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，我亲爱的，是这么回事，他也把它们送给所有的国王和总统。可他制造的并不单单是巧克力。哦，不！威利·旺卡先生暗中还有一些真正奇妙的发明！你们知道吗，他发明了一种方法，做出的巧克力冰淇淋不用放在冰箱里也一直不会融化。甚至在大热天把这种冰淇淋在太阳下放一上午也不会化掉！”

“那是不可能的！”小查理瞪大眼珠看着祖父说。

“听起来当然是不可能的！”乔爷爷大声说道，“而且根本是荒谬的！然而威利·旺卡先生做出了这种巧克力！”

“一点不假！”其余三个老人都点着头，同意他的话。“旺卡先生做出了这种巧克力。”

“还有，”乔爷爷继续讲下去，现在他讲得很慢，这样查理能一字不漏地听到他讲的每一句话，“威利·旺卡先生能做出带紫罗兰香味的果汁软糖和每吮吸十秒钟就会改变颜色的硬糖，以及一放进嘴里就融化的又小又薄的糖果。他还能做出味道永远嚼不走的口香糖，还有糖气球，这种糖气球可以吹得很大很大，你得用针把它戳破，然后才能吃。他还用一种极其秘密的方法做出带黑斑点的可爱的蓝色鸟蛋，把这种蛋放进嘴里，蛋会越变越小，突然一下子蛋没有了，却有一只非常小的粉红色的糖雏鸟坐在你的舌尖上。”

乔爷爷停了一会儿，用舌尖慢慢地添了一圈嘴唇。“一想起这些，就使我馋涎欲滴。”他说。

“我的口水也要流下来了，”小查理说。“不过还是继续讲下去吧。”

在他们讲话的时候，查理的父母，巴克特先生和太太不出声地走进门。两人也站在门边，静静地听着。

“把那个疯狂的印度王子的事告诉查理，”约瑟芬奶奶说，“他一定喜欢听的。”

“你是说蓬迪切里王子吗？”乔爷爷问，他开始格格格大笑起来。

“那完全是个疯子！”乔治外公说。

“可非常有钱。”乔治娜外婆说。

“他干了些什么，啊？”小查理迫不及待地问道。

“听着，”乔爷爷说道，“我来告诉你。”