The Plan 计划

The Plan
When we got back to the bedroom, my grandmother took both me and Bruno out of herhandbag and put us on the table. "Why on earth didn't you speak up and tell your father who youwere?" she said to Bruno.
"Because I had my mouth full," Bruno said. He jumped straight back into the bowl of bananasand went on with his eating.
"What a very disagreeable little boy you are," my grandmother said to him.
"Not boy," I said. "Mouse."
"Quite right, my darling. But we don't have time to worry about him at this moment. We haveplans to make. In about an hour and a half's time, all the witches will be going down to supper in theDining Room. Right?"
"Right," I said.
"And every one of them has got to be given a dose of Mouse-Maker," she said. "How on earthare we going to do that?"
"Grandmamma," I said. "I think you are forgetting that a mouse can go places where humanbeings can't."
"That's quite right," she said. "But even a mouse can't go creeping around on the table-topcarrying a bottle and sprinkling Mouse-Maker all over the witches' roast beef without being spotted¹.""I wasn't thinking of doing it in the Dining Room," I said.
"Then where?" she asked.
"In the kitchen," I said, "while their food is being got ready."My grandmother stared at me. "My darling child," she said slowly, "I do believe that turningyou into a mouse has doubled your brain-power!""A little mouse", I said, "can go scuttling² round the kitchen among the pots and pans, and ifhe's very careful no one will ever see him."
"Brilliant!" my grandmother cried out. "By golly, I think you've got it!""The only thing is," I said, "how will I know which food is theirs? I don't want to put it in thewrong saucepan. It would be disastrous³ if I turned all the other guests into mice by mistake, andespecially you, Grandmamma."
"Then you'll just have to creep into the kitchen and find a good hiding-place and wait... andlisten. Just lie there in some dark cranny listening and listening to what the cooks are saying... andthen, with a bit of luck, somebody's going to give you a clue. Whenever they have a very big party tocook for, the food is always prepared separately.""Right," I said. "That's what I'll have to do. I shall wait there and I shall listen and I shall hopefor a bit of luck."
"It's going to be very dangerous," my grandmother said. "Nobody welcomes a mouse in thekitchen. If they see you, they'll squash you to death.""I won't let them see me," I said.
"Don't forget you'll be carrying the bottle," she said, "so you won't be nearly so quick andnippy."
"I can run quite fast standing⁴ up with the bottle in my arms," I said. "I did it just now, don'tyou remember? I came all the way up from The Grand High Witch's room carrying it.""What about unscrewing the top?" she said. "That might be difficult for you.""Let me try," I said. I took hold of the little bottle and using both my front paws, I found I wasable to unscrew the cap quite easily.
"That's great," my grandmother said. "You really are a very clever mouse." She glanced at herwatch. "At half-past seven," she said, "I shall go down to the Dining-Room for supper with you in myhandbag. I shall then release you under the table together with the precious bottle and from then onyou'll be on your own. You will have to work your way unseen across the Dining-Room to the doorthat leads into the kitchen. There will be waiters going in and out of that door all the time. You willhave to choose the right moment and nip in behind one of them, but for heaven's sake be sure thatyou don't get trodden on or squeezed in the door.""I'll try not to," I said.
"And whatever happens, you mustn't let them catch you.""Don't go on about it, Grandmamma. You're making me nervous.""You're a brave little fellow," she said. "I do love you.""What shall we do with Bruno?" I asked her.
Bruno looked up. "I'm coming with you," he said, speaking with his mouth full of banana.
"I'm not going to miss my supper!"
My grandmother considered this for a moment. "I'll take you along," she said, "if you promiseto stay in my bag and keep absolutely silent.""Will you pass food down to me from the table?" Bruno asked.
"Yes," she said, "if you promise to behave yourself. Would you like something to eat, mydarling?" she said to me.
"No, thank you," I said. "I'm too excited to eat. And I've got to keep fit and frisky⁵ for the bigjob ahead."
"It's a big job all right," my grandmother said. "You'll never do a bigger one."
计划
我们一回到房间，我姥姥把我和布鲁诺从她的手提包里拿出来，放在桌子上。“你干吗不开口，告诉你父亲你是谁？”她对布鲁诺说。
“因为我的嘴里塞满了香蕉。”布鲁诺说。他马上又跳进那一玻璃碗香蕉里继续大吃。
“你是个多么不讨人喜欢的孩子。”我姥姥对他说。
“不是孩子，”我说，“是只老鼠。”
“不错，我的宝贝。但现在我们没工夫去为他烦心了。我们得定个计划。在一个半小时内，所有的女巫将到下面的餐厅里去吃晚饭，对吗？”
“对。”我说。
“得给她们一人一剂变鼠药，”她说，“怎么给呢？”
“姥姥，”我说，“我想你忘了老鼠能到人不能到的地方。”
“一点不假，”她说，“但就算是老鼠，也不能拿着个瓶子在桌上一边走，一边去给女巫们的烤牛肉滴变鼠药而不被发现啊。”
“我不是想在餐厅里做这件事。”我说。
“那么在哪里呢？”她问道。
“在厨房里，”我说，“在给她们做菜的时候。”
我姥姥看着我。“我亲爱的孩子，”她慢慢地说，“我可以断定，你在变成老鼠的同时，变得双倍聪明了！”
“一只小老鼠，”我说，“能在厨房里的锅和盘子之间跑来跑去，只要小心，没有人能看到的。”
“了不起！”我姥姥叫起来，“天啊，我想你把办法想出来了！”
“唯一的问题是，”我说，“我怎么知道哪些菜是她们吃的呢？我不想把药错放到别的锅里。如果我错把别的客人变成老鼠，那就闯大祸了。特别是你，姥姥。”
“那你就得溜进厨房，找个好地方躲起来等……并且听着，躲在黑暗的角落里听厨师们说话……运气好的话，有人会说出句什么，你听了就有数了。只要有大宴会，宴会的菜总是专门烧的。”
“对，”我说，“我就这么办。我在那里等着听着，希望碰上点好运气。”
“不过这件事十分危险。”我姥姥说，“厨房里没有人欢迎老鼠。如果看见你，他们会把你打死的。”
“我不让他们看见。”我说。
“别忘了你还带着那瓶子，”她说，“因此你就跑得不那么快，也不那么利索了。”
“我直立起来抱着瓶子能跑得相当快，”我说，“不久前我才做过，你不记得了吗？我抱着它从女巫大王的房间一直跑到这里。”
“那么开瓶盖呢？”她说，“可能不大好办。”
“让我试试看。”我说。我抱住小瓶子，用两只前爪转瓶盖，我发现很好办。
“那好极了，”我姥姥说，“你真是只聪明透顶的老鼠。”她看看手表。“到七点半，”她说，“我到下面的餐厅里吃晚饭，把你放在我的手提包里带下去。然后我把你连同那宝贵的瓶子放到桌子底下，你就去干你的。你不要让人看见，穿过餐厅溜到厨房门口。侍者一直从那个门进出，你找个合适的时机钻进去，但千万小心，别被门挤了。”
“我会小心的。”我说。
“不管出什么事，你绝对不能让他们捉到你。”
“别说这个，姥姥。你弄得我心里直发慌。”
“你是个勇敢的小家伙，”她说，“我真爱你。”
“布鲁诺怎么办？”我问她。
布鲁诺抬起头来。“我和你一起去，”他嘴里塞满了香蕉，说，“我不想错过我的晚饭！”
我姥姥想了一下。“我把你也带去，”她说，“只要你答应待在我的手提包里绝对安静。”
“你从桌上把食物传下来给我吗？”布鲁诺问。
“是的，”她说，“只要你答应规规矩矩的。你想吃点东西吗，我的宝贝？”她问我。
“不，谢谢，”我说，“我太紧张了，吃不下。为了眼前这项重要的工作，我不能吃得太饱，必须让身子敏捷一些。”
“不错，这是个重要工作。”我姥姥说，“你再也不会有比这更重要的工作了。”

1 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

2 scuttling   

n.船底穿孔，打开通海阀（沉船用）v.使船沉没( scuttle的现在分词 )；快跑，急走

参考例句：

• I could hear an animal scuttling about in the undergrowth. 我可以听到一只动物在矮树丛中跑来跑去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• First of all, scuttling Yu Lung (this yuncheng Hejin) , flood discharge. 大禹首先凿开龙门（今运城河津市），分洪下泄。 来自互联网

3 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

4 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。

5 frisky   

adj.活泼的，欢闹的；n.活泼，闹着玩；adv.活泼地，闹着玩地

参考例句：

• I felt frisky,as if I might break into a dance.我感到很欢快，似乎要跳起舞来。
• His horse was feeling frisky,and he had to hold the reins tightly.马儿欢蹦乱跳，他不得不紧勒缰绳。