“He did, indeed. And what a palace it was! It had one hundred rooms, and everything was made of either dark or light chocolate! The bricks were chocolate, and the cement holding them together was chocolate, and the windows were chocolate, and all the walls and ceilings were made of chocolate, so were the carpets and the pictures and the furniture and the beds; and when you turned on the taps in the bathroom, hot chocolate came pouring out.”
“他当然盖了。这是一座怎么样的宫殿啊！里面有一百个房间，不是用黑巧克力就是用白巧克力做成！砖头是巧克力的，把砖头粘起来的水泥也是巧克力的，窗子是巧克力的，所有的墙和天花板也是巧克力的，还有地毯、图画、家具和床也是巧克力的，一打开浴室的水龙头，热巧克力就哗哗地流下来。”
“Did Mr Wonka do it, Grandpa?”
“旺卡先生去盖了吗，爷爷？”
“Prince Pondicherry wrote a letter to Mr Willy Wonka,” said Grandpa Joe, “and asked him to come all the way out to India and build him a colossal palace entirely out of chocolate.”
“本地治里王子写了一封信给威利·旺卡先生，”约瑟夫爷爷说，“请他远渡重洋到印度去，给他用巧克力糖盖一座大宫殿。”
“When it was all finished, Mr Wonka said to Prince Pondicherry, ‘I warn you, though, it won’t last very long, so you’d better start eating it right away.'”
“宫殿盖好以后，旺卡先生对本地治里王子说：‘不过我提醒你，它维持不了多久，你最好马上就把它吃掉。’”
“But Mr Wonka was right, of course, because soon after this, there came a very hot day with a boiling sun, and the whole palace began to melt, and then it sank slowly to the ground, and the crazy prince, who was dozing in the living room at the time, woke up to find himself swimming around in a huge brown sticky lake of chocolate.”
“不过，旺卡先生的话自然是对的，因为过了不久，有一天天气非常热，太阳火辣辣的，整座宫殿开始融化了。它慢慢地塌到地面。那个疯王子这时正在客厅里打盹，等到醒来，发觉自己正在一个黏糊糊的棕色巧克力大湖里游来游去。”
“‘Nonsense!’ shouted the Prince. ‘I’m not going to eat my palace! I’m not even going to nibble the staircase or lick the walls! I’m going to live in it!'”
“‘胡说！’王子喊道，‘我不打算吃我的宫殿！我甚至不会去啃楼梯或者舔墙壁！我要住在里面！’”
Little Charlie looked slowly around at each of the four old faces, one after the other, and they all looked back at him. They were friendly smiling faces, but they were also quite serious. There was no sign of joking or leg-pulling on any of them.
小查理慢慢地转过头来看四位老人家一张一张的脸，他们也看着他。每张都是友善的脸，但又十分严肃。在任何一张脸上都没有开玩笑或者愚弄人的表情。
“Workers?”
“工人？”
“Grandpa, what do you mean?”
“爷爷，你说的到底是谁？”
“And… nobody… ever… goes… in!”
“也…从来…没有人…进去过！”
Little Charlie sat very still on the edge of the bed, staring at his grandfather. Charlie’s face was bright, and his eyes were stretched so wide you could see the whites all around. “Is all this really true?” he asked. “Or are you pulling my leg?”
小查理一动不动地坐在床边，定睛看着他的爷爷。查理的脸发亮，眼睛睁得那么大，甚至可以看到眼珠周围的眼白。“这一切确实是真的吗？”他问道，“还是你在骗我呢？”
“In where?” cried Charlie.
“进哪里去？”查理叫道。
“And I’ll tell you something else that’s true,” said Grandpa Joe, and now he leaned closer to Charlie, and lowered his voice to a soft, secret whisper. “Nobody… ever… comes… out!”
“我再告诉你另一件千真万确的事情，”约瑟夫爷爷说，他向查理靠近一些，把声音压低到成为很轻的悄悄话，“从来…没有人…出来过！”
“Wonka’s factory, of course!”
“旺卡工厂啊，这还用说！”
“Out of where?” asked Charlie.
“从哪里出来？”查理问道。
“I mean workers, Charlie.”
“我说的是工人，查理。”
“It’s true!” cried all four of the old people at once. “Of course it’s true! Ask anyone you like!”
“是真的！”四位老人家同时叫起来，“当然是真的！你可以随便去问什么人！”
“All factories,” said Grandpa Joe, “have workers streaming in and out of the gates in the mornings and evenings — except Wonka’s! Have you ever seen a single person going into that place — or coming out?”
“在所有的工厂，”约瑟夫爷爷说，“一早一晚总是有工人鱼贯地进出工厂的大门，只是旺卡的工厂除外！你见过有一个人进那地方或者出来吗？”
“Then who?” cried Charlie.
“那么是谁呢？”查理叫起来。
“Exactly!” said Grandpa Joe.
“正是这样！”约瑟夫爷爷说。
“But there must be people working there…”
“但里面一定有人在工作…”
“Tomorrow, my darling…”
“明天听吧，我的小宝贝…”
“Not people, Charlie. Not ordinary people, anyway.”
“不是人，查理，至少不是普通的人。”
“Ah-ha… That’s it, you see… That’s another of Mr Willy Wonka’s clevernesses.”
“对了…你瞧，就是这样…那是威利·旺卡先生的又一个绝招。”
“That’s right,” said Grandpa Joe, “I’ll tell you the rest of it tomorrow evening.”
“对，”约瑟夫爷爷说，“明天晚上我继续给你说下去。”
“Charlie, dear,” Mrs Bucket called out from where she was standing by the door, “it’s time for bed. That’s enough for tonight.”
“查理，亲爱的，”巴克特太太从门边她站着的地方喊过来，“该去睡觉了。今天晚上讲到这里已经够啦。”
“But, Mother, I must hear…”
“可是妈妈，我一定要听…”
“I… I really don’t know, Grandpa,” Charlie stammered. “Whenever I walk past the factory, the gates seem to be closed.”
“我…我确实不知道，爷爷，”查理结结巴巴地说，“每次我经过工厂，大门好像都是关着的。”
“Well? Have you?” asked Grandpa Joe.
“怎么样？你见过吗？”约瑟夫爷爷问道。
0 条评论