“You see, Charlie,” he said, “not so very long ago there used to be thousands of people working in Mr Willy Wonka’s factory. Then one day, all of a sudden, Mr Wonka had to ask every single one of them to leave, to go home, never to come back.”
“你知道吗？查理，”他说，“在不太久以前，威利·旺卡先生的工厂里一直有几千人在工作。但忽然有一天，旺卡先生不得不请所有的工人一个不剩地都离开他的工厂回家，永远不要再回去。”
“Because of spies.”
“因为有间谍。”
“But why?” asked Charlie.
“但这是为什么呢？”查理问道。
“And did they go back to their own factories and tell?” asked Charlie.
“他们回到自己的工厂去报告了吗？”查理问道。
The next evening, Grandpa Joe went on with his story.
第二天晚上，约瑟夫爷爷继续讲他的故事。
“Spies?”
“间谍？”
“They must have,” answered Grandpa Joe, “because soon after that, Fickelgruber’s factory started making an ice cream that would never melt, even in the hottest sun. Then Mr Prodnose’s factory came out with a chewing-gum that never lost its flavour however much you chewed it. And then Mr Slugworth’s factory began making sugar balloons that you could blow up to huge sizes before you popped them with a pin and gobbled them up. And so on, and so on. And Mr Willy Wonka tore his beard and shouted, ‘This is terrible! I shall be ruined! There are spies everywhere! I shall have to close the factory!'”
“他们一定报告了，”约瑟夫爷爷回答说，“因为过了不久，菲克尔格鲁伯先生的工厂也开始生产那种在最炎热的太阳底下也不会融化的冰淇淋。接着普罗德诺斯先生的工厂推出一种不管嚼多久也不会失去甜味的口香糖。再接着斯拉格沃思先生的工厂开始制造只要不用针刺破、不用口咬破便可以吹得其大无比的泡泡糖。如此等等。威利·旺卡先生于是扯着他的胡子大叫着：‘这太可怕了！我要破产了！到处都是间谍！我必须关掉我的工厂！’”
“Yes. All the other chocolate makers, you see, had begun to grow jealous of the wonderful sweets that Mr Wonka was making, and they started sending in spies to steal his secret recipes. The spies took jobs in the Wonka factory, pretending that they were ordinary workers, and while they were there, each one of them found out exactly how a certain special thing was made.”
“对。你知道，威利·旺卡先生能够制造了不起的糖果，别的巧克力糖制造商都开始妒忌了，于是派出间谍去窃取他的秘密配方。间谍们假装普通工人在旺卡工厂工作，到了工厂里，每一个间谍打听某一种特别的糖果到底是怎样制造的。”
“Months and months went by,” Grandpa Joe went on, “but still the factory remained closed. And everybody said, ‘Poor Mr Wonka. He was so nice. And he made such marvellous things. But he’s finished now. It’s all over.'”
“一个月一个月过去，”约瑟夫爷爷说下去，“工厂还是关闭着。大家都说：‘可怜的旺卡先生，他那么个好人，制造出那么了不起的糖果，但是他现在完了，全完啦。’”
“Oh, yes he did. He told all the workers that he was sorry, but they would have to go home. Then, he shut the main gates and fastened them with a chain. And suddenly, Wonka’s giant chocolate factory became silent and deserted. The chimneys stopped smoking, the machines stopped whirring, and from then on, not a single chocolate or sweet was made. Not a soul went in or out, and even Mr Willy Wonka himself disappeared completely.”
“噢，他关了。他对所有的工人说他很抱歉，但是他们只好回家。接着他关上工厂的大铁门，还拴上铁链。旺卡的大巧克力工厂一下子变得寂静无人。烟囱不冒烟了，机器停止转动了，从此再没有生产过一块巧克力糖或者其他糖果。没有一个人进出，连威利·旺卡先生本人也消失得无影无踪。”
“Then something astonishing happened. One day, early in the morning, thin columns of white smoke were seen to be coming out of the tops of the tall chimneys of the factory! People in the town stopped and stared. ‘What’s going on?’ they cried. ‘Someone’s lit the furnaces! Mr Wonka must be opening up again!’ They ran to the gates, expecting to see them wide open and Mr Wonka standing there to welcome his workers back.”
“但惊人的事情发生了。一天大清早，工厂高高的烟囱顶上升起了一缕缕淡淡的白烟！城里的人们停下来看。‘发生什么事啦？’他们叫道，‘锅炉烧起来了！旺卡先生一定又开工啦！’他们跑到工厂门口，希望见到厂门大开，旺卡先生站在那里欢迎他的工人们回去工作。”
“But he didn’t do that!” Charlie said.
“但他没有关！”查理说。
“‘But the factory is working!’ the people shouted. ‘Listen! You can hear the machines! They’re all whirring again! And you can smell the smell of melting chocolate in the air!'”
