7 The Big Feed

The Big Feed For one of the first times in his life, Ebenezer had a problem. And it was a big one. The big problem was that Bethany was not big enough. If he wanted to keep living his charmed, wrinkle-free life, then he had to find a way of putting meat on her bones as quickly as possible. As Ebenezer walked down the stairs, he wondered whether there was a way of getting

这是埃比尼泽一生中第一次遇到麻烦。 这是一个大问题。最大的问题是宝芬妮不够大。 如果他想继续过他那迷人的、没有皱纹的生活，那么他必须尽快找到一种让她长肉的方法。 当埃比尼泽走下楼梯时，他在想是否有办法

rid of Bethany by the end of the day. He thought of a few ideas, but none of them were really winners. His first thought was that he should sneak into the hospital, steal some needles, and inject several packages of chocolate cookies into Bethany. It looked like it was going to be a solid plan, right up until the moment Ebenezer remembered that he was squeamish around any sort of medical equipment. His next idea also looked like it was going to be a smasher. In order to avoid having to spend three days with Bethany, Ebenezer decided that he would try and trick the beast. He would get Bethany to wear several layers of clothes—at least seven sweaters and three and a half pairs of trousers—and then present her

在今天结束前除掉宝芬妮 他想出了几个主意，但没有一个是真正的赢家。 他的第一个想法是，他应该溜进医院，偷一些针头，给宝芬妮注射几包巧克力饼干。 这看起来是一个可靠的计划，直到埃比尼泽想起他对任何医疗设备都感到不安的那一刻。 他的下一个创意看起来也会大获成功。 为了避免和伯大尼一起度过三天，埃比尼泽决定试着欺骗这只野兽。 他会让伯大尼穿好几层衣服——至少七件毛衣和三条半裤子——然后把她呈现出来

to the beast, claiming that she was now the right size to eat. Upon closer inspection, however, there were two clear problems with this plan. First of all, Ebenezer would struggle to persuade Bethany to wear seven sweaters and three and a half pairs of trousers. And even if he did succeed in getting her to wear such a ridiculous outfit, he would find it impossible to persuade the beast, after the event, that a child could taste so much like a pile of clothes. The beast would probably get cross, and vomit fire and hammers at him. Ebenezer's third idea came to him while he was standing on the eleventh floor. He paused for a moment to look at the pieces of art that lined the walls.

对野兽说，她现在的体型正好可以吃了。 然而，经过仔细检查，这个计划有两个明显的问题。 首先，埃比尼泽会努力说服宝芬妮穿七件毛衣和三条半裤子。 即使他真的成功地让她穿上了这样一件可笑的衣服，他也会发现，事后他不可能说服那头野兽，一个孩子尝起来这么像一堆衣服。 野兽很可能会发怒，向他吐火和铁锤。 当埃比尼泽站在11楼时，他产生了第三个想法。 他停了一会儿，看了看墙上的艺术品。

The eleventh floor was home to some of Ebenezer's favorite paintings. It contained the picture of the lady with her nose put on backward, and the one of the married couple who didn't look very happy to see each other. On the wall farthest away from the staircase, there was also the one with the skeleton head that was smoking a cigarette. Ebenezer didn't know a lot about art, and he didn't really care much for the paintings themselves. He liked them because he knew that each one meant a lot to other people. With the help of the beast, and its ability to vomit out piles of money, Ebenezer had managed to beat dozens of other gallery and museum owners to make sure that these paintings belonged to him and no one else. It

11楼收藏着埃比尼泽最喜欢的一些画作。 里面有一幅画，画的是一位女士的鼻子朝后，另一幅画的是一对看起来不太高兴见到对方的夫妇。 在离楼梯最远的那面墙上，还有一个骷髅头的人正在抽烟。 埃比尼泽对艺术了解不多，他对绘画本身也不太感兴趣。 他喜欢他们，因为他知道，每一个人都意味着很多其他人。 在这头巨兽的帮助下，以及它吐出一大堆钱的能力，埃比尼泽成功地击败了其他几十家画廊和博物馆的老板，以确保这些画属于他，而不是其他人。 它

made him happy to think that he owned something that everyone else wanted. Even though Ebenezer was no great fan of art, there was one picture on the eleventh floor that he really liked. It was a small, book-sized portrait called The Golden Boy. The picture always brought joy to Ebenezer. And now it brought him an idea. As he stood in front of the golden boy, Ebenezer was struck by his third, and most sensible, solution to the Bethany problem. He decided that it was time to be patient. The golden boy, with his happy smile and sparkling eyes, seemed to be telling Ebenezer that it was all going to be all right. He seemed to be saying, Don't worry, you handsome devil, you can last three days with this wretched child.

想到自己拥有别人都想要的东西，他就很开心。 尽管埃比尼泽不是一个艺术爱好者，但在11楼有一幅他非常喜欢的画。 那是一幅书本大小的小画像，名叫《金童》。 这幅画总是给埃比尼泽带来欢乐。 现在它给他带来了一个主意。 当他站在金童面前时，埃比尼谢想到了他解决伯大尼问题的第三个办法，也是最明智的办法。 他决定是时候耐心点了。 金童脸上挂着幸福的微笑，眼睛闪闪发光，似乎在告诉埃比尼泽，一切都会好起来的。 他似乎在说：“别担心，你这个漂亮的家伙，你可以和这个可怜的孩子相处三天。”

Ebenezer nodded in agreement with the picture. "Yes," he said. "Yes, I am a handsome devil, and yes, I can do it! After all, what's three days in the life of a 511-year-old anyway?" Ebenezer continued his descent, now far happier than he was before. As he made his way down the remaining flights of stairs, he saw that Bethany had been into every bedroom she could find and had made a mess in each one. She had defeathered pillows, she had crumpled bedsheets, she had thrown clothes out of wardrobes and cupboards, she had left muddy shoe marks on the carpets, and she had even pushed over the odd item of furniture. Ebenezer should have been trembling with fury, but he wasn't. The memory of the golden

埃比尼泽点头表示同意这幅画。 “是的，”他说。“是的，我是一个漂亮的魔鬼，是的，我能做到！毕竟，对于一个511岁的人来说，三天的生命有什么意义呢？”埃比尼泽继续往下走，现在他比以前高兴多了。 当他走下剩下的楼梯时，他看到宝芬妮已经把她能找到的每一间卧室都翻了一遍，把每一间都弄得一团糟。 她有羽毛枕头，她有皱巴巴的床单，她把衣服从衣柜和橱柜里扔出去，她在地毯上留下泥泞的鞋印，她甚至推倒了一些奇怪的家具。 埃比尼泽应该气得发抖，但他没有。 记忆的黄金