The Grand High Witch stood on the very centre of the platform, and those dangerous eyes of
hers travelled slowly around the audience of witches who were sitting so meekly1 before her. "All
those over seventy put up your hands!" she barked suddenly.
Seven or eight hands went up in the air.
"It comes to me", said The Grand High Witch, "that you ancient vuns vill not be able to climb
high trrrees in search of grrruntles' eggs."
"We won't, Your Grandness! We are afraid we won't!" chanted the ancient ones.
"Nor vill you be able to catch the crrrabcrrruncher, who lives high up on rrrocky cliffs," The
Grand High Witch went on. "I can't exactly see you sprrrinting after the speedy catsprrringer either,
or diving into deep vorters to spear the blabbersnitch, or striding the bleak2 moors3 vith a gun under
your arm to shoot the grrrobblesqvirt. You are too old and feeble for those things."
"We are," chanted the ancient ones. "We are! We are!"
"You ancient vuns have served me vell over many years," said The Grand High Witch, "and I
do not vish to deny you the pleasure of bumping off a few thousand children each just because you
have become old and feeble. I have therefore prepared personally vith my own hands a limited
quantity of Delayed Action Mouse-Maker which I will distrrribute to the ancient vuns before you
leave the hotel."
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" cried the old witches. "You are far too good to us, Your
Grandness! You are so kind and thoughtful!"
"Here is a sample of vot I am giving you," shouted The Grand High Witch. She fished around
in a pocket of her dress and brought out a very small bottle. She held it up and shouted, "In this tiny
bottle is five hundred doses of Mouse-Maker! Is enough to turrrn five hundred children into mice!" I
could see that the bottle was made of dark-blue glass and that it was very small, about the same size
as the ones you can buy at the chemist with nose-drops in them. "Each of you ancient vuns vill get
two of these bottles!" she shouted.
"Thank you, thank you, O Most Generous and Thoughtful One!" chorused the ancient
witches. "Not one drop will be wasted! Each of us will promise to squish and squallop and squiggle
one thousand children!"
"Our meeting is over!" announced The Grand High Witch. "Here is the time-table for the
rrreemainder of your stay in this hotel.
"Rrright now, vee must all go out on to the Sunshine Terrace and have tea vith that
rrridiculous Manager.
"Next, at six o'clock tonight, those vitches who are too old to climb trees after grrruntles' eggs
vill rrree-port to my rrroom to rrree-ceive two bottles each of Mouse-Maker. My rrroom number is
454. Do not forget it.
"Then, at eight o'clock, all of you vill assemble in the Dining-Rrroom for supper. Vee are the
lovely ladies of the RSPCC and they are setting up two long tables specially4 for us. But do not forget
to put the cotton plugs up your noses. That Dining-Rrroom vill be full of filthy5 little children and
vithout the nose- plugs the stink6 vill be unbearrrable. Apart from that, rrree- member to behave
normally at all times. Is everything clear? Any questions?"
"I have one question, Your Grandness," said a voice in the audience. "What happens if one of
the chocolates we are giving away in our shops gets eaten by a grown-up?"
"That's just too bad for the grrrown-up," said The Grand High Witch. "This meeting is over!"
she shouted. "Out you go!"
The witches stood up and began gathering7 their things together. I was watching them through
the crack and hoping to heaven they would hurry up and leave so that I might be safe at last.
"Wait!" shrieked8 one of the witches in the back row. "Hold everything!" Her shrieking9 voice
echoed through the Ballroom10, like a trumpet11. All the witches suddenly stopped and turned and looked
towards the speaker. She was one of the taller witches and I could see her standing12 there with her
head tilted13 back and her nose in the air and she was sucking in great long breaths of air through those
curvy pink sea-shelly nostrils14 of hers.
"Wait!" she shouted again.
"What is it?" the others cried out.
"Dogs' droppings!" she yelled. "Just then I got a whiff of dogs' droppings!"
"Surely not!" the others shouted. "There couldn't be!"
"Yes yes!" shouted the first witch. "There it is again! It's not strong! But it's there! I mean it's
here! It's definitely somewhere not too far away!"
"Vot's going on down there?" shouted The Grand High Witch, glaring down from the
platform.
"Mildred's just got a whiff of dogs' droppings, Your Grandness!" someone called back to her.
"Vot rrrubbish is this?" shouted The Grand High Witch. "She has dogs' drrroppings on the
brain! There are no children in this rrroom!"
"Hang on!" cried the witch called Mildred. "Hang on everybody! Don't move! I'm getting it
again!" Her huge curvy nose-holes were waving in and out like a pair of fish-tails. "It's getting
stronger! It's hitting me harder now! Can't the rest of you smell it?"
All the noses of all the witches in that room went up in the air, and all the nostrils began to
suck and sniff15.
"She's right!" cried another voice. "She's absolutely right! Dogs' droppings it is, strong and
foul16!"
In a matter of seconds, the entire assembly of witches had taken up the dreaded17 cry of dogs'
droppings. "Dogs' droppings!" they shouted. "The room is full of it! Poo! Poo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooo!
Why did we not smell it before? It stinks18 like a sewer19! Some little swine must be hiding not so very
far away from here!"
"Find it!" screamed The Grand High Witch. "Trrrack it down! Rrrootle it out! Follow your
noses till you get it!"
The hairs on my head were standing up like the bristles20 of a nailbrush and a cold sweat was
breaking out all over me.
"Rrrootle it out, this small lump of dung!" screeched21 The Grand High Witch. "Don't let it
escape! If it is in here it has observed the most secret things! It must be exterrrminated immediately!"
