The Recipe 配方

The Recipe
I hope you haven't forgotten that while all this was going on I was still stuck behind the
screen on my hands and knees with one eye glued to the crack. I don't know how long I had been
there but it seemed like for ever. The worst part of it was not being allowed to cough or make a
sound, and knowing that if I did, I was as good as dead. And all the way through, I was living in
constant terror that one of the witches in the back row was going to get a whiff of my presence
through those special nose-holes of hers.
My only hope, as I saw it, was the fact that I hadn't washed for days. That and the never-
ending excitement and clapping and shouting that was going on in the room. The witches were
thinking of nothing except The Grand High Witch up there on the platform and her great plan for
wiping out all the children of England. They certainly weren't sniffing¹ around for a child in the room.
In their wildest dreams (if witches have dreams), that would never have occurred to any of them. I
kept still and prayed.
The Grand High Witch's dreadful gloating song was over now, and the audience was clapping
madly and shouting, "Brilliant! Sensational²! Marvellous! You are a genius, O Brainy One! It is a
thrilling invention, this Delayed Action Mouse-Maker! It is a winner! And the beauty of it is that the
teachers will be the ones who bump off the stinking³ little children! It won't be us doing it! We shall
never be caught!"
"Vitches are never caught!" snapped The Grand High Witch. "Attention now! I vont
everybody's attention for I am about to be telling you vot you must do to prepare Formula 86 Delayed
Action Mouse-Maker!"
Suddenly there came a great gasp⁴ from the audience. This was followed by a hubbub⁵ of
shrieking⁶ and yelling, and I saw many of the witches leaping to their feet and pointing at the platform
and crying out, "Mice! Mice! Mice! She's done it to show us! The Brainy One has turned two
children into mice and there they are!"
I looked toward the platform. The mice were there all right, two of them, running around near
The Grand High Witch's skirts.
But these were not field mice or house mice or wood mice or harvest mice. They were white
mice! I recognised them immediately as being my own little William and Mary!
"Mice!" shouted the audience. "Our leader has made mice to appear out of nowhere! Get the
mouse-traps! Fetch the cheese!"
I saw The Grand High Witch peering down at the floor and staring with obvious puzzlement
at William and Mary. She bent⁷ lower to get a closer look. Then she straightened up and shouted,
"Qviet!"
The audience became silent and sat down.
"These mice are nothing to do vith me!" she shouted. "These mice are pet mice! These mice
are qvite obviously belonging to some rrreepellent little child in the hotel! A boy it vill be for a
certainty because girls are not keeping pet mice!"
"A boy!" cried the witches. "A filthy⁸ smelly little boy! We'll swipe him! We'll swizzle him!
We'll have his tripes for breakfast!"
"Silence!" shouted The Grand High Witch, raising her hands. "You know perrrfectly vell you
must do nothing to drrraw attention to yourselves vhile you are living in the hotel! Let us by all
means get rrrid of this evil-smelling little sqvirt, but vee must do it as qvietly as possible, for are vee
not all of us the most rrree-spectable ladies of the Rrroyal Society for the Prrree-vention of Crrruelty
to Children?"
"What do you suggest then, O Brainy One?" they cried out. "How shall we dispose of this
small pile of filth⁹?"
They're talking about me, I thought. These females are actually talking about how to kill me. I
began to sweat.
"Whoever he is, he is not important," announced The Grand High Witch. "Leave him to me. I
shall smell him out and turn him into a mackerel and have him dished up for supper."
"Bravo!" cried the witches. "Cut off his head and chop off his tail and fry him in hot butter!"
You can imagine that none of this was making me feel very comfortable. William and Mary
were still running around on the platform, and I saw The Grand High Witch aim a swift running kick
at William. She caught him right on the point of her toe and sent him flying. She did the same to
Mary. Her aim was extraordinary. She would have made a great football player. Both mice crashed
against the wall, and for a few moments they lay stunned¹⁰. Then they got to their feet and scampered¹¹
away.
"Attention again!" The Grand High Witch was shouting. "I vill now give to you the rrrecipe
