这一章略短。
Chapter 3
The Link-Up 对接
Inside the Great Glass Elevator there was also a good deal of excitement. Charlie and Mr Wonka and all the others could see clearly the huge silvery shape of Space Hotel ‘U.S.A.’ about a mile ahead of them.
查理一家子和旺卡先生在大玻璃升降机里也很紧张，他们面前一英里远就是银光闪闪的巨型太空旅馆了。而身后是以三个著名宇航员为首在内的太空运输船(Transport Capsule)。
一般文学作品中会发现量词常喜欢用a load of ,a deal of 甚至a couple of
They even knew that the three astronauts in charge of the Transport Capsule were called Shuckworth, Shanks and Showier. The whole world knew about these things. Newspapers and television had been shouting about almost nothing else for the past six months. Operation Space Hotel was the event of the century.
可以说全国人民没有不认识这几个人，不知道这件事的。报纸电视广播半年里天天就在报道这事。
‘What a load of luck!’ cried Mr Wonka. ‘We’ve landed ourselves slap in the middle of the biggest space operation of all time!’
‘We’ve landed ourselves in the middle of a nasty mess,’ said Grandma Josephine.
哈哈哈，旺卡表示运气真不错，我们竟然参与到了宇航行动。奶奶表示我们其实参与在一堆麻烦之中。
并列结构读起来很有意思。
Charlie gaped. Then he gulped. Then he said softly, ‘It’s impossible. You’ve got to have all sorts of special gadgets to link up with another spacecraft, Mr Wonka.’
gape出现过，目瞪口呆
If you gape, you look at someone or something in surprise, usually with an open mouth. 目瞪口呆地凝视; 张口结舌地看
gadgets小器械，小玩意(此处理解为装置)，像是厨房里的咖啡壶，面包机。我们平时用的手机，wifi接收器，iwatch或者手环通通可以归为此类。
小查理被吓坏了，咽了口口水，实在太生动了。
‘Yippeeeeee!’ shouted Grandpa Joe. ‘What a brilliant thought, sir! What a staggering idea!’ He grabbed Mr Wonka’s hand and started shaking it like a thermometer.
James Bolam爷爷念这个语气词实在是太有意思了。句句是戏，真心推荐这本书以及《查理和巧克力工厂》的有声书。
摇着旺卡先生的手就像甩温度计一样。
‘Be quiet, you balmy old bat!’ said Grandma Josephine. ‘We’re in a hot enough stew already. I want to go home.’
你这个老笨蛋，balmy本身是形容天气舒适的，在这里应该是作为加深程度用的，没有查到其他意思，豹豹就把它作为bloody来用了。后文也出现了一次‘You’re a balmy old bat!’ said Mr Wonka.
in a hot enough stew 是一个文字游戏，我们已经在一锅热汤里煎熬了
If someone is in a stew, that person is in a difficult situation that causes them to feel worried or upset.
What if my beard were made of green spinach?’ cried Mr Wonka. ‘Bunkum and tummyrot! You’ll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that. Would Columbus have discovered America if he’d said “What if I sink on the way over? What if I meet pirates? What if I never come back?” He wouldn’t even have started. We want no what-iffers around here,...
豹豹很喜欢这段话，查理的一家表示了各种担心，旺卡先生说哪有那么多如果，顾虑太多能取得什么成就呢？
Mr Wonka made a funny blowing noise with his mouth and glided effortlessly, like a huge bird, ...
旺卡先生滑稽的吹气声以及毫不费力的滑行。
effortless不是指无结果的，而是不费力的
Grandpa Joe’s rockets turn us to starboard, to the right. Charlie’s turn us to port, to the left.
starboard和port分别指船或飞机的右左舷，还真不知道。
‘How do I get up? I can’t get up to the ceiling!’ He was thrashing his arms and legs violently, like a drowning swimmer, but getting nowhere.
查理总是乱飘，达不到想要的位置。
If someone thrashes about, or thrashes their arms or legs about, they move in a wild or violent way, often hitting against something. You can also say that someone's arms or legs thrash about. 猛烈摆动; 翻来覆去; 剧烈扭动 (四肢)
想起一个比较接近的词，flail
Grandma Georgina, in her red flannel nightgown with two skinny bare legs sticking out of the bottom, was trumpeting and spitting like a rhinoceros and flying from one side of the Elevator to the other, shouting ‘Out of my way! Out of my way!’ and crashing into poor Mr and Mrs Bucket with terrible speed.
哈哈，这一段太好玩了。自从每个人学会了吸气吐气推进法，每个人玩得不亦乐乎。
rhinoceros是犀牛，本身就是s结尾的。复数＋es
河马hippopotamus和犀牛是两种动物，真像。一般说hippo
说起犀牛就想起廖一梅和孟京辉。
‘Looks like some kind of a war-dance, Mr President,’ ...
‘You mean they’re Red Indians!’ said the President.
war-dance战舞
Red Indians固定表达，印第安人(贬义)
印第安人一般说American Indian或者Indian(就是印度人那个词，主要是因为哥伦布给搞混了，就沿用了下来，啧)
杰克逊的太空步是moonwalk
‘You miserable old mackerel!’
你这个可怜的老鲭鱼！
查理和巧克力中出现的是Holy Mackerel表示惊奇或怀疑，但这句话还真没有什么意思在里面。保留意个人见，不过挺好玩的。
后面就没有什么难点了，他们乘坐大玻璃电梯，在旺卡先生、查理和爷爷的努力下终于对接成功，马上登录太空旅馆，为后面还未完成任务的航空运输船点个蜡，今天就是这样了。
