104

Chapter22

Along the Corridor

'Well, well, well,' sighed Mr Willy Wonka, 'two naughty little children gone. Three good little children left. I think we'd better get out of this room quickly before we lose anyone else!'

'But Mr Wonka,' said Charlie Bucket anxiously, 'will Violet Beauregarde ever be all right again or will she always be a blueberry?'

'They'll de-juice her in no time flat!' declared Mr Wonka. 'They'll roll her into the de-juicing machine, and she'll come out just as thin as a whistle!'

'But will she still be blue all over?' asked Charlie.

'She'll be purple? cried Mr Wonka. 'A fine rich purple from head to toe! But there you are! That's what comes from chewing disgusting gum all day long!'

'If you think gum is so disgusting,' said Mike Teavee, 'then why do you make it in your factory?'

'I do wish you wouldn't mumble,' said Mr Wonka. 'I can't hear a word you're saying. Come on! Off we go! Hurry up! Follow me! We're going into the corridors again!' And so saying, Mr Wonka scuttled across to the far end of the Inventing Room and went out through a small secret door hidden behind a lot of pipes and stoves. The three remaining children — Veruca Salt, Mike Teavee, and Charlie Bucket — together with the five remaining grown-ups, followed after him.

Charlie Bucket saw that they were now back in one of those long pink corridors with many other pink corridors leading out of it. Mr Wonka was rushing along in front, turning left and right and right and left, and Grandpa Joe was saying, 'Keep a good hold of my hand, Charlie. It would be terrible to get lost in here.'

Mr Wonka was saying, 'No time for any more messing about! We'll never get anywhere at the rate we've been going!' And on he rushed, down the endless pink corridors, with his black top hat perched on the top of his head and his plum-coloured velvet coat-tails flying out behind him like a flag in the wind.

They passed a door in the wall. 'No time to go in!' shouted Mr Wonka. 'Press on! Press on!'

They passed another door, then another and another. There were doors every twenty paces or so along the corridor now, and they all had something written on them, and strange clanking noises were coming from behind several of them, and delicious smells came wafting through the keyholes, and sometimes little jets of coloured steam shot out from the cracks underneath.

Grandpa Joe and Charlie were half running and half walking to keep up with Mr Wonka, but they were able to read what it said on quite a few of the doors as they hurried by. EATABLE MARSHMALLOW PILLOWS, it said on one.

'Marshmallow pillows are terrific!' shouted Mr Wonka as he dashed by. 'They'll be all the rage when I get them into the shops! No time to go in, though! No time to go in!'

LICKABLE WALLPAPER FOR NURSERIES, it said on the next door.

'Lovely stuff, lickable wallpaper!' cried Mr Wonka, rushing past. 'It has pictures of fruits on it — bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, pineapples, strawberries, and snozzberries . . .'

'Snozzberries?' said Mike Teavee.

中文翻译

二十二、沿走廊而去

“唉，唉，唉！”威利·旺卡先生叹息道：“两个顽皮的小家伙走了。三个听话的小家伙还留着。我想我们最好还是尽快离开这儿，免得再失去一个。”

“可是，旺卡先生，”查理·巴克特焦虑地问道，“维奥勒·博勒加德是否能恢复正常还是就此变成一颗浆果了？”

“他们马上就会把她的浆汁都榨出来！”旺卡先生宣布说。“他们要把她滚进那台榨汁机里，等她出来时她会变得象一根笛子那么细瘦。”

“可她全身仍然会是蓝色的吗？”查理问。

“她会是紫色的！”旺卡先生说，“从头到脚一身明艳的紫红色！不过你们这下可以明白了！整天嚼那讨厌的口香糖到头来会成什么模样！”

“如果你这么讨厌口香糖，”迈克·蒂韦说，“那你为什么在你的厂里生产它？”

“我希望你别再这么叨叨不休了，”旺卡先生说，“我再不想听你说一个字了，来啊！我们走吧！快！跟着我！我们再到走廊里去！”一边说着，他疾步穿过发明房，来到房间的另一头，就在密密的管子和炉子后面有一扇不起眼的小门，他从这扇门里出去，剩下的三个孩子──韦鲁卡·索尔特、迈克·蒂韦和查理·巴克特──和五个大人紧随其后走了出去。

查理·巴克特发现他们又置身于一条粉红色的长走廊中，从这条走廊又分出许多条也是粉红色的走廊。旺卡先生在头里疾步如飞向前冲去，朝左拐又朝有再朝右又朝左拐了几个弯，乔爷爷就说了：“拉着我的手别松开，查理。在这儿走失可就糟透了。”

旺卡先生发话道：“再没时间闲逛了！这般速度走下去我们什么地方也去不成了！”他急匆匆地沿着没尽头的粉红色走廊走去，那顶黑色的大礼帽戴在他的头顶上，酱紫色天鹅绒燕尾服的两根衣摆在他身后乱摆着，就象风中的旗帜。

他们经过了墙上的一扇门。“没时间进去了！”旺卡先生大声说，“快走！快走！”

他们经过了另一扇门，接着又经过了两扇。现在这条走廊里差不多每隔五六十英尺便有一扇门，每扇门上都写着宇，有几扇门里面还传出了奇怪的丁当声，锁孔里还逸出了好闻的香味，有时门底下的缝隙中还喷出一股股各种颜色的蒸汽流。

乔爷爷和查理半走半跑才能跟上旺卡先生，尽管这样匆匆忙忙，他们还是能够看清经过的不少门上写的是什么。

有一扇门上写着：能吃的果汁软糖枕头。

“果汁软糖枕头可真是太好啦！”旺卡先生匆匆走过这儿，说道，“等我把它们投放市场，那将会风靡一时！可是没时间进去了！没时间进去了！”

下一扇门上写着：托儿所用的可舔吃的墙纸。

“可舔吃的墙纸，可爱的材料！”旺卡先生嚷道，又冲过去了，“上面有水果图案──香蕉、苹果、橘子、葡萄、菠萝、草莓，还有小鼻浆果……”

“小鼻浆果？”迈克·蒂韦问道。