Перевести they were in the living-room eating their suppers on their knees in front of the telly. mrs wormwood sat munching her meal with her eyes glued to the american soap-opera on the screen. she was a large woman whose hair was dyed platinum blonde and whose make-up was. "mummy," matilda said, "would you mind if i ate my supper in the dining-room so i could read my book? " the father glanced up sharply. "i would mind! " he snapped. "supper is a family gathering and no one leaves the table till it's over! " "but we're not at the table," matilda said. "we never are. we're always eating off our knees and watching the telly.” "what's wrong with watching the telly, may i ask? " the father said. his voice had suddenly become soft and dangerous. matilda didn't trust herself to answer him, so she kept quiet. she could feel the anger boiling up inside her. she knew it was wrong to hate her parents like this, but she was finding it very hard not to do so. all the reading she had done had given her a view of life that they had never seen. if only they would read a little dickens or kipling they would soon discover there was more to life than cheating people and watching television. (in one of such evenings, a teacher of matilda came to visit her parents.) "i have come with good news about her. do you think i might come in for a few minutes and talk to you about matilda? " "we are right in the middle of watching one of our favourite programmes," mr wormwood said. "this is most inconvenient. why don't you come back some other time." "mr wormwood, if you think some rotten tv programme is more important than your daughter's future, then you ought not to be a parent! why don't you switch the darn thing off and listen to me! " that shook mr wormwood. he peered carefully at the slim frail woman… "oh very well then," he snapped. "come on in and let's get it over with. mrs wormwood isn't going to thank you for this." mrs wormwood was gazing rapturously at the tv screen. "who is it? " the woman said. "some school teacher," mr wormwood said. "she says she's got to talk to us about matilda." he crossed to the tv set and turned down the sound but left the picture on the screen. "don't do that, harry! " mrs wormwood cried out. "willard is just about to propose to angelica! " "you can still watch it while we're talking," mr wormwood said. "this is matilda's teacher. she says she's got some sort of news to give us." "my name is jennifer honey," miss honey said. "how do you do, mrs wormwood." mrs wormwood glared at her and said, "what's the trouble then? "
