17 Rescue in Minusland

17 Rescue in Minusland
T don't like it here at all,' Charlie whispered. 'It gives me thewillies.'
'Me, too,' Mr Wonka whispered back. 'But we've got a job todo, Charlie, and we must go through with it.'
The mist was condensing now on the glass walls of theElevator making it difficult to see out except through the opendoors.
'Do any other creatures live here, Mr Wonka?'
'Plenty of Gnoolies.'
'Are they dangerous?'
'If they bite you, they are. You're a gonner, my boy, if you'rebitten by a Gnooly.'
The Elevator drifted on, rocking gently from side to side. Thegrey-black oily fog swirled¹ around them.
'What does a Gnooly look like, Mr Wonka?' 'They don't looklike anything, Charlie. They can't.' 'You mean you've never seenone?'
'You can't see Gnoolies, my boy. You can't even feel them …until they puncture² your skin … then it's too late. They've gotyou.'
'You mean … there might be swarms³ of them all around usthis very moment?' Charlie asked.
'There might,' said Mr Wonka.
Charlie felt his skin beginning to creep. 'Do you die at once?'
he asked.
'First you become subtracted … a little later you are divided …but very slowly … it takes a long time … it's long division andit's very painful. After that, you become one of them.'
'Couldn't we shut the door?' Charlie asked.
'I'm afraid not, my boy. We'd never see her through the glass.
There's too much mist and moisture. She's not going to beeasy to pick out anyway.'
Charlie stood at the open door of the Elevator and stared intothe swirling⁴ vapours. This, he thought, is what hell must be like… hell without heat … there was something unholy about it all,something unbelievably diabolical⁵ … It was all so deathly quiet,so desolate⁶ and empty … At the same time, the constantmovement, the twisting and swirling of the misty⁷ vapours, gaveone the feeling that some very powerful force, evil andmalignant, was at work all around … Charlie felt a jab on hisarm! He jumped! He almost jumped out of the Elevator!
'Sorry,' said Mr Wonka. 'It's only me.'
'Oh-h-h!' Charlie gasped⁸. 'For a second, I thought …'
'I know what you thought, Charlie … And by the way, I'mawfully glad you're with me. How would you like to come herealone … as I did … as I had to … many times?'
'I wouldn't,' said Charlie.
'There she is!' said Mr Wonka, pointing. 'No, she isn't! … Oh,dear! I could have sworn I saw her for a moment right overthere on the edge of that dark patch. Keep watching, Charlie.'
'There!' said Charlie. 'Over there. Look!'
'Where?' said Mr Wonka. 'Point to her, Charlie!'
'She's … she's gone again. She sort of faded away,' Charliesaid.
They stood at the open door of the Elevator, peering into theswirly grey vapours.
'There! Quick! Right there!' Charlie cried. 'Can't you see her?'
'Yes, Charlie! I see her! I'm moving up close now!'
Mr Wonka reached behind him and began touching⁹ a numberof buttons.
'Grandma!' Charlie cried out. 'We've come to get you,Grandma!'
They could see her faintly through the mist, but oh so faintly.
And they could see the mist through her as well. She wastransparent. She was hardly there at all. She was no morethan a shadow. They could see her face and just the faintestoutline of her body swathed in a sort of gown. But she wasn'tupright. She was floating lengthwise in the swirling vapour.
'Why is she lying down?' Charlie whispered.
'Because she's a Minus, Charlie. Surely you know what aminus looks like … Like that …' Mr Wonka drew a horizontalline in the air with his finger.
The Elevator glided¹⁰ close. The ghostly shadow of GrandmaGeorgina's face was no more than a yard away now. Charliereached out through the door to touch her but there wasnothing there to touch. His hand went right through her skin.
'Grandma!' he gasped. She began to drift away.
'Stand back!' ordered Mr Wonka, and suddenly, from somesecret place inside his coat-tails he whisked out a spray-gun. Itwas one of those old-fashioned things people used to use forspraying fly-spray around the room before aerosols¹¹ came along.
He aimed the spray-gun straight at the shadow of GrandmaGeorgina and he pumped the handle hard ONCE … TWICE …THREE TIMES! Each time, a fine black spray spurted¹² outfrom the nozzle of the gun. Instantly, Grandma Georginadisappeared.
'A bull's eye!' cried Mr Wonka, jumping up and down withexcitement. 'I got her with both barrels! I plussed her goodand proper! That's Vita-Wonk for you!'
'Where's she gone?' Charlie asked.
'Back where she came from, of course! To the factory! She's aMinus no longer, my boy! She's a one hundred per centred-blooded Plus! Come along now! Let's get out of herequickly before the Gnoolies find us!' Mr Wonka jabbed abutton. The doors closed and the Great Glass Elevator shotupwards for home.
'Sit down and strap¹³ yourself in again, Charlie!' said Mr Wonka.
'We're going flat out this time!'
The Elevator roared and rocketed up toward the surface of theEarth. Mr Wonka and Charlie sat side by side on their littlejump-seats, strapped¹⁴ in tight. Mr Wonka started tucking thespray-gun back into that enormous pocket somewhere in hiscoat-tails. 'It's such a pity one has to use a clumsy old thinglike this,' he said. 'But there's simply no other way of doing it.
Ideally, of course, one would measure out exactly the rightnumber of drops into a teaspoon¹⁵ and feed it carefully into themouth. But it's impossible to feed anything into a Minus. It'slike trying to feed one's own shadow. That's why I've got touse a spray-gun. Spray 'em all over, my boy! That's the onlyway!'
'It worked fine, though, didn't it?' Charlie said.
'Oh, it worked all right, Charlie! It worked beautifully! All I'msaying is that there's bound to be a slight overdose …'
'I don't quite know what you mean, Mr Wonka.'
'My dear boy, if it only takes four drops of Vita-Wonk to turna young Oompa-Loompa into an old man …' Mr Wonka liftedhis hands and let them fall limply on to his lap.
'You mean Grandma may have got too much?' asked Charlie,turning slightly pale. 'I'm afraid that's putting it rather mildly,'
said Mr Wonka.
'But … but why did you give her such a lot of it, then?' saidCharlie, getting more and more worried. 'Why did you sprayher three times? She must have got pints¹⁶ and pints of it!'
'Gallons!' cried Mr Wonka, slapping his thighs¹⁷. 'Gallons andgallons! But don't let a little thing like that bother you, mydear Charlie! The important part of it is we've got her back!
She's a Minus no longer! She's a lovely Plus!
'She's as plussy as plussy can be!She's more plussy than youor than me!The question is how,Just how old is she now?Isshe more than a hundred and three?'

