16 The Oompa-Loompas

16 The Oompa-Loompas
‘Oompa-Loompas!’ everyone said at once. ‘Oompa-Loompas!’
‘Imported direct from Loompaland,’ said Mr Wonka proudly.
‘There’s no such place,’ said Mrs Salt.
‘Excuse me, dear lady, but…’
‘Mr Wonka,’ cried Mrs Salt. ‘I’m a teacher of geography…’
‘Then you’ll know all about it,’ said Mr Wonka. ‘And oh, what a terrible country it is!
Nothing but thick jungles infested¹ by the most dangerous beasts in the world –
hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles. A whang-
doodle would eat ten Oompa- Loompas for breakfast and come galloping² back for a
second helping³. When I went out there, I found the little Oompa-Loompas living in tree
houses. They had to live in tree houses to escape from the whangdoodles and the
hornswogglers and the snozzwangers. And they were living on green caterpillars⁴, and
the caterpillars tasted revolting, and the Oompa-Loompas spent every moment of their
days climbing through the treetops looking for other things to mash⁵ up with the
caterpillars to make them taste better – red beetles⁶, for instance, and eucalyptus⁷ leaves,
and the bark of the bong-bong tree, all of them beastly, but not quite so beastly as the
caterpillars. Poor little Oompa-Loompas! The one food that they longed for more than
any other was the cacao bean. But they couldn’t get it. An Oompa-Loompa was lucky if
he found three or four cacao beans a year. But oh, how they craved⁸ them. They used to
dream about cacao beans all night and talk about them all day. You had only to mention
the word “cacao” to an Oompa-Loompa and he would start dribbling⁹ at the mouth. The
cacao bean,’ Mr Wonka continued, ‘which grows on the cacao tree, happens to be the
thing from which all chocolate is made. You cannot make chocolate without the
cacao bean. The cacao bean is chocolate. I myself use billions of cacao beans every
week in this factory. And so, my dear children, as soon as I discovered that the Oompa-
Loompas were crazy about this particular food, I climbed up to their tree-house village
and poked¹⁰ my head in through the door of the tree house belonging to the leader of the
tribe. The poor little fellow, looking thin and starved, was sitting there trying to eat a
bowl full of mashed¹¹- up green caterpillars without being sick. “Look here,” I said
(speaking not in English, of course, but in Oompa-Loompish), “look here, if you and all
your people will come back to my country and live in my factory, you can have all the
cacao beans you want! I’ve got mountains of them in my storehouses! You can have
cacao beans for every meal! You can gorge¹² yourselves silly on them! I’ll even pay your
wages in cacao beans if you wish!”
‘ “You really mean it?” asked the Oompa-Loompa leader, leaping up from his chair.
‘ “Of course I mean it,” I said. “And you can have chocolate as well. Chocolate tastes
even better than cacao beans because it’s got milk and sugar added.”
‘The little man gave a great whoop¹³ of joy and threw his bowl of mashed caterpillars
right out of the tree-house window. “It’s a deal!” he cried. “Come on! Let’s go!”
‘So I shipped them all over here, every man, woman, and child in the Oompa-Loompa
tribe. It was easy. I smuggled¹⁴ them over in large packing cases with holes in them, and
they all got here safely. They are wonderful workers. They all speak English now. They
love dancing and music. They are always making up songs. I expect you will hear a good
deal of singing today from time to time. I must warn you, though, that they are rather
mischievous¹⁵. They like jokes. They still wear the same kind of clothes they wore in the
jungle. They insist upon that. The men, as you can see for yourselves across the river,
wear only deerskins. The women wear leaves, and the children wear nothing at all. The
women use fresh leaves every day…’
‘Daddy!’ shouted Veruca Salt (the girl who got everything she wanted). ‘Daddy! I want
an Oompa-Loompa! I want you to get me an Oompa-Loompa! I want an Oompa-Loompa
right away! I want to take it home with me! Go on, Daddy! Get me an Oompa-Loompa!’
‘Now, now, my pet!’ her father said to her, ‘we mustn’t interrupt Mr Wonka.’
‘But I want an Oompa-Loompa!’ screamed Veruca.
‘All right, Veruca, all right. But I can’t get it for you this second. Please be patient. I’ll
see you have one before the day is out.’
‘Augustus!’ shouted Mrs Gloop. ‘Augustus, sweetheart, I don’t think you had better do
that.’ Augustus Gloop, as you might have guessed, had quietly sneaked¹⁶ down to the edge
of the river, and he was now kneeling on the riverbank, scooping¹⁷ hot melted chocolate
into his mouth as fast as he could.

