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Chapter 1 Owl Post
第一章 貓頭鷹郵遞
Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways.
就許多方面來說，哈利·波特是個不同尋常的男孩。
For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year.
比如說，他在一年中最恨的就是暑假。
For another, he really wanted to do his homework, but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night.
再比如說，他倒是真心想做他的家庭作業，但他卻被迫偷偷地、總是在深夜才做。
And he also happened to be a wizard.
而且，他碰巧是個男巫。
It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his front in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent,
現在差不多已經是半夜了，他正趴在床上，被單像帳篷一樣罩在腦袋上。
a torch in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow.
他一手拿著電筒，靠在枕頭上，打開了一本皮面書——巴希達巴沙特所著的《魔法史》。
Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay,
哈利皺著眉頭，在書頁上從上而下地移動著那支羽毛筆的筆尖，他正在尋找能幫助他寫論文的材料，
'Witch-Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless—discuss'.
論文題目是《十四世紀焚燒女巫的做法是完全沒有意義的——討論稿》。
The quill paused at the top of a likely-looking paragraph.
羽毛筆停留在一段似乎會有用的文字開頭。
Harry pushed his round glasses up his nose, moved his torch closer to the book and read:
哈利把鼻梁上的圓形眼鏡向上推了推，又讓電筒發出的光更靠近那本書。他讀道：
Non-magic people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognising it.
在中世紀的時候，非魔法界人士（更普遍的叫法是“麻瓜”）是特別害怕魔法的，但是他們并不善于識別魔法。
On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever.
他們偶爾真地抓到男巫或女巫，但在這種時候，焚燒并沒有收到什么效果。
