05 The Cook-up

The Cook-up In the kitchen, George put the saucepan on the stove and turned up the gas flame underneath it as high as it would go. 'George!' came the awful voice from the next room. 'It's time for my medicine!' 'Not yet, Grandma,' George called back. 'There's still twenty minutes before eleven o'clock.' 'What mischief are you up to in there now?' Granny screeched. 'I hear noises.' George thought it best not to answer this one. He found a long wooden spoon in a kitchen drawer and began stirring hard. The stuff in the pot got hotter and hotter.

在厨房里，乔治把平底锅放在炉子上，把锅底的煤气火调到最高。 “乔治!隔壁房间传来可怕的声音。 “我该吃药了!”“还没有，奶奶。”乔治回答。 “离十一点还有二十分钟。“你现在在那儿搞什么恶作剧?”奶奶尖叫声。 “我听到声音了。”乔治认为最好不要回答这个问题。 他在厨房抽屉里找到一把长木勺，开始使劲搅拌。 锅里的东西越来越热。

Soon the marvellous mixture began to froth and foam. A rich blue smoke, the colour of peacocks, rose from the surface of the liquid, and a fiery fearsome smell filled the kitchen. It made George choke and splutter. It was a smell unlike any he had smelled before. It was a brutal and bewitching smell, spicy and staggering, fierce and frenzied, full of wizardry and magic. Whenever he got a whiff of it up his nose, firecrackers went off in his skull and electric prickles ran along the backs of his legs. It was wonderful to stand there stirring this amazing mixture and to watch it smoking blue and bubbling and frothing and foaming as though it were alive. At one point, he could have sworn he saw bright sparks flashing in the swirling foam.

不久，这奇妙的混合物开始起泡。 一股孔雀色的浓蓝烟雾从液体表面升起，一股可怕的火辣辣的气味弥漫了整个厨房。 这使乔治喘不过气来。 这是一种他以前从未闻到过的味道。 这是一种残酷而迷人的气味，辛辣而令人震惊，凶猛而疯狂，充满了巫术和魔法。 每当他的鼻子里闻到它的味道，他的头骨里就会响起鞭炮，他的腿后面就会有电刺。 站在那里搅拌这种奇妙的混合物，看着它冒着蓝色的烟，冒着泡泡，冒着泡沫，好像它是活的一样，真是太棒了。 在某个时刻，他可以发誓，他看到在旋转的泡沫中闪烁着明亮的火花。

And suddenly, George found himself dancing around the steaming pot, chanting strange words that came into his head out of nowhere: 'Fiery broth and witch's brew Foamy froth and riches blue Fume and spume and spoondrift spray Fizzle swizzle shout hooray Watch it sloshing, swashing, sploshing Hear it hissing, squishing, spissing Grandma better start to pray.'

突然，乔治发现自己绕着热气腾腾的锅跳起舞来，嘴里嘴里莫名其妙地蹦出一些奇怪的话:“火辣辣的汤汁和女巫的汤汁，泡沫和财富，蓝色的烟雾、泡沫和浪花，嘶嘶作响，嘶嘶作响，嘶嘶作响，嘶嘶作响，奶奶最好开始祈祷。”