4 The Secret Workers

4 The Secret Workers The next evening, Grandpa Joe went on with his story. 'You see, Charlie,' he said, 'not so very long ago there used to be thousands of people working in Mr Willy Wonka's factory. Then one day, all of a sudden, Mr Wonka had to ask every single one of them to leave, to go home, never to come back.' 'But why?' asked Charlie. 'Because of spies.' 'Spies?' 'Yes. All the other chocolate makers, you see, had begun to grow jealous of the wonderful sweets that Mr Wonka was making, and they started sending in spies to steal his secret recipes. The spies took jobs in the Wonka factory, pretending that they were ordinary workers, and while they were there, each one of them found out exactly how a certain special thing was made.' 'And did they go back to their own factories and tell?' asked Charlie.

第二天晚上，乔爷爷继续讲他的故事。 “你看，查理，”他说，“不久以前，威利·旺卡先生的工厂里还有成千上万的人在工作。 突然有一天，旺卡先生不得不让他们每个人都离开，回家，再也不要回来。“可是为什么?”查理问。 “因为间谍。“间谍吗?“是的。 所有其他的巧克力制造商，你看，都开始嫉妒旺卡先生制作的美味糖果，他们开始派间谍去窃取他的秘密配方。 间谍们在旺卡工厂找了份工作，假装自己是普通工人，当他们在那里的时候，他们每个人都确切地知道某种特殊的东西是如何制造的。”“他们回到自己的工厂去讲了吗?查理问。

'They must have,' answered Grandpa Joe, 'because soon after that, Fickelgruber's factory started making an ice cream that would never melt, even in the hottest sun. Then Mr Prodnose's factory came out with a chewing-gum that never lost its flavour however much you chewed it. And then Mr Slugworth's factory began making sugar balloons that you could blow up to huge sizes before you popped them with a pin and gobbled them up. And so on, and so on. And Mr Willy Wonka tore his beard and shouted, "This is terrible! I shall be ruined! There are spies everywhere! I shall have to close the factory!" ' 'But he didn't do that!' Charlie said. 'Oh, yes he did. He told all the workers that he was sorry, but they would have to go home. Then, he shut the main gates and fastened them with a chain. And suddenly, Wonka's giant chocolate factory became silent and deserted. The chimneys stopped smoking, the machines stopped whirring, and from then on, not a single chocolate or sweet was made. Not a soul went in or out, and even Mr Willy Wonka himself disappeared completely.

“一定是这样，”乔爷爷回答，“因为在那之后不久，菲克尔格鲁伯的工厂开始生产一种即使在最热的太阳下也不会融化的冰淇淋。 然后普罗德诺兹先生的工厂推出了一种口香糖，不管你怎么嚼都不会失去它的味道。 然后斯拉格沃斯的工厂开始生产糖气球，你可以把它吹到很大，然后用别针把它们戳破，狼吞虎咽地吃掉。 以此类推，如此类推。威利·旺卡先生扯着胡子喊道:“这太可怕了!我要毁了!到处都是间谍!我将不得不关闭工厂!”“但他没有那样做!”查理说。 “哦，是的。他对所有的工人说他很抱歉，但他们必须回家。 然后，他关上大门，用铁链把它们锁上。 突然间，旺卡的巨型巧克力工厂变得寂静而荒芜。 烟囱停止了冒烟，机器停止了嗡嗡作响，从那时起，一块巧克力或糖果都没有生产出来。 没有一个人进出，甚至威利·旺卡先生本人也完全消失了。

'Months and months went by,' Grandpa Joe went on, 'but still the factory remained closed. And everybody said, "Poor Mr Wonka. He was so nice. And he made such marvellous things. But he's finished now. It's all over." 'Then something astonishing happened. One day, early in the morning, thin columns of white smoke were seen to be coming out of the tops of the tall chimneys of the factory! People in the town stopped and stared. "What's going on?" they cried. "Someone's lit the furnaces! Mr Wonka must be opening up again!" They ran to the gates, expecting to see them wide open and Mr Wonka standing there to welcome his workers back. 'But no! The great iron gates were still locked and chained as securely as ever, and Mr Wonka was nowhere to be seen. ' "But the factory is working!" the people shouted. "Listen! You can hear the machines! They're all whirring again! And you can smell the smell of melting chocolate in the air!" ' Grandpa Joe leaned forward and laid a long bony finger on Charlie's knee, and he said softly, 'But most mysterious of all, Charlie, were the shadows in the windows of the factory. The people standing on the street outside could see small dark shadows moving about behind the frosted glass windows.' 'Shadows of whom?' said Charlie quickly. 'That's exactly what everybody else wanted to know.

