Bruno Jenkins Disappears 布鲁诺·詹金斯失踪

Bruno Jenkins Disappears
The Grand High Witch was starting to talk again. "I am now going to prrrove to you", she
said, "that this rrrecipe is vurrrking to perrrfection. You understand, of course, that you can set the
alarm-clock to go off at any time you like. It does not have to be nine o'clock. So yesterday I am
personally prrree-paring a small qvantity of the magic formula in order to give to you a public
demonstration¹. But I am making vun small change in the rrrecipe. Before I am rrroasting the alarm-
clock, I am setting it to go off, not at nine o'clock the next morning, but at half-past thrrree the next
afternoon. Vhich means half-past thrrree this afternoon. And that", she said, glancing at her wrist-
watch, "is in prrree-cisely seven minutes' time!"
The audience of witches was listening intently, sensing that something dramatic was about to
happen.
"So vot am I doing yesterday vith this magic liqvid?" asked The Grand High Witch. "I vill tell
you vot I am doing. I am putting vun drrroplet of it into a very sqvishy chocolate bar and I am giving
this bar to a rrree-pulsive smelly little boy who is hanging rrround the lobby of the hotel."
The Grand High Witch paused. The audience remained silent, waiting for her to go on.
"I votched this rrree-pulsive little brrrute gobbling up the sqvishy bar of chocolate and vhen
he had finished, I said to him, 'Vos that good?' He said it vos great. So I said to him, Would you like
some more?' And he said, 'Yes.' So I said, 'I vill give you six more chocolate bars like that if you vill
meet me in the Ballroom² of this hotel at tventy-five-past thrrree tomorrow afternoon.' 'Six bars!' cried
this greedy little svine. 'I'll be there! You bet I'll be there!'
"So the stage is set!" shouted The Grand High Witch. "The prrroof of the pudding is about to
begin! Do not forget that before I am rrroasting the alarm-clock yesterday, I am setting it for half-past
thrrree today. It is now" ---she glanced again at her watch --- "it is now exactly tventy-five minutes
past thrrree and the nasty little stinker who vill be turning into a mouse in five minutes' time should at
this very moment be standing³ outside the doors!"
And by gum, she was absolutely right. The boy, whoever he might be, was already rattling⁴ the
door-handle and banging on the doors with his fist.
"Qvick!" shrieked⁵ The Grand High Witch. "Put on your vigs! Put on your gloves! Put on your
shoes!"
There was a great rustle⁶ and bustle⁷ of putting on wigs⁸ and gloves and shoes, and I saw The
Grand High Witch herself reach for her face-mask and put it on over that revolting face of hers. It
was astonishing how that mask transformed her. All of a sudden she became once again a rather
pretty young lady.
"Let me in!" came the boy's voice from behind the doors. "Where are those chocolate bars
you promised me? I'm here to collect! Dish them out!"
"He is not only smelly, he is also grrreedy," said The Grand High Witch. "Rrree-moof the
chains from the doors and let him come in." The extraordinary thing about the mask was that its lips
moved quite naturally when she spoke⁹. You really couldn't see it was a mask at all.
One of the witches leapt to her feet and unfastened the chains. She opened the two huge
doors. Then I heard her saying, "Why hello, little man. How lovely to see you. You have come for
your chocolate bars, have you not? They are all ready for you. Do come in."
A small boy wearing a white tee-shirt and grey shorts and gymshoes entered the room. I
recognised him at once. He was called Bruno Jenkins and he was staying in the hotel with his parents.
I didn't care for him. He was one of those boys who is always eating something whenever you meet
him. Meet him in the hotel lobby and he is stuffing sponge cake into his mouth. Pass him in the
corridor and he is fishing potato crisps out of a bag by the fistful. Catch sight of him in the hotel
garden and he is wolfing a Dairy Milk Bar and has two more sticking out of his trouser-pocket.
What's more, Bruno never stopped boasting about how his father made more money than my father
and that they owned three cars. But worse than that, yesterday morning I had found him kneeling on
the flagstones of the hotel terrace with a magnifying-glass in his hand. There was a column of ants