for concocting¹² Formula 86 Delayed Action Mouse-Maker! Get out pencils and paper."
Handbags were opened all over the room and notebooks were fished out.
"Give us the recipe, O Brainy One!" cried the audience impatiently. "Tell us the secret."
"First," said The Grand High Witch, "I had to find something that vould cause the children to
become very small very qvickly."
"And what was that?" cried the audience.
"That part vos simple," said The Grand High Witch. "All you have to do if you are vishing to
make a child very small is to look at him through the wrrrong end of a telescope."
"She's a wonder!" cried the audience. "Who else would have thought of a thing like that?"
"So you take the wrrrong end of a telescope," continued The Grand High Witch, "and you
boil it until it gets soft."
"How long does that take?" they asked her.
"Tventy-vun hours of boiling," answered The Grand High Witch. "And vhile this is going on,
you take exactly forty-five brrrown mice and you chop off their tails vith a carving-knife and you fry
the tails in hair-oil until they are nice and crrrisp."
"What do we do with all those mice who have had their tails chopped off?" asked the
audience.
"You simmer them in frog-juice for vun hour," came the answer. "But listen to me. So far I
have only given you the easy part of the rrrecipe. The rrreally difficult problem is to put in something
that vill have a genuine delayed action rrree-sult, something that can be eaten by children on a certain
day but vhich vill not start vurrrking on them until nine o'clock the next morning vhen they arrive at
school."
"What did you come up with, O Brainy One?" they called out. "Tell us the great secret!"
"The secret", announced The Grand High Witch triumphantly¹³, "is an alarm-clock!"
"An alarm-clock!" they cried. "It's a stroke of genius!"
"Of course it is," said The Grand High Witch. "You can set a tventy-four-hour alarm-clock
today and at exactly nine o'clock tomorrow it vill go off."
"But we will need five million alarm-clocks!" cried the audience. "We will need one for each
child!"
"Idiots!" shouted The Grand High Witch. "If you are vonting a steak, you do not cook the
whole cow! It is the same vith alarm-clocks. Vun clock vill make enough for a thousand children.
Here is vhat you do. You set your alarm-clock to go off at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Then you
rrroast it in the oven until it is crrrisp and tender. Are you wrrriting this down?"
"We are, Your Grandness, we are!" they cried.
"Next," said The Grand High Witch, "you take your boiled telescope and your frrried mouse-
tails and your cooked mice and your rrroasted alarm clock and all together you put them into the
mixer. Then you mix them at full speed. This vill give you a nice thick paste. Vhile the mixer is still
mixing you must add to it the yolk¹⁴ of vun grrruntle's egg."
"A gruntle's egg!" cried the audience. "We shall do that!"
Underneath¹⁵ all the clamour that was going on I heard one witch in the back row saying to her
neighbour, "I'm getting a bit old to go bird's nesting. Those ruddy gruntles always nest very high up."
"So you mix in the egg," The Grand High Witch went on, "and vun after the other you also
mix in the following items: the claw of a crrrabcrrruncher, the beak¹⁶ of a blabbersnitch, the snout of a
grrrobblesqvirt and the tongue of a catsprrringer. I trust you are not having any trrrouble finding
those.
"None at all!" they cried out. "We will spear the blabbersnitch and trap the crabcruncher and
shoot the grobblesquirt and catch the catspringer in his burrow¹⁷!"
"Excellent!" said The Grand High Witch. "Vhen you have mixed everything together in the
mixer, you vill have a most marvellous-looking grrreen liqvid. Put vun drop, just vun titchy droplet¹⁸
of this liqvid into a chocolate or a sveet, and at nine o'clock the next morning the child who ate it vill
turn into a mouse in tventy-six seconds! But vun vurd of vorning. Never increase the dose. Never put
more than vun drrrop into each sveet or chocolate. And never give more than vun sweet or chocolate
to each child. An overdose of Delayed Action Mouse-Maker vill mess up the timing¹⁹ of the alarm-
clock and cause the child to turn into a mouse too early. A large overdose might even have an instant
effect, and you vouldn't vont that, vould you? You vouldn't vont the children turning into mice rrright
there in your sveet-shops. That vould give the game away. So be very carrreful! Do not overdose!"

