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The Power Of Harry Potter
As if by magic, virtually all British parents have suddenly picked up the habit of reading to their children. A poll commissioned by UK electricity utility1 Powergen found that Harry Potter, as well as older classics, had created a veritable bedtime reading revolution. Ninety percent of British parents now read to their children, up from only 40 percent in 2000. Powergen claimed the rise was due to the popularity of what it called“ kid-ult2 ” books, which appeal to children and adults alike .“With the current revival of children's classics like the Lord of the Rings3 at the cinema, parents are rediscovering books they read when they were younger or are feeling inspired to read them for the first time, ”a Powergen statement quoted psychologist Aric Sigman as saying.“ Just as both parents and children can enjoy escapism and fantasy4 these stories also raise important issues that they can talk about together. This sharing of ideas and opinions is critical to the emotional and creative development of children. ”
Barry Cunningham still laughs about that moment in 1997, when he told a single mother with a knack for fantasy storytelling to find herself a day job, because writing children's books did not pay.
He could not have known then that his decision to publish a book about a boy wizard would start an international publishing phenomenon, or that within six years the first-time children's book writer in question would be richer than the Queen of England. The“find a day job ” blunder has become part of the legend of Harry Potter, as has Mr Cunningham's role in picking up the book on behalf of Bloomsbury, its publisher in the UK, after other longer-established companies had turned it down.
But the cheerful 51-year-old's story does not end with the career-making move of signing、 J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter's creator. In fact, the former marketing director left Bloomsbury weeks before the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first instalment5 of the boy wizard's adventures. Today, he is running his own boutique children's book publisher —The Chicken House — and, once again, being credited with turning little -known storytellers into bigtime bestsellers.“I did not see any direct financial benefits ( from signing J. K. Rowling) but it has given me a huge reputation — and the intangible thing is the confidence it gave me in my own judgment. ”
Word of mouth about his eye for talent even prompted executives at Scholastic, the largest publisher of children's books in the world, to approach Mr Cunningham in 2001 after reading in a trade publication that the man who discovered Harry was looking for a distributor for his new publishing company. “We thought greatly of his talent and we knew his taste. We felt he had a sense for looking for new voices ( combined with ) a commercial sense, ”says Barbara Marcus, the president of Scholastic children's books and distribution.
“ It's odd to say a 50-year-old man knows what a 13-year-old wants to read, but I do, ”says Mr Cunningham.
練習題：
Ⅰ. Translate the followin g Chin ese e xp res sio ns into En glish e quiva le nts acco rding to the passage:
1. 由于, 因為
2. 復活, 重生, 重新出現
3. 經典作品, 古典作品
4. 民意調查
Ⅱ. Questions :
1. Which country buy the most gold to make jewelry?
2. What are“reserved currencies”?
