5 Men from Mars

5 Men from Mars
There was no floating inside the Space Hotel. Thegravity-making machine saw to that. So
once the docking had been triumphantly¹ achieved, Mr Wonka,Charlie, Grandpa Joe and
Mr and Mrs Bucket were able to walk out of the Great GlassElevator into the lobby of the
Hotel. As for Grandpa George, Grandma Georgina andGrandma Josephine, none of them
had had their feet on the ground for over twenty years andthey certainly weren't going to
change their habits now. So when the floating stopped, they allthree plopped right back
into bed again and insisted that the bed, with them in it, bepushed into the Space Hotel.
Charlie gazed around the huge lobby. On the floor there was athick green carpet. Twenty tremendous chandeliers hungshimmering from the ceiling. The walls were covered withvaluable pictures and there were big soft armchairs all over theplace. At the far end of the room there were the doors of fivelifts. The group stared in silence at all this luxury. Nobodydared speak. Mr Wonka had warned them that every wordthey uttered would be picked up by Space Control in Houston,so they had better be careful. A faint humming noise camefrom somewhere below the floor, but that only made thesilence more spooky. Charlie took hold of Grandpa Joe's handand held it tight. He wasn't sure he liked this very much. Theyhad broken into the greatest machine ever built by man, theproperty of the United States Government, and if they werediscovered and captured as they surely must be in the end,what would happen to them then? Jail for life? Yes, orsomething worse.
Mr Wonka was writing on a little pad. He held up the pad. Itsaid: ANYBODY HUNGRY?
The three old ones in the bed began waving their arms andnodding and opening and shutting their mouths. Mr Wonkaturned the paper over. On the other side it said: THEKITCHENS OF THIS HOTEL ARE LOADED WITH LUSCIOUSFOOD, LOBSTERS², STEAKS, ICE-CREAM. WE SHALL HAVEA FEAST TO END ALL FEASTS.
Suddenly, a tremendous booming voice came out of aloudspeaker hidden somewhere in the room. 'ATTENTION!'
boomed the voice and Charlie jumped. So did Grandpa Joe.
Everybody jumped, even Mr Wonka. 'ATTENTION THEEIGHT FOREIGN ASTRONAUTS! THIS IS SPACE CONTROLIN HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A.! YOU ARE TRESPASSING³ ONAMERICAN PROPERTY! YOU ARE ORDERED TO IDENTIFYYOURSELVES IMMEDIATELY! SPEAK NOW!'
'Ssshhh!' whispered Mr Wonka, finger to lips.
There followed a few seconds of awful silence. Nobody movedexcept Mr Wonka who kept saying 'Ssshhh! Ssshhh!'
'WHO … ARE … YOU?' boomed the voice from Houston, andthe whole world heard it. 'I REPEAT … WHO … ARE …YOU?' shouted the urgent angry voice, and five hundred millionpeople crouched⁴ in front of their television sets waiting for ananswer to come from the mysterious strangers inside the SpaceHotel. The television was not able to show a picture of thesemysterious strangers. There was no camera in there to recordthe scene. Only the words came through. The TV watcherssaw nothing but the outside of the giant hotel in orbit,photographed of course by Shuckworth, Shanks and Showlerwho were following behind. For half a minute the world waitedfor a reply.
But no reply came.
'SPEAK!' boomed the voice, getting louder and louder andending in a fearful frightening shout that rattled⁵ Charlie'seardrums. 'SPEAK! SPEAK! SPEAK!' Grandma Georgina shotunder the sheet. Grandma Josephine stuck her fingers in herears. Grandpa George buried his head in the pillow. Mr andMrs Bucket, both petrified⁶, were once again in each other'sarms. Charlie was clutching Grandpa Joe's hand, and the twoof them were staring at Mr Wonka and begging him with theireyes to do something. Mr Wonka stood very still, and althoughhis face looked calm, you can be quite sure his clever inventivebrain was spinning like a dynamo.
'THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!' boomed the voice. 'WE AREASKING YOU ONCE MORE … WHO … ARE … YOU? REPLYIMMEDIATELY! IF YOU DO NOT REPLY WE SHALL BE
FORCED TO REGARD YOU AS DANGEROUS ENEMIES. WESHALL THEN PRESS THE EMERGENCY FREEZER SWITCHAND THE TEMPERATURE IN THE SPACE HOTEL WILL
drop TO MINUS ONE HUNDRED DEGREES CENTIGRADE.
ALL OF YOU WILL BE INSTANTLY DEEP FROZEN. YOUHAVE FIFTEEN SECONDS TO SPEAK. AFTER THAT YOUWILL TURN INTO ICICLES … ONE … TWO … THREE …'
'Grandpa!' whispered Charlie as the counting continued, 'wemust do something! We must! Quick!'
'SIX!' said the voice. 'SEVEN! … EIGHT! … NINE! …'
Mr Wonka had not moved. He was still gazing straight ahead,still quite cool, perfectly⁷ expressionless. Charlie and Grandpa Joewere staring at him in horror. Then, all at once, they saw thetiny twinkling wrinkles of a smile appear around the corners ofhis eyes. He sprang to life. He spun⁸ round on his toes,skipped a few paces across the floor and then, in a frenziedunearthly sort of scream he cried, 'FIMBO FEEZ!'
The loudspeaker stopped counting. There was silence. All overthe world there was silence.
Charlie's eyes were riveted⁹ on Mr Wonka. He was going tospeak again. He was taking a deep breath. 'BUNGO BUNI!' hescreamed. He put so much force into his voice that the effortlifted him right up on to the tips of his toes.