配方
我希望大家没有忘记，当所有这些事情发生的时候，我仍旧趴在屏风后面，用一只眼睛
盯着夹缝偷看。我不知道我在那里待了多久，好像已经几千年了。最糟糕的是既不能咳嗽，
也不能发出一点声音。我知道，只要我一有动静，我就必死无疑。我一直处于恐怖之中，怕
后排有个女巫用她的特殊鼻孔闻出我来。
我唯一的希望是我好些日子没有洗澡了，还有就是她们激动不已，所有的人都在拍手大
叫。女巫们只想着讲坛上的女巫大王和她消灭全英国儿童的伟大计划。她们绝对没有在闻房
间里有没有小孩。即使在她们最漫无边际的梦境中（如果女巫也做梦的话），她们也不会想
到这一点。我于是保持安静，暗暗祈祷。
女巫大王那可怕的扬扬得意的歌这会儿唱完了，听众疯狂地鼓掌欢呼：“出色！感人！呱
呱叫！你是一位天才，噢，足智多谋的大王！这‘慢性变鼠药’是一项惊人的发明！它一定能成
功！它的美在于由教师们干掉那些臭小鬼！不用我们亲自动手！我们将永远不会被捕！”
“女巫永远不会被捕！”女巫大王厉声说，“现在听好了！我要人人听好了，因为我这就告
诉你们怎样配制‘慢性变鼠药’！”
听众一下子透不过气来，接着是大吵大嚷。我看到许多女巫跳起来指着讲坛叫道：“老
鼠！老鼠！老鼠！她已经做给我们看了！足智多谋的大王已经把两个孩子变成了老鼠，它们
在那里！”
我朝讲坛看去。是老鼠，有两只，它们正在女巫大王的裙边跑来跑去。
但它们不是田鼠，也不是家鼠或者林鼠。它们是小白鼠！我马上认出来了，它们是我的
小威廉和玛丽！
“老鼠！”听众大叫，“我们的大王空手变出了老鼠！快拿来老鼠夹！快拿来干酪！”
我看见女巫大王低头看着地板，困惑地盯着威廉和玛丽。她把腰弯得更低些，看得更仔
细些。接着她挺直身体叫道：“肃静！”
听众静下来，坐下。
“这两只老鼠和我无关！”她叫道，“这两只老鼠是养来玩的老鼠！这两只老鼠显然是旅馆
里哪个讨厌的小孩的！这小孩准是一个男孩，因为女孩不养老鼠玩！”
“一个男孩！”女巫们喊叫，“一个肮脏的臭男孩！我们要打死他！我们要捣碎他！我们要
拿他的内脏当早饭吃！”
“肃静！”女巫大王举起双手叫道，“你们很清楚，当你们住在旅馆里的时候，你们不要做
出任何事情来引起人们对你们的注意。我们必须尽力消灭这个臭小子，但务必悄悄的，因为
我们不都是‘防止虐待儿童王家协会’的女士吗？”
“那么你叫我们怎么办，噢，足智多谋的大王？”她们叫道，“我们怎么干掉这个小脏鬼
呢？”
我想她们说的正是我。这些女巫的确在谈论怎样干掉我。我开始淌汗了。
“不管他是谁，他并不重要，”女巫大王说，“把他交给我吧。我会把他嗅出来，把他变成
鲐鱼当晚饭吃的。”
“好！”女巫们叫道，“切下他的头，斩下他的尾巴，在滚烫的牛油里煎！”
你们可以想象，这些话没有一句会使我感到舒服。威廉和玛丽仍旧在讲坛上跑来跑去，
我看到女巫大王很快地抬起脚对准威廉，用她的鞋尖踢中它，把它踢走了。她以同样的办法
对付玛丽。她踢得异常准，真可以成为一个伟大的足球运动员。两只小白鼠撞到墙上，躺在
那里昏了几分钟，接着站起来急忙逃走了。
“再好好听我说！”女巫大王在叫，“现在我告诉你们‘86号慢性变鼠药’的配方！你们拿出
铅笔和纸来！”
整个房间里的女巫都打开手提包，拿出笔记本。
“告诉我们配方吧，噢，足智多谋的大王！”听众急不可待地叫道，“把秘密告诉我们
吧！”
“首先，”女巫大王说，“我必须找到一样东西使孩子很快地变得非常小。”
“那是什么？”听众大声问。
“这一步骤很简单，”女巫大王说，“你要把孩子变得非常小，只要用望远镜倒过来的另一
头看他就行了。”
“她真了不起！”听众叫道，“还有谁能想出这样的事呢？”
“因此，你只要把望远镜倒过来拿，”女巫大王说下去，“把它煮软。”
“要煮多长时间呢？”她们问她。
“煮二十一个小时，”女巫大王回答，“趁煮它的时候，你们砍下正好四十五只棕色老鼠的
尾巴，用头发油把这些老鼠尾巴炸脆。”
“我们把砍掉尾巴的老鼠怎么样呢？”听众问道。
“在青蛙汁里炖一个钟头，”女巫大王回答，“但听好，到现在为止，我只告诉了你们配方
中容易做的部分。真正的难题是要放进一种东西，使孩子真正能够慢慢变成老鼠，让他们吃
下去后在第二天早晨九点钟到学校的时候变成老鼠。”
“你想出了什么办法呢，噢，足智多谋的大王？”她们叫起来，“把这重大秘密告诉我们
吧！”
“这秘密，”女巫大王得意地说，“在于闹钟！”
“闹钟！”她们叫道，“真是天才的灵感！”
“那还用说！”女巫大王说道，“你们把一个二十四小时制的闹钟校好，让它在第二天九点
整闹响。”
“那我们需要五百万个闹钟啦！”听众叫道，“一个孩子一个！”
“一群白痴！”女巫大王叫道，“如果你们想要一块煎牛排，也用不着煎整头牛啊！闹钟也
是一样。一个闹钟可以够一千个孩子用。你们就这么办。你们校好闹钟让它第二天早晨九点
响，然后把它放在烤箱里烤到松脆为止。这一条你们记下了吗？”
“记下了，大王，我们记下了！”她们叫道。
“其次，”女巫大王说下去，“你们把煮好的望远镜、炸好的老鼠尾巴、炖好的老鼠和烤好
的闹钟一起放进搅拌器。然后你们全速搅拌它们，把它们搅拌成浓浓的糊糊。一面搅拌一面
加上一个猪嘴鸟的蛋。”
“一个猪嘴鸟的蛋！”听众叫道，“我们照办！”在所有这些叫嚷声中，我听见后排一个女
巫对她旁边的一个女巫说：“要我上树取鸟蛋，我可太老了。那些猪嘴鸟总是把巢筑得高高
的。”
“就这样把蛋拌进去，”女巫大王继续说，“然后陆续拌进如下东西：一个蟹脚鸟的爪子、
一个多嘴鱼的嘴、一条喷气兽的鼻子、一条猫跳兽的舌头。我相信你们不难找到这些东西。”
“一点不难！”她们叫道，“我们会用标枪刺死多嘴鱼，用罗网捉住蟹脚鸟，用枪打死喷气
兽，挖出在地洞里的猫跳兽。”
“很好！”女巫大王说，“所有的东西在搅拌器里搅拌好以后，你们就会得到一种美丽的绿
色液体。在每块巧克力或糖果上滴一滴这种液体，就一小滴。到第二天早晨九点钟，吃了它
们的孩子就会在二十六秒钟内变成一只老鼠。但注意，不要增加剂量。一块糖果或一块巧克
力不要放多于一小滴。‘慢性变鼠药’一超量就会搅乱闹钟的时间，使孩子提早变成老鼠。过分
超量甚至会立时起作用，你们不想这样吧？你们当然不想让孩子在你们的糖果店里就变成老
鼠。这样就坏事了。因此要非常小心！千万不要超量！”

