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41 " From then on, Matilda would visit the library only once a week in order to take out new books and return the old ones. Her own small bedroom now became her reading-room and there she would sit and read most afternoons, often with a mug of hot chocolate beside her. She was not quite tall enough to reach things around in the kitchen, but she kept a small box in the outhouse which she brought in and stood on in order to get whatever she wanted. Mostly it was hot chocolate she made, warming the milk in a saucepan on the stove before mixing it. Occasionally she made Bovril or Ovaltine. It was pleasant to take a hot drink up to her room and have it beside her as she sat in her silent room reading in the empty house in the afternoons. The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She traveled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village. "
― Roald Dahl , Matilda
42 " I libri le aprivano mondi nuovi e le facevano conoscere persone straordinarie che vivevano una vita piena di avventure. Viaggiava su antichi velieri con Joseph Conrad. Andava in Africa con Ernest Hemingway e in India con Kipling. Girava il mondo restando seduta nella sua stanza, in un villaggio inglese. "
43 " It was pleasant to take a hot drink up to her room and have it beside her as she sat in her silent room reading in the empty house in the afternoons. The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village. "
44 " You seemed so far away," Miss Honey whispered, awestruck."Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings," Matilda said. "It was wonderful. "
45 " With frightening suddenness he now began ripping the pages out of the book in handfuls and throwing them in the waste-paper basket. Matilda froze in horror. The father kept going. There seemed little doubt that the man felt some kind of jealousy. How dare she, he seemed to be saying with each rip of a page, how dare she enjoy reading books when he couldn't? How dare she? "
46 " Era davvero uno strano spettacolo guardare quella personcina seduta, i cui piedi non arrivavano a terra, completamente assorta nelle meravigliose avventure di Pip e della vecchia signorina Havisham con la sua casa piena di ragnatele, persa nell'incantesimo che Dickens, il grande inventore di storie, aveva saputo creare. "
47 " One could almost hear him saying, 'It's me! Here I come, the great man himself, the master of the house, the wage-earner, the one who makes it possible for the rest of you to live so well! Notice me and pay your respects! "
48 " The next day she carried her secret weapon to school in her satchel. She was tingling with excitement. She was longing to tell matilda about her plan of battle. In fact, she wanted to tell the whole class. But she finally decided to tell nobody. It was better that way, because then no one, even when put under the most severe torture, would be able to name her as a culprit. "
49 " Here it is,' Nigel said.Mrs D, Mrs I, Mrs FFI, Mrs C, Mrs U, Mrs LTY. That spells difficulty.'How perfectly ridiculous!' snorted Miss Trunchbull. 'Why are all these women married? "
50 " Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it’s unbelievable. "
51 " There aren’t many funny bits in Mr Tolkien either,’ Matilda said.‘Do you think that all children’s books ought to have funny bits in them?’ Miss Honey asked.‘I do,’ Matilda said. ‘Children are not so serious as grown-ups and love to laugh. "
52 " Did you know", Matilda said suddenly, "that the heart of a mouse beats at the rate of six hundred and fifty times a second?"I did not," Miss Honey said smiling. "How absolutely fascinating. Where did you read that?"In a book from the library," Matilda said. "And that means it goes so fast that you can't even hear the separate beats. It must sound like a buzz."It must," Miss Honey said. "
53 " A girl should think about making herself look attractive so she can get a good husband later on. Looks is more important than books, Miss Hunky...""The name is Honey," Miss Honey said."Now look at me," Mrs Wormwood said. "Then look at you. You chose books. I chose looks. "
54 " There's nothin' you can get from a book that you can't get from a television fastah!" -Harry Wormwood "
55 " Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it’s unbelievable. "
56 " Being very small and very young, the only power Matilda had over anyone in her family was brain-power. "
57 " We don't hold with book-reading," Mr. Wormwood said. "You can't make a living from sitting on your fanny and reading story-books. "
58 " Shakespeare, daddy.” “Was he brainy?” “Very, daddy.” “He had masses of hair, did he?” “He was bald, daddy.” To which the father had snapped, “If you can’t talk sense then shut up. "
59 " What a nice child she is, Miss Honey thought. I don’t care what her father said about her, she seems very quiet and gentle to me. And not a bit stuck up in spite of her brilliance. "
60 " I'm afraid men are not always quite as clever as they think they are. "