評論
打印
Ever since Harry had come home for the summer holidays,
自從哈利放暑假回家，
Uncle Vernon had been treating him like a bomb that might go off at any moment,
弗農姨父一直把他當一顆定時炸彈看待，
because Harry Potter wasn’t a normal boy.
因為哈利不是一個正常的孩子。
As a matter of fact, he was as not normal as it is possible to be.
實際上，他相當不正常。
Harry Potter was a wizard — a wizard fresh from his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
哈利波特是一個巫師——剛在霍格沃茨魔法學校上完一年級。
And if the Dursleys were unhappy to have him back for the holidays,
如果德思禮對他回家過暑假感到不快，
it was nothing to how Harry felt.
那么他們的不快和哈利的感覺相比根本不值一提。
He missed Hogwarts so much it was like having a constant stomachache.
他真想念霍格沃茨，想得五臟六腑都發痛。
He missed the castle, with its secret passageways and ghosts,
他想念那個城堡，那些秘密通道和幽靈鬼怪，
his classes though perhaps not Snape, the Potions master,
想念他的課程（也許除了魔藥老師斯內普的課），
the mail arriving by owl, eating banquets in the Great Hall,
還有貓頭鷹捎來的信件、大禮堂里的宴會，
sleeping in his four-poster bed in the tower dormitory, visiting the gamekeeper, Hagrid, in his cabin next to theForbidden Forest in the grounds,
想念他宿舍樓里的四柱床，想念禁林邊上那間小木屋和狩獵場看守海格，
and, especially, Quidditch, the most popular sport in the wizarding world (six tall goal posts, four flying balls,and fourteen players on broomsticks).
更想念魁地奇球——魔法世界里最流行的體育運動（六根高高的門柱、四只會飛的球、十四名騎著掃帚的球員）。
All Harry’s spellbooks, his wand, robes, cauldron, and top-of-the-line Nimbus Two Thousand broomstick hadbeen locked in a cupboard under the stairs by Uncle Vernon the instant Harry had come home.
哈利剛一到家，弗農姨父就把他的咒語書、魔杖、長袍、坩堝和最高級的光輪2000鎖進了樓梯下那又小又暗的柜子里。
What did the Dursleys care if Harry lost his place on the House Quidditch team because he hadn’t practiced allsummer?
哈利會不會因為一個暑假沒練習而被學院魁地奇球隊開除，德思禮一家才不管呢。
What was it to the Dursleys if Harry went back to school without any of his homework done?
哈利的家庭作業一點都沒做，回學校時無法交差，這跟他們有什么關系？
The Dursleys were what wizards called Muggles (not a drop of magical blood in their veins), and as far as theywere concerned,
德思禮一家是巫師們所說的“麻瓜”（血管里沒有一滴巫師的血液）。在他們看來，
having a wizard in the family was a matter of deepest shame.
家里有一個巫師是莫大的恥辱。
Uncle Vernon had even padlocked Harry’s owl, Hedwig, inside her cage,
弗農姨父甚至把哈利的貓頭鷹海德薇也鎖在了它的籠子里，
to stop her from carrying messages to anyone in the wizarding world.
不讓它給魔法世界的任何人送信。
Harry looked nothing like the rest of the family.
哈利跟這家人長得一點兒也不像。
Uncle Vernon was large and neckless, with an enormous black mustache;
弗農姨父膀大粳圓，沒有脖子，蓄著異常濃密的大胡子；
Aunt Petunia was horse-faced and bony;
佩妮姨媽長了一張馬臉，骨節粗大；
Dudley was blond, pink, and porky.
達力頭發金黃，皮膚白里透紅，體形肥胖。
Harry, on the other hand, was small and skinny, with brilliant green eyes and jet-black hair that was alwaysuntidy.
而哈利卻身材瘦小，長著一雙明亮的綠眼睛，漆黑的頭發總是亂蓬蓬的，
He wore round glasses, and on his forehead was a thin, lightning-shaped scar.
他戴著圓圓的眼鏡，額頭上還有一道細長的閃電形傷疤。
It was this scar that made Harry so particularly unusual, even for a wizard.
就是這道傷疤使哈利即使在巫師中也是如此與眾不同。
This scar was the only hint of Harry’s very mysterious past, of the reason he had been left on the Dursleys’doorstep eleven years before.
這道傷疤是哈利神秘過去留下的惟一痕跡，是推測他十一年前為什么會被放在德思禮家門檻上的惟一線索。
