3 The Letters from No One

CHAPTER THREE THE LETTERS FROM NO ONE The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.

巴西大蟒蛇的逃跑使哈利受到了有史以来最长的惩罚。 当他再次被允许走出橱柜的时候，暑假已经开始了，达力已经弄坏了他的新摄像机，撞坏了他的遥控飞机，而且第一次骑着他的赛车出去，把拄着拐杖穿过女贞路的费格老太太撞倒了。

Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting. This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.

哈利很高兴学校放假了，但是达力那帮家伙是逃不掉的，他们每天都来拜访他。 皮尔斯、丹尼斯、马尔科姆和戈登都又大又笨，但达力是他们中最大最笨的，所以他是老大。 他们都很高兴参加达力最喜欢的运动：猎哈利。 这就是为什么哈利尽可能多地花时间在外面，四处闲逛，想着假期结束的事情，在那里他可以看到一丝希望。 到了九月，他就要去上中学了，这是他有生以来第一次没有和达力在一起。 达力被弗农姨父以前的私立学校斯梅廷录取了。 皮尔斯·波尔基斯也要去那里。 另一方面，哈利上的是当地的公立学校石墙高中。 达力觉得这很有趣。

"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?" "No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said. One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years. That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting

“他们在石墙的第一天就把人的头塞进马桶里。”他告诉哈利。 “想上楼练习吗？”“不，谢谢。”哈利说。 “这个可怜的厕所从来没有碰到过像你这样可怕的东西——如果你把头埋在里面，它可能会生病。” 然后他跑了，没等达力明白他在说什么。 七月的一天，佩妮姨妈带达力去伦敦给他买校服，把哈利留在费格太太家。 费格太太不像平时那么坏了。 原来她被一只猫绊倒摔断了腿，她似乎不像以前那么喜欢它们了。 她让哈利看电视，还给了他一小块巧克力蛋糕，吃起来好像已经吃了好几年了。 那天晚上，达力穿着他的新制服在客厅里走来走去。 冶炼厂的男孩们穿着栗色的燕尾服，橙色的灯笼裤，戴着扁平的草帽。 他们还带着多节的棍棒，用来打人

each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life. As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh. There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water. "What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a

趁老师们不注意的时候互相交谈。 这被认为是对以后生活的良好训练。 弗农姨父看着穿着新灯角裤的达力，粗声粗气地说，这是他一生中最骄傲的时刻。 佩妮姨妈哭了起来，说她不敢相信那是她的小达力金，他看起来那么英俊，那么成熟。 哈利不敢开口。 他想他的两根肋骨可能已经因为忍住不笑而断了。 第二天早上，哈利进去吃早饭时，厨房里有一股难闻的气味。 它似乎是从水槽里的一个大金属盆里发出来的。 他去看了看。浴缸里装满了看起来像脏破布的东西，在灰色的水中游来游去。 “这是什么？”他问佩妮姨妈。 她的嘴唇像往常一样紧绷着，只要他敢问

question. "Your new school uniform," she said. Harry looked in the bowl again. "Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet." "Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished." Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably. Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.

的问题。“你的新校服，”她说。 哈利又往碗里看了看。 “哦，”他说，“我没想到会这么湿。” “别傻了。”佩妮姨妈厉声说。 “我要把达力的一些旧衣服染成灰色。 等我弄好了，它就和别人的一样了。” 哈利非常怀疑这一点，但觉得还是不要争辩为好。 他在桌边坐下，尽量不去想自己在石墙高中的第一天会是什么样子，好像他穿着几块旧大象皮。 达力和弗农姨父走了进来，因为哈利新制服的气味，他们的鼻子都皱了起来。 弗农姨父像往常一样打开报纸，达力把随身携带的那根梅廷斯特手杖重重地敲在桌子上。

They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat. "Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper. "Make Harry get it." "Get the mail, Harry." "Make Dudley get it." "Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley." Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and a letter for Harry. Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a

他们听到投信槽的咔哒声和信件落在门垫上的声音。 “把信拿来，达力。”弗农姨父从报纸后面说。 “让哈利去拿。”“去拿信，哈利。” “让达力去拿。”“用你的棍子戳他，达力。” 哈利躲开了斯梅廷的手杖，去拿邮件。 门垫上放着三样东西：一张是弗农姨父的妹妹玛姬寄来的明信片，她正在怀特岛度假；一个看起来像账单的棕色信封；还有一封给哈利的信。 哈利把它捡起来，盯着它看，他的心像一条巨大的橡皮筋一样怦怦直跳。 在他的一生中从来没有人给他写过信。 谁会?他没有朋友，没有其他亲戚——他不属于图书馆，所以他甚至从来没有收到过粗鲁的要求还书的便条。 然而，它就在这里