marching across one of the flagstones and Bruno Jenkins was focusing the sun through his
magnifying-glass and roasting the ants one by one. "I like watching them burn," he said. "That's
horrible!" I cried. "Stop doing it!" "Let's see you stop me,"he said. At that point I had pushed him
with all my might and he had crashed sideways on to the flagstones. His magnifying-glass had
splintered into many pieces and he had leapt up shrieking¹⁰, "My father is going to get you for this!"
Then he had run off, presumably to find his wealthy dad. That was the last time I had seen Bruno
Jerkins until now. I doubted very much that he was about to be turned into a mouse, although I must
confess that I was secretly hoping it might happen. Either way, I didn't envy him being up there in
front of all those witches.
"Darling boy," cooed The Grand High Witch from up on the platform. "I have your
chocolates all rrready for you. Do come up here firrrst and say hello to all these lovely ladies." Her
voice was quite different now. It was soft and gentle and absolutely dripping with syrup¹¹.
Bruno was looking a bit bewildered, but he allowed himself to be led up on to the platform,
where he stood beside The Grand High Witch and said, "Okay, where are my six bars of chocolate?"
I saw the witch who had let him in quietly putting the chain back on the door-handles. Bruno
didn't notice this. He was too busy asking for his chocolate.
"The time is now vun minute before half-past thrrree!" announced The Grand High Witch.
"What the heck's going on?" Bruno asked. He wasn't frightened, but he wasn't looking exactly
comfortable either. "What is this?" he said. "Gimme my chocolate!"
"Thirty seconds to go!" cried The Grand High Witch, gripping Bruno by the arm. Bruno
shook himself clear and stared at her. She stared back at him, smiling with the lips of her mask. Every
witch in the audience was staring at Bruno.
"Tventy seconds!" cried The Grand High Witch.
"Gimme the chocolate!" shouted Bruno, becoming suddenly suspicious. "Gimme the
chocolate and let me out of here!"
"Fifteen seconds!" cried The Grand High Witch.
"Will one of you crazy punks kindly¹² tell me what all this is about?" shouted Bruno.
"Ten seconds!" cried The Grand High Witch. "Nine... eight... seven... six... five... four...
thrrree... two... vun... zero! Vee have ignition!"
I could have sworn I heard an alarm-clock ringing. I saw Bruno jump. He jumped as though
someone had stuck a hatpin deep into his bottom and he yelled "Ow!" He jumped so high that he
landed on a small table up there on the stage, and he started hopping¹³ about on the top of this table,
waving his arms and yelling his head off. Then suddenly he became silent. His whole body stiffened¹⁴.
"The alarm has gone off!" shrieked The Grand High Witch. "The Mouse-Maker is beginning
to vurrrk!" She started hopping about on the platform and clapping her gloved hands together and
then she shouted out,
"This smelly brrrat, this filthy¹⁵ scum
This horrid¹⁶ little louse
Vill very very soon become
A lovely little MOUSE!"
Bruno was getting smaller by the second. I could see him shrinking...
Now his clothes seemed to be disappearing and brown fur was growing all over his body...
Suddenly he had a tail...
And then he had whiskers...
Now he had four feet...
It was all happening so quickly...
It was a matter of seconds only...
And all at once he wasn't there any more...
A small brown mouse was running around on the table top...
"Bravo!" yelled the audience. "She's done it! It works! It's fantastic! It's colossal¹⁷! It's the
greatest yet! You are a miracle, O Brainy One!" They were all standing up and clapping and cheering
and The Grand High Witch produced a mouse-trap from the folds of her dress and started to set it.
Oh no! I thought. I don't want to see this! Bruno Jenkins may have been a bit of a stinker but
I'm dashed if I want to watch him having his head chopped off!
"There is he?" snapped The Grand High Witch, searching the platform. "Vhere has that
mouse got to?"
She couldn't find him. Clever Bruno must have jumped down off the table and scampered¹⁸ off
into some corner or even down a small hole. Thank heavens for that.
"It matters not!" shouted The Grand High Witch. "Silence and sit down!"


