day 60

第二章

Mr Willy Wonka's Factory

'It is, my dear, it is. And to all the kings and presidents of the world as well. But it isn't only chocolate bars that he makes. Oh, dear me, no! He has some really fantastic inventions up his sleeve, Mr Willy Wonka has! Did you know that he's invented a way of making chocolate ice cream so that it stays cold for hours and hours without being in the refrigerator? You can even leave it lying in the sun all morning on a hot day and it won't go runny!'

'But that's impossible!' said little Charlie, staring at his grandfather.

'Of course it's impossible!' cried Grandpa Joe. 'It's completely absurd! But Mr Willy Wonka has done it!'? 'Quite right!' the others agreed, nodding their heads. 'Mr Wonka has done it.'

'And then again,' Grandpa Joe went on speaking very slowly now so that Charlie wouldn't miss a word, 'Mr Willy Wonka can make marshmallows that taste of violets, and rich caramels that change colour every ten seconds as you suck them, and little feathery sweets that melt away deliciously the moment you put them between your lips. He can make chewing-gum that never loses its taste, and sugar balloons that you can blow up to enormous sizes before you pop them with a pin and gobble them up. And, by a most secret method, he can make lovely blue birds' eggs with black spots on them, and when you put one of these in your mouth, it gradually gets smaller and smaller until suddenly there is nothing left except a tiny little pink sugary baby bird sitting on the tip of your tongue.'

Grandpa Joe paused and ran the point of his tongue slowly over his lips. 'It makes my mouth water just thinking about it,' he said.

'Mine, too,' said little Charlie. 'But please go on.'

While they were talking, Mr and Mrs Bucket, Charlie's mother and father, had come quietly into the room, and now both were standing just inside the door, listening.

'Tell Charlie about that crazy Indian prince,' said Grandma Josephine. 'He'd like to hear that.'

'You mean Prince Pondicherry?' said Grandpa Joe, and he began chuckling with laughter.

'Completely dotty!' said Grandpa George.

'But very rich,' said Grandma Georgina.

'What did he do?' asked Charlie eagerly.

'Listen,' said Grandpa Joe, 'and I'll tell you.'

-END-

“是的，我親愛的，是這么回事，他也把它們送給所有的國王和總統。可他制造的并不單單是巧克力。哦，不！威利·旺卡先生暗中還有一些真正奇妙的發明！你們知道嗎，他發明了一種方法，做出的巧克力冰淇淋不用放在冰箱里也一直不會融化。甚至在大熱天把這種冰淇淋在太陽下放一上午也不會化掉！”

“那是不可能的！”小查理瞪大眼珠看著祖父說。

“聽起來當然是不可能的！”喬爺爺大聲說道，“而且根本是荒謬的！然而威利·旺卡先生做出了這種巧克力！”

“一點不假！”其余三個老人都點著頭，同意他的話。“旺卡先生做出了這種巧克力。”

“還有，”喬爺爺繼續講下去，現在他講得很慢，這樣查理能一字不漏地聽到他講的每一句話，“威利·旺卡先生能做出帶紫羅蘭香味的果汁軟糖和每吮吸十秒鐘就會改變顏色的硬糖，以及一放進嘴里就融化的又小又薄的糖果。他還能做出味道永遠嚼不走的口香糖，還有糖氣球，這種糖氣球可以吹得很大很大，你得用針把它戳破，然后才能吃。他還用一種極其秘密的方法做出帶黑斑點的可愛的藍色鳥蛋，把這種蛋放進嘴里，蛋會越變越小，突然一下子蛋沒有了，卻有一只非常小的粉紅色的糖雛鳥坐在你的舌尖上。”

喬爺爺停了一會兒，用舌尖慢慢地添了一圈嘴唇。“一想起這些，就使我饞涎欲滴。”他說。

“我的口水也要流下來了，”小查理說。“不過還是繼續講下去吧。”

在他們講話的時候，查理的父母，巴克特先生和太太不出聲地走進門。兩人也站在門邊，靜靜地聽著。

“把那個瘋狂的印度王子的事告訴查理，”約瑟芬奶奶說，“他一定喜歡聽的。”

“你是說蓬迪切里王子嗎？”喬爺爺問，他開始格格格大笑起來。

“那完全是個瘋子！”喬治外公說。

“可非常有錢。”喬治娜外婆說。

“他干了些什么，啊？”小查理迫不及待地問道。

“聽著，”喬爺爺說道，“我來告訴你。”