11 The Rude Awakening

The Rude Awakening Ebenezer woke up to find that Mr. Nickle had left, and that Bethany had still not returned. There was also a strange ringing in his ears. He threw off the blanket and gave himself an almighty head rush by jumping to his feet. He quickly dashed around the ground floor of the house, looking for Bethany in every room, from the exotic tea pantry to the groovy disco lounge. He was about to look on the upper floors as well when he noticed that the answering machine was flashing. He jabbed

粗鲁的觉醒埃比尼泽醒来时发现尼克尔先生已经走了，而贝瑟妮还没有回来。 他的耳朵里也有一种奇怪的嗡嗡声。 他掀开毯子，猛地一跳，猛地把头一冲。 他迅速地在房子的一楼跑来跑去，在每个房间里寻找宝芬妮，从异国情调的茶室到时髦的迪斯科舞厅。 他正要往楼上看，这时他注意到电话答录机在闪烁。 他把

the play button so hard that he clicked his finger. "Oi, oi, gitface!" Ebenezer heaved a sigh of relief. He felt certain that Bethany had been working on some brilliant way to defeat the beast's evil scheme. "Muddle thought I should let you know that I'm staying here tonight. Anyway, you and Nickle have got it all covered. Might give you a call again later, might not." For a few moments, Ebenezer stood in front of the phone, looking like he had been slapped across the face by a large and deeply unfriendly fish. He clicked the play button again. There were no other new messages.

播放键太用力了，弄得他的手指都咔哒一声了。 “喂，喂，笨蛋！”埃比尼泽松了一口气。 他确信宝芬妮一直在研究一种绝妙的方法来挫败野兽的邪恶计划。 “马德尔觉得我应该让你知道我今晚要在这里过夜。 不管怎样，你和尼克都搞定了。 可能会再给你打电话，也可能不会。” 埃比尼泽在电话前站了好一会儿，看上去就像被一条非常不友好的大鱼扇了耳光。 他再次点击播放按钮。 没有其他新的消息。

He couldn't believe that she would just leave him to deal with the beast on his own. By not helping him, she was basically condemning him to a life in a cage. He couldn't remember a time in his five centuries of life when he had ever felt more betrayed. On top of that, the blasted ringing in his ears was growing louder and louder. He tried clearing the sound by jabbing his fingers in and out of the ears, but nothing worked. He soon realized that the ringing wasn't coming from his ears. It was coming from the very top of the house. Ebenezer was all on his own with the beast. He patted the button that Mr. Nickle had given him and marched up the many staircases. He barged through the rickety old

他不敢相信她会丢下他一个人去对付野兽。 她不帮他，基本上就是把他关在笼子里。 在他五个世纪的人生中，他从来没有像现在这样感到被背叛。 最重要的是，他耳朵里该死的嗡嗡声越来越响。 他试着用手指在耳朵里戳来戳去，但没有用。 他很快意识到铃声不是来自他的耳朵。 那声音是从房子的顶层传来的。 埃比尼泽独自面对野兽。 他拍了拍尼克先生给他的按钮，大步走上了许多楼梯。 他冲过那座摇摇晃晃的旧房子

door and found the beast excitedly tugging on the bell that was beside the red velvet curtains. "Look at this, Ebby-kneesies! It's fabbywabby!" said the beast. It seemed utterly delighted by the sound the bell was making, like a kitty cat with a brand-new toy. "Don't act like you haven't seen it before," said Ebenezer curtly. "You always ring it when you want me." "Are you telling me that this little bellsies lets me have chatty-wats with you whenever I like?" asked the beast, letting out a stinky gasp. "Well, now it's even more fabbywabby!"

他打开门，发现那只野兽正兴奋地拽着红色天鹅绒窗帘旁边的铃铛。 “看看这个，艾比膝盖！”“这是一种可怕的东西！” 听到铃声，它似乎非常高兴，就像一只小猫得到了一个新玩具。 “别装得好像你没见过似的，”埃比尼泽简短地说。 “你总是在需要我的时候按铃。” “你是说这个小肚皮让我随时随地和你聊天吗？”野兽问，发出一声臭气。 “嗯，现在它更破烂了！”

Ebenezer didn't have time for this. He wanted to vent his fury at Bethany by commissioning an artist to paint an extremely moody portrait of him in the Posing Gallery. The beast started ringing the bell again, giggling like a little child. "Every house should have an Ebby-kneesies bellsies!" said the beast. "What sort of things did we used to

埃比尼泽没时间说这个。 为了发泄对伯大尼的愤怒，他委托一位艺术家在摆姿势画廊里为他画了一幅极其喜怒无常的肖像。 野兽又开始摇铃，像个小孩一样咯咯地笑着。 “每个房子都应该有一个比膝的肚皮！”野兽说。 “我们以前做过什么？

chatty-wat about, back when I had all my memmies?" "I'm not playing this game with you," said Ebenezer. "I just want to know more about what our friendship used to be like," said the beast, tugging happily at the bell again. "It wasn't a friendship," snapped Ebenezer. His mind was already bursting with outfit ideas for his moody portrait. He thought a leather jacket and his most bad-boy bow tie might be the perfect choice. "You just ordered me to bring all manner of disgusting meals to this attic." The beast stopped playing with the bell and looked at it with a whole new expression. "Oh dearsies," said the beast. "That doesn't seem like a very friendly thing to do."

聊些什么，聊些我还有记忆的时候？”“我不想和你玩这个游戏，”埃比尼泽说。 “我只是想知道我们以前的友谊是怎样的。”野兽说着，又高兴地拉着铃铛。 “那不是友谊，”埃比尼泽厉声说。 他的脑子里已经满是为自己忧郁的肖像装衣服的想法。 他认为皮夹克和他最坏男孩的领结可能是完美的选择。 “你刚刚命令我把各种恶心的饭菜带到这个阁楼上。” 野兽不再玩弄铃铛，用一种全新的表情看着它。 “哦，亲爱的，”野兽说。 “这样做似乎不太友好。”