The Giant picked up the trembling Sophie with one hand and carried her across the cave and put
her on the table.
Now he really is going to eat me, Sophie thought.
The Giant sat down and stared hard at Sophie. He had truly enormous ears. Each one was as big
as the wheel of a truck and he seemed to be able to move them inwards and outwards1 from his head
as he wished.
‘I is hungry!’ the Giant boomed. He grinned, showing massive square teeth. The teeth were very
white and very square and they sat in his mouth like huge slices of white bread.
‘P… please don’t eat me,’ Sophie stammered2.
The Giant let out a bellow3 of laughter. ‘Just because I is a giant, you think I is a man-gobbling
cannybull!’ he shouted. ‘You is about right! Giants is all cannybully and murderful! And they does
gobble up human beans! We is in Giant Country now! Giants is everywhere around! Out there us has
the famous Bonecrunching Giant! Bonecrunching Giant crunches5 up two wopsey whiffling human
beans for supper every night! Noise is earbursting! Noise of crunching4 bones goes crackety-crack for
miles around!’
‘Owch!’ Sophie said.
‘Bonecrunching Giant only gobbles human beans from Turkey’ the Giant said. ‘Every night
Bonecruncher is galloping6 off to Turkey to gobble Turks.’
Sophie’s sense of patriotism7 was suddenly so bruised8 by this remark that she became quite angry
‘Why Turks?’ she blurted9 out. ‘What’s wrong with the English?’
‘Bonecrunching Giant says Turks is tasting oh ever so much juicier and more
scrumdiddlyumptious! Bonecruncher says Turkish human beans has a glamourly flavour. He says
Turks from Turkey is tasting of turkey.’
‘I suppose they would,’ Sophie said.
‘Of course they would!’ the Giant shouted. ‘Every human bean is diddly and different. Some is
scrumdiddlyumptious and some is uckyslush. Greeks is all full of uckyslush. No giant is eating
Greeks, ever.’
‘Why not?’ Sophie asked.
‘Greeks from Greece is all tasting greasy’ the Giant said.
‘I imagine that’s possible too,’ Sophie said. She was wondering with a bit of a tremble what all
this talking about eating people was leading up to. Whatever happened, she simply must play along
with this peculiar10 giant and smile at his jokes.
But were they jokes? Perhaps the great brute11 was just working up an appetite by talking about
food.
‘As I am saying,’ the Giant went on, ‘all human beans is having different flavours. Human beans
from Panama is tasting very strong of hats.’
‘Why hats?’ Sophie said.
‘You is not very clever,’ the Giant said, moving his great ears in and out. ‘I thought all human
beans is full of brains, but your head is emptier than a bundongle.’
‘Do you like vegetables?’ Sophie asked, hoping to steer12 the conversation towards a slightly less
dangerous kind of food.
‘You is trying to change the subject,’ the Giant said sternly. ‘We is having an interesting
babblement13 about the taste of the human bean. The human bean is not a vegetable.’
‘Oh, but the bean is a vegetable,’ Sophie said.
‘Not the human bean,’ the Giant said. ‘The human bean has two legs and a vegetable has no legs
at all.’
Sophie didn’t argue any more. The last thing she wanted to do was to make the Giant cross.
‘The human bean,’ the Giant went on, ‘is coming in dillions of different flavours. For instance,
human beans from Wales is tasting very whooshey of fish. There is something very fishy14 about
Wales.’
‘You means whales,’ Sophie said. ‘Wales is something quite different.’
‘Wales is whales’, the Giant said. ‘Don’t gobblefunk around with words. I will now give you
another example. Human beans from Jersey15 has a most disgustable woolly tickle16 on the tongue,’ the
Giant said. ‘Human beans from Jersey is tasting of cardigans.’
‘You mean jerseys,’ Sophie said.
‘You are once again gobblefunking!’ the Giant shouted. ‘Don’t do it! This is a serious and
snitching subject. May I continue?’
‘Please do,’ Sophie said.
‘Danes from Denmark is tasting ever so much of dogs,’ the Giant went on.
‘Of course,’ Sophie said. ‘They taste of great danes.’
‘Wrong!’ cried the Giant, slapping his thigh17. ‘Danes from Denmark is tasting doggy because
they is tasting of labradors!’
‘Then what do the people of Labrador taste of?’ Sophie asked.
‘Danes,’ the Giant cried, triumphantly18. ‘Great danes!’
‘Aren’t you getting a bit mixed up?’ Sophie said.
