文/曉 菲
一塊改變命運的巧克力
——《查理和巧克力工廠》賞析
文/曉 菲
責任編輯:李丁文
◆原作節(jié)選◆
Chapter 30
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The great glass lift was now hovering high over the town.Inside the lift stood Mr.Wonka,Grandpa Joe,and little Charlie.
“How I love my chocolate factory,” said Mr. Wonka,gazing down. “Do you love it too,Charlie?”he asked.
“Oh,yes, ”cried Charlie,“I think it’s the most wonderful place in the whole world!”
“I am very pleased to hear you say that,”said Mr.Wonka,looking more serious than ever.He went on staring at Charlie. “Yes,”he said, “I am very pleased indeed to hear you say that.And now I shall tell you why.” Mr.Wonka cocked his head to one side and all at once the tiny twinkling wrinkles of a smile appeared around the corners of his eyes, and he said,“You see,my dear boy,I have decided to make you a present of the whole place.As soon as you are old enough to run it,the entire factory will become yours. ”
Charlie stared atMr.Wonka.Grandpa Joe opened his mouth to speak,but no words came out.
“It’s quite true, ” Mr.Wonkasaid,smiling broadly now.“I really am giving it to you.That’s all right,isn’t it?”
“Givingittohim? ” gasped GrandpaJoe.“You must be joking. ”
“I’m not joking,sir.I’m deadly serious. ”
“But...but...why should you want to give your factory to little Charlie?”
“Listen, ”Mr.Wonka said, “I’m an old man. I’m much olderthan you think.Ican’tgo on forever.I’ve got no children of my own,no family at all.So who is going to run the factory when I get too old to do it myself ? Someone’s got to keep it going.Mind you,there are thousands of clever men who would give anything for the chance to come in and take over from me,but I don’t want that sort of person.I don’t want a grown-up person at all.A grown-up won’t listen to me; he won’t learn.He will try to do things his own way and not mine.So I have to have a child.I want a good sensible loving child,one to whom I can tell all my most precious sweet-making secrets-while I am still alive.”
“But Mr.Wonka, ” stammeredGrandpa Joe,“do you really and truly mean that you are giving the whole of this enormous factory to little Charlie?After all... ”
“There’s no time for arguments! ” cried Mr. Wonka. “We must go at once and fetch the rest of the family-Charlie’s father and his mother and anyone else that’s around!They can all live in the factory from now on!They can all help to run it until Charlie is old enough to do it by himself!Where do you live,Charlie? ”
Charlie peered down through the glass floor at the snow-covered houses that lay below. “It’s over there, ” he said,pointing. “It’s that little cottage right on the edge of the town,the tiny little one... ”
“I see it! ”cried Mr.Wonka,and he pressed some more buttons and the lift shot down towards Charlie’s house.
The lift was now hovering over the roof of the Buckets’little house.
CRASH went the lift,right down through the roof of the house into the old people’s bedroom. Showers of dust and broken tiles and bits of wood and cockroaches and spiders and bricks and cement went raining down on the three old ones who were lying in bed,and each of them thought that the end of the world was come.Grandma Georgina fainted, Grandma Josephine dropped her false teeth,Grandpa George put his head under the blanket,and Mr.and Mrs.Bucket came rushing in from the next room.
“Just look at our house! ”cried poor Mr. Bucket.“It’s in ruins! ”
“My dearsir, ” said Mr.Wonka,jumping forward and shaking Mr.Bucket warmly by the hand,“I’m so very glad to meet you.You mustn’t worry about your house.From now on,you’re never going to need it again,anyway. ”
第30章
小查理和巧克力工廠
這架了不起的玻璃電梯高高地在鎮(zhèn)子上空盤旋。電梯里是旺卡先生、喬爺爺和小查理。
“我是多么熱愛我的巧克力工廠啊,”旺卡先生邊說邊朝下凝視著。“你也愛它么,查理?”他問道。
“哦,當然,”查理喊起來,“我覺得它是世界上最好的地方!”
