有聲雙語(yǔ)閱讀 | 九又四分之三的旅程（1）

Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun.

哈利在杜斯利家的最后一個(gè)月并不有趣。

True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him -- in fact, they didn't speak to him at all.

的確，達(dá)德里因害怕哈利，現(xiàn)在甚至不敢與他同處一室了，而帕尤尼亞姨媽和維能姨丈也不再把哈利鎖在壁櫥里了，他們也沒(méi)有強(qiáng)迫哈利干活或者對(duì)他呼呼喝喝的。——其實(shí)，他們壓根兒就沒(méi)再跟他說(shuō)過(guò)話。

Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty.

他們對(duì)哈利是既憤慨又恐懼，因而不得不對(duì)他視而不見(jiàn)。

Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.

盡管這種待遇與之前相比已是大有改善，但過(guò)不多久就已經(jīng)顯得十分沉悶了。

Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company.

哈利寸步不離房間，終日與他的貓頭鷹朋友的為伴。

He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic.

他給它取名叫海維，這名字是從一本叫《魔法探究》的書(shū)里來(lái)的。

His school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased.

哈利總愛(ài)躺在床上，捧著他那些引人入勝的教科書(shū)津津有味地看到深夜，而海維則喜歡在打開(kāi)的窗戶上飛進(jìn)飛出。

It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice.

幸好帕尤尼亞姨媽再?zèng)]進(jìn)來(lái)打掃，不然她要是發(fā)現(xiàn)海維經(jīng)常將死老鼠叨進(jìn)屋就麻煩了。

Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.

每晚臨睡前，哈利總要在親手釘在墻上的那張紙上鉤去過(guò)去的一天，心中期盼著九月一日早日來(lái)臨。

On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television.

八月三十一日，哈利覺(jué)得最好還是將第二天要去國(guó)王大道車站一事告知姨媽、姨丈，便來(lái)到客廳里。此時(shí)，姨媽一家人正在看電視上的問(wèn)答游戲。

He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.

哈利只咳嗽了一聲以引起他們的注意，達(dá)德里便嚇得尖叫著跑開(kāi)了。

"Er -- Uncle Vernon?"

"呢……維能姨丈……"

Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.

維能哼了一聲作為回應(yīng)。

"Er -- I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to -- to go to Hogwarts."

"呃……我明天得去國(guó)王大道車站——坐車到霍格瓦徹。"

Uncle Vernon grunted again.

維能又哼了一聲。

"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?"

"你能開(kāi)車送我去嗎?"

Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes.

又一聲哼哼，哈利以為姨丈答應(yīng)了，

"Thank you."

"謝謝。"

He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke.

哈利正要上樓回房時(shí)，維能這才開(kāi)腔：

"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"

"坐火車去魔法學(xué)院真有意思，難道飛毯都穿洞了嗎?"

Harry didn't say anything.

哈利無(wú)言以對(duì)。

"Where is this school, anyway?"

"那么，這學(xué)校在哪兒呢?"

"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.

"我不知道。"哈利脫口而出，這才意識(shí)到自己也不知道學(xué)校的地址。他從口袋里拿出哈格力給他的車票，讀道：

"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read.

"我要在十一點(diǎn)整從九又四分之三站臺(tái)上車。

His aunt and uncle stared.

"姨媽、姨丈面面相覷：

"Platform what?"

"什么站臺(tái)?"

"Nine and three-quarters."

"九又四分之三。"

"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon.

"別胡扯!

"There is no platform nine and three-quarters."

根本就沒(méi)有什么叫做九又四分之三的站臺(tái)。"維能大聲道。

"It's on my ticket."

"它明明印在我的車票上嘛。"

"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."

"真是瞎說(shuō)，"維能不以為然，"你真是瘋得夠可以的了。明天你就知道了，走著瞧吧。行，我們帶你去國(guó)王大道。要不是我們明天也要去倫敦，我才不會(huì)傻到自找麻煩呢。"

"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.

"你們?yōu)槭裁匆惗啬?"哈利想盡量保持氣氛的融洽。

"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."

"送達(dá)德里去醫(yī)院!"維能姨丈咆哮道，"就是為了在送他去斯麥爾丁之前除去那該死的尾巴!"