布鲁诺·詹金斯失踪
女巫大王又说话了。“现在我来向你们证明，”她说，“这配方是十全十美的。你们自然明
白，你们可以随意使闹钟在什么时候响，不一定非九点钟不可。昨天我亲自做了一点这种魔
药，要让你们大家看看。但我把配方作了一点小小的改变。在我烤闹钟之前，我把它校到第
二天下午三点半而不是早晨九点。这就是今天下午三点半。就是说，”她看看她的手表
说，“还有整七分钟的时间！”
女巫们用心听着，意识到有一件戏剧性的事情就要发生了。
“我昨天用这魔药做了什么呢？”女巫大王问道，“我这就来告诉你们我所做的事。我在一
块巧克力上放了一小滴，把巧克力给了在旅馆前厅的一个讨厌的臭男孩。”
女巫大王停了一下。听众静静地等她说下去。
“我看着这讨厌的小鬼把这块软软的巧克力吃下去，吃完后我问他：‘好吃吗？’他说好吃
极了。我又对他说：‘还想吃吗？’他说想，于是我说：‘如果你在明天下午三点二十五分到这
旅馆的舞厅来看我，我再给你六块。六块！’这馋嘴小猪叫起来：‘我一定来！你可以跟我打
赌，我一定来！”
“因此戏就要开场了！”女巫大王叫道，“我马上就可以证明给你们看！别忘了，我昨天烤
闹钟前是校到今天三点半的。那就是现在，”她看看手表，“现在正好是三点二十五分，那应
该变成老鼠的该死的臭小鬼这会儿该站在门外了！”
她说得一点不错。不管那孩子是谁，他已经在拉门把手，用拳头在敲门了。
“快！”女巫大王急叫道，“戴上你们的假发！戴上你们的手套！穿上你们的鞋！”
在一阵忙乱的戴假发和手套以及穿鞋的声音之中，我看见女巫大王本人伸手拿起面具戴
到她那叫人恶心的脸上。真惊人，面具一下子使她变了样。她一下子又变成一个十分漂亮的
娇滴滴的小姐。
“让我进去！”门外传来那男孩的叫声，“你答应我的巧克力在哪里？我来拿了！把它们给
我！”
“他不但臭，而且馋。”女巫大王说，“拿掉门上的铁链放他进来。”要说她那面具的特别
之处，是她说话时嘴唇动得很自然，根本看不出是个面具。
一个女巫跳起来去摘掉铁链。她打开两扇门。接着我听见她说：“你好，小朋友。看见你
真高兴。你是来拿巧克力的吧？给你预备好了。进来吧。”
一个穿白T恤、灰短裤、运动鞋的小男孩走进房间。我一眼就认出了他。他叫布鲁诺·詹
金斯，和父母一起住在旅馆里。他这个人我可不在乎。他这种孩子，不管什么时候看到他，
他总在那里吃东西。在旅馆前厅里见到他，他正往嘴里塞蛋糕。在走廊里碰到他，他正从袋
子里大把抓土豆片。在旅馆花园里看到他，他正在大嚼一条牛奶巧克力，裤袋里还露出了两
条。而且布鲁诺没完没了地夸耀他爸爸赚钱比我爸爸多，他们有三辆小汽车。更叫人生气的
是，昨天早晨我发现他手里拿着一个放大镜跪在旅馆平台的石板上。有一行蚂蚁爬过石板，
布鲁诺·詹金斯正用放大镜把太阳光聚起来，要将蚂蚁一只一只烧死。“我爱看着它们被烧
死。”他说。“那太残忍了！”我叫道，“别这样做！”“我倒是要看看你怎么阻止我！”他说。我
一下子使出全身力气去把他推开。他侧身倒在石板上，放大镜跌碎了。他跳起来大叫：“我爸
爸要找你算账的！”接着他跑了，大概是去找他的阔佬爸爸。这以后我就没有见过他。我十分
怀疑他真的这就要变成一只老鼠，虽然我必须坦白承认，我暗暗希望这事情会发生。反正他
来到这些女巫面前，我一点儿也不羡慕。
“小宝贝，”女巫大王从讲坛上哄他说，“我已经给你预备好巧克力了。先过来对所有这些
可爱的太太小姐们问声好吧。”她的声音现在完全变了样，又温柔又甜蜜，像滴着糖浆一样。
布鲁诺看上去有点傻了，但他让人牵到讲坛上去，站在女巫大王身边，说：“好了，我的
六块巧克力呢？”
我看见把他带上讲坛的女巫回到门边，轻轻地用铁链把门把手重新拴好。布鲁诺没有注
意到这件事，他只顾着讨他的巧克力。
“现在的时间是差一分三点半！”女巫大王宣布。
“这是怎么回事？”布鲁诺问道，他并不害怕，但也不能说舒服。“到底是怎么回事？”他
说，“把巧克力给我！”
“还有三十秒！”女巫大王抓住布鲁诺的胳臂。布鲁诺挣脱了，看着她。她用她面具上的
嘴唇微笑着，两眼盯着他。每个女巫都盯着布鲁诺看。
“二十秒！”女巫大王叫道。
“给我巧克力！”布鲁诺也叫，他突然怀疑起来，“给我巧克力，放我出去！”
“十五秒！”女巫大王叫道。
“你们这些疯女人，请哪一位告诉我好不好，这到底是怎么回事？”布鲁诺叫道。
“十秒！”女巫大王叫道，“九—八—七—六—五—四—三—二—一—零！”
我可以发誓我听到了闹钟的响声。我看见布鲁诺跳起来，就像谁用帽针在他的屁股上刺
了一下。他大叫一声：“噢！”他跳得那么高，然后落到了讲坛上的一张小桌子上。他在桌子
上手舞足蹈，哇哇大叫。接着他忽然一声不响，全身僵住不动了。
“闹钟已经响过！”女巫大王尖叫，“变鼠药开始起作用了！”她在讲坛上开始蹦蹦跳，拍
着戴手套的手，接着叫道：
这个臭小鬼，这个脏东西，
这个讨厌的小虱子，
马上变啊变，
变成一只可爱的小耗子！
就在这一秒钟，布鲁诺越变越小。我看到他一直小下去……
现在他的衣服好像不见了，浑身开始长满棕色的毛……
忽然他有了一条尾巴……
接着长出了胡子……
现在他有了四条腿……
一切变化得那么快……
总共只有几秒钟……
一下子，他这个人再也没有了……
桌子上是一只棕色的小老鼠在跑来跑去……
“棒极了！”听众大叫，“她成功了！变成了！真奇妙！真了不起！伟大之至！你是个奇
