Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-1

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 moustache。 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 neighbours。 The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere。

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-1

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, Miss。 Dursley pretended she didn‘t have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as undursleyish as it was possible to be。 The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if 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。

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-1

When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country。 Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair。

None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window。

At half past eight, Mr。 Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs。 Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls。 ‘Little tyke,’ chortled Mr。 Dursley as he left the house。 He got into his car and backed out of number four‘s drive。

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-1

It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar—a cat reading a map。 For a second, Mr。 Dursley didn’t realise what he had seen- then he jerked his head around to look again。 There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn‘t a map in sight。 What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light。 Mr。 Dursley blinked and stared at the cat。 It stared back。 As Mr。 Dursley drove around the corner and up the road he watched the cat in his mirror。 It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive——-no, looking at the sign, cats couldn’t read maps or signs。 Mr。 Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind。 As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day。

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-1

But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else。 As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn’t help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about。 People in cloaks。 Mr。 Dursley couldn’t bear people who dressed in funny clothes—the get—ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion。 He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by。 They were whispering excitedly together。 Mr Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren‘t young at all, why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald green cloak! The nerve of him。 But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt- these people were obviously collecting for something…yes, that would be it。 The traffic moved on, and a few minutes later Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills。

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-1

譯文:

家住女貞路4號的德思禮夫婦總是得意地說他們是非常規矩的人家,拜託,拜託了。他們從來跟神秘古怪的事不沾邊,因為他們根本不相信那些邪門歪道。

弗農・德思禮先生在一家名叫格朗寧的公司做主管,公司生產鑽機。他高大魁梧,胖得幾乎連脖子都沒有了,卻蓄著一臉大鬍子。德思禮太太是一個瘦削的金髮女人。她的脖子幾乎比正常人長一倍。這樣每當她花許多時間隔著籬牆引頸而望、窺探左鄰右舍時,她的長脖子可就派上了大用場。德思禮夫婦有一個小兒子,名叫達力。在他們看來,人世間沒有比達力更好的孩子了。

德思禮一傢什麼都不缺,但他們擁有一個秘密,他們最害怕的就是這秘密會被人發現。他們想,一且有人發現波特一家的事,他們會承受不住的。波特太太是德思禮太太的妹妹,不過她們已經有好幾年不見面了。實際上,德思禮太太伴裝自己根本沒有這麼個妹妹,因為她妹和她那一無是處的妹夫與德思禮一家的為人處世完全不一樣。一想到鄰居們會說波特夫婦來了,德思禮夫婦就會嚇得膽戰心驚。他們知道波特也有個兒子,只是他們從來沒有見過。這孩子也是他們不與波特夫婦來往的一個很好的藉口,他們不願讓達力跟這種孩子所混。

我們的故事開始於一個晦暗、陰沉的星期二,德思禮夫婦一早醒來,窗外濃雲低垂的天空並沒有絲毫跡象預示這地方即將發生神秘古怪的事情。德思禮先生呼著小曲,挑出一條最不討人喜歡的領帶戴著上班,德思禮太太高高興興,一直絮絮明明,把唧哇亂叫的達力塞到了兒童椅裡。

他們誰也沒留意一隻黃褐色的貓頭鷹撲扇著翅膀從窗前飛過。

八點半,德思禮先生拿起公文包,在德思禮太太面類上親了一下,正要親達力,跟這個小傢伙道別,可是沒有親成,小傢伙正在發牌氣,把麥片往牆上摔。“臭小子。”德思禮先生哪畩了一句,略略笑著走出家門,坐進汽車,倒出4號車道。

在街角上,他看到了第一個異常的訊號ー一一隻貓在看地圖。一開始,德思禮先生還沒弄明白他看到了什麼,於是又回過頭去。只見一隻花斑貓正站在女貞路街角,但是沒有看見地圖。他到底在想些什麼?很可能是光線使他產生了錯覺吧。德思禮先生眨了眨眼,町著貓看,貓也瞪著他。當德思禮先生拐過街角繼續上路的時候,他從後視鏡裡看看那隻貓。貓這時正在讀女貞路的標牌,不,是在看標牌;貓是不會看地圖或是讀標牌的。德思禮先生定了定神,把貓從腦海裡趕走了。他開車進城,一路上想的是希望今天他能得到一大批鑽機的定單。

但快進城時,另一件事又把鑽機的事從他腦海裡趕走了。當他的車匯人清晨擁堵的車流時,他突然看見路邊有一群穿著奇裝異服的人。他們都披著斗篷。德思禮先生最看不慣別人穿得怪模怪樣,瞧年輕人的那身打扮!他猜想這大概又是一種無聊的新時尚吧。他用手指敲擊著方向盤,目光落到了離他最近的一大群怪物身上。他們正興致勃物,交頭接耳。德思禮先生很生氣,因為他發現他們中間有一對根本不年輕了,那個男的顯得比他年齡還大,竟然還披著一件翡翠綠的斗篷!真不知羞恥!接著,德思禮先生突然想到這些人大概是為什麼事募捐吧,不錯,就是這麼回事。車流移動了,幾分鐘後德思禮先生來到格朗寧公司的停車場,他的思緒又回到了鑽機上。

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-1

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