“一个月又一个月过去了，”乔爷爷继续说，“但工厂仍然关闭着。 所有人都说:“可怜的旺卡先生。 他人很好。他创造了如此奇妙的东西。 但他现在结束了。一切都结束了。” 然后，惊人的事情发生了。 有一天，一大早，人们看到缕缕白烟从工厂高高的烟囱顶上冒出来!镇上的人都停下来看了看。 “发生了什么事?” “有人把炉子点着了!”旺卡先生一定又开门了!”他们跑向大门，希望看到大门大开，旺卡先生站在那里欢迎他的工人回来。 “但没有!大铁门仍然锁着，用铁链锁着，像以前一样牢不可破，旺卡先生也不见了踪影。 “但是工厂还在运转!”人们喊道。 “听着!你能听到机器的声音!它们又在旋转了!你还能闻到空气中巧克力融化的味道!”乔爷爷倾身向前，把瘦骨嶙峋的长手指放在查理的膝盖上，轻声说:“但最神秘的是，查理，工厂窗户上的影子。 站在外面街道上的人们可以看到小黑影在磨砂玻璃窗后面移动。“谁的影子?”查理赶紧说。 “这正是大家都想知道的。

' "The place is full of workers!" the people shouted. "But nobody's gone in! The gates are locked! It's crazy! Nobody ever comes out, either!" 'But there was no question at all,' said Grandpa Joe, 'that the factory was running. And it's gone on running ever since, for these last ten years. What's more, the chocolates and sweets it's been turning out have become more fantastic and delicious all the time. And of course now when Mr Wonka invents some new and wonderful sweet, neither Mr Fickelgruber nor Mr Prodnose nor Mr Slugworth nor anybody else is able to copy it. No spies can go into the factory to find out how it is made.' 'But Grandpa, who,' cried Charlie, 'who is Mr Wonka using to do all the work in the factory?' 'Nobody knows, Charlie.' 'But that's ahsurd! Hasn't someone asked Mr Wonka?' 'Nobody sees him any more. He never comes out. The only things that come out of that place are chocolates and sweets. They come out through a special trap door in the wall, all packed and addressed, and they are picked up every day by Post Office trucks.' 'But Grandpa, what sort of people are they that work in there?' 'My dear boy,' said Grandpa Joe, 'that is one of the great mysteries of the chocolate-making world. We know only one thing about them. They are very small. The faint shadows that sometimes appear behind the windows, especially late at

“这地方全是工人!”人们喊道。 “可是没有人进去呀!”大门是锁着的!这太疯狂了!也从来没有人出来过!”“但毫无疑问，”乔爷爷说，“工厂还在运转。 从那以后，它一直在运行，在过去的十年里。 更重要的是，它一直在生产的巧克力和糖果变得越来越奇妙和美味。 当然，现在旺卡先生发明了一些新的美味的糖果，无论是菲克尔格鲁伯先生、普罗德斯诺先生、斯拉格沃斯先生还是其他人都无法复制。 没有间谍可以进入工厂去了解它是如何制造的。“可是爷爷，是谁，”查理叫道，“旺卡先生用谁来做工厂里所有的工作?”“没人知道，查理。”“可这太荒唐了!”没人问过旺卡先生吗?”“没有人再见到他了。 他从不出来。那个地方唯一出产的东西就是巧克力和糖果。 它们从墙上的一个特殊的活板门出来，包装好，写好地址，每天由邮局的卡车来取。“可是爷爷，在那儿工作的都是些什么人啊?”“我亲爱的孩子，”乔爷爷说，“这是巧克力制造界最大的谜团之一。” 我们只知道一件事。 它们很小。有时出现在窗户后面的微弱的影子，特别是在深夜

night when the lights are on, are those of tiny people, people no taller than my knee…' 'There aren't any such people,' Charlie said. Just then, Mr Bucket, Charlie's father, came into the room. He was home from the toothpaste factory, and he was waving an evening newspaper rather excitedly. 'Have you heard the news?' he cried. He held up the paper so that they could see the huge headline. The headline said: WONKA FACTORY TO BE OPENED AT LAST TO LUCKY FEW

当灯还亮着的时候，那些都是小个子的人，只有我的膝盖高的人……” 就在这时，查理的父亲巴克特先生走进了房间。 他从牙膏厂回来了，正兴奋地挥舞着一份晚报。 “你听到消息了吗?”他叫道。 他举起报纸，好让他们看到大标题。 标题是:旺卡工厂终于向少数幸运儿开放了