“我很高興聽到你這么說,”旺卡先生說,臉上的神色更嚴肅了。他目不轉 睛 地 盯 著 查 理 ?!?是 的 ,”他 說 ,“ 聽 到你這么說我確實非常高興。好,讓我來告訴你這是為什么?!蓖ㄏ壬杨^側向一邊,即刻他的眼角閃現(xiàn)了幾絲喜悅的笑意。他說:“你瞧,親愛的孩子,我已決定委派你為這一切的代理人。而等你長大成人能經(jīng)營這座工廠時,它便完全屬于你了?!?/p>
查理目瞪口呆地瞧著旺卡先生,喬爺爺張大嘴似乎想說什么,但一個字也沒說出來。
“這決不是開玩笑。”旺卡先生說著爽朗地大笑起來。“我真心實意準備把它交給你,這不是很好嗎?”
“給他?”喬爺爺急切地問,“你一定在開玩笑。”
“我不是開玩笑,先生。我是極其嚴肅的。”
“可……可……為什么你竟然想把你的工廠交給小查理?”
“聽著,”旺卡先生說,“我是個老人,我比你們想象的要老得多。我不可能永遠經(jīng)管這一切。我沒有孩子,也沒有家庭。等我老得無法經(jīng)管這家工廠時,有誰能把它辦下去?總得有人把它辦下去。別忘了,有成千上萬的聰明人,為了想進入這家工廠,把它從我手里奪走,他們是不惜花任何代價的,可我不需要這種聰明人。我根本不想找個成年人。一個成年人是不會聽從我的,他也不會好好學習,他只想按自己的方式去干,而不按我的方式去做。因此,我一定得找個孩子。我需要的是一個好心的有頭腦而又可愛的孩子,這樣我就能把我所有最寶貴的糖果制作秘密都傳授給他──趁我還活著的時候?!?/p>
“不過,旺卡先生,”喬爺爺結結巴巴地說,“難道你真的要把這座巨大的工廠都交付給小查理嗎?這不是在開玩笑吧,畢竟……”
“沒時間爭論了!”旺卡先生大聲說,“我們必須馬上把家里其余的人都接來──查理的父親和母親以及家里所有人!從現(xiàn)在起,他們都可以住到工廠里去!在查理長大成人能獨自經(jīng)管工廠以前,他們都能幫助管理這家工廠!查理,你家在哪兒?”
查理透過玻璃地板,瞧著下面那些被白雪覆蓋住的房屋。“就在那兒,”他指點著,“就是鎮(zhèn)子邊緣的那幢小屋,那幢很小很小的小屋……”
“我看見啦!”旺卡先生大聲說。他又按了幾個按鈕,電梯朝查理家那幢房子直沖下去。
電梯已在巴克特家的小屋上空盤旋了。
嘩啦一聲,電梯筆直穿過屋頂?shù)搅死先藗冏〉姆块g。碎瓦、木片、蟑螂、蜘蛛、磚塊、灰泥亂紛紛一大片掉到了躺在床上的三個老人身上,他們都以為世界末日來臨了。喬治娜外婆暈了過去,約瑟芬奶奶嚇得連假牙也掉了,喬治外公用毯子蒙住了頭,巴克特夫婦從隔壁房間里沖了進來。
“瞧瞧我們的家吧!”可憐的巴克特先生叫起來,“它全給毀啦!”
旺卡先生跳上前,熱情地同巴克特先生握手,說道:“親愛的先生,看見你真是太高興了。不必擔心你的房子,不管怎么說,從現(xiàn)在起,你們再也不需要它了?!?/p>
Tips for learning:
1.hover v.徘徊;盤旋
2.gaze v.凝視
3.cock v.使朝上
4.entire adj.全部的;整個的
5.sensible adj.合乎情理的
6.enormous adj.巨大的
7.fetch v.取來
8.cottage n.村屋
9.cockroach n.蟑螂
10.brick n.磚
11.cement n.水泥
12.petrify v.使石化;使驚呆
13.at once 立刻;如:Let me come at once,or at once come to me! 讓我立刻到你那兒去吧,或者你立刻到我這兒來!