“‘不过工厂是开工了！’人们叫道，‘你可以听到机器在响！它们全都重新嗡嗡地转动了！你又可以闻到空气中融化的巧克力的香味了！’”
“But no! The great iron gates were still locked and chained as securely as ever, and Mr Wonka was nowhere to be seen.”
“但是没有！大铁门依旧锁着，铁链依旧牢牢地拴着，根本看不到旺卡先生。”
Grandpa Joe leaned forward and laid a long bony finger on Charlie’s knee, and he said softly, “But most mysterious of all, Charlie, were the shadows in the windows of the factory. The people standing on the street outside could see small dark shadows moving about behind the frosted glass windows.”
约瑟夫爷爷把身体俯向前，把一根瘦骨嶙峋的长手指放在查理的膝盖上，轻轻地说：“但最神秘的事情，查理，是映在工厂窗上的人影。人们站在外面街上可以看到，在磨砂玻璃窗里面有小黑影在动。”
“Shadows of whom?” said Charlie quickly.
“谁的影子呢？”查理连忙问。
“‘The place is full of workers!’ the people shouted. ‘But nobody’s gone in! The gates are locked! It’s crazy! Nobody ever comes out, either!'”
“‘里面全是工人！’人们叫道，‘但是没有人进去过！工厂的门锁着！简直是莫名其妙！也没有人出来过！’”
“That’s exactly what everybody else wanted to know.”
“这正是人人都想知道的。”约瑟夫爷爷说。
“But there was no question at all,” said Grandpa Joe, “that the factory was running. And it’s gone on running ever since, for these last ten years. What’s more, the chocolates and sweets it’s been turning out have become more fantastic and delicious all the time. And of course now when Mr Wonka invents some new and wonderful sweet, neither Mr Fickelgruber nor Mr Prodnose nor Mr Slugworth nor anybody else is able to copy it. No spies can go into the factory to find out how it is made.”
“但工厂开工了这是毫无疑问的，”约瑟夫爷爷说道，“自此以后，这十年来它一直在开工，而且它生产出来的巧克力糖和各种糖果愈来愈稀奇，愈来愈好吃。当然，现在旺卡先生发明出来的顶呱呱的新品种糖果，不管是菲克尔格鲁伯先生、普罗德诺斯先生，还是斯拉格沃思先生，反正不管是谁，全没有办法仿造了。再也没有间谍能混进工厂，打听出这些糖果是怎样制造的了。”
“But Grandpa, who,” cried Charlie, “who is Mr Wonka using to do all the work in the factory?”
“不过爷爷，是什么人，”查理问道，“是什么人被旺卡先生请到工厂里做这些工作呢？”
“But that’s ahsurd! Hasn’t someone asked Mr Wonka?”
“但那太荒唐了！没有人问过旺卡先生吗？”
“Nobody knows, Charlie.”
“谁也不知道，查理。”
“Nobody sees him any more. He never comes out. The only things that come out of that place are chocolates and sweets. They come out through a special trap door in the wall, all packed and addressed, and they are picked up every day by Post Office trucks.”
“根本没有人再见过他。他从不出来。从工厂里出来的只有巧克力糖和其他糖果。它们通过墙上一扇特制的活板门出来，全都包装好了，并写上了地址，一辆辆邮车每天来运走。”
“But Grandpa, what sort of people are they that work in there?”
“不过，爷爷，在里面工作的到底是些什么人呢？”
“There aren’t any such people,” Charlie said.
“这样的人是没有的。”查理说。
“My dear boy,” said Grandpa Joe, “that is one of the great mysteries of the chocolate-making world. We know only one thing about them. They are very small. The faint shadows that sometimes appear behind the windows, especially late at night when the lights are on, are those of tiny people, people no taller than my knee…”
“我亲爱的孩子，”约瑟夫爷爷说，“那是巧克力糖制造业中重大的谜之一。关于他们，我们知道的只有一件事：他们非常小。有时候，特别是在深夜灯亮了以后，窗上出现的模糊影子都是小矮人的影子，这些人顶多只到我的膝盖高…”
Just then, Mr Bucket, Charlie’s father, came into the room. He was home from the toothpaste factory, and he was waving an evening newspaper rather excitedly. “Have you heard the news?” he cried. He held up the paper so that they could see the huge headline. The headline said:
就在这时候，查理的爸爸巴克特先生走进房间。他刚从牙膏厂下班回家，十分兴奋地挥动着手里的晚报。“你们听到这个消息了吗？”他叫道。他把报纸高高举起来，好让大家看到大标题。大标题写着：
WONKA FACTORY TO BE OPENED AT LAST TO LUCKY FEW
旺卡工厂终于要为几位幸运儿开放了
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