第一章 最糟糕的生日 (CHAPTER ONE：THE WORST BIRTHDAY)
At the age of one year old, Harry had somehow survived a curse from the greatest Dark sorcerer of all time, Lord Voldemort, whose name most witches and wizards still feared to speak.
哈利一岁时，居然在遭到伏地魔诅咒之后幸存下来，伏地魔是有史以来最厉害的黑巫师，大多数女巫和男巫都不敢提到他的名字。
Harry’s parents had died in Voldemort’s attack, but Harry had escaped with his lightning scar, and somehow — nobody understood why — Voldemort’s powers had been destroyed the instant he had failed to kill Harry.
哈利的父母就死在这个黑巫师手下，可是哈利大难不死，只留下了这道闪电形伤疤。而且，不知怎的，好像自那个恶毒的咒语在哈利身上失灵之后，伏地魔的魔力就被摧毁了。
So Harry had been brought up by his dead mother’s sister and her husband.
所以，哈利是由他的姨妈和姨父养大的。
He had spent ten years with the Dursleys, never understanding why he kept making odd things happen without meaning to, believing the Dursleys’ story that he had got his scar in the car crash that had killed his parents.
他在德思礼家住了十年，一直搞不懂他为什么能在无意中导致一些古怪的事情发生，因为德思礼一家只说他的父母死于车祸，他的伤疤也是在车祸中留下的。
And then, exactly a year ago, Hogwarts had written to Harry, and the whole story had come out.
一年前，霍格沃茨魔法学校写信给哈利，他才了解到自己的身世。
Harry had taken up his place at wizard school, where he and his scar were famous……but now the school year was over, and he was back with the Dursleys for the summer, back to being treated like a dog that had rolled in something smelly.
他上了魔法学校，在那里他和他的伤疤赫赫有名……可现在学年结束了，他回到德思礼家过暑假，他们把他当成一条在邋遢地方打过滚的狗来对待。
The Dursleys hadn’t even remembered that today happened to be Harry’s twelfth birthday.
德思礼一家忘记了这一天恰好是哈利的十二岁生日。
Of course, his hopes hadn’t been high; they’d never given him a real present, let alone a cake — but to ignore it completely……
当然，哈利也没有寄予多大的希望，他们从来不会送他什么像样的礼物，更别提生日蛋糕了——但是，完全忘掉未免……
At that moment, Uncle Vernon cleared his throat importantly and said, “Now, as we all know, today is a very important day.”
正在这时，弗农姨父煞有介事地清了清嗓子，说道：“我们都知道，今天是个非常重要的日子。”
Harry looked up, hardly daring to believe it.
哈利抬起头，简直不敢相信自己的耳朵。
“This could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career,” said Uncle Vernon.
“今天我可能会做成平生最大的一笔交易。”弗农姨父说。
Harry went back to his toast.
哈利低下头继续吃面包片。
Of course, he thought bitterly, Uncle Vernon was talking about the stupid dinner party.
当然啦，他怨忿地想，弗农姨父是在讲那个愚蠢的晚宴。
He’d been talking of nothing else for two weeks.
他两星期来张口闭口说的都是这件事。
Some rich builder and his wife were coming to dinner and Uncle Vernon was hoping to get a huge order from him (Uncle Vernon’s company made drills).
一个有钱的建筑商和他妻子要来吃晚饭，弗农姨父希望那人能订他一大笔货（弗农姨父的公司是做钻机的）。
“I think we should run through the schedule one more time,” said Uncle Vernon.
“我想我们应该把晚上的安排再过一遍，”弗农姨父说。
“We should all be in position at eight o’clock. Petunia, you will be — ?”
“八点钟大家应该各就各位。佩妮，你应该——？”
“In the lounge,” said Aunt Petunia promptly, “waiting to welcome them graciously to our home.”
“在客厅里，”佩妮姨妈应声说，“等着亲切地欢迎他们光临。”
“Good, good. And Dudley?”
“很好，很好。达力？”
“I’ll be waiting to open the door.” Dudley put on a foul, simpering smile.
“我等着给他们开门。”达力堆起一副令人恶心的做作笑容。
本文参考音频：
本文参考词汇：
1、curse 英音：/kɜːs/ 美音：/kɝs/
v. 诅咒; 骂
n. 诅咒, 咒语; 骂人的话；祸害
例句
I curse myself for my carelessness.
我骂自己不小心。
2、brought up（bring up的过去时态）英音：/brɔːt/ 美音：/brɔt/
v. 教育, 养育(孩子)；提及、提出
例句
My aunt brought up four children.
我姑姑养了四个孩子。
3、ignore 英音：/ɪgnɔː/ 美音：/ɪɡnɔr/
vt. 驳回诉讼，忽视，不理睬
例句
I decided to ignore his rude remarks.
我决定不去理会他粗鲁的话。
4、deal 英音：/diːl/ 美音：/dil/
v. 发牌；处理；给予；分配
n. 交易；份量；待遇
例句
I wont make backstairs deals with politicians.
我不会和政客做私下交易。
5、order 英音：/ɔːdə/ 美音：/ɔrdɚ/
v. 命令；定购；整理
n. 命令；顺序；订单；规则
例句
He canceled his order for the goods.
他取消了货物订单。
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