7 Charlie’s Birthday

7 Charlie's Birthday 'Happy birthday!' cried the four old grandparents, as Charlie came into their room early the next morning. Charlie smiled nervously and sat down on the edge of the bed. He was holding his present, his only present, very carefully in his two hands. WONKA'S WHIPPLESCRUMPTIOUS FUDGEMALLOW DELIGHT, it said on the wrapper. The four old people, two at either end of the bed, propped themselves up on their pillows and stared with anxious eyes at the bar of chocolate in Charlie's hands. Mr and Mrs Bucket came in and stood at the foot of the bed, watching Charlie. The room became silent. Everybody was waiting now for Charlie to start opening his present. Charlie looked down at the bar of chocolate. He ran his fingers slowly back and forth along the length of it, stroking it lovingly, and the shiny paper wrapper made little sharp crackly noises in the quiet room.

7查理的生日生日快乐!当查理第二天一大早走进他们的房间时，四位年迈的祖父母叫道。 查理紧张地笑了笑，在床边坐了下来。 他两手小心翼翼地拿着他的礼物，他唯一的礼物。 WONKA'S whiplplesdelicious FUDGEMALLOW DELIGHT，包装上写着。 四个老人，两个在床的两端，靠在枕头上，用焦虑的眼睛盯着查理手里的巧克力棒。 巴克特夫妇走了进来，站在床脚，看着查理。 房间里鸦雀无声。现在每个人都在等着查理打开他的礼物。 查理低头看着那块巧克力。 他用手指慢慢地在它的长度上来回移动，爱抚地抚摸着它，闪亮的包装纸在安静的房间里发出尖锐的噼啪声。

Then Mrs Bucket said gently, 'You mustn't be too disappointed, my darling, if you don't find what you're looking for underneath that wrapper. You really can't expect to be as lucky as all that.' 'She's quite right,' Mr Bucket said. Charlie didn't say anything. 'After all,' Grandma Josephine said, 'in the whole wide world there are only three tickets left to be found.' 'The thing to remember,' Grandma Georgina said, 'is that whatever happens, you'll still have the bar of chocolate.' 'Wonka's Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight!' cried Grandpa George. 'It's the best of them all! You'll just love it!' 'Yes,' Charlie whispered. 'I know.' 'Just forget all about those Golden Tickets and enjoy the chocolate,' Grandpa Joe said. 'Why don't you do that?' They all knew it was ridiculous to expect this one poor little bar of chocolate to have a magic ticket inside it, and they were trying as gently and as kindly as they could to prepare Charlie for the disappointment. But there was one other thing that the grown-ups also knew, and it was this: that however small the chance might be of striking lucky, the chance was there. The chance had to be there. This particular bar of chocolate had as much chance as any other of having a Golden Ticket.

然后巴克特夫人温柔地说:“亲爱的，如果你在包装纸下面找不到你要找的东西，不要太失望。 你真的不能指望那么幸运。“她说得很对，”巴克特先生说。 查理什么也没说。 “毕竟，”约瑟芬奶奶说，“全世界只剩下三张票了。“要记住的是，”乔治娜奶奶说，“不管发生什么事，那块巧克力你都还在。”“旺卡的惠普尔美味软糖软糖!”乔治爷爷叫道。 “这是最好的!”你一定会喜欢的!“是的，”查理低声说。 “我知道。“忘掉那些金票吧，好好享受巧克力吧，”乔爷爷说。 “你为什么不这么做呢?”他们都知道，指望这一小块可怜的巧克力里有一张魔法票是荒谬的，他们正尽可能温和、友好地让查理做好失望的准备。 但是大人们也知道另一件事，那就是:不管运气有多小，机会还是有的。 机会一定在那里。 这块巧克力和其他巧克力一样有机会获得金奖券。

And that was why all the grandparents and parents in the room were actually just as tense and excited as Charlie was, although they were pretending to be very calm. 'You'd better go ahead and open it up, or you'll be late for school,' Grandpa Joe said. 'You might as well get it over with,' Grandpa George said. 'Open it, my dear,' Grandma Georgina said. 'Please open it. You're making me jumpy.' Very slowly, Charlie's fingers began to tear open one small corner of the wrapping paper. The old people in the bed all leaned forward, craning their scraggy necks. Then suddenly, as though he couldn't bear the suspense any longer, Charlie tore the wrapper right down the middle… and on to his lap, there fell… a light-brown creamy-coloured bar of chocolate. There was no sign of a Golden Ticket anywhere.

这就是为什么房间里所有的祖父母和父母实际上和查理一样紧张和兴奋，尽管他们假装很平静。 “你最好把它打开，否则你上学要迟到了，”乔爷爷说。 “你还是把它做完吧，”乔治爷爷说。 “打开它，亲爱的，”乔治娜奶奶说。 “请打开它。你让我心惊肉跳。”查理的手指慢慢地撕开包装纸的一角。 床上的老人都向前倾着身子，伸长了瘦骨嶙峋的脖子。 突然，好像他再也无法忍受这种悬念了，查理把包装纸从中间撕下来……然后，一块浅棕色的奶油色巧克力掉到了他的腿上。 到处都没有金奖券的迹象。

'Well – that's that!' said Grandpa Joe brightly. 'It's just what we expected.' Charlie looked up. Four kind old faces were watching him intently from the bed. He smiled at them, a small sad smile, and then he shrugged his shoulders and picked up the chocolate bar and held it out to his mother, and said, 'Here, Mother, have a bit. We'll share it. I want everybody to taste it.' 'Certainly not!' his mother said. And the others all cried, 'No, no! We wouldn't dream of it! It's all yours!' 'Please,' begged Charlie, turning round and offering it to Grandpa Joe. But neither he nor anyone else would take even a tiny bit. 'It's time to go to school, my darling,' Mrs Bucket said, putting an arm around Charlie's skinny shoulders. 'Come on, or you'll be late.'

“好了——就是这样!”乔爷爷高兴地说。 这正是我们所期望的。查理抬起头来。 四张慈祥的老面孔在床上聚精会神地看着他。 他对他们笑了笑，一个悲伤的微笑，然后他耸耸肩，拿起巧克力棒，递给他妈妈，说:“给，妈妈，吃一点。” 我们一起吃吧。我想让每个人都尝尝。“当然不会!”他母亲说。 其他人都叫道:“不，不!我们做梦也想不到!都是你的了!“请，”查理请求道，转过身来把它递给乔爷爷。 但是他和其他人都不愿意接受哪怕一点点。 “该上学了，亲爱的，”巴克特夫人说着，伸出一只胳膊搂住查理瘦削的肩膀。 “快点，不然你要迟到了。”