋长从他的椅子上跳起来问。”
“The little man gave a great whoop of joy and threw his bowl of mashed caterpillars right out of the tree-house window. ‘It’s a deal!’ he cried. ‘Come on! Let’s go!'”
“那小矮人欢呼起来,把他那碗绿毛虫糊扔出了树屋的窗口。‘成交了!’他叫道,‘来!让我们走吧!’”
“So I shipped them all over here, every man, woman, and child in the Oompa-Loompa tribe. It was easy. I smuggled them over in large packing cases with holes in them, and they all got here safely. They are wonderful workers. They all speak English now. They love dancing and music. They are always making up songs. I expect you will hear a good deal of singing today from time to time. I must warn you, though, that they are rather mischievous. They like jokes. They still wear the same kind of clothes they wore in the jungle. They insist upon that. The men, as you can see for yourselves across the river, wear only deerskins. The women wear leaves, and the children wear nothing at all. The women use fresh leaves every day…”
“于是我用船把奥帕—伦帕部落的每一个男人、女人和小孩全都运载到这里来。这件事情很容易办。我把他们偷偷地放进开着洞的大行李箱。他们全都安全抵达这里。他们是出色的工人。现在他们全讲英语了。他们爱舞蹈和音乐,常常自己编出歌来唱。我想你们今天会不时听到他们唱歌。不过我必须叮嘱你们,他们十分淘气。他们还喜欢开玩笑。他们仍旧穿着在丛林时穿的衣服,他们坚持这样做。那些男人只披鹿皮,正如你们在河对岸看到的那样。女人披树叶,孩子们根本什么也不披,光着身子。女人每天要更换新鲜的树叶…”
“But I want an Oompa-Loompa!” screamed Veruca.
“可我就是要一个奥帕—伦帕人嘛!”维鲁卡哇哇大叫。
“All right, Veruca, all right. But I can’t get it for you this second. Please be patient. I’ll see you have one before the day is out.”
“好吧,维鲁卡,好吧!不过这会儿我不能给你弄到一个。请你耐心一点儿。我保证你今天一定有一个。”
“Now, now, my pet!” her father said to her, “we mustn’t interrupt Mr Wonka.”
“好了,好了,我的宝贝!”她的爸爸对她说,“我们绝对不可以打断旺卡先生的话。”
“Daddy!” shouted Veruca Salt (the girl who got everything she wanted). “Daddy! I want an Oompa-Loompa! I want you to get me an Oompa-Loompa! I want an Oompa-Loompa right away! I want to take it home with me! Go on, Daddy! Get me an Oompa-Loompa!”
“爸爸!”维鲁卡·索尔特(那个要什么有什么的小姑娘)叫道,“爸爸!我要一个奥帕—伦帕人!我要你替我弄来一个奥帕—伦帕人!我这就要个奥帕—伦帕人!我要把他带回家!去吧,爸爸,给我弄来一个奥帕—伦帕人!”
“Augustus!” shouted Mrs Gloop. “Augustus, sweetheart, I don’t think you had better do that.” Augustus Gloop, as you might have guessed, had quietly sneaked down to the edge of the river, and he was now kneeling on the riverbank, scooping hot melted chocolate into his mouth as fast as he could.
“奥古斯塔斯!”格卢普先生叫道,“奥古斯塔斯,心肝儿,我认为你最好不要那样做。”奥古斯塔斯·格卢普,正像各位可能猜到的,已经悄悄地溜到下面的河边。他现在正跪在岸上,用双手捧起热巧克力溶液大喝特喝,喝得要多快有多快。
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