第71天
Chapter Seven
Charlie's Birthday
'Happy birthday!' cried the four old grandparents, as Charlie came into their room early the next morning.
Charlie smiled nervously and sat down on the edge of the bed. He was holding his present, his only present, very carefully in his two hands. WONKA'S WHIPPLE-SCRUMPTIOUS FUDGEMALLOW DELIGHT, it said on the wrapper.
The four old people, two at either end of the bed, propped themselves up on their pillows and stared with anxious eyes at the bar of chocolate in Charlie's hands.
Mr and Mrs Bucket came in and stood at the foot of the bed, watching Charlie.
The room became silent. Everybody was waiting now for Charlie to start opening his present. Charlie looked down at the bar of chocolate. He ran his fingers slowly back and forth along the length of it, stroking it lovingly, and the shiny paper wrapper made little sharp crackly noises in the quiet room.
Then Mrs Bucket said gently, 'You mustn't be too disappointed, my darling, if you don't find what you're looking for underneath that wrapper. You really can't expect to be as lucky as all that.'
'She's quite right,' Mr Bucket said.
Charlie didn't say anything.
'After all,' Grandma Josephine said, 'in the whole wide world there are only three tickets left to be found.'
'The thing to remember,' Grandma Georgina said, 'is that whatever happens, you'll still have the bar of chocolate.'
'Wonka's Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight!' cried Grandpa George. 'It's the best of them all! You'll just love it!' 'Yes,' Charlie whispered. 'I know.'
'Just forget all about those Golden Tickets and enjoy the chocolate,' Grandpa Joe said. 'Why don't you do that?'
They all knew it was ridiculous to expect this one poor little bar of chocolate to have a magic ticket inside it, and they were trying as gently and as kindly as they could to prepare Charlie for the disappointment. But there was one other thing that the grown-ups also knew, and it was this: that however small the chance might be of striking lucky, the chance was there.
The chance had to be there.
This particular bar of chocolate had as much chance as any other of having a Golden Ticket.
And that was why all the grandparents and parents in the room were actually just as tense and excited as Charlie was, although they were pretending to be very calm.
'You'd better go ahead and open it up, or you'll be late for school,' Grandpa Joe said.
'You might as well get it over with,' Grandpa George said.
'Open it, my dear,' Grandma Georgina said. 'Please open it. You're making me jumpy.'
Very slowly, Charlie's fingers began to tear open one small corner of the wrapping paper.
The old people in the bed all leaned forward, craning their scraggy necks.
Then suddenly, as though he couldn't bear the suspense any longer, Charlie tore the wrapper right down the middle . . . and on to his lap, there fell . . . a light-brown creamy-coloured bar of chocolate.
There was no sign of a Golden Ticket anywhere.
'Well — that's that!' said Grandpa Joe brightly. 'It's just what we expected.'
Charlie looked up. Four kind old faces were watching him intently from the bed. He smiled at them, a small sad smile, and then he shrugged his shoulders and picked up the chocolate bar and held it out to his mother, and said, 'Here, Mother, have a bit. We'll share it. I want everybody to taste it.'
'Certainly not!' his mother said.
And the others all cried, 'No, no! We wouldn't dream of it! It's all yours!' 'Please,' begged Charlie, turning round and offering it to Grandpa Joe.
But neither he nor anyone else would take even a tiny bit.
'It's time to go to school, my darling,' Mrs Bucket said, putting an arm around Charlie's skinny shoulders. 'Come on, or you'll be late.'
第七章
查理的生日
第二天一早，查理刚走进四位老人的房间，他们便齐声喊道：“生日快乐！”
查理紧张地笑了笑，在床边坐下。他用双手小心翼翼地捧着他的礼物，他仅有的礼物。包装纸上写着：旺卡高级普惠尔奶油巧克力软糖，美味可口。
四位老人分躺在床的两头，他们靠在枕头上，急切地盯着查理手中的巧克力。
巴克特先生和巴克特太太也来了，他们站在床脚，瞧着查理。
房间里寂静无声。每个人都等待着查理打开他的礼物。查理低头瞧着这块巧克 力，他用手指慢慢地把这块巧克力周遭儿摸了一遍。他是那么动情地抚摸着，悄没声儿的房间里听得见巧克力光闪闪的包装纸发出的轻脆的声响。
这时巴克特太太温和地说道：“宝贝，如果在那张纸下没发现你梦寐以求的东西，不必太失望。说真的，你不可能希望你象其他人那么幸运。”
“她说得对。”巴克特先生说。
查理什么也没说。
“毕竟全世界只剩下三张参观券没被找到了。”约瑟芬奶奶说。
“你得记住，“乔治娜外婆说，“不管结果如何。你总得到了这块巧克力。”
“旺卡高级惠普尔奶油巧克力软精美味可口！”乔治外公大声说。“这是最高级的糖果！你一定喜欢！”
“是的，”查理喃喃地说道，“我明白。”
“别去想着那些金参观券，好好享用这块巧克力吧，”乔爷爷说道，“你为什么还不把它撕开？”
大家都明白，希望在这么一小块巧克力里发现有一张神奇的参观券那是可笑的，因此他们都尽可能表现得十分温柔和善，这样可让查理不至太失望。然而有一点这些大人们也都知道，那就是：不管这种碰运气的机会是多么小，然而机会毕竟存在。
机会就在这块巧克力里。
这块特殊的巧克力就同任何其他的这种巧克力一样有可能藏有一张金参观券。
这就是祖父母。外公外婆以及父母亲都集中在这间屋子里的缘故，他们实际上也同查理一样紧张和激动，尽管他们极力装出若无其事的样子。
“你最好先把它撕开，要不你上学就会迟到了。”乔爷爷说。
“你就干脆把它撕开算了。”乔治外公说。
“打开它，亲爱的，”乔治娜外婆说。“请打开它，你真让我等不及了。”
一点一点地，查理用手指撕开一小角包装纸。
床上的四个老人都前倾着身子，伸长了他们的瘦骨磷峋的脖子。
突然，查理似乎再也忍不住了，一下子把包装纸撕去一半……一块淡褐色涂着奶油的巧克力……掉在了他的膝盖上。
根本看不见有什么金参观券。
“唔——就这么回事！”乔爷爷欢快地说道。”这同我们估计的完全一样。”
查理抬起头，只见床上那四张和蔼的老脸正关注地望着他。他朝他们笑了笑，那是一丝悲哀的笑容，然后他耸耸肩，捡起那块巧克力。把它递给妈妈，说道：“哈，妈妈，尝一点儿，我们一起来分享它，我要每个人都尝尝。”
“这绝对不行！”妈妈说。
其余的人也都叫起来：“不行，不行！我们可没梦想过要有巧克力！那都是你的！”
“请吧。”查理恳求道，一边转过身，把这块巧克力递给了乔爷爷。
可他不肯，其他人也都不忍心吃一点点。
“该上学了，我的宝贝。”巴克特太太说，用一只手臂搂住了查理瘦削的肩膀，“快去吧，要不你会迟到了。”