1 The Worst Birthday

CHAPTER ONE THE WORST BIRTHDAY Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive. Mr. Vernon Dursley had been woken in the early hours of the morning by a loud, hooting noise from his nephew Harry's room. "Third time this week!" he roared across the table. "If you can't control that owl, it'll have to go!"

第一章最糟糕的生日女贞路四号吃早饭时发生了一场争吵，这已经不是第一次了。 弗农·德思礼先生一大早就被他侄子哈利的房间里传来的一阵响亮的喊叫声吵醒了。 “这星期第三次了！”他隔着桌子吼道。 “如果你控制不了那只猫头鹰，就把它赶走！”

Harry tried, yet again, to explain. "She's bored," he said. "She's used to flying around outside. If I could just let her out at night "Do I look stupid?" snarled Uncle Vernon, a bit of fried egg dangling from his bushy mustache. "I know what'll happen if that owl's let out." He exchanged dark looks with his wife, Petunia. Harry tried to argue back but his words were drowned by a long, loud belch from the Dursleys' son, Dudley. "I want more bacon." "There's more in the frying pan, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia, turning misty eyes on her massive son. "We must build you up while we've got the chance. I don't like the sound of that school food. "Nonsense, Petunia, I never went hungry when I was at Smeltings," said Uncle Vernon heartily. "Dudley gets enough, don't you, son?"

哈利又试着解释。 “她很无聊，”他说。“她已经习惯了在外面飞来飞去。 “我看起来傻吗？”弗农姨父怒吼道，浓密的胡子上挂着一块煎蛋。 “我知道如果那只猫头鹰被放出去会发生什么。” 他和妻子佩妮交换了阴沉的眼色。 哈利想反驳，但他的话被德思礼家的儿子达力长长的、响亮的打嗝淹没了。 “我想要更多的培根。”“煎锅里还有呢，宝贝。”佩妮姨妈说，用迷糊的眼睛看着她那胖胖的儿子。 “我们必须趁有机会培养你。 我不喜欢学校食物的味道。 “胡说，佩妮，我在斯梅廷的时候从来没饿过肚子。”弗农姨父热情地说。 “达力受够了，是不是，孩子？”

Dudley, who was so large his bottom drooped over either side of the kitchen chair, grinned and turned to Harry. "Pass the frying pan." "You've forgotten the magic word," said Harry irritably. The effect of this simple sentence on the rest of the family was incredible: Dudley gasped and fell off his chair with a crash that shook the whole kitchen; Mrs. Dursley gave a small scream and clapped her hands to her mouth; Mr. Dursley jumped to his feet, veins throbbing in his temples. "I meant 'please'!" said Harry quickly. "I didn't mean "WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU," thundered his uncle, spraying spit over the table, "ABOUT SAYING THE 'M' WORD IN OUR HOUSE?" "But I "HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!" roared Uncle Vernon, pounding the table with his

达力太大了，屁股耷拉到厨房椅子的两边，他咧嘴一笑，转向哈利。 “把煎锅递给我。”“你忘了那个咒语了。”哈利恼火地说。 这句简单的话对家里其他人产生了难以置信的影响：达力喘着气从椅子上摔了下来，整个厨房都在震动；德思礼太太轻轻地尖叫了一声，用手捂住嘴。德思礼先生跳了起来，太阳穴里的血管怦怦直跳。 “我的意思是‘请’！”哈利赶紧说。 “我不是说‘我怎么跟你说过的，’他叔叔吼道，把唾沫喷在桌子上，‘关于在我们家说‘M’这个词的事？”“你怎么敢威胁达力！”弗农姨父吼道，用他的魔杖重重地敲着桌子

fist. "I just "I WARNED YOU! I WILL NOT TOLERATE MENTION OF YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!" Harry stared from his purple-faced uncle to his pale aunt, who was trying to heave Dudley to his feet. "All right," said Harry, "all right Uncle Vernon sat back down, breathing like a winded rhinoceros and watching Harry closely out of the corners of his small, sharp eyes. Ever since Harry had come home for the summer holidays, Uncle Vernon had been treating him like a bomb that might go off at any moment, because Harry Potter wasn't a normal boy. As a matter of fact, he was as not normal as it is possible to be. Harry Potter was a wizard a wizard fresh from his first year at Hogwarts School of

拳头。我只是“我警告过你！”我不能容忍在这个屋檐下提及你的反常！”哈利的目光从紫脸的姨父转向苍白的姨妈，姨妈正试图把达力扶起来。 “好吧，”哈利说，“好吧，弗农姨父又坐了下来，像一头喘着粗气的犀牛一样喘着粗气，用他那锐利的小眼睛的眼角密切注视着哈利。 自从哈利暑假回家以来，弗农姨父一直把他当作随时可能爆炸的炸弹，因为哈利·波特不是一个正常的男孩。 事实上，他非常不正常。 哈利·波特是个巫师一个刚从霍格沃茨魔法学校一年级毕业的巫师

Witchcraft and Wizardry. And if the Dursleys were unhappy to have him back for the holidays, it was nothing to how Harry felt. He missed Hogwarts so much it was like having a constant stomachache. He missed the castle, with its secret passageways and ghosts, his classes (though perhaps not Snape, the Potions master), the mail arriving by owl, eating banquets in the Great Hall, sleeping in his four-poster bed in the tower dormitory, visiting the gamekeeper, Hagrid, in his cabin next to the Forbidden Forest in the grounds, and, especially, Quidditch, the most popular sport in the Wizarding world (six tall goalposts, four flying balls, and fourteen players on broomsticks). All Harry's spellbooks, his wand, robes, cauldron, and top-of-the-line Nimbus Two Thousand broomstick had been locked in a cupboard under the stairs by Uncle Vernon the instant Harry had come home. What did the

巫术和巫术。如果说德思礼一家不高兴他回来过节，那也比不上哈利的心情。 他非常想念霍格沃茨，就像经常胃痛一样。 他想念城堡，想念那里的秘密通道和鬼魂，想念他的课（虽然可能不想念魔药课老师斯内普），想念猫头鹰送来的邮件，想念在大礼堂里吃宴会，想念在高塔宿舍里睡他的四柱床，想念在禁林旁边的小木屋里拜访猎场看守海格，尤其是想念魁地奇，这是魔法界最受欢迎的运动（六根高高的门柱，四个飞球，十四名骑在飞天扫帚上的球员）。 哈利一回家，弗农姨父就把哈利所有的咒语书、魔杖、长袍、坩埚和最顶级的光轮2000扫帚锁在了楼梯下的一个橱柜里。 他们做了什么？