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
翻译
“没有！几扇大门依然锁着，铁链万无一失地挂在那儿，哪儿也不见旺卡先生的人影。“‘可是工厂确实开工了！’人们喊起来。‘听！那是机器声它们又嘘嘘地运转起了！还可以闻到溶化了的巧克力气味！’”
乔爷爷前倾着身子，把一根瘦长的手指搁在查理的膝盖上，温和地说道：“查理，可最最神奇的是工厂窗户里映出的那些身影。站在工厂外面的街上就能看到磨砂玻璃窗里晃动着许多小小的黑影。”
“那是什么人的影子？”查理赶紧问道。
“这正是每个人都想知道的。”
“‘厂里都是工人！’人们又喊起来。‘可不见有人进去过！工厂门都是锁着的！真是太不可思议了！也没有一个人出来过！’
“可毫无疑问，”乔爷爷说道，“工厂开工了。打那以后它就没有停止生产过，至今已有十年了。更了不起的是工厂生产出来的各种巧克力和糖果一直都是最奇妙最可口的。当然，现在旺卡先生再发明出某种新的特别好吃的巧克力，无论是菲克尔格鲁伯先生、普鲁得诺斯先生，还是斯拉格沃思先生，都无法照样制作了，密探再也没法进入工厂偷到新品种的制作方法了。”
“爷爷，”查理大声问道，“那么究竟旺卡先生雇用什么人在工厂里干活呢？”
“没人知道，查理。”
“那不是太奇怪了吗！没人问过旺卡先生吗？”
“再没人见过他。他从不出来。从那儿出来的只有各种巧克力和糖果，这些巧克力和糖果写明发往地点，码得整整齐齐地从墙上的一扇特别的活板门出来，每天都由邮局的车队来把它们运走。”
“爷爷，在那儿干活的到底是什么人啊？”
“亲爱的孩子，”乔爷爷答道，“这是巧克力制造界最大的奥秘之一。我们只知道一点，那些人很小。那些不时在窗后出现的影子，尤其是在晚上亮灯的时候，看得出是些很小很小的人，还不及我的膝盖高……”
“这样的人是不会有的。”查理说。
正在这时，查理的父亲巴克特先生走进了房间。他是从牙膏厂下班回家。他激动地挥舞着手中的一份晚报，大声嚷道：“你们听到这个新闻了吗？”他把报纸拿得高高的，每个人都看见了那条头号大标题。标题是这样的：《旺卡工厂最终将成为少数幸运儿打开》