1 swirled   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The waves swirled and eddied around the rocks. 波浪翻滚着在岩石周围打旋。
• The water swirled down the drain. 水打着旋流进了下水道。

2 puncture   

n.刺孔，穿孔；v.刺穿，刺破

参考例句：

• Failure did not puncture my confidence.失败并没有挫伤我的信心。
• My bicycle had a puncture and needed patching up.我的自行车胎扎了个洞，需要修补。

3 swarms   

蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They came to town in swarms. 他们蜂拥来到城里。
• On June the first there were swarms of children playing in the park. 6月1日那一天，这个公园里有一群群的孩子玩耍。

4 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

5 diabolical   

adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的

参考例句：

• This maneuver of his is a diabolical conspiracy.他这一手是一个居心叵测的大阴谋。
• One speaker today called the plan diabolical and sinister.今天一名发言人称该计划阴险恶毒。

6 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

7 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。

8 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

10 glided   

v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The President's motorcade glided by. 总统的车队一溜烟开了过去。
• They glided along the wall until they were out of sight. 他们沿着墙壁溜得无影无踪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 aerosols   

n.气溶胶( aerosol的名词复数 )；喷雾剂；（气体中的）浮粒；喷雾器

参考例句：

• Aerosols are present throughout the atmosphere. 气溶胶存在于整个大气层。 来自辞典例句
• Deodorants are available as aerosols or roll-ons. 除臭剂有喷雾装或滚抹装。 来自辞典例句

12 spurted   

（液体，火焰等）喷出，（使）涌出( spurt的过去式和过去分词 )； （短暂地）加速前进，冲刺

参考例句：

• Water spurted out of the hole. 水从小孔中喷出来。
• Their guns spurted fire. 他们的枪喷射出火焰。

13 strap   

n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎

参考例句：

• She held onto a strap to steady herself.她抓住拉手吊带以便站稳。
• The nurse will strap up your wound.护士会绑扎你的伤口。

14 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 teaspoon   

n.茶匙

参考例句：

• Add one teaspoon of sugar.加一小茶匙糖。
• I need a teaspoon to stir my tea.我需要一把茶匙搅一搅茶。

16 pints   

n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒

参考例句：

• I drew off three pints of beer from the barrel. 我从酒桶里抽出三品脱啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Two pints today, please. 今天请来两品脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 thighs   

n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿

参考例句：

• He's gone to London for skin grafts on his thighs. 他去伦敦做大腿植皮手术了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The water came up to the fisherman's thighs. 水没到了渔夫的大腿。 来自《简明英汉词典》