20 The Great Gum Machine

20 The Great Gum Machine Mr Wonka led the party over to a gigantic machine that stood in the very centre of the Inventing Room. It was a mountain of gleaming metal that towered high above the children and their parents. Out of the very top of it there sprouted hundreds and hundreds of thin glass tubes, and the glass tubes all curled downwards and came together in a bunch and hung suspended over an enormous round tub as big as a bath. 'Here we go!' cried Mr Wonka, and he pressed three different buttons on the side of the machine. A second later, a mighty rumbling sound came from inside it, and the whole machine began to shake most frighteningly, and steam began hissing out of it all over, and then suddenly the watchers noticed that runny stuff was pouring down the insides of all the hundreds of little glass tubes and squirting out into the great tub below. And in every single tube the runny stuff was of a different colour, so that all the colours of the rainbow (and many others as well) came sloshing and splashing into the tub. It was a lovely sight. And when the tub was nearly full, Mr Wonka pressed another button, and immediately the

旺卡先生领着大家来到一台巨大的机器前，它坐落在发明室的正中央。 那是一座闪闪发光的金属山，高高耸立在孩子们和他们的父母之上。 在它的最上面，长出了成百上千的细玻璃管，这些玻璃管都向下卷曲，聚集成一束，悬挂在一个像浴缸一样大的巨大圆盆上。 “我们走吧!”旺卡先生叫道，他按了机器侧面三个不同的按钮。 一秒钟后，一声巨大的隆隆声从里面传来，整个机器开始非常可怕地摇晃起来，蒸汽开始从四面八方嘶嘶地冒出来，然后，观察者突然注意到，流着的东西从几百个小玻璃管的里面倾泻而下，喷到下面的大浴缸里。 每一根管子里的液体都是不同的颜色，所以彩虹的所有颜色(还有许多其他的颜色)都在盆里晃动、飞溅。 这是一个可爱的景象。当浴缸快满的时候，旺卡先生按了另一个按钮，马上

runny stuff disappeared, and a whizzing whirring noise took its place; and then a giant whizzer started whizzing round inside the enormous tub, mixing up all the different coloured liquids like an ice-cream soda. Gradually, the mixture began to froth. It became frothier and frothier, and it turned from blue to white to green to brown to yellow, then back to blue again. 'Watch!' said Mr Wonka. Click went the machine, and the whizzer stopped whizzing. And now there came a sort of sucking noise, and very quickly all the blue frothy mixture in the huge basin was sucked back into the stomach of the machine. There was a moment of silence. Then a few queer rumblings were heard. Then silence again. Then suddenly, the machine let out a monstrous mighty groan, and at the same moment a tiny drawer (no bigger than the drawer in a slot machine) popped out of the side of the machine, and in the drawer there lay something so small and thin and grey that everyone thought it must be a mistake. The thing looked like a little strip of grey cardboard. The children and their parents stared at the little grey strip lying in the drawer. 'You mean that's all?' said Mike Teavee, disgusted. 'That's all,' answered Mr Wonka, gazing proudly at the result. 'Don't you know what it is?' There was a pause. Then suddenly, Violet Beau-regarde, the silly gum-chewing girl, let out a yell of excitement. 'By

流动的东西消失了，取而代之的是嗖嗖的呼啸声;然后，一个巨大的搅拌器开始在巨大的浴缸里旋转，混合了所有不同颜色的液体，就像冰淇淋苏打水一样。 渐渐地，混合物开始起泡沫。 它变得越来越多泡沫，从蓝色变成白色，再变成绿色，再变成棕色，再变成黄色，然后又回到蓝色。 “看!旺卡先生说。机器咔哒一声响了，吹口哨的声音停止了。 现在传来一种吸吮的声音，很快，大盆里所有的蓝色泡沫混合物被吸回了机器的胃里。 大家沉默了一会儿。 接着听到了几声奇怪的隆隆声。 然后又是沉默。突然，机器发出一声巨大的呻吟，与此同时，一个小抽屉(不比老虎机的抽屉大)从机器侧面弹了出来，抽屉里放着一个又细又小的灰色东西，大家都以为那一定是一个错误。 那东西看起来像一小条灰色的硬纸板。 孩子们和他们的父母盯着抽屉里的那条灰色的小纸条。 “你是说就这些?”迈克·蒂维厌恶地说。 “就这些，”旺卡先生回答，骄傲地盯着结果。 “你不知道这是什么吗?”一阵沉默。 突然，Violet beauregarde，那个嚼着口香糖的傻女孩，发出了一声兴奋的喊叫。 ”

gum, it's gum!' she shrieked. 'It's a stick of chewing-gum!' 'Right you are!' cried Mr Wonka, slapping Violet hard on the back. 'It's a stick of gum! It's a stick of the most amazing and fabulous and sensational gum in the world!'

口香糖，是口香糖!她尖叫道。 “是一根口香糖!”“你说得对!”旺卡先生叫道，重重地拍了一下维奥莱特的背。 “是一根口香糖!”这是世界上最神奇、最神奇、最令人兴奋的口香糖!”