7 Something Nasty in the Lifts

7 Something Nasty in the Lifts
Grandma Josephine had stopped screaming now. She had gonerigid with shock. The rest
of the group by the bed, including Charlie and Grandpa Joe,had become as still as stone.
They dared not move. They dared hardly breathe. And MrWonka, who had swung quickly
around to look when the first scream came, was asdumbstruck as the rest. He stood
motionless, gaping¹ at the thing in the lift, his mouth slightlyopen, his eyes stretched wide
as two wheels. What he saw, what they all saw, was this:
It looked more than anything like an enormous egg balancedon its pointed² end. It was as tall as a big boy and wider thanthe fattest man. The greenish-brown skin had a shiny wettishappearance and there were wrinkles in it. About three-quartersof the way up, in the widest part, there were two large roundeyes as big as tea-cups. The eyes were white, but each had abrilliant red pupil in the centre. The red pupils were resting onMr Wonka. But now they began travelling slowly across toCharlie and Grandpa Joe and the others by the bed, settlingupon them and gazing at them with a cold malevolent³ stare.
The eyes were everything. There were no other features, nonose or mouth or ears, but the entire egg-shaped body wasitself moving very very slightly, pulsing and bulging⁴ gently hereand there as though the skin were filled with some thick fluid.
At this point, Charlie suddenly noticed that the next lift wascoming down. The indicator⁵ numbers above the door wereflashing … 6 … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 … L (for lobby). Therewas a slight pause. The door slid open and there, inside thesecond lift, was another enormous slimy wrinkledgreenish-brown egg with eyes!
Now the numbers were flashing above all three of theremaining lifts. Down they came … down … down … down …And soon, at precisely⁶ the same time, they reached the lobbyfloor and the doors slid open … five open doors now … onecreature in each … five in all … and five pairs of eyes withbrilliant red centres all watching Mr Wonka and watchingCharlie and Grandpa Joe and the others.
There were slight differences in size and shape between thefive, but all had the same greenish-brown wrinkled skin andthe skin was rippling⁷ and pulsing.
For about thirty seconds nothing happened. Nobody stirred,nobody made a sound. The silence was terrible. So was thesuspense. Charlie was so frightened he felt himself shrinkinginside his skin. Then he saw the creature in the left-hand liftsuddenly starting to change shape! Its body was slowlybecoming longer and longer, and thinner and thinner, going upand up towards the roof of the lift, not straight up, butcurving a little to the left, making a snake-like curve that wascuriously graceful⁸, up to the left and then curling over the topto the right and coming down again in a half-circle … andthen the bottom end began to grow out as well, like a tail …creeping along the floor … creeping along the floor to the left… until at last the creature, which had originally looked like ahuge egg, now looked like a long curvy serpent standing⁹ up onits tail.
Then the one in the next lift began stretching itself in muchthe same way, and what a weird¹⁰ and oozy¹¹ thing it was towatch! It was twisting itself into a shape that was a bitdifferent from the first, balancing itself almost but not quite onthe tip of its tail.
Then the three remaining creatures began stretching themselvesall at the same time, each one elongating¹² itself slowly upward,growing taller and taller, thinner and thinner, curving andtwisting, stretching and stretching, curling and bending,balancing either on the tail or the head or both, and turnedsideways now so that only one eye was visible. When they hadall stopped stretching and bending, this was how they finishedup:
'Scram!' shouted Mr Wonka. 'Get out quick!'
People have never moved faster than Grandpa Joe and Charlieand Mr and Mrs Bucket at that moment. They all got behindthe bed and started pushing like crazy. Mr Wonka ran in frontof them shouting 'Scram! Scram! Scram!' and in ten secondsflat all of them were out of the lobby and back inside theGreat Glass Elevator. Frantically¹³, Mr Wonka began undoingbolts and pressing buttons. The door of the Great GlassElevator snapped shut and the whole thing leaped sideways.
They were away! And of course all of them, including the threeold ones in the bed, floated up again into the air.

1 gaping   

adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大

参考例句：

• Ahead of them was a gaping abyss. 他们前面是一个巨大的深渊。
• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 malevolent   

adj.有恶意的，恶毒的

参考例句：

• Why are they so malevolent to me?他们为什么对我如此恶毒？
• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。

4 bulging   

膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱

参考例句：

• Her pockets were bulging with presents. 她的口袋里装满了礼物。
• Conscious of the bulging red folder, Nim told her,"Ask if it's important." 尼姆想到那个鼓鼓囊囊的红色文件夹便告诉她：“问问是不是重要的事。”

5 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

6 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。

7 rippling   

起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的

参考例句：

• I could see the dawn breeze rippling the shining water. 我能看见黎明的微风在波光粼粼的水面上吹出道道涟漪。
• The pool rippling was caused by the waving of the reeds. 池塘里的潺潺声是芦苇摇动时引起的。

8 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

11 oozy   

adj.软泥的

参考例句：

• What calls erythema oozy sex gastritis? 什么叫红斑渗出性胃炎？ 来自互联网

12 elongating   

v.延长，加长( elongate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The original structure of three-rolls piercing-elongating mill is improved. And good results have been achieved. 对原有三辊联合穿轧机结构上存在的问题进行了改进设计，并取得良好效果。 来自互联网
• The torch can bring higher arc voltage with lower fluctuation by elongating the arc. 该喷枪能够提高电弧电压并减小电弧电压波动。 来自互联网

13 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。