7 The Better Kind of Beast

The Better Kind of Beast The beast spoke in a babyish voice that neither Bethany nor Ebenezer recognized. "Smells… humany." The beast paused to sniff again. "One of you lovely little humanies smells… musty, with just a hint of a word in my head that says 'leather.' Ooh! It's the smell of Nickle-Wickle! But there's another couple of odors here as well. I think I've smelled them before.…" The beast peeped an eye open, before quickly snapping open the others.

野兽说话的声音像婴儿一样，伯大尼和埃比尼泽都听不出来。 “气味…humany。”野兽又停下来嗅了嗅。 “你们其中一个可爱的小人文学闻起来……发霉了，在我的脑海里，只有一个词暗示着‘皮革’。”噢!这是尼克威克的味道！但这里还有另外几种气味。 我想我以前闻过。那畜生偷看了一只眼睛，然后迅速地咬开了另外两只眼睛。

"OH EMMM GEEEEE! It's Ebby-kneesies and Bethany!" All three of the beast's eyes blinked rapidly, and it sat up. "There's something very, VERY important that I need to say to you. It's something I've wanted to tell you for such a very long time." Bethany and Ebenezer steeled themselves. The beast took a deep, stinking breath. "I just wanted to say… sorrykins. SORRY! Not sorrykins, SORRY," said the beast. It slapped itself in the face with both its tongues. "I'm finding it awfully tricky to get my tongues around the words in my blobby head." When Bethany looked at the beast, all the worst moments of her life were reflected back at her like a malevolent mirror. She had lived

“哦，嗯，天啊！”这是埃比-克尼斯和宝芬妮！”那头野兽的三只眼睛迅速眨了眨，然后坐了起来。 “我有件非常非常重要的事要告诉你。 这是我很久以来一直想告诉你的事情。” 宝芬妮和埃比尼泽坚强了起来。 那野兽深深地吸了口气。 “我只是想说……对不起。” 对不起!不是对不起，是对不起。”野兽说。 它用两只舌头扇了自己的脸。 “我发现要把我那圆溜溜的脑袋里的单词都说出来真是太难了。” 当宝芬妮看着这只野兽时，她生命中所有最糟糕的时刻都像一面恶毒的镜子反射在她身上。 她活了下来

this moment several times in her nightmares, but she had never expected it to be like this. "Still pretending to have lost your mind, then?" She tried to sound as confident as possible—knowing from her past that it was a mistake to show even a sliver of weakness in front of the beast. "There's no pretendsies about it, I'm afraid. All my memmy-wemms are gone. Whooshy-whoosh, bye-byesies!" said the beast. It scrunched its blobby face into a Very Serious Expression. "Nickle-Wickle's been telling me all about my horrid past. When he told me about all the things I've done—especially to you, Bethany—I couldn't believey-weave it. Some of the stories made me vommykins. And I'm not talking about the magical kind."

这一刻在她的噩梦中出现了好几次，但她从来没有想到会是这样。 “那么，你还在假装失去理智？”她试着让自己的声音听起来尽可能自信——她从过去的经历中知道，在野兽面前表现出哪怕是一点点软弱都是错误的。 “恐怕这不是装腔作势。 我所有的记忆都不见了。 呼——呼，再见！”野兽说。 它皱起那张满是斑点的脸，摆出一副非常严肃的表情。 “尼克-威克尔一直在跟我讲我可怕的过去。 当他告诉我我所做的一切——尤其是对你，贝瑟妮——我简直不敢相信——我想起来了。 有些故事让我恶心。 我说的不是魔法的那种。”

Bethany scowled. She'd been fooled by the beast's tricks before, and she'd promised herself that it would never happen again. "Oh dear. You don't believe me," said the beast. Its blobby face sagged mournfully. "You still think I'm that beastly beast who did all those dweadful things." "Probably because you are the beast who did those things," said Bethany. "But I'm not that beasty anymore—stinky-promise!" said the beast. "Tell her, Nickle-Wickle!" Mr. Nickle cleared his throat. "The beast is telling the truth. A comprehensive series of brain-wave scans has revealed—" "Not interested in brain-wave scans," said Bethany, as she tried to figure out the beast's

伯大尼皱起了眉头。她曾经被野兽的诡计愚弄过，她向自己保证这种事不会再发生了。 “哦,亲爱的。你不相信我。”野兽说。 它那满是斑点的脸悲哀地下垂着。 “你还认为我是那个做了那些可怕事情的野兽吗？” “可能因为你就是做那些事的野兽，”宝芬妮说。 “但我不再是那只野兽了——我发誓！”野兽说。 “告诉她，尼克-威克！”尼克先生清了清嗓子。 “野兽说的是实话。 “对脑电波扫描不感兴趣，”贝瑟尼一边说，一边试图弄清楚这只野兽的脑电波

next move. "I know the truth about the beast. So you can shut it." "Oh, Bethany—I know you're crossy-woss, but please don't be mean to Nickle-Wickle. He's been ever so good to me," said the beast. "You're worried about hurting people's feelings now, are you?" said Bethany. "I've changed!" said the beast. "When I learned the truth about myself, I couldn't believe that anyone could do anything so evilicious! It felt like I was hearing about nastinesses done by someone… or something… else." "Are you saying that you're actually feeling… regret?" asked Ebenezer in astonishment, stepping closer to the laser cage.

下一步行动。“我知道关于野兽的真相。 所以你可以关上它。”“噢，贝瑟妮——我知道你脾气暴躁，但请不要对尼克-威克那么刻薄。 他对我太好了。”野兽说。 “你现在担心伤害别人的感情了，是吗？”宝芬妮说。 “我变了！”野兽说。 “当我了解到自己的真相时，我无法相信有人会做出如此邪恶的事情！”感觉就像是听到了别人……或者别的什么……干的坏事。” “你是说你真的感到……后悔吗？”埃比尼泽惊讶地问道，向激光笼走近了一步。

"Don't be fooled, gitface. It's a beastly scheme," said Bethany. She turned back to the beast. "And don't think for one second that we're going to let you get away with it!" The beast's three black eyes filled with tears of frustration. "But I have changed!" it said, stomping one of its tiny feet in frustration. "And I've done it because of you two." Bethany and Ebenezer looked at each other. "This should be good," Bethany said. "I feel a bit embarrassed explaining it," said the beast. It fiddled with its tiny hands and pointed all three eyes in the direction of the floor. "But I kept seeing the two of you in my dreamsies. The more I dreamed of you, the more I wanted to see you. I asked Nickle-

“别被骗了，笨蛋。 这是一个残忍的计划，”宝芬妮说。 她转身面对野兽。 “别以为我们会让你侥幸逃脱惩罚！”野兽的三只黑眼睛里充满了沮丧的泪水。 “但我已经变了！”它说着，沮丧地跺着一只小脚。 “我这么做都是因为你们俩” 宝芬妮和埃比尼泽面面相觑。 “这应该很好，”宝芬妮说。 “我有点不好意思解释，”野兽说。 它摆弄着它的小手，三只眼睛都指向地板的方向。 “但我总是在梦里看到你们两个。 我越梦见你，就越想见到你。 我问尼克