1 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

3 stinking   

adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• I was pushed into a filthy, stinking room. 我被推进一间又脏又臭的屋子里。
• Those lousy, stinking ships. It was them that destroyed us. 是的！就是那些该死的蠢猪似的臭飞船！是它们毁了我们。 来自英汉非文学 - 科幻

4 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

5 hubbub   

n.嘈杂；骚乱

参考例句：

• The hubbub of voices drowned out the host's voice.嘈杂的声音淹没了主人的声音。
• He concentrated on the work in hand,and the hubbub outside the room simply flowed over him.他埋头于手头的工作，室外的吵闹声他简直象没有听见一般。

6 shrieking   

v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were all shrieking with laughter. 他们都发出了尖锐的笑声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。

8 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

9 filth   

n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥

参考例句：

• I don't know how you can read such filth.我不明白你怎么会去读这种淫秽下流的东西。
• The dialogue was all filth and innuendo.这段对话全是下流的言辞和影射。

10 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

11 scampered   

v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cat scampered away. 猫刺棱一下跑了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The rabbIt'scampered off. 兔子迅速跑掉了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 concocting   

v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的现在分词 )；调制；编造；捏造

参考例句：

• I judged that he was concocting a particularly knotty editorial. 我估计他是在拼凑一篇特别伤脑筋的社论。 来自辞典例句
• 'And you,' returned Sydney, busy concocting the punch, 'are such a sensitive and poetical spirit.' “可你呢，”西德尼一边忙着调五味酒，一边回答，“你却是这样一个敏感而有诗意的精灵。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

13 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。

14 yolk   

n.蛋黄，卵黄

参考例句：

• This dish would be more delicious with some yolk powder.加点蛋黄粉，这道菜就会更好吃。
• Egg yolk serves as the emulsifying agent in salad dressing.在色拉调味时，蛋黄能作为乳化剂。

15 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

16 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

17 burrow   

vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞

参考例句：

• Earthworms burrow deep into the subsoil.蚯蚓深深地钻进底土。
• The dog had chased a rabbit into its burrow.狗把兔子追进了洞穴。

18 droplet   

n.小滴，飞沫

参考例句：

• The rate of droplet growth under different conditions can be evaluated.可以计算在不同条件下的云滴增长率。
• The test results showed that increasing droplet size was associated with better stability.试验结果表明，增加液滴尺寸将使稳定性提高。

19 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。