1 infested   

adj.为患的，大批滋生的（常与with搭配）v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 )；遍布于

参考例句：

• The kitchen was infested with ants. 厨房里到处是蚂蚁。
• The apartments were infested with rats and roaches. 公寓里面到处都是老鼠和蟑螂。

2 galloping   

adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The horse started galloping the moment I gave it a good dig. 我猛戳了马一下，它就奔驰起来了。
• Japan is galloping ahead in the race to develop new technology. 日本在发展新技术的竞争中进展迅速，日新月异。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 caterpillars   

n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 )；履带

参考例句：

• Caterpillars eat the young leaves of this plant. 毛毛虫吃这种植物的嫩叶。
• Caterpillars change into butterflies or moths. 毛虫能变成蝴蝶或蛾子。 来自辞典例句

5 mash   

n.麦芽浆，糊状物，土豆泥；v.把…捣成糊状，挑逗，调情

参考例句：

• He beat the potato into a mash before eating it.他把马铃薯捣烂后再吃。
• Whiskey,originating in Scotland,is distilled from a mash of grains.威士忌源于苏格兰，是从一种大麦芽提纯出来的。

6 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 eucalyptus   

n.桉树，桉属植物

参考例句：

• Eucalyptus oil is good for easing muscular aches and pains.桉树油可以很好地缓解肌肉的疼痛。
• The birds rustled in the eucalyptus trees.鸟在桉树弄出沙沙的响声。

8 craved   

渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求

参考例句：

• She has always craved excitement. 她总渴望刺激。
• A spicy, sharp-tasting radish was exactly what her stomach craved. 她正馋着想吃一个香甜可口的红萝卜呢。

9 dribbling   

n.（燃料或油从系统内）漏泄v.流口水( dribble的现在分词 )；（使液体）滴下或作细流；运球，带球

参考例句：

• Basic skills include swimming, dribbling, passing, marking, tackling, throwing, catching and shooting. 个人基本技术包括游泳、带球、传球、盯人、抢截、抛球、接球和射门。 来自互联网
• Carol: [Laurie starts dribbling again] Now do that for ten minutes. 卡罗：（萝莉开始再度运球）现在那样做十分钟。 来自互联网

10 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 mashed   

a.捣烂的

参考例句：

• two scoops of mashed potato 两勺土豆泥
• Just one scoop of mashed potato for me, please. 请给我盛一勺土豆泥。

12 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

13 whoop   

n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息

参考例句：

• He gave a whoop of joy when he saw his new bicycle.他看到自己的新自行车时，高兴得叫了起来。
• Everybody is planning to whoop it up this weekend.大家都打算在这个周末好好欢闹一番。

14 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

15 mischievous   

adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的

参考例句：

• He is a mischievous but lovable boy.他是一个淘气但可爱的小孩。
• A mischievous cur must be tied short.恶狗必须拴得短。

16 sneaked   

v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状

参考例句：

• I sneaked up the stairs. 我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
• She sneaked a surreptitious glance at her watch. 她偷偷看了一眼手表。

17 scooping   

n.捞球v.抢先报道( scoop的现在分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• Heated ice cream scoop is used for scooping really cold ice cream. 加热的冰淇淋勺是用来舀非常凉的冰淇淋的。 来自互联网
• The scoop-up was the key phase during a scooping cycle. 3个区间中，铲取区间是整个作业循环的关键。 来自互联网