书名：The Twits蠢特夫妇

难度：Lexile蓝思阅读指数750L
作者：Roald Dahl罗尔德·达尔
出版社名称：Puffin Books
出版时间：2007
语种：英文
ISBN：9780142410394
商品尺寸：12.9 x 0.7 x 19.7 cm
包装：平装
页数：112
The Twits《蠢特夫妇》是一本带有“黑色幽默”风格的童话故事书，讲述了一对令人讨厌的蠢特夫妇的故事。蠢特先生长了一脸大胡子，是个又脏又臭的老头子；蠢特太太则心地险恶，外貌其丑无比。这对从里到外都十分丑恶的夫妇，相互间总是勾心斗角。

罗尔德·达尔的作品构思奇特，情节紧凑，在每个故事的一开始就打破现实与幻想之间的常规对应，给人一种或幽默或荒诞或机智的美感；同时更重要的是，他的作品都具有一种让人一读就爱不释手的魔力。2000年，英国在“世界图书日”期间行的一次“我很喜欢的作家”投票中，达尔这个名字高踞首位，连《哈利波特》的作者J.K.罗琳也只能位列其后。

在一个像坟墓一样的大庄园里，生活着蠢特夫妇。

蠢特先生蓄着又脏又乱的胡子，蠢特太太长得很丑，还有一只玻璃假眼。他们两个总是喜欢互相捉弄。
例如，蠢特太太用自己的玻璃假眼球捉弄蠢特先生，还捉了一些蚯蚓搀到蠢特先生的面条里；而蠢特先生捉了一只大青蛙放到蠢特太太的床上……他们还无情地欺负小动物和小孩子。他们要猴子做任何事都必须拿大顶，包括吃饭、睡觉，如果猴子不服从，就无情地殴打它们，这终于惹恼了小猴子。蠢特夫妇准备射杀群鸟，猴子就跟鸟儿们建立了“战略联盟”，提醒鸟儿们不要栖息在涂满“一点灵”的树枝和房顶上，而是站在猴子笼上，让蠢特夫妇吃不上“鸟肉馅饼”。猴子们还设计了一个“以其人之道，还治其人之身”的计策，它们闯进蠢特家，用“一点灵”胶水涂满天花板，然后把家里的家具摆设一件件倒贴在天花板上。蠢特夫妇回家时完全傻眼了，以为自己出了问题，于是自动做起“拿大顶”！猴子和鸟儿们惩治了这对坏家伙：蠢特夫妇的脑袋被粘在了地板上。他们无法挣脱，时间一长，人开始收缩，就像患“收缩症”。
这个故事十分滑稽，而且充满奇思妙想，一气呵成，令人拍案叫绝。故事的语言也浅显易懂，连幼儿都能愉快地欣赏。
Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the smelliest, nastiest, ugliest people in the world. They hate everything—except playing mean jokes on each other, catching innocent birds to put in their Bird Pies, and making their caged monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps, stand on their heads all day. But the Muggle-Wumps have had enough. They don’t just want out, they want revenge.

罗尔德·达尔是世界奇幻文学大师，他的作品构思奇特，情节紧凑，在每个故事的开始就打破现实与幻想之间的常规对应，其魔力穿越语言和国界。凡是读过达尔作品的孩子全都情不自禁迷倒在他创造的畅快淋漓的魔力世界，无一幸免。

主要作品包括：《查理和巧克力工厂》《女巫》《了不起的狐狸爸爸》《好心眼儿巨人》《詹姆斯和大仙桃》《玛蒂尔达》等等，上述作品都先后被拍成电影，如：《查理和巧克力工厂》由影帝“约翰尼德普”主演；《好心眼儿巨人》由奥斯卡金牌导演“斯皮尔伯格”执导，黄磊、黄多多配音。
众多重点小学语文老师推荐孩子课外阅读达尔的书，黄多多说达尔的故事她看了一遍又一遍，多多妈妈发微博说罗尔德达尔是多多非常非常喜欢的作家。
达尔获得的重要奖项：
三度获得“爱伦·坡文学奖”；
获得英国“白面包儿童图书奖”；
获得“英国儿童图书奖”；
获得“德国青少年文学奖”；
获得“世界奇幻文学大会奖”；
英国读者票选战胜J.K.罗琳的当代文学大师。
Roald Dahlis one of the most successful and well-known of all children’s writers. His books, which are read by children the world over, includeJames and the Giant Peach;Charlie and the Chocolate Factory;The WitchesandMatilda.

Mr Twit

Mr Twit was one of these very hariy-faced men. The whole of his face except for his forehead, his eyes and his nose was covered with thick hair. The stuff even sprouted in revolting tufts out of his nostrils and ear-holes.
Mr Twit felt that this hairiness made him look terrifically wise and grand. But in truth he was neither of tese things. Mr Trit was a twit. He was born a twit. And now at the age of sixty, he was a bigger twit than ever.
The hair on Mr Twit’s face didn’t grow smooth and matted as it does on most hairy-faced man. It grew in spikes that stuck out straight like the bristles of a nailbrush.
And how often did Mr Twit wash this bristly nailbrushy face of his?
The answer is NEVER, not even on Sundays.
He hadn’t washed it for years.
Mrs Twit
Mrs Twit was no better than her husband. She did not, of course, have a hairy face. It was a pitty she didn’t because that at any rate would have hidden some of her fearful ugliness.
Take a look at her. Have you ever seen a woman with an uglier face than that? I doubt it.
But the funny thing is that Mrs Twit wasn’t born ugly. The ugliness had grown upon her year by year as she got older.
Why would that happan? I’ll tell you why.
If a person has uply thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it.
A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teech, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.
Nothing shone out of Mrs Twit’s face.
In her right hand she carried a walking-stick. She used to tell people that this was because she had warts growing on the sole of here left foot and walking was painful. But the real reason she carried a stick was so that she could hit things with it, things like dogs and cats and small children.
And then there was a glass eye. Mrs Twit had a glass eye that was always looking the other way.