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frump — I don't mind admitting it — but that doesn't mean you can roast her to a crisp.

因?yàn)榘姹静煌?音頻文本略有出入

Chapter24

Veruca in the Nut Room

3

'A chance!' yelled Mrs Salt. 'My darling Veruca! She'll . . . she'll . . . she'll be sizzled like a sausage!'

'Quite right, my dear,' said Mr Salt. 'Now see here, Wonka,' he added, 'I think you've gone just a shade too far this time, I do indeed. My daughter may be a bit of a frump — I don't mind admitting it — but that doesn't mean you can roast her to a crisp. I'll have you know I'm extremely cross about this, I really am.'

'Oh, don't be cross, my dear sir!' said Mr Wonka. 'I expect she'll turn up again sooner or later. She may not even have gone down at all. She may be stuck in the chute just below the entrance hole, and if that's the case, all you'll have to do is go in and pull her up again.'

Hearing this, both Mr and Mrs Salt dashed into the Nut Room and ran over to the hole in the floor and peered in.

'Veruca!' shouted Mrs Salt. 'Are you down there!'

There was no answer.

Mrs Salt bent further forward to get a closer look. She was now kneeling right on the edge of the hole with her head down and her enormous behind sticking up in the air like a giant mushroom. It was a dangerous position to be in. She needed only one tiny little push . . . one gentle nudge in the right place . . . and that is exactly what the squirrels gave her! Over she toppled, into the hole head first, screeching like a parrot.

'Good gracious me!' said Mr Salt, as he watched his fat wife go tumbling down the hole, 'what a lot of rubbish there's going to be today!' He saw her disappearing into the darkness. 'What's it like down there, Angina?' he called out. He leaned further forward.

The squirrels rushed up behind him . . .

'Help!' he shouted.

But he was already toppling forward, and down the chute he went, just as his wife had done before him — and his daughter.? 'Oh dear!' cried Charlie, who was watching with the others through the door, 'what on earth's going to happen to them now?'

'I expect someone will catch them at the bottom of the chute,' said Mr Wonka.

'But what about the great fiery incinerator?' asked Charlie.

'They only light it every other day,' said Mr Wonka. 'Perhaps this is one of the days when they let it go out. You never know . . . they might be lucky . . .'

'Ssshh!' said Grandpa Joe. 'Listen! Here comes another song!'

From far away down the corridor came the beating of drums. Then the singing began.

中文翻譯

“有可能！”索爾特夫人叫起來(lái)，“我親愛(ài)的韋魯卡！她將……她將……她將像支香腸被燒得絲絲響！”

“完全對(duì)，我親愛(ài)的，”索爾特先生說(shuō)，“噢，旺卡，”他又說(shuō)，“我認(rèn)為你這一次做得有點(diǎn)兒太過(guò)分了，我真覺(jué)得是這樣，我的女兒可能脾氣有點(diǎn)兒不好──我不避諱這一點(diǎn)──但是這并不意味著你就要把她烤成脆片。我要你知道我是極端反對(duì)的，我真的極端反對(duì)。”

“啊，別反對(duì)，我親愛(ài)的先生！”旺卡先生說(shuō)，“我希望遲早會(huì)找到她的，她可能還沒(méi)有完全下去。她可能正好被黏在入口洞下的坑里了。如果是這樣，你們可以進(jìn)去把她拖出來(lái)。”

索爾特先生和夫人聽(tīng)到這以后，立刻跑到堅(jiān)果地板上的那個(gè)洞口盯著往里看。

“韋魯卡！”索爾特先生大聲喊道，“你下到哪兒了？”

沒(méi)有回音。

索爾特夫人使勁彎下了身子想看得更清楚一些，她跪在洞口的邊上，頭朝下，大屁股在空中翹起，活像個(gè)大蘑菇。這種姿態(tài)很危險(xiǎn)，很有可能掉進(jìn)去。只需要輕輕地推她一下……在合適的地方用胳膊肘輕輕地推一下……正好是松鼠們給了她一下！

她頭朝下掉進(jìn)了洞里，像一只鸚鵡般地尖叫著。

索爾特先生看到他的胖妻滾進(jìn)洞里去了，說(shuō)：“我的天哪！今天將有多么多的垃圾呀！”他朝洞里叫道：“喂！下面什么樣？”他的身體也進(jìn)一步向前傾。

松鼠們?cè)谒竺婷偷匾煌啤?/p>

“救命！”他叫喊著。

可是他已經(jīng)像他的妻子和兒女一樣，掉進(jìn)垃圾坑里去了。

“喲，哎呀！”透過(guò)玻璃門(mén)正在觀看的查理叫道，“現(xiàn)在他們?cè)趺崔k呢？”

“我希望有人在垃圾坑底接住他們。”旺卡先生說(shuō)。

“但是那巨大的焚化爐怎么辦？”查理問(wèn)道。

“爐子是隔一天點(diǎn)一次，”旺卡先生說(shuō)，“也許在今天他們能出來(lái)。但不知道他們是否走運(yùn)……”

“噓！”喬爺爺說(shuō)，“聽(tīng)著！又唱歌了！”

遠(yuǎn)處傳來(lái)一陣擊鼓聲，接著歌聲四起。

未

完

待

續(xù)