‘I is a very mixed-up Giant,’ the Giant said. ‘But I does do my best. And I is not nearly as mixed
up as the other giants. I know one who gallops19 all the way to Wellington for his supper.’
‘Wellington?’ Sophie said. ‘Where is Wellington?’
‘Your head is full of squashed flies,’ the Giant said. ‘Wellington is in New Zealand. The human
beans in Wellington has an especially scrumdiddlyumptious taste, so says the Welly-eating Giant.’
‘What do the people of Wellington taste of?’ Sophie asked.
‘Boots,’ the Giant said.
‘Of course,’ Sophie said. ‘I should have known.’
Sophie decided20 that this conversation had now gone on long enough. If she was going to be
eaten, she’d rather get it over and done with right away than be kept hanging around any more. ‘What
sort of human beings do you eat?’ she asked, trembling.
‘Me!’ shouted the Giant, his mighty21 voice making the glass jars rattle22 on their shelves. ‘Me
gobbling up human beans! This I never! The others, yes! All the others is gobbling them up every
night, but not me! I is a freaky Giant! I is a nice and jumbly Giant! I is the only nice and jumbly
Giant in Giant Country! I is THE BIG FRIENDLY GIANT! I is the BFG. What is your name?’
‘My name is Sophie,’ Sophie said, hardly daring to believe the good news she had just heard.
好心眼儿巨人
巨人用一只手把发抖的索菲抓起来,把她放在山洞的那张桌子上。
现在他当真要吃我了,索菲想。
巨人坐下来,狠狠地盯住索菲看。他的耳朵真大。每一只耳朵有车轮那么大,他好像可
以随意把它们转来转去。
“我饿了!”巨人轰隆隆地说。他咧开嘴笑起来,露出四方形的大牙齿。这些牙齿非常
白,四四方方,在他的嘴巴里像一大片一大片白面包。
“请……请不要吃我。”索菲结结巴巴地说。
巨人哈哈大笑。“只因为我是一个巨人,你就以为我是一个吃人生番!”他叫道,“你说得
也对!巨人全是生番,要杀人豆子!他们当真吃人豆子!我们如今是在巨人国!四面八方都
是巨人!在外面我们就有个赫赫有名的嘎吱嘎吱嚼骨头巨人!嘎吱嘎吱嚼骨头巨人每天晚上
要嚼上两个肥肥胖胖不值钱的人豆子做晚饭!他吃饭的声音会把你耳朵震聋!他嘎吱嘎吱嚼
骨头的声音会传得非常远!”
“哎呀!”索菲喊道。
“嘎吱嘎吱嚼骨头巨人只吃土耳其人豆子。”巨人说,“每天晚上嘎吱嘎吱嚼骨头巨人会跑
到土耳其去吃土耳其人豆子。”
索菲的爱国心一下子被这句话激发起来,于是变得非常生气。“为什么只吃土耳其
人?”她脱口而出,不服气地问道,“英国人有什么不好?”
“嘎吱嘎吱嚼骨头巨人说土耳其人豆子吃上去汁水更多,味道更好。嘎吱嘎吱嚼骨头巨人
说土耳其人豆子有一种迷人的香味。他说土耳其人豆子有点吐绶鸡的味道。”
“土耳其,吐绶鸡,听起来有点像,我想他们可能是这样。”索菲说。
“他们当然是这样!”巨人叫道,“每一种人豆子味道都不同。有一些好吃,有一些难吃。
希腊人豆子全都不好吃。巨人从来不吃希腊人豆子。”
“为什么不吃?”索菲问道。
“希腊人豆子味同嚼蜡。”巨人说。
“希腊的‘腊’跟蜡烛的‘蜡’声音一样,我猜想这也是可能的。”索菲说。她有点发抖地在
想:这样只管谈吃人,不知会导致什么结果。可是不管怎样,她必须逗这个古怪巨人说下
去,于是对他的笑话露出微笑。
可这些是笑话吗?也许这凶恶的巨人谈吃只是要引起他的食欲。
“正像我说的,”巨人说下去,“不同的人豆子有不同的香味。巴拿马人豆子有很浓的草帽
[1] 味道。”
“为什么是草帽味道?”索菲说。
“你不很聪明。”巨人把他的大耳朵转过来转过去地说,“我本以为所有人豆子都很有脑
筋,可你的脑袋瓜比一个草包还要没脑筋。”
“你喜欢吃蔬菜吗?”索菲问道,希望把话题转到稍微不那么危险的食物上去。
“你想改变话题,”巨人狠狠地说了出来,“我们谈人豆子的味道正谈得津津有味。人豆子
可不是蔬菜。”
“噢,可豆子是蔬菜。”索菲说。
“人豆子可不是,”巨人说,“人豆子有两条腿,可蔬菜根本没有腿。”
索菲不再争下去。她最后一件要做的事就是让巨人发脾气。
“人豆子吗,”巨人说下去,“有千千万万种不同的味道。比方说吧,维京人豆子有鱼味
道。这和‘京’生长在海洋里有很大关系。”“你是说鲸啊?”索菲说,“这‘京’不是那‘鲸’,完全
是两码事。”
“反正就是那么个音,”巨人说,“你别咬文嚼字。我现在给你举另一个例子。泽西人豆子
给舌头一种最倒胃口的毛茸茸的感觉。”巨人接着说:“泽西人豆子有毛线衣的味道。”
“你是说泽西出产毛织品。”索菲说。
“你又来咬文嚼字了!”巨人叫起来,“别这样!这是一个严肃的话题。我说下去好吗?”
