27 The Gifts That Wouldn't Stop Giving

The Gifts That Wouldn't Stop Giving You did what?!" whispered Ebenezer. They were standing in the corner of the sweetshop, next to the basket containing the latest version of the bombastic bubbletrumpets.

你做了什么？！”埃比尼泽低声说。 他们站在糖果店的角落里，旁边的篮子里装着最新款夸张的泡泡喇叭。

Everyone else was crowding around Miss Muddle—calling for her to make a "SPEECH! SPEECH!" The bird-keeper and Keith the Dove worked together to clear a table of a leaning tower of bonbons, while Timothy and Paulo the postman helped the sweet-maker climb up. "Um… oh bother. I'm a much better sweet- maker than I am a speechmaker," said Miss Muddle. She nervously hiccuped. "But I suppose I should say a word or two about our not-so-surprised guest of honor, and the reason why we're all here…" "It's terrible, I know," Bethany whispered back at Ebenezer. "I was stupid and thoughtless, and—" "Shh!" said Eduardo Barnacle, at the back of the crowd. He flared his nostrils at them.

其他人都围在马德尔小姐的周围，要求她发表“演讲！”讲话!”养鸟人和鸽子基思一起清理桌子上倾斜的糖果塔，而蒂莫西和邮递员保罗则帮助糖果制造商爬上去。 “嗯……噢，麻烦。比起演讲，我更擅长做甜食，”马德尔小姐说。 她紧张地打了个嗝。“不过，我想我应该对我们的贵宾说一两句话，以及我们大家在这里的原因……”“我知道，这太可怕了，”宝芬妮小声对埃比尼泽说。 “我太笨了，太粗心了，而且——”“嘘！”爱德华多·巴纳克尔站在人群后面说。 他朝他们张开鼻孔。

"It's very childish to talk during someone's speech. Especially when that speech is about you." "…Um, er, I know many of you probably weren't Bethany's biggest fans when you first met her. The first time she visited this shop, she left some surprise frogs in my licorice jars," continued Miss Muddle. "But it doesn't matter what people were like in the past. It only matters what people are like today. And today, Bethany is a very, very good…" "I know it was wrong of me, Ebenezer," continued Bethany, at an even quieter volume. "But this angry parrot showed up for revenge, and I wanted to get the dribbly stinker out of our lives… and it just seemed like the perfect opportunity."

“在别人演讲时说话是非常幼稚的。 尤其是当这个演讲是关于你的时候。” “……嗯，呃，我知道你们很多人第一次见到宝芬妮的时候可能并不是她的忠实粉丝。 她第一次来这家店时，在我的甘草罐里留下了一些惊喜的青蛙，”马德尔小姐继续说道。 “但过去的人是什么样子并不重要。 重要的是今天的人是什么样的。 今天，宝芬妮是一个非常非常好的……”“我知道我错了，埃比尼泽，”宝芬妮继续说，声音变得更小了。 “但这只愤怒的鹦鹉出现了报复，我想把这只臭鹦鹉从我们的生活中赶走……这似乎是一个完美的机会。”

"To kill the beast?!" said Ebenezer. "I can't believe I wanted to be more like you!" In his fury, he forgot to keep his voice at a whisper. Eduardo Barnacle turned around again, but not to shush them this time. "Kill… the beast?" he asked in his nasally voice. "You can't kill the lovely doggy who's done such wonders for my garden!" Before the beast had vomited out the hearing aids, the showgirl who could still do the splits at the age of eighty-nine wouldn't have heard a word of this conversation. But now she and all the other retirement-home residents caught the words with crystal clarity. "Kill the beast?" said the showgirl. "You can't do that!"

“去杀那畜生？！”埃比尼泽说。 “我真不敢相信我想变得更像你！”盛怒之下，他忘了压低声音。 爱德华多·巴纳克尔又转过身来，但这次不是为了嘘他们。 “杀死……野兽？”他用鼻音问道。 “你不能杀死这只可爱的狗，它为我的花园创造了这么多奇迹！”在野兽吐出助听器之前，这位八十九岁还能劈叉的歌舞女郎不会听到这段对话的一个字。 但现在，她和所有其他养老院的居民都清楚地明白了这句话。 “杀死野兽？”歌舞女郎说。 “你不能这么做！”

One by one, word about the beast's potential murder spread among the crowd—until soon, each and every bird and person turned their backs on Miss Muddle so they could look at Bethany instead. Keith the Dove looked particularly appalled. "Sorry, am I boring you?" asked Miss Muddle, as she climbed down from the table. "I did tell you I'm not very good at speeches." "Explain yourself at once!" croaked the lizard lady. "What's all this talk of killing the beast?" "Ask her!" said Ebenezer, pointing at Bethany as if she were a great wallop of dog poop on a spotless pavement. The crowd gathered around Bethany in a mob now. Some started heckling her with insults. Others claimed that they always knew

关于这只野兽可能被谋杀的消息一个接一个地在人群中传播开来——直到不久，每只鸟和每一个人都背对着马德尔小姐，把目光转向宝芬妮。 鸽子基思显得特别惊恐。 “对不起，我让你厌烦了吗？”马德尔小姐从桌子上爬下来问道。 “我告诉过你我不太擅长演讲。” “马上解释！”蜥蜴女士嘶哑地说。 “你说什么要杀野兽？”“问她吧！”埃比尼泽指着宝芬妮说，仿佛她是一尘不染的人行道上的一堆狗屎。 众人聚集在伯大尼周围，成了一群人。 一些人开始起哄辱骂她。 其他人则声称他们一直都知道

that Bethany was a do-badder who didn't deserve a party all along. The rest bemoaned such cruelty to a creature as kind and wonderful as the beast. "Oh, ah—bother, please stop," shouted a voice. Everyone turned around and saw that Geoffrey had climbed on the table. "Let's allow Bethany to explain herself. She's my best… well, my best person, and I'm sure she wouldn't dream of doing anything like this. We wouldn't be friends if I thought she was in any way a killer. Go on, Bethany. Tell everyone that you didn't do anything to the beast." Geoffrey smiled encouragingly at Bethany, but she couldn't even meet his eyes. Guilt was pouring out of every pore of her body. And

宝芬妮是个坏家伙根本不配开派对 其余的人都为这样残忍地对待像野兽这样善良而奇妙的生物而惋惜。 “哦，啊——麻烦，请停下来。”一个声音喊道。 大家都转过身来，看到杰弗里已经爬上了桌子。 “让我们让宝芬妮解释一下。 她是我最好的，我最好的人，我敢肯定她做梦也不会做这样的事。 如果我觉得她是凶手我们就不会做朋友了。 继续，宝芬妮。告诉大家你没有对野兽做任何事。” 杰弗里鼓励地朝宝芬妮笑了笑，但她甚至不敢直视他的眼睛。 内疚从她身体的每一个毛孔里涌出来。 和