罗琳完成第六部《哈里·波特》魔法书英语叙事美文

　　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》的读者们，这里有一份特别的圣诞节大礼：J·K·罗琳本周一(12月20日)宣布，她已经完成了第六部“魔法书”——《哈里·波特和同父异母的王子》。

　　“我知道大家都盼望在圣诞节看到这部作品。但我敢肯定到圣诞节那天，你们当中那些打算过节的人会有更多精彩的事情要做，不会一头扎进我的书里，而那些‘不’过节的人则肯定不乐意等到25号(才看到新书)。”英国作家J·K·罗琳在她的个人网站上发表了这样的留言。

　　罗琳还写道，当她怀上第三个宝宝的时候，她有时间来“笨拙地修改手稿，让自己满意。最终的定稿和以往几本书一样令我感到非常高兴。我只希望当你们读到这本书时，会感到所有的等待都是值得的。”

　　2005年，《哈里·波特》的新书肯定会面世，罗琳的书迷们不必再遭受似乎永无休止的等待，《哈里·波特》系列第四部《哈里·波特和火焰杯》出版后，书迷们苦苦等待了三年，才等来了2003年夏出版的第五部《哈里·波特和凤凰令》。罗琳没有说这本新书的长度是否会超过870页的《凤凰令》。

　　罗琳的公告对书商来说也是一个好消息，他们已经忍受了又一个图书销售低迷的年头。这套1997年问世的魔法童话书的印刷量已经超过1亿册，其中《凤凰令》在出版后的24小时内卖出了惊人的5百万册。《哈里·波特》系列一直保持着强劲的销售势头，尽管罗琳后面的书写得越来越长，内容也越来越阴暗，主要讲述了小男巫哈里·波特步入青春期，逐渐成熟起来的`历程。

　　好莱坞也从中获利不少，《哈里·波特》的前三部都被拍成电影，轰动一时。这套书还创造了无数的哈里·波特随身用品，其中包括糖果、蛋糕、魔法斗篷和玩具等。

　　罗琳曾经说过，她塑造的人物中有一个将在第六部中死去，但她拒绝透露具体是谁。

　　哈里·波特本人到目前为止还是安全的。罗琳说过她塑造的少年英雄在第七部、也是最后一部之前是不会死去的，但她拒绝透露哈里是否能够顺利长成大人。

　　就在最近，这本书的“完工”似乎还是遥遥无期。罗琳在12月10日发表的帖子中还说，她没有什么"值得注目的事向大家汇报，因为我几乎所有时间都坐在电脑前写作或修改。偶尔休息的时候，我会在挫败感中拿头使劲撞桌子，或者由于中邪般的高兴来回搓着双手(我想后者曾经发生过一次)。

　　Vocabulary:

　　half-blood: 同父异母者，同母异父者

　　tinker with : 笨拙地修补

　　paraphernalia: personal belongings(个人随身物品)(：夏根建)

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