老女巫们
女巫大王站在讲坛正中央，那双危险的眼睛慢慢地巡视乖乖地坐在她面前的女巫们。“所
有七十岁以上的举手！”她忽然大叫一声。
七八只手举了起来。
“我想到，”女巫大王说，“你们太老了，爬不上高树去弄猪嘴鸟的蛋。”
“我们爬不上去，大王！恐怕爬不上去了！”老女巫们说道。
“你们也捉不到住在高高的山崖上的蟹脚鸟，”女巫大王说下去，“我看你们也追不上飞快
的猫跳兽，也无法潜到深水里去抓多嘴鱼，或者带着枪跋涉过荒野去打喷气兽。做这种事你
们太衰老了。”
“我们太衰老了，”老女巫们重复说，“我们太衰老了！我们太衰老了！”
“你们这些老人家为我工作了多年，”女巫大王说，“我不想使你们只是因为衰老，就失去
消灭几千个孩子的乐趣。因此我亲手准备了一定数量的‘慢性变鼠药’，在你们离开旅馆前分发
给你们。”
“噢，谢谢你，谢谢你！”老女巫们叫道，“你对我们实在太好了，大王！你太仁慈，太关
心我们了！”
“这是一个样品，我将要给你们的就是这种药。”女巫大王叫着，从一个衣袋里掏出一个
小瓶子。她举起它叫道：“在这个小瓶子里有五百剂变鼠药！可以把五百个小孩子变成老
鼠！”我看到，那是个深蓝色的玻璃瓶，很小，和从药房买回来的眼药水瓶一样大。“你们老
女巫一人可以拿到两瓶！”她叫道。
“谢谢你，谢谢你，噢，最仁慈最关心我们的大王！”老女巫们同声说，“我们一滴也不会
浪费！我们保证每个人消灭一千个孩子！”
女巫大王宣布：“会议到此结束！这是你们在这个旅馆逗留的时间表。
“现在我们必须全体都到阳光园去同那个可笑的经理共进茶点。
“然后在今晚六点，老得不能爬树弄猪嘴鸟蛋的女巫到我的房间来，各领取两瓶变鼠药。
我的房间号码是454。不要忘记了。
“然后在八点，你们全体都到餐厅集合，共进晚餐。我们是‘防止虐待儿童王家协会’可敬
的太太小姐。他们将专门为我们摆两排长桌。但不要忘记在你们的鼻子里塞进棉花。那餐厅
里将挤满肮脏的小孩，不塞鼻子，那臭气将叫你们受不了。除此以外，记住要时刻举止正
常。听清楚了吗？有问题没有？”
“我有一个问题，大王。”听众中有一个声音说，“我们糖果店的巧克力万一被大人吃了会
怎么样？”
“那大人是活该倒霉。”女巫大王说，“会议已经结束！”她叫道，“你们出去吧！”
女巫们站起来开始收拾东西。我通过夹缝看着她们，求上帝保佑她们快点走，我好终于
平安无事。
“等一等！”后排一个女巫猛地叫起来，“别动！”她的叫声像喇叭声一样响彻舞厅。所有
的女巫一下子停下来，回头看着说话的那个女巫。她比较高，我可以看到她站在那里，头向
后倾，鼻子仰起，用她那粉红色的、呈贝壳形的鼻孔长长地吸着气。
“等一等！”她又叫道。
“什么事？”其他女巫大声问她。
“狗屎！”她叫道，“刚才我闻到了狗屎气味！”
“不可能！”其他女巫叫道，“绝对不可能！”
“是的是的！”那个女巫又叫，“又来了！不太厉害，不过是狗屎气味！我说的是这里！肯
定不太远！”
“下面怎么啦？”女巫大王从讲坛上向下看着叫道。
“米尔德丽德闻到了狗屎气味，大王！”有人回答她。
“胡说八道什么？”女巫大王叫道，“是她的脑子里有狗屎！这房间里没有孩子！”
“别动！”名叫米尔德丽德的女巫叫道，“大家别动！我又闻到了！”她的两个弯曲的大鼻
孔像一对鱼尾巴那样来回摆动着，“更强烈了。闻得更清楚了！你们闻不到吗？”
房间里所有女巫的鼻子都抬起来，所有的鼻孔开始闻了又闻。
“她没说错！”另一个声音说，“她一点儿也没说错！是狗屎，臭得厉害！”
几秒钟工夫，全体女巫都可怕地大叫狗屎。“狗屎！”她们叫道，“房间里满是狗屎气味！
呸！呸——！为什么我们先前没闻到呢？它臭得像阴沟！不远处一定躲着只臭小猪！”
“找到他！”女巫大王叫道，“找出来！把他挖出来！跟着你们的鼻子走，直到找到他为
止！”
我的头发都像指甲刷子的硬毛那样直竖起来，浑身冒冷汗。
“把这堆狗屎找出来！”女巫大王尖叫，“不要让他逃走了！如果他就在这里，他已经偷听
到了最秘密的东西！必须马上除掉他！”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
meekly
|
|
| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
bleak
|
|
| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
moors
|
|
| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
specially
|
|
| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
filthy
|
|
| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
stink
|
|
| vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
shrieked
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
shrieking
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
ballroom
|
|
| n.舞厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
trumpet
|
|
| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
tilted
|
|
| v. 倾斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
nostrils
|
|
| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
sniff
|
|
| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
foul
|
|
| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
dreaded
|
|
| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
stinks
|
|
| v.散发出恶臭( stink的第三人称单数 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
sewer
|
|
| n.排水沟，下水道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
bristles
|
|
| 短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
screeched
|
|
| v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |