day 65

'But no! The great iron gates were still locked and chained as securely as ever, and Mr Wonka was nowhere to be seen.

'"But the factory is working!" the people shouted. "Listen! You can hear the machines! They're all whirring again! And you can smell the smell of melting chocolate in the air!"'

Grandpa Joe leaned forward and laid a long bony finger on Charlie's knee, and he said softly, 'But most mysterious of all, Charlie, were the shadows in the windows of the factory. The people standing on the street outside could see small dark shadows moving about behind the frosted glass windows.'

'Shadows of whom?' said Charlie quickly.

'That's exactly what everybody else wanted to know.

'"The place is full of workers!" the people shouted. "But nobody's gone in!

The gates are locked! It's crazy! Nobody ever comes out, either!"? 'But there was no question at all,' said Grandpa Joe, 'that the factory was running. And it's gone on running ever since, for these last ten years. What's more, the chocolates and sweets it's been turning out have become more fantastic and delicious all the time. And of course now when Mr Wonka invents some new and wonderful sweet, neither Mr Fickelgruber nor Mr Prodnose nor Mr Slugworth nor anybody else is able to copy it. No spies can go into the factory to find out how it is made.'

'But Grandpa, who,' cried Charlie, 'who is Mr Wonka using to do all the work in the factory?'

'Nobody knows, Charlie.'

'But that's absurd! Hasn't someone asked Mr Wonka?'

'Nobody sees him any more. He never comes out. The only things that come out of that place are chocolates and sweets. They come out through a special trap door in the wall, all packed and addressed, and they are picked up every day by Post Office trucks.'

'But Grandpa, what sort of people are they that work in there?'

'My dear boy,' said Grandpa Joe, 'that is one of the great mysteries of the chocolate-making world. We know only one thing about them. They are very small. The faint shadows that sometimes appear behind the windows, especially late at night when the lights are on, are those of tiny people, people no taller than my knee . . .'

'There aren't any such people,' Charlie said.

Just then, Mr Bucket, Charlie's father, came into the room. He was home from the toothpaste factory, and he was waving an evening newspaper rather excitedly. 'Have you heard the news?' he cried. He held up the paper so that they could see the huge headline. The headline said:

WONKA FACTORY TO BE OPENED AT LAST TO LUCKY FEW

翻譯

“沒有！幾扇大門依然鎖著，鐵鏈萬無一失地掛在那兒，哪兒也不見旺卡先生的人影?！啊墒枪S確實開工了！’人們喊起來?！?！那是機器聲它們又噓噓地運轉起了！還可以聞到溶化了的巧克力氣味！’”

喬爺爺前傾著身子，把一根瘦長的手指擱在查理的膝蓋上，溫和地說道：“查理，可最最神奇的是工廠窗戶里映出的那些身影。站在工廠外面的街上就能看到磨砂玻璃窗里晃動著許多小小的黑影?！?/p>

“那是什么人的影子？”查理趕緊問道。

“這正是每個人都想知道的。”

“‘廠里都是工人！’人們又喊起來?！刹灰娪腥诉M去過！工廠門都是鎖著的！真是太不可思議了！也沒有一個人出來過！’

“可毫無疑問，”喬爺爺說道，“工廠開工了。打那以后它就沒有停止生產(chǎn)過，至今已有十年了。更了不起的是工廠生產(chǎn)出來的各種巧克力和糖果一直都是最奇妙最可口的。當然，現(xiàn)在旺卡先生再發(fā)明出某種新的特別好吃的巧克力，無論是菲克爾格魯伯先生、普魯?shù)弥Z斯先生，還是斯拉格沃思先生，都無法照樣制作了，密探再也沒法進入工廠偷到新品種的制作方法了?！?/p>

“爺爺，”查理大聲問道，“那么究竟旺卡先生雇用什么人在工廠里干活呢？”

“沒人知道，查理。”

“那不是太奇怪了嗎！沒人問過旺卡先生嗎？”

“再沒人見過他。他從不出來。從那兒出來的只有各種巧克力和糖果，這些巧克力和糖果寫明發(fā)往地點，碼得整整齊齊地從墻上的一扇特別的活板門出來，每天都由郵局的車隊來把它們運走?！?/p>

“爺爺，在那兒干活的到底是什么人??？”

“親愛的孩子，”喬爺爺答道，“這是巧克力制造界最大的奧秘之一。我們只知道一點，那些人很小。那些不時在窗后出現(xiàn)的影子，尤其是在晚上亮燈的時候，看得出是些很小很小的人，還不及我的膝蓋高……”

“這樣的人是不會有的?！辈槔碚f。

正在這時，查理的父親巴克特先生走進了房間。他是從牙膏廠下班回家。他激動地揮舞著手中的一份晚報，大聲嚷道：“你們聽到這個新聞了嗎？”他把報紙拿得高高的，每個人都看見了那條頭號大標題。標題是這樣的：《旺卡工廠最終將成為少數(shù)幸運兒打開》