迹，噢，足智多谋的大王！”她们全都站起来鼓掌欢呼。女巫大王从她的衣服兜里拿出一个老
鼠夹，动手布置它。
噢，不！我想。我不愿看到这个！布鲁诺·詹金斯也许是坏了点儿，但如果我竟想看到他
被杀头，那我真是该死了！
“他在哪里？”女巫大王厉声说着在讲坛上找，“那老鼠跑到哪里去了？”
她找不到它。聪明的布鲁诺一定已经跳下桌子，溜到了哪一个角落，甚至钻进了小洞。
为了这个，真要谢谢老天爷。
“没关系！”女巫大王叫道，“大家肃静，坐下！”

1 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

2 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

3 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。

4 rattling   

adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词

参考例句：

• This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
• At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

5 shrieked   

v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shrieked in fright. 她吓得尖叫起来。
• Li Mei-t'ing gave a shout, and Lu Tzu-hsiao shrieked, "Tell what? 李梅亭大声叫，陆子潇尖声叫：“告诉什么？ 来自汉英文学 - 围城

6 rustle   

v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声

参考例句：

• She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
• He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。

7 bustle   

v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹

参考例句：

• The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深，喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
• There is a lot of hustle and bustle in the railway station.火车站里非常拥挤。

8 wigs   

n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say that wigs will be coming in again this year. 据说今年又要流行戴假发了。 来自辞典例句
• Frank, we needed more wigs than we thought, and we have to do some advertising. 弗兰克，因为我们需要更多的假发，而且我们还要做点广告。 来自电影对白

9 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。

10 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》

11 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。

12 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

13 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

14 stiffened   

加强的

参考例句：

• He leaned towards her and she stiffened at this invasion of her personal space. 他向她俯过身去，这种侵犯她个人空间的举动让她绷紧了身子。
• She stiffened with fear. 她吓呆了。

15 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。

16 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

17 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

18 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》