24 Veruca in the Nut Room

24 Veruca in the Nut Room
Mr Wonka rushed on down the corridor. THE NUT ROOM, it said on the next door they
came to.
‘All right,’ said Mr Wonka, ‘stop here for a moment and catch your breath, and take a
peek¹ through the glass panel of this door. But don’t go in! Whatever you do, don’t go
into THE NUT ROOM! If you go in, you’ll disturb the squirrels!’
Everyone crowded around the door.
‘Oh look, Grandpa, look!’ cried Charlie.
‘Squirrels!’ shouted Veruca Salt.
‘Crikey!’ said Mike Teavee.
It was an amazing sight. One hundred squirrels were seated upon high stools around a
large table. On the table, there were mounds² and mounds of walnuts⁴, and the squirrels
were all working away like mad, shelling the walnuts at a tremendous speed.
‘These squirrels are specially⁵ trained for getting the nuts out of walnuts,’ Mr Wonka
explained.
‘Why use squirrels?’ Mike Teavee asked. ‘Why not use Oompa-Loompas?’
‘Because,’ said Mr Wonka, ‘Oompa-Loompas can’t get walnuts out of walnut³ shells in
one piece. They always break them in two. Nobody except squirrels can get walnuts
whole out of walnut shells every time. It is extremely difficult. But in my factory, I insist
upon only whole walnuts. Therefore I have to have squirrels to do the job. Aren’t they
wonderful, the way they get those nuts out! And see how they first tap each walnut with
their knuckles⁶ to be sure it’s not a bad one! If it’s bad, it makes a hollow sound, and they
don’t bother to open it. They just throw it down the rubbish chute. There! Look! Watch
that squirrel nearest to us! I think he’s got a bad one now!’
They watched the little squirrel as he tapped the walnut shell with his knuckles. He
cocked his head to one side, listening intently, then suddenly he threw the nut over his
shoulder into a large hole in the floor.
‘Hey, Mummy!’ shouted Veruca Salt suddenly, ‘I’ve decided⁷ I want a squirrel! Get me
one of those squirrels!’
‘Don’t be silly, sweetheart,’ said Mrs Salt. ‘These all belong to Mr Wonka.’
‘I don’t care about that!’ shouted Veruca. ‘I want one. All I’ve got at home is two dogs
and four cats and six bunny rabbits and two parakeets and three canaries and a green
parrot and a turtle and a bowl of goldfish and a cage of white mice and a silly old
hamster! I want a squirrel!’
‘All right, my pet,’ Mrs Salt said soothingly⁸. ‘Mummy’ll get you a squirrel just as soon
as she possibly can.’
‘But I don’t want any old squirrel!’ Veruca shouted. ‘I want a trained squirrel!’
At this point, Mr Salt, Veruca’s father, stepped forward. ‘Very well, Wonka,’ he said
importantly, taking out a wallet full of money, ‘how much d’you want for one of these
squirrels? Name your price.’
‘They’re not for sale,’ Mr Wonka answered. ‘She can’t have one.’
‘Who says I can’t!’ shouted Veruca. ‘I’m going in to get myself one this very minute!’
‘Don’t!’ said Mr Wonka quickly, but he was too late. The girl had already thrown open
the door and rushed in.
The moment she entered the room, one hundred squirrels stopped what they were
doing and turned their heads and stared at her with small black beady eyes.
Veruca Salt stopped also, and stared back at them. Then her gaze fell upon a pretty
little squirrel sitting nearest to her at the end of the table. The squirrel was holding a
walnut in its paws.
‘All right,’ Veruca said, ‘I’ll have you!’
She reached out her hands to grab the squirrel… but as she did so… in that first split
second when her hands started to go forward, there was a sudden flash of movement in
the room, like a flash of brown lightning, and every single squirrel around the table took
a flying leap towards her and landed on her body.
Twenty-five of them caught hold of her right arm, and pinned it down.
Twenty-five more caught hold of her left arm, and pinned that down.
Twenty-five caught hold of her right leg and anchored it to the ground.
Twenty-four caught hold of her left leg.
And the one remaining squirrel (obviously the leader of them all) climbed up on to
her shoulder and started tap-tap-tapping the wretched girl’s head with its knuckles.
‘Save her!’ screamed Mrs Salt. ‘Veruca! Come back! What are they doing to her?’
‘They’re testing her to see if she’s a bad nut,’ said Mr Wonka. ‘You watch.’
Veruca struggled furiously, but the squirrels held her tight and she couldn’t move. The
squirrel on her shoulder went tap-tap-tapping the side of her head with his knuckles.
Then all at once, the squirrels pulled Veruca to the ground and started carrying her
across the floor.
‘My goodness, she is a bad nut after all,’ said Mr Wonka. ‘Her head must have sounded
quite hollow.’
Veruca kicked and screamed, but it was no use. The tiny strong paws held her tightly
and she couldn’t escape.
‘Where are they taking her?’ shrieked⁹ Mrs Salt.
‘She’s going where all the other bad nuts go,’ said Mr Willy Wonka. ‘Down the rubbish
chute.’
‘By golly, she is going down the chute!’ said Mr Salt, staring through the glass door at
his daughter.
‘Then save her!’ cried Mrs Salt.