“请吧。”索菲说。
“丹麦人豆子有很强烈的面粉味道。”巨人说下去。
“当然,”索菲接上他的话,“面粉是麦子磨出来的。你说话是不是有点混?”索菲说。“我
是一个非常混的巨人,”巨人说,“不过我已经尽力不这样。我一点儿没有其他巨人混。我认
识这么个巨人,他一直跑到惠灵顿去吃他的晚饭。”
“惠灵顿?”索菲说,“惠灵顿在哪里?”
“你的脑袋瓜满是死苍蝇。”巨人说,“惠灵顿在新西兰啊!惠灵顿人豆子有一种特别的美
味,那个专吃惠灵顿人豆子的巨人是这么说的。”
“那么惠灵顿人的味道是怎样的呢?”索菲问道。
“靴子味。”巨人说。
“当然,”索菲说,“我早该想出来 [2] 。”
索菲拿定主意,这个话题谈得已经够长了。如果她非被吃掉不可,她宁愿干脆给吃掉算
了,别再这么拖拖拉拉、磨磨蹭蹭地受罪。“那么你吃哪一种人呢?”索菲问。
“我?”巨人嚷嚷起来,他那洪大的嗓音震得架子上所有的玻璃瓶乒乒乓乓响起来,“我吃
人豆子?我从来不吃人豆子!其他巨人,没错,他们吃!所有其他的巨人每天晚上都吃人豆
子,可我不吃!我是一个独一无二的巨人!我是一个好巨人!我是巨人国里独一无二的好巨
人!我是个好心眼儿巨人!我就叫好心眼儿巨人。你叫什么?”
“我叫索菲。”索菲说。她简直不敢相信刚刚听到的这个好消息。
[1]巴拿马草帽是巴拿马的特产。
[2]英国有惠灵顿长统靴,惠灵顿高帮靴,其实它们的名称源自英国陆军元帅惠灵顿
(1769-1852),跟新西兰的首都惠灵顿根本不搭界。
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收听单词发音
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1
outwards
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adj.外面的,公开的,向外的;adv.向外;n.外形 | |
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2
stammered
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v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
bellow
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v.吼叫,怒吼;大声发出,大声喝道 | |
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4
crunching
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v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的现在分词 );嘎吱作响;(快速大量地)处理信息;数字捣弄 | |
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5
crunches
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n.(突发的)不足( crunch的名词复数 );需要做出重要决策的困难时刻;紧要关头;嘎吱的响声v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的第三人称单数 );嘎吱作响;(快速大量地)处理信息;数字捣弄 | |
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6
galloping
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adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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7
patriotism
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n.爱国精神,爱国心,爱国主义 | |
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8
bruised
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[医]青肿的,瘀紫的 | |
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9
blurted
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v.突然说出,脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
peculiar
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adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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11
brute
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n.野兽,兽性 | |
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12
steer
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vt.驾驶,为…操舵;引导;vi.驾驶 | |
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13
babblement
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模糊不清的言语,胡说,潺潺声 | |
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14
fishy
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adj. 值得怀疑的 | |
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15
jersey
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n.运动衫 | |
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16
tickle
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v.搔痒,胳肢;使高兴;发痒;n.搔痒,发痒 | |
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17
thigh
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n.大腿;股骨 | |
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18
triumphantly
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ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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19
gallops
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(马等)奔驰,骑马奔驰( gallop的名词复数 ) | |
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20
decided
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adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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21
mighty
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adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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22
rattle
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v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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