'BUNGO BUNIDAFU DUNI
YUBEE LUNI!'
Again the silence.
The next time Mr Wonka spoke¹⁰, the words came out so fastand sharp and loud they were like bullets from a machine-gun.
'ZOONK-ZOONK-ZOONK-ZOONK-ZOONK!' he barked. Thenoise echoed around and around the lobby of the Space Hotel.
It echoed around the world.
Mr Wonka now turned and faced the far end of the lobbywhere the loudspeaker voice had come from. He walked a fewpaces forward as a man would, perhaps, who wanted a moreintimate conversation with his audience. And this time, the tonewas much quieter, the words came more slowly, but there wasa touch of steel in every syllable¹¹:
'KIRASUKU MALIBUKU,
WEEBEE WIZE UN YUBEE KUKU!
ALIPEND A KAKAMEND A,PANTZ FORLDUN IFNO
SUSPENDA!
FUIKIKA KANDERIKA,WEEBE STRONGA YUBEE
WEEKA!POPOKOTA BORUMOKAVERI RISKI YU PROVOKA!
КАТIKАТ1 MOONS UN STARSFANFANISHA VENUS MARS!'
Mr Wonka paused dramatically for a few seconds. Then hetook an enormous deep breath and in a wild and fearsomevoice, he yelled out:
'KITIMBIBI ZOONK!FUMBOLEEZI ZOONK!GUGUMIZA
ZOONK!FUMIKAKA ZOONK!ANAPOLALA ZOONK ZOONK
ZOONK!'
The effect of all this on the world below was electric. In theControl Room in Houston, in the White House in Washington,in palaces and city buildings and mountain shacks¹² fromAmerica to China to Peru, the five hundred million people whoheard that wild and fearsome voice yelling out these strangeand mystic words all shivered with fear before their televisionsets. Everybody began turning to everybody else and saying,'Who are they? What language was that? Where do they comefrom?'
In the President's study in the White House, Vice-PresidentTibbs, the members of the Cabinet, the Chiefs of the Army andthe Navy and the Air Force, the sword-swallower fromAfghanistan, the Chief Financial Adviser¹³ and Mrs Taubsypussthe cat, all stood tense and rigid¹⁴. They were very much afraid.
But the President himself kept a cool head and a clear brain.
'Nanny!' he cried. 'Oh, Nanny, what on earth do we do now?'
'I'll get you a nice warm glass of milk,' said Miss Tibbs.
'I hate the stuff,' said the President. 'Please don't make medrink it!'
'Summon the Chief Interpreter,' said Miss Tibbs.
'Summon the Chief Interpreter!' said the President. 'Where ishe?'
'Right here, Mr President,' said the Chief Interpreter.
'What language was that creature spouting¹⁵ up there in theSpace Hotel? Be quick! Was it Eskimo?'
'Not Eskimo, Mr President.'
'Ha! Then it was Tagalog! Either Tagalog or Ugro!'
'Not Tagalog, Mr President. Not Ugro, either.'
'Was it Tulu, then? Or Tungus or Tupi?'
'Definitely not Tulu, Mr President. And I'm quite sure it wasn'tTungus or Tupi.'
'Don't stand there telling him what it wasn't, you idiot!' saidMiss Tibbs. 'Tell him what it was!'
'Yes, ma'am, Miss Vice-President, ma'am,' said the ChiefInterpreter, beginning to shake. 'Believe me, Mr President,' hewent on, 'it was not a language I have ever heard before.'
'But I thought you knew every language in the world?' 'I do,Mr President.'
'Don't lie to me, Chief Interpreter. How can you possibly knowevery language in the world when you don't know this one?'
'It is not a language of this world, Mr President.'
'Nonsense, man!' barked Miss Tibbs. 'I understood some of itmyself!'
'These people, Miss Vice-President, ma'am, have obviously triedto learn just a few of our easier words, but the rest of it is alanguage that has never been heard before on this Earth!'
'Screaming scorpions¹⁶!' cried the President. 'You mean to tell methey could be coming from … from … from somewhere else?'
'Precisely¹⁷, Mr President.' 'Like where?' said the President.
'Who knows?' said the Chief Interpreter. 'But did you notnotice, Mr President, how they used the words Venus andMars?'
'Of course I noticed it,' said the President. 'But what's that gotto do with it? … Ah-ha! I see what you're driving at! Goodgracious me! Men from Mars!'
'And Venus,' said the Chief Interpreter. 'That,' said thePresident, 'could make for trouble.' 'I'll say it could!' said theChief Interpreter. 'He wasn't talking to you,' said Miss Tibbs.
'What do we do now, General?' said the President. 'Blow 'emup!' cried the General.
'You're always wanting to blow things up,' said the Presidentcrossly. 'Can't you think of something else?'
'I like blowing things up,' said the General. 'It makes such alovely noise. Woomph-woomph!'
'Don't be a fool!' said Miss Tibbs. 'If you blow these people up,Mars will declare war on us!
So will Venus!'
'Quite right, Nanny,' said the President. 'We'd be troculated liketurkeys, every one of us! We'd be mashed¹⁸ like potatoes!'
'I'll take 'em on!' shouted the Chief of the Army.
'Shut up!' snapped Miss Tibbs. 'You're fired!'
'Hooray!' said all the other generals. 'Well done, MissVice-President, ma'am!'
Miss Tibbs said, 'We've got to treat these fellows gently. Theone who spoke just now sounded extremely cross. We've gotto be polite to them, butter them up, make them happy. Thelast thing we want is to be invaded by men from Mars! You'vegot to talk to them, Mr President. Tell Houston we wantanother direct radio link with the Space Hotel. And hurry!'

