【导读】　《哈利·波特》是英国作家J·K.罗琳(J.K.Rowling)于1997－2007年所著的魔幻文学系列小说，共7部。其中前六部以霍格沃茨魔法学校为主要舞台，描写的是主人公——年轻的巫师学生哈利·波特在霍格沃茨前后六年的学习生活和冒险故事；第七部描写的是哈利·波特在第二次世界大战中在外寻找魂器并消灭伏地魔的故事。

Harry Potter (Excerpt)

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings，which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck，although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.

The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her goodfornothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say it：the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son，too, but they had never even seen him.This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away；they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.

哈利·波特(节选)

住在女贞路四号的德思礼先生及夫人，他们非常骄傲地宣称自己是十分正常的人，拜托了。他们绝不会卷入任何奇怪或神秘的事情，因为他们对此总是嗤之以鼻。

德思礼先生是一家叫作格朗宁的钻机公司的老板。他非常肥壮、结实，几乎肥到没有脖子，但却有一把大胡子。德思礼夫人则很瘦，一头金发。她的脖子有常人的两倍那么长，这使得她整天伸长脖子透过花园围栏去偷窥邻居家的动静变得非常容易。德思礼夫妇有个儿子叫作达力。在他们眼中，这世界上再没有比达力更棒的男孩子。

德思礼一家几乎有他们想要的一切东西。但是他们也有一个秘密，而且他们最大的担心就是有一天别人会发现这个秘密。如果有人知道了关于波特一家的事，他们会受不了的。波特夫人是德思礼夫人的妹妹，但是她们已经有很多年没有见面了。事实上，德思礼夫人假装她从来没有什么妹妹，因为她的妹妹和那不中用的妹夫没有一丝一毫德思礼家族的风范。一想到波特一家的到来会招致邻居的议论，德思礼一家就会浑身发抖。德思礼一家知道波特夫妇也有一个儿子，只是未曾谋面。这个小男孩也成了德思礼一家避开波特一家的借口，因为他们不希望听话的达力与这种小孩混在—起。

[知识积累]

1．involve vt.　包含；使参与，牵涉

2．mysterious adj. 玄妙的；神秘的

3．nonsense n. 胡闹；胡说

4．drill vt. 训练；操练；钻(孔)

5．beefy adj. 强壮的；结实的

6．blonde adj. (头发)金色的

[文化链接]

根据《哈利·波特》作者J·K.罗琳的介绍，这个故事的灵感是1991年她在从曼彻斯特到伦敦的火车上萌发出的。尽管J·K.罗琳一再说明，在开始写哈利·波特系列小说时没有针对特定年龄段读者的想法，但是出版社在出版第一部的时候，显然把读者群定位在9到15岁的青少年。