1 Owl Post

Harry Potter AND THE Prisoner of AZKABAN by J. K. ROWLING

《哈利·波特与阿兹卡班的囚徒》 罗琳

CHAPTER ONE Owl Post Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework, but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard. It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his front in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent, a torch in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow. Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay,

第一章猫头鹰邮差哈利·波特在许多方面都是一个极不寻常的男孩。 首先，他最讨厌的是暑假。 另一方面，他真的很想做作业，但却被迫在夜深人静的时候秘密地做。 他碰巧也是个巫师。 快到午夜了，他躺在床上，毯子像帐篷一样盖在头上，一只手拿着手电筒，一本皮面的大书（巴希达·巴沙特的《魔法史》）摊开在枕头上。 哈利皱着眉头，在纸上翻动着他那只鹰羽羽毛笔的笔尖，寻找着能帮他写论文的东西。

'Witch-Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless – discuss'. The quill paused at the top of a likely-looking paragraph. Harry pushed his round glasses up his nose, moved his torch closer to the book and read: Non-magic people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognising it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame-Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burnt so much that she allowed herself to be caught no fewer than forty-seven times in various disguises. Harry put his quill between his teeth and reached underneath his pillow for his ink bottle and a roll of parchment. Slowly and very carefully he

《14世纪焚烧女巫完全没有意义——讨论》。 羽毛笔停在一段看起来很像的段落的开头。 哈利把圆眼镜推到鼻梁上，把手电凑近书本读了起来：在中世纪，不会魔法的人（通常被称为麻瓜）特别害怕魔法，但不太善于识别它。 在极少数情况下，他们确实抓住了一个真正的女巫或巫师，燃烧没有任何效果。 女巫或男巫会表演一个基本的火焰冻结咒，然后假装痛苦地尖叫，同时享受温柔的挠痒痒的感觉。 事实上，奇怪的温德林非常喜欢被烧死，她允许自己以各种各样的伪装被抓住不少于47次。 哈利把羽毛笔咬在牙缝里，伸手从枕头底下拿出墨水瓶和一卷羊皮纸。 他慢慢地、非常小心地

unscrewed the ink bottle, dipped his quill into it and began to write, pausing every now and then to listen, because if any of the Dursleys heard the scratching of his quill on their way to the bathroom, he'd probably find himself locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the rest of the summer. The Dursley family of number four, Privet Drive, was the reason that Harry never enjoyed his summer holidays. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and their son, Dudley, were Harry's only living relatives. They were Muggles, and they had a very medieval attitude towards magic. Harry's dead parents, who had been a witch and wizard themselves, were never mentioned under the Dursleys' roof. For years, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had hoped that if they kept Harry as downtrodden as possible, they would be able to squash the magic out of him. To their fury, they had been unsuccessful, and now lived in terror of anyone finding out that Harry had spent most of the last two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The most the Dursleys

拧开墨水瓶，把羽毛笔蘸了蘸，开始写起来，不时停下来听听，因为如果德思礼家的人在去洗手间的路上听到他的羽毛笔划过的声音，他很可能会发现自己整个夏天都被关在楼梯下的碗柜里。 住在女贞路四号的德思礼一家，是哈利从来没有享受过暑假的原因。 弗农姨父、佩妮姨妈和他们的儿子达力是哈利仅存的亲戚。 他们是麻瓜，他们对魔法的态度非常中世纪。 哈利死去的父母也是巫师，在德思礼家从来没有提起过他们。 多年来，佩妮姨妈和弗农姨父一直希望，只要他们尽可能地压迫哈利，就能把他身上的魔法挤出来。 令他们愤怒的是，他们没有成功，现在他们生活在恐惧中，生怕有人发现哈利过去两年的大部分时间都在霍格沃茨魔法学校度过。 德思礼家的人最多

could do these days was to lock away Harry's spellbooks, wand, cauldron and broomstick at the start of the summer holidays, and forbid him to talk to the neighbours. This separation from his spellbooks had been a real problem for Harry, because his teachers at Hogwarts had given him a lot of holiday work. One of the essays, a particularly nasty one about Shrinking Potions, was for Harry's least favourite teacher, Professor Snape, who would be delighted to have an excuse to give Harry detention for a month. Harry had therefore seized his chance in the first week of the holidays. While Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley had gone out into the front garden to admire Uncle Vernon's new company car (in very loud voices, so that the rest of the street would notice it too), Harry had crept downstairs, picked the lock on the cupboard under the stairs, grabbed some of his books and hidden them in his bedroom. As long as he didn't leave spots of ink on the sheets, the Dursleys need never know that he was studying magic by night.

这些天来，她唯一能做的就是在暑假开始时把哈利的咒语书、魔杖、坩埚和飞天扫帚锁起来，并禁止他和邻居说话。 与魔法书分离对哈利来说是一个真正的问题，因为霍格沃茨的老师给他布置了很多假期作业。 其中一篇关于收缩魔药的文章特别讨厌，是给哈利最不喜欢的老师斯内普教授的，他会很高兴有个借口罚哈利关禁闭一个月。 因此，哈利在假期的第一个星期就抓住了机会。 当弗农姨父、佩妮姨妈和达力到前院花园去欣赏弗农姨父公司的新汽车时（他们的声音很响，好让街上的人也能注意到），哈利悄悄走下楼，撬开楼梯下碗柜的锁，抓了几本书藏在卧室里。 只要他不在床单上留下墨迹，德思礼一家就永远不会知道他在夜里学习魔法。

Harry was keen to avoid trouble with his aunt and uncle at the moment, as they were already in a bad mood with him, all because he'd received a telephone call from a fellow wizard one week into the school holidays. Ron Weasley, who was one of Harry's best friends at Hogwarts, came from a whole family of wizards. This meant that he knew a lot of things Harry didn't, but had never used a telephone before. Most unluckily, it had been Uncle Vernon who had answered the call. 'Vernon Dursley speaking.' Harry, who happened to be in the room at the time, froze as he heard Ron's voice answer. 'HELLO? HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I – WANT – TO – TALK – TO – HARRY – POTTER!' Ron was yelling so loudly that Uncle Vernon jumped and held the receiver a foot away from his ear, staring at it with an expression of mingled fury and alarm. 'WHO IS THIS?' he roared in the direction of the mouthpiece. 'WHO ARE YOU?'

哈利现在急于避免和姨妈姨父发生矛盾，因为他们对他已经很不满意了，这都是因为他在学校放假一周后接到了一位巫师同伴的电话。 罗恩·韦斯莱是哈利在霍格沃茨最好的朋友之一，他全家都是巫师。 这意味着他知道很多哈利不知道的事情，但他以前从未用过电话。 最不幸的是，接电话的是弗农姨父。 “我是弗农·德思礼。”哈利当时正好在房间里，听到罗恩回答的声音，他僵住了。 “喂?喂?你能听到我说话吗？ 我——想——跟——哈利——波特——谈谈！”罗恩叫得那么大声，弗农姨父吓了一跳，把听筒拿到离他耳朵一英尺远的地方，带着既愤怒又惊恐的表情盯着听筒。 “你是谁？”他朝话筒的方向吼道。 “你是谁？”