羅琳完成第六部《哈里·波特》魔法書(shū)英語(yǔ)敘事美文
Author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling, at the UK premiere of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" in a London file photo from May 30, 2004. (AP)
Harry Potter readers, here"s an extra special holiday gift: J.K. Rowling announced Monday that she has completed the sixth Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
"I know you all expected this to happen on Christmas Day, but I was sure that those of you who celebrate Christmas have better things to do on the day itself than fight your way into my study, whereas those of you who DON"T celebrate Christmas would definitely prefer not to wait until the 25th," the British author wrote in a message posted on her Web site.
Rowling noted that while she is pregnant with her third child, she has had the time "needed to tinker with the manuscript to my satisfaction and I am as happy as I have ever been with the end result. I only hope you feel it was worth the wait when you finally read it."
With the new Potter book certain to come out in 2005, fans should be spared the seemingly interminable three-year wait between Potter IV, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," and Potter V, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which came out in the summer of 2003. Rowling did not say whether the new book"s length would top the 870 pages of "Order of the Phoenix."
Rowling"s announcement is also great news for booksellers, who have endured another year of slow sales. More than 100 million copies of the fantasy series, which debuted in 1997, are in print, and "Order of the Phoenix" sold an astonishing 5 million copies within 24 hours of publication. Sales have remained phenomenal even as Rowling"s books have grown longer and darker, reflecting the boy wizard"s maturation into adolescence.
Hollywood has benefited, too; the first three Potter books have been made into hit movies. The books have also inspired countless Potter paraphernalia, including candy, cakes, capes and toys.
Rowling has said that one of her characters will not survive her sixth book, but she refused to identify that character.
Potter himself is safe, at least for now. Rowling has said her teenage hero will survive until the seventh and final book in the series, but has refused to say whether he will reach adulthood.
Only recently, the book"s completion seemed far away. In a message posted Dec. 10, Rowling said she had nothing "noteworthy to report, because I have been spending nearly all my time sitting in front of my computer writing, rewriting and taking the occasional break to bang my head off the desk in frustration or else rub my hands together in fiendish glee (I think the latter has happened once)."
《哈里·波特》的讀者們，這里有一份特別的圣誕節(jié)大禮：J·K·羅琳本周一(12月20日)宣布，她已經(jīng)完成了第六部“魔法書(shū)”——《哈里·波特和同父異母的王子》。
“我知道大家都盼望在圣誕節(jié)看到這部作品。但我敢肯定到圣誕節(jié)那天，你們當(dāng)中那些打算過(guò)節(jié)的人會(huì)有更多精彩的事情要做，不會(huì)一頭扎進(jìn)我的書(shū)里，而那些‘不’過(guò)節(jié)的人則肯定不樂(lè)意等到25號(hào)(才看到新書(shū))。”英國(guó)作家J·K·羅琳在她的個(gè)人網(wǎng)站上發(fā)表了這樣的留言。
羅琳還寫(xiě)道，當(dāng)她懷上第三個(gè)寶寶的時(shí)候，她有時(shí)間來(lái)“笨拙地修改手稿，讓自己滿意。最終的定稿和以往幾本書(shū)一樣令我感到非常高興。我只希望當(dāng)你們讀到這本書(shū)時(shí)，會(huì)感到所有的等待都是值得的�！�
2005年，《哈里·波特》的新書(shū)肯定會(huì)面世，羅琳的書(shū)迷們不必再遭受似乎永無(wú)休止的等待，《哈里·波特》系列第四部《哈里·波特和火焰杯》出版后，書(shū)迷們苦苦等待了三年，才等來(lái)了2003年夏出版的第五部《哈里·波特和鳳凰令》。羅琳沒(méi)有說(shuō)這本新書(shū)的長(zhǎng)度是否會(huì)超過(guò)870頁(yè)的《鳳凰令》。
羅琳的公告對(duì)書(shū)商來(lái)說(shuō)也是一個(gè)好消息，他們已經(jīng)忍受了又一個(gè)圖書(shū)銷售低迷的年頭。這套1997年問(wèn)世的魔法童話書(shū)的印刷量已經(jīng)超過(guò)1億冊(cè)，其中《鳳凰令》在出版后的24小時(shí)內(nèi)賣出了驚人的5百萬(wàn)冊(cè)。《哈里·波特》系列一直保持著強(qiáng)勁的銷售勢(shì)頭，盡管羅琳后面的書(shū)寫(xiě)得越來(lái)越長(zhǎng)，內(nèi)容也越來(lái)越陰暗，主要講述了小男巫哈里·波特步入青春期，逐漸成熟起來(lái)的`歷程。
好萊塢也從中獲利不少，《哈里·波特》的前三部都被拍成電影，轟動(dòng)一時(shí)。這套書(shū)還創(chuàng)造了無(wú)數(shù)的哈里·波特隨身用品，其中包括糖果、蛋糕、魔法斗篷和玩具等。
羅琳曾經(jīng)說(shuō)過(guò)，她塑造的人物中有一個(gè)將在第六部中死去，但她拒絕透露具體是誰(shuí)。
哈里·波特本人到目前為止還是安全的。羅琳說(shuō)過(guò)她塑造的少年英雄在第七部、也是最后一部之前是不會(huì)死去的，但她拒絕透露哈里是否能夠順利長(zhǎng)成大人。
就在最近，這本書(shū)的“完工”似乎還是遙遙無(wú)期。羅琳在12月10日發(fā)表的帖子中還說(shuō)，她沒(méi)有什么"值得注目的事向大家匯報(bào)，因?yàn)槲規(guī)缀跛袝r(shí)間都坐在電腦前寫(xiě)作或修改。偶爾休息的時(shí)候，我會(huì)在挫敗感中拿頭使勁撞桌子，或者由于中邪般的高興來(lái)回搓著雙手(我想后者曾經(jīng)發(fā)生過(guò)一次)。
Vocabulary:
half-blood: 同父異母者，同母異父者
tinker with : 笨拙地修補(bǔ)
paraphernalia: personal belongings(個(gè)人隨身物品)(：夏根建)
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