14.stare at 凝視;如:She stared at me in surprise.她驚奇地睜大眼睛看著我。
15.sort of 這一類;如:I don’t do that sort of thing in this university. 我認為在這所大學這類事情不符合禮儀。
◆賞析◆
年少時,你能想到的最美好的童年生活是怎樣的?家人們伸手可觸及到的親情,伙伴們扳著指頭承諾永不分離的友情,滿屋子似乎永遠也吃不完的零食,能替我們打開時光機器的漫畫書,還有被一場淚水就能輕易沖洗掉的煩惱等等。如果童年里,一直這樣被幸福充溢著,孩子們會不會更容易秉存感恩,心性純良,總是迫不及待想要將這種快樂和別人分享呢?羅爾德·達爾用他尖銳的筆鋒證明給我們看,童年貧富與否,不是決定兒童善良的根本。良好的家教,還有無論順境、逆境與否都懂得遵循規(guī)則的使命感,才是通抵幸福生活的源頭。
結合作者羅爾德·達爾的經(jīng)歷,就不難推出為什么他筆下的童話故事,不同于安徒生的富麗堂皇,亦不像格林的溫馨浪漫。這位出生于挪威的英國杰出兒童文學作家、劇作家和短篇小說家,曾經(jīng)歷二戰(zhàn),是通過撰寫戰(zhàn)爭回憶錄走上文學之路的。所以,即便是在后期的兒童文學作品里,達爾先生也不忘將犀利的語言、隱晦的幽默、夸張的劇情融入進來,既讓人捧腹,又引人深思。
本期推薦的小說《查理與巧克力工廠》(Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)是達 爾 先生于1964年完成的作品。該書的主人公查理小朋友,一家七口住在一棟破舊的木棚房子里。家里唯一的經(jīng)濟支柱就是查理父親——一個牙膏廠的工人。查理記不清到底已經(jīng)吃了多少頓卷心菜湯了,但是能和家人一起圍坐在既是床又是飯桌的木板上吃飯,他就覺得是寒冬里難得的無比溫暖的時刻。貧窮并未讓查理覺得童年的日子很難熬,更何況,總還有為數(shù)不多的特殊日子,可以和家人一起分享一塊旺卡先生工廠里生產(chǎn)的巧克力。那可是全世界的孩子都覺得無比美味的食物。旺卡先生在鎮(zhèn)上的那個神秘而傳奇的巧克力工廠,一直是查理和爺爺最向往的地方。查理哪里能想到,有朝一日,自己竟然會贏得那張神秘的金色入場券,并戰(zhàn)勝其他對手,成為那座工廠的繼承人。
也許,有人會羨慕查理的幸運。可不是嘛,千千萬萬的孩童中,旺卡先生偏偏選中了他??墒?,正如旺卡先生說的那樣,他苦苦找尋的,是一個通情達理、心地善良、有責任心、還能腳踏實地將工廠好好經(jīng)營下去的繼承人。而這一切,僅僅擁有對巧克力的熱愛是遠遠不夠的。選篇中,作者將查理的這些難能可貴的品質,描寫得淋漓盡致。即便在幸運砸中自己的時候,依舊最關心家人的感受;即便很快就要徹底與貧困絕緣,也深知未來的一切,都必須用當下的努力來換取。
但愿無論在逆境還是順境之中,我們都能秉懷感恩之心,善待他人。那么,當幸福落到肩頭,我們便能坦坦蕩蕩地接受。
陳曉 菲(Sherly Chen):畢 業(yè) 于 北 京 師 范大學英美文學專業(yè),獲美國俄勒岡州政府獎學金赴美留學深造。7年一線英語教學經(jīng)驗。精通英語,酷愛文學。愿用手中筆,記下心中愛。