‘Too late,’ said Mr Wonka. ‘She’s gone!’
And indeed she had.
‘But where?’ shrieked Mrs Salt, flapping her arms. ‘What happens to the bad nuts?
Where does the chute go to?’
‘That particular chute,’ Mr Wonka told her, ‘runs directly into the great big main
rubbish pipe which carries away all the rubbish from every part of the factory – all the
floor sweepings¹⁰ and potato peelings and rotten cabbages and fish heads and stuff like
that.’
‘Who eats fish and cabbage and potatoes in this factory, I’d like to know?’ said Mike
Teavee.
‘I do, of course,’ answered Mr Wonka. ‘You don’t think I live on cacao beans, do you?’
‘But… but… but…’ shrieked Mrs Salt, ‘where does the great big pipe go to in the
end?’
‘Why, to the furnace, of course,’ Mr Wonka said calmly. ‘To the incinerator.’
Mrs Salt opened her huge red mouth and started to scream.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Mr Wonka, ‘there’s always a chance that they’ve decided not to
light it today.’
‘A chance!’ yelled Mrs Salt. ‘My darling Veruca! She’ll… she’ll… she’ll be sizzled like a
sausage!’
‘Quite right, my dear,’ said Mr Salt. ‘Now see here, Wonka,’ he added, ‘I think you’ve
gone just a shade too far this time, I do indeed. My daughter may be a bit of a frump – I
don’t mind admitting it – but that doesn’t mean you can roast her to a crisp. I’ll have you
know I’m extremely cross about this, I really am.’
‘Oh, don’t be cross, my dear sir!’ said Mr Wonka. ‘I expect she’ll turn up again sooner
or later. She may not even have gone down at all. She may be stuck in the chute just
below the entrance hole, and if that’s the case, all you’ll have to do is go in and pull her
up again.’
Hearing this, both Mr and Mrs Salt dashed into the Nut Room and ran over to the hole
in the floor and peered in.
‘Veruca!’ shouted Mrs Salt. ‘Are you down there!’
There was no answer.
Mrs Salt bent¹¹ further forward to get a closer look. She was now kneeling right on the
edge of the hole with her head down and her enormous behind sticking up in the air like
a giant mushroom. It was a dangerous position to be in. She needed only one tiny little
push… one gentle nudge in the right place… and that is exactly what the squirrels gave
her! Over she toppled, into the hole head first, screeching¹² like a parrot.
‘Good gracious me!’ said Mr Salt, as he watched his fat wife go tumbling down the
hole, ‘what a lot of rubbish there’s going to be today!’ He saw her disappearing into the
darkness. ‘What’s it like down there, Angina?’ he called out. He leaned further forward.
The squirrels rushed up behind him…
‘Help!’ he shouted.
But he was already toppling forward, and down the chute he went, just as his wife
had done before him – and his daughter.
‘Oh dear!’ cried Charlie, who was watching with the others through the door, ‘what on
earth’s going to happen to them now?’
‘I expect someone will catch them at the bottom of the chute,’ said Mr Wonka.
‘But what about the great fiery¹³ incinerator?’ asked Charlie.
‘They only light it every other day,’ said Mr Wonka. ‘Perhaps this is one of the days
when they let it go out. You never know… they might be lucky…’
‘Ssshh!’ said Grandpa Joe. ‘Listen! Here comes another song!’
From far away down the corridor came the beating of drums. Then the singing began.
‘Veruca Salt!’ sang the Oompa-Loompas.
‘ Veruca Salt, the little brute¹⁴,
Has just gone down the rubbish chute
(And as we very rightly thought
That in a case like this we ought
To see the thing completely through,
We’ve polished off her parents, too).
Down goes Veruca! Down the drain!
And here, perhaps, we should explain
That she will meet, as she descends¹⁵,
A rather different set of friends
To those that she has left behind –
These won’t be nearly so refined.
A fish head, for example, cut
This morning from a halibut.
“Hello! Good morning! How d’you do?
How nice to meet you! How are you?”
And then a little further down
A mass of others gather round:
A bacon rind, some rancid lard,
A loaf of bread gone stale and hard,
A steak that nobody could chew,
An oyster¹⁶ from an oyster stew¹⁷,
Some liverwurst so old and grey
One smelled it from a mile away,
A rotten nut, a reeky¹⁸ pear,
A thing the cat left on the stair,
And lots of other things as well,
Each with a rather horrid¹⁹ smell.
These are Veruca’s new-foundfriends
That she will meet as she descends,
And this is the price she has to pay
For going so very far astray.
But now, my dears, we think you might
Be wondering – is it really right
That every single bit of blame
And all the scolding and the shame
Should fall upon Veruca Salt?
Is she the only one at fault?
For though she’s spoiled, and dreadfully so,
A girl can’t spoil herself,you know.
Who spoiled her, then? Ah, who indeed?
Who pandered²⁰ to her every need?
Who turned her into such a brat²¹?
Who are the culprits? Who did that?
Alas²²! You needn’t look so far
To find out who these sinners are.
They are (and this is very sad)
Her loving parents, MUM and DAD.
And that is why we’re glad they fell
Into the rubbish chute as well.’

