第78天
Chapter 10
The Family Begins to Starve
2
The cruel weather went on and on.
And every day, Charlie Bucket grew thinner and thinner. His face became frighteningly white and pinched. The skin was drawn so tightly over the cheeks that you could see the shapes of the bones underneath. It seemed doubtful whether he could go on much longer like this without becoming dangerously ill.
And now, very calmly, with that curious wisdom that seems to come so often to small children in times of hardship, he began to make little changes here and there in some of the things that he did, so as to save his strength. In the mornings, he left the house ten minutes earlier so that he could walk slowly to school, without ever having to run. He sat quietly in the classroom during break, resting himself, while the others rushed outdoors and threw snowballs and wrestled in the snow. Everything he did now, he did slowly and carefully, to prevent exhaustion.
Then one afternoon, walking back home with the icy wind in his face (and incidentally feeling hungrier than he had ever felt before), his eye was caught suddenly by something silvery lying in the gutter, in the snow. Charlie stepped off the kerb and bent down to examine it. Part of it was buried under the snow, but he saw at once what it was.
It was a fifty-pence piece!
Quickly he looked around him.
Had somebody just dropped it?
No — that was impossible because of the way part of it was buried.
Several people went hurrying past him on the pavement, their chins sunk deep in the collars of their coats, their feet crunching in the snow. None of them was searching for any money; none of them was taking the slightest notice of the small boy crouching in the gutter.
Then was it his, this fifty pence?
Could he have it? Carefully, Charlie pulled it out from under the snow. It was damp and dirty, but otherwise perfect.
A WHOLE fifty pence!
He held it tightly between his shivering fingers, gazing down at it. It meant one thing to him at that moment, only one thing. It meant FOOD.
Automatically, Charlie turned and began moving towards the nearest shop. It was only ten paces away . . . it was a newspaper and stationery shop, the kind that sells almost everything, including sweets and cigars . . . and what he would do, he whispered quickly to himself . . . he would buy one luscious bar of chocolate and eat it all up, every bit of it, right then and there . . . and the rest of the money he would take straight back home and give to his mother.
中文翻译
严酷的天气仍然一天天继续下去。
查理眼看着一天天瘦下去。他的脸色苍白，完全萎缩了，瘦得皮包骨头。看来他再也承受不了了，再这样下去他准会生一场大病。
十分奇怪，在极其艰难的日子里，孩子们似乎时常会十分聪明地加以应付，查理也是如此，他十分平静地开始一点点改变了自己做事的方式，尽量少消耗自己的体力。每天早晨，他提早十分钟就离开了家，这样可以慢慢地走到学校，不必因时间匆忙而奔跑。课间休息时，别的孩子都冲到教室外面扔雪球，在雪地里摔跤，可他却安静地坐在教室里，让自己得到充分休息。现在他做每件事都十分仔细，动作迟缓，以免过多消耗体力。
一天下午，他顶着打在脸上的刺骨寒风走回家去，他不时感到比以往更加饥饿难忍，突然，他一眼看见了在积雪的街沟里，有一块白闪闪的东西。查理跨过街道镶边石，俯下身去看看究竟是什么。尽管这块东西一半埋在雪里，但他立时看清了这是什么。
是一枚五十便士的硬币！
他迅速打量了一下四周。
是不是有谁刚掉下？
没有──这是不可能的，因为这枚硬币一半都给雪埋住了。
几个行人匆匆从他身旁的人行道经过，脸颊都深深埋在大衣领子里，脚下的雪踩得吱嘎直响，没人在找钱，也没人注意这个蹲在街沟边的小男孩。
这么说，这枚五十便士的硬币是他的了？
他能拿吗？
查理小心翼翼地从雪里捡出了这枚硬币。硬币又湿又脏，可它是—枚完整无缺的硬币。
一枚完好的五十便士硬币！
他用哆嗦的手指紧紧捏住这枚硬币，瞪大眼瞧着。此刻，这枚硬币对他来说不是别的，它就是食物。
查理不由自主地转过身朝最近的商店走去。只有二三十英尺远……那是一家书报文具店，也就是那种几乎什么都卖的商店，也出售糖果和雪茄……他该买什么呢，他迅速地悄悄问自己……他可以买一块美味的巧克力，把它一点不剩地吃光，当场吃掉……剩下的钱他就带回去给妈妈。