1 triumphantly   

ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地

参考例句：

• The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
• Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。

2 lobsters   

龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉

参考例句：

• I have no idea about how to prepare those cuttlefish and lobsters. 我对如何烹调那些乌贼和龙虾毫无概念。
• She sold me a couple of live lobsters. 她卖了几只活龙虾给我。

3 trespassing   

[法]非法入侵

参考例句：

• He told me I was trespassing on private land. 他说我在擅闯私人土地。
• Don't come trespassing on my land again. 别再闯入我的地界了。

4 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。

5 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

6 petrified   

adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• I'm petrified of snakes. 我特别怕蛇。
• The poor child was petrified with fear. 这可怜的孩子被吓呆了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 spun   

v.纺，杜撰，急转身

参考例句：

• His grandmother spun him a yarn at the fire.他奶奶在火炉边给他讲故事。
• Her skilful fingers spun the wool out to a fine thread.她那灵巧的手指把羊毛纺成了细毛线。

9 riveted   

铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意

参考例句：

• I was absolutely riveted by her story. 我完全被她的故事吸引住了。
• My attention was riveted by a slight movement in the bushes. 我的注意力被灌木丛中的轻微晃动吸引住了。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

12 shacks   

n.窝棚，简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They live in shacks which they made out of wood. 他们住在用木头搭成的简陋的小屋里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most people in Port au-Prince live in tin shacks. 太子港的大多数居民居住在铁皮棚里。 来自互联网

13 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

14 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

15 spouting   

n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水

参考例句：

• He's always spouting off about the behaviour of young people today. 他总是没完没了地数落如今年轻人的行为。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Blood was spouting from the deep cut in his arm. 血从他胳膊上深深的伤口里涌出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 scorpions   

n.蝎子( scorpion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You promise me that Black Scorpions will never come back to Lanzhou. 你保证黑蝎子永远不再踏上兰州的土地。 来自电影对白
• You Scorpions are rather secretive about your likes and dislikes. 天蝎：蝎子是如此的神秘，你的喜好很难被别人洞悉。 来自互联网

17 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

18 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。