23 The Theater of Screams

The Theater of Screams The beast hopped onto the baby grand piano and vomited out an old-fashioned microphone. The audience whooped and cheered again, thinking that it was all part of the concert. Geoffrey even gave a standing ovation because he happened to be a great fan of magic. The piano played a little light jazz whilst the beast spoke with soft, slithery tones into the microphone.

野兽跳上小三角钢琴，吐出一个老式麦克风。 观众再次欢呼雀跃，认为这是音乐会的一部分。 杰弗里甚至起立鼓掌，因为他碰巧是一个魔术迷。 钢琴弹奏着轻快的爵士乐，野兽对着麦克风轻声细语。

"Ladies and gentlemen, there has been a slight change to the very soul of this show," said the beast. The wing on the parroty side of its body fell off, and a tiny, beastly arm began to grow. "I know all the posters for this evening have promised it would be a Patrick extravaganza, but I've decided to use the evening to focus on someone else entirely. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the one and only Bethany to the theater!" The beast pointed its new beastly arm into the aisle, causing the theater spotlights to shine their bright, hot light into Bethany's eyes. The audience clapped and whooped again, in spite of the fact that none of them cared all that much for her at the moment. Bethany raised her hand to her face— partly to block the spotlight, but mainly

“女士们，先生们，这个节目的灵魂发生了小小的变化。”野兽说。 它身上那只像鹦鹉的翅膀掉了下来，一只小小的、像野兽一样的胳膊开始长出来。 “我知道今晚所有的海报都承诺这将是帕特里克的盛会，但我决定利用这个晚上把注意力完全集中在另一个人身上。 女士们先生们，欢迎独一无二的宝芬妮来到剧院！”那只野兽把它的新手臂伸向过道，使剧院的聚光灯把明亮炽热的光照进宝芬妮的眼睛。 观众们又一次鼓掌欢呼，尽管此刻他们谁也不怎么关心她。 贝瑟妮把手举到脸上——部分是为了挡住聚光灯，但主要是

because she couldn't bear to look at the sight of Claudette being beastified. Claudette had been the best parrot and the wisest person she had ever known. More importantly, she had been one of her only three friends—and she couldn't believe that she hadn't seen the signs of her transformation. "Thank you for your enthusiasm, ladies and gentlemen, but in your excitement I fear you're making the wrong sort of noises," said the beast with a sad shake of its half- feathered, half-blobby head. "Claps and cheers are not the sort of things that should be given to a girl like Bethany. Once you've seen what's she's brought with her, I'm sure you'll agree that some boos and hisses would suit her far better. Unzip your backpack for the lovely people to see, Bethany."

因为她不忍心看到克劳德特被人迷惑的样子。 克劳德特是她所认识的最好的鹦鹉，也是最聪明的人。 更重要的是，她是她仅有的三个朋友之一——她不敢相信自己没有看到她转变的迹象。 “谢谢你们的热情，女士们，先生们，但在你们的兴奋中，我担心你们发出了错误的声音。”野兽悲伤地摇了摇它那半长着羽毛、半长着斑点的脑袋。 “鼓掌和欢呼不应该给予像宝芬妮这样的女孩。 一旦你看到她带来了什么，我相信你会同意，一些嘘声和嘘声更适合她。 打开你的背包，让可爱的人们看看，宝芬妮。”

Bethany felt the eyes of the entire theater upon her. Soon, the whole theater was chanting at her to reveal the contents of her backpack. Even Geoffrey got involved, because he presumed Bethany was in on whatever joke the beast was playing. "There's no escaping it, Bethany. You might as well reveal the truth about yourself

宝芬妮感到整个剧院的目光都集中在她身上。 很快，整个剧院的人都在喊着让她把背包里的东西拿出来。 就连杰弗里也参与了进来，因为他认为宝芬妮也参与了野兽的恶作剧。 “你逃不掉的，宝芬妮。 你还不如把你自己的真相暴露出来

now, or I'll just have to come down and do it myself," said the beast. Bethany didn't feel like Bethany as she shrugged off her backpack. The shock and devastation of the beastly truth made her feel like some hollowed-out shell—more of a puppet than a person. As the rats and the nose pegs tumbled out, she saw the last few days afresh, through the lens of the beast's plan. She saw how everything had been staged—the apology party, the frogs in Miss Muddle's sweetshop, the surprisingly helpful behavior of the beastly items, the Gloria "big shock," and even The Patrick Extravaganza itself—all designed to lead up to this moment. "Some of you in this audience might have heard that she has given up her bad ways, but

现在，不然我就只好自己下来了。”野兽说。 宝芬妮耸耸肩卸下背包，觉得自己不像宝芬妮了。 残酷的事实给她带来的震惊和毁灭使她觉得自己像一个掏空的躯壳——与其说是一个人，不如说是一个木偶。 当老鼠和鼻钉掉下来的时候，她通过野兽的计划，重新看到了过去几天的情况。 她看到了一切都是如何安排的——道歉派对、马德尔小姐糖果店里的青蛙、那些可恶的物品出人意料的助人行为、格洛丽亚的“大震惊”，甚至帕特里克的狂欢表演本身——所有这些都是为了这一刻而设计的。 “在座的一些人可能听说过她已经放弃了她的坏习惯，但是

I am here to tell you that this is not the case," said the beast. "Do you see those rats? She brought them here today to superstinkbomb each and every one of you!" Jared Kettlefletch stood up from his seat and spat through his gold teeth. "It's true!" he said. "She bought them from… some shop I know about.… I can't believe she was going to use them against me!" "How fascinating," said the beast, positively purring with delight. "Tell me, can anyone see anything else of interest that tumbled out of Bethany's backpack?" Everyone in the theater turned to look at the things strewn across the aisle, but Miss Muddle was the first to spot what the beast

我在这里告诉你，事实并非如此。”野兽说。 “你看到那些老鼠了吗？”她今天把他们带到这里来，要把你们每个人都炸得臭烘烘的！”杰瑞德·克特莱奇从座位上站起来，从他的金牙里吐了一口唾沫。 “是真的！”他说。“她从我知道的一家商店买的。……我真不敢相信她会利用它们来对付我！”“太迷人了，”野兽说，高兴得发出呼噜声。 “告诉我，有没有人看到宝芬妮背包里还有什么有趣的东西？”剧院里的每个人都转过身去看过道上散落的东西，但马德尔小姐是第一个发现这只野兽的人