1 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

2 mounds   

土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆

参考例句：

• We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
• Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊，这就是同墓，”——我想他要说的一定是公墓，“看到那些土墩了吗？

3 walnut   

n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色

参考例句：

• Walnut is a local specialty here.核桃是此地的土特产。
• The stool comes in several sizes in walnut or mahogany.凳子有几种尺寸，材质分胡桃木和红木两种。

4 walnuts   

胡桃（树）( walnut的名词复数 )； 胡桃木

参考例句：

• Are there walnuts in this sauce? 这沙司里面有核桃吗？
• We ate eggs and bacon, pickled walnuts and cheese. 我们吃鸡蛋，火腿，腌胡桃仁和干酪。

5 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

6 knuckles   

n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝

参考例句：

• He gripped the wheel until his knuckles whitened. 他紧紧握住方向盘，握得指关节都变白了。
• Her thin hands were twisted by swollen knuckles. 她那双纤手因肿大的指关节而变了形。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 soothingly   

adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地

参考例句：

• The mother talked soothingly to her child. 母亲对自己的孩子安慰地说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He continued to talk quietly and soothingly to the girl until her frightened grip on his arm was relaxed. 他继续柔声安慰那姑娘，她那因恐惧而紧抓住他的手终于放松了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 shrieked   

v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。
• Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫，陆子潇尖声叫：“告诉什么？ 来自汉英文学 - 围城

10 sweepings   

n.笼统的( sweeping的名词复数 )；（在投票等中的）大胜；影响广泛的；包罗万象的

参考例句：

• Yet he only thought about tea leaf sweepings which cost one cent a packet. 只是想到了，他还是喝那一个子儿一包的碎末。 来自互联网

11 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

12 screeching   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• Monkeys were screeching in the trees. 猴子在树上吱吱地叫着。
• the unedifying sight of the two party leaders screeching at each other 两党党魁狺狺对吠的讨厌情景

13 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

14 brute   

n.野兽，兽性

参考例句：

• The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
• That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲，它咬人。

15 descends   

v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜

参考例句：

• This festival descends from a religious rite. 这个节日起源于宗教仪式。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The path descends steeply to the village. 小路陡直而下直到村子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 oyster   

n.牡蛎；沉默寡言的人

参考例句：

• I enjoy eating oyster; it's really delicious.我喜欢吃牡蛎，它味道真美。
• I find I fairly like eating when he finally persuades me to taste the oyster.当他最后说服我尝尝牡蛎时，我发现我相当喜欢吃。

17 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。

18 reeky   

adj.烟雾弥漫的

参考例句：

19 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

20 pandered   

v.迎合（他人的低级趣味或淫欲）( pander的过去式和过去分词 )；纵容某人；迁就某事物

参考例句：

• The newspaper here pandered to people's interest in sex scandals. 这里的报纸迎合了人们对桃色新闻的兴趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His films never pandered to public taste. 他的电影从不迎合公众的口味。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 brat   

n.孩子；顽童

参考例句：

• He's a spoilt brat.他是一个被宠坏了的调皮孩子。
• The brat sicked his dog on the passer-by.那个顽童纵狗去咬过路人。

22 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。