day 57
第一章
Here Comes Charlie
These two very old people are the father and mother of Mr Bucket. Their names are Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine.
And these two very old people are the father and mother of Mrs Bucket. Their names are Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina.
This is Mr Bucket. This is Mrs Bucket.
Mr and Mrs Bucket have a small boy whose name is Charlie.
This is Charlie.
How d'you do? And how d'you do? And how d'you do again? He is pleased to meet you.
The whole of this family — the six grown-ups (count them) and little Charlie Bucket — live together in a small wooden house on the edge of a great town.
The house wasn't nearly large enough for so many people, and life was extremely uncomfortable for them all. There were only two rooms in the place altogether, and there was only one bed. The bed was given to the four old grandparents because they were so old and tired. They were so tired, they never got out of it.
Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine on this side, Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina on this side.
Mr and Mrs Bucket and little Charlie Bucket slept in the other room, upon mattresses on the floor.
In the summertime, this wasn't too bad, but in the winter, freezing cold draughts blew across the floor all night long, and it was awful.
There wasn't any question of them being able to buy a better house — or even one more bed to sleep in. They were far too poor for that.
Mr Bucket was the only person in the family with a job. He worked in a toothpaste factory, where he sat all day long at a bench and screwed the little caps on to the tops of the tubes of toothpaste after the tubes had been filled. But a toothpaste cap-screwer is never paid very much money, and poor Mr Bucket, however hard he worked, and however fast he screwed on the caps, was never able to make enough to buy one half of the things that so large a family needed. There wasn't even enough money to buy proper food for them all. The only meals they could afford were bread and margarine for breakfast, boiled potatoes and cabbage for lunch, and cabbage soup for supper. Sundays were a bit better. They all looked forward to Sundays because then, although they had exactly the same, everyone was allowed a second helping.
The Buckets, of course, didn't starve, but every one of them — the two old grandfathers, the two old grandmothers, Charlie's father, Charlie's mother, and especially little Charlie himself — went about from morning till night with a horrible empty feeling in their tummies.
Charlie felt it worst of all. And although his father and mother often went without their own share of lunch or supper so that they could give it to him, it still wasn't nearly enough for a growing boy. He desperately wanted something more filling and satisfying than cabbage and cabbage soup. The one thing he longed for more than anything else was . . . CHOCOLATE.
這幢房子住了這么多人可太擠了，實在難受。整座房子一共只有兩個房間，他們也只有一張床。床就由四位老人睡，因為他們太老了，實在是勞累終生，操勞過度，所以他們根本起不了床。
喬爺爺和約瑟芬奶奶睡在床的這一頭，喬治外公和喬治娜外婆睡在另一頭。
另一個房間的地板上放著床墊，巴克特夫婦和小查里·巴克特就睡在上面。
夏天這么睡倒還不壞，可到了冬天，凜冽的寒風一陣陣掠過地板，實在吃不消。
他們根本買不起好一些的房子——甚至連再買一張床也不可能，他們實在太窮了。
家里只有巴克特先生有工作，他在一家牙膏廠干活。在那兒他整天坐在一條長凳上，給灌滿了牙膏的牙膏管旋上蓋子。可一個旋牙膏管蓋的工人的工資絕不會很多，不管巴克特先生千活多賣勁，也不管他動作有多塊，還是賺不到哪怕是維持這么個大家庭所需生活費用的一半，甚至連給全家買最起碼的食物的錢也不夠。這一來他們早餐只能吃面包和人造奶油，中飯只能吃住馬鈴薯和卷心菜，而晚上只能吃卷心菜湯，只有在星期天才稍微好些。因此他們都盼望著星期天的到來，盡管那一天吃的還是那么些東西，可每人能吃兩份食物。
當然，巴克特一家還不至于餓死，可每個人——老爺爺奶奶、老外公外婆，查理的父親，查理的母親，特別是小查理――從早到晚總感到肚子里空蕩蕩的，難受極了。
查理餓得最厲害。盡管他的父母親時常省下自己的那份中飯和晚飯給他吃，可對一個正在發育成長的男孩來說，這哪夠啊。他非常渴望還有什么別的東西來填填肚子，而不要老是吃卷心萊和卷心萊湯。而他最想吃的東西是——巧克力。
