Like that of her own character, Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling’s life has the luster of a fairy tale. Divorced, living on public assistance in a tiny Edinburgh flat with her little daughter, Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone at a table in a caféduring her daughter’s naps — and it was Harry Potter that rescued her. First, the Scottish Ants Council gave her a grant to finish the book. After its sale to Bloomsbury ( UK) and Scholastic Books, the accolades began to pile up. Harry Potter won The British Book Awards Children’s Book of the year, and the Smarties Prize, and rave1 reviews on both sides of the Atlantic .
A graduate of Exeter University, a teacher, and then unemployed single parent, Rowling wrote Harry Potter when“ I was very low, and I had to achieve something. Without the challenge, I would have gone stark raving mad. ”But Rowling has always written books, and her first book was called Rabbit. “ I was about six, and I haven’t stopped scribbling since. ”
The following is an abstract from what J. K. Rowling wrote about herself. From which we might keep track with the growth of the person who gave birth to the living ambition of the world, Harry Potter the Little Wizard.
I wrote a lot in my teens, but I never showed any of it to my friends, . .. I went to Exeter University straight after school, where I studied French. This was a big mistake. I had listened too hard to my parents, who thought languages would lead to a great career as a bilingual secretary. Unfortunately I am one of the most disorganized people in the world and, as I later proved, the worst secretary ever.
When I was twenty-six I gave up on offices completely and went abroad to teach English as a foreign language. I loved teaching English, and as I worked afternoons and evenings, I had mornings free for writing. This was particularly good news as I had now started my third novel. The new book was about a boy who found out he was a wizard and was sent off2 to wizard school. When I came back from Portugal half a suitcase was full of papers covered with short stories about Harry Potter. I came to live in Edinburgh with my very small daughter, I set myself a deadline; I would finish the Harry novel before starting work as a French teacher, and try to get it published.
It was a year after finishing the book before a publisher bought it. The moment when I found out that Harry would be published was one of the best of my life .
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CET4大學(xué)英語(yǔ)四級(jí)閱讀練習(xí)題：
Complete th e following sen te nces with the p rovided words a nd p hrases : rave stark scribble send off nap
1 . He usually has a quick after lunch.
2 . The child all over the page.
3 . Have you that letter yet?
4 . She simply about French cooking.
5 . He has gone raving mad.
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參考答案
1. nap 2 . scribbled 3 . sent off 4. raved 5 . stark
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CET4大學(xué)英語(yǔ)四級(jí)閱讀參考譯文：
J. K. 羅琳女士的成名之路
J. K. 羅琳的生活就像她創(chuàng)造的人物哈里· 波特一樣, 頗具童話色彩。離異后, 她帶著年幼的女兒靠政府救濟(jì)居住在愛(ài)丁堡的小小公寓里?！豆?middot; 波特和魔法石》是她趁著女兒午睡時(shí), 在一家小咖啡館的桌子上寫(xiě)成的。正是哈里· 波特挽救了她。最初, 蘇格蘭藝術(shù)協(xié)會(huì)資助她完成了該書(shū)。書(shū)稿賣(mài)給英國(guó)的布盧母斯伯里( Blo omsbury) 出版社和學(xué)究書(shū)籍( Scholastic Bo ok) 出版社以后, 榮譽(yù)紛至沓來(lái)。該書(shū)不僅獲得年度英國(guó)兒童圖書(shū)獎(jiǎng)和聰明人獎(jiǎng), 也得到了大西洋兩岸的盛贊。
羅琳畢業(yè)于?？巳卮髮W(xué), 畢業(yè)后當(dāng)了一名老師, 后來(lái)就成了失業(yè)的單身母親。羅琳說(shuō):“ 寫(xiě)《哈里· 波特》時(shí), 我情緒低落, 我必須做點(diǎn)什么。沒(méi)有挑戰(zhàn)的話, 我會(huì)變成胡言亂語(yǔ)的十足的瘋子。”其實(shí)羅琳一直在寫(xiě)作, 她的第一本書(shū)名為《兔子》。“ 那時(shí)我大約六歲,從此我就沒(méi)停止過(guò)涂鴉。”
下面文字節(jié)選自羅琳的自述。我們或許可以從中找到她成長(zhǎng)的軌跡, 正是她創(chuàng)造了小魔法師哈里· 波特, 點(diǎn)燃了全世界人的夢(mèng)想。
我少年時(shí)寫(xiě)了很多東西, 但從未給朋友們看過(guò)? ? 中學(xué)畢業(yè)后我直接上了?？巳卮髮W(xué), 學(xué)了法語(yǔ)。這是個(gè)天大的錯(cuò)誤。我父母認(rèn)為學(xué)好語(yǔ)言可以從事好職業(yè), 做雙語(yǔ)秘書(shū)。我順從了他們。遺憾的是我是這世界上最缺乏條理的人, 事實(shí)也證明我是最糟糕的秘書(shū)。二十六歲時(shí), 我完全放棄了文秘工作, 到國(guó)外教英語(yǔ)。我愛(ài)教英語(yǔ), 因?yàn)橹形绾屯砩瞎ぷ? 早上就可以寫(xiě)作。這對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)非常好, 因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)我已經(jīng)開(kāi)始寫(xiě)第三本小說(shuō)了。新書(shū)講的是一個(gè)小孩, 發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有魔法, 然后進(jìn)了魔法學(xué)校。我從葡萄牙回國(guó)時(shí), 已經(jīng)裝了半行李箱哈里· 波特故事的原稿。之后, 我?guī)е暧椎呐畠簛?lái)到愛(ài)丁堡生活, 并且給了自己一個(gè)最后期限: 在開(kāi)始教法語(yǔ)之前完成哈里· 波特, 然后設(shè)法出版。
故事寫(xiě)完一年后, 一個(gè)出版商買(mǎi)下了這本書(shū)。而得知哈里· 波特要出版是我一生中最美妙的時(shí)刻。
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閱讀導(dǎo)評(píng)
那個(gè)戴眼鏡、玩魔法的小男孩讓全世界的人都為之“著魔”。羅琳的作品讓人們看到了久違了的純真, 勾起了人們對(duì)純真但又不乏魅力的時(shí)代的無(wú)限懷戀, 也給人們打開(kāi)了想象的空間, 難怪全世界的小朋友都稱(chēng)羅琳為“魔法媽媽”。
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閱讀講解：
1. rave v. 常用詞組rave at / against /about sth., 意為“ 胡言亂語(yǔ), 說(shuō)瘋話”, 如: The patient began to rave incoherently at the nurses. ( 病人對(duì)護(hù)士說(shuō)起胡話來(lái)。) 這個(gè)詞還可以表示“熱情 地說(shuō)或?qū)懙侥橙?rdquo;, 如: She simply raved about French cooking. ( 她對(duì)法國(guó)菜贊不絕口。)
2. send off ①派遣, 打發(fā), 如: Troops were being sent off to the front. ( 部隊(duì)正被派往前線。) ②為??送行, 如:We went to the airport to send him off. ( 我們?nèi)C(jī)場(chǎng)歡送他。)
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