the shy sorceress
not even a decade ago she was unknown and poor, a single mom on welfare who sometimes pretended to browse2 in maternity3 stores so she could cadge4 a free diaper5 in the changing room6 . now, after four harry potter books, two movies and an armada of7 related merchandise , j. k. rowling has a fortune estimated at 450 million, according to the london sunday times8 rich list, making her 50 million wealthier than the queen of england. her personal life has picked up too . she has bought multimillion-dollar houses in london, edinburgh and the scottish hills near perth. and at the end of 2001 , rowling, 37 , married neil murray, a steady, brainy anesthetist and in march 2003 they had a son david. rowling has admitted that — no surprise — harry is her favorite boy’s name, but she wisely avoided saddling her son with that lifelong invitation to teasing.
in fact, rowling has tried to throw a cloak of invisibility around her family so they can live almost normal lives. 9 but simple pleasures like strolling to the supermarket in edinburgh or attending her 11 -year-old daughter jessica’s christmas pageant10 require constant vigilance11 against an army of tabloid reporters12.
the intrusions are only part of the reason rowling is uneasy with fame.“ i never set out to make a mark, ”she tells time.“ i set out to do the thing i love best in the world and find out whether i was any good at it. ”she’s so good at it that her lawyers are constantly swatting down copycats trying to cash in on pottermania 13. .. . rowling was badly shaken when an american writer named nancy stouffer claimed she had stolen the word muggle and otherwise plagiarized stouffer’s work. a new york city federal judge found that stouffer had“ perpetrated a fraud”. it felt, rowling says,“as if some strange woman had come out of nowhere saying she was my children’s mother . . . it was like a punch in the stomach14 . people think that if you have been successful, you are insulated from15 normal feelings of hurt, but you aren’t. ”
rowling appreciates that she can use her name and money to support charities, including those for one-parent families and victims of multiple sclerosis. .. .“one of the few upsides of being famous is being able to do something meaningful, ”she tells time. after publication of order of the phoenix, rowling will retreat from the spotlight to write book no. 6 and care for her family. she hopes to be remembered as“ someone who did the best she could with the talent she was given”and she“wouldn’t mind being remembered as a good parent”
阅读自测
Ⅰ. fill the blanks with the words or phrases in the passage :
1. after four harry potter books, two movies and related merchandise, j. k. rowling has a fortune estimated at 450 million.
2. rowling has admitted that harry is her favorite boy’s name , but she wisely avoided her son that lifelong invitation to teasing.
3. her lawyers are constantly copycats trying to cash in on pottermania.
4.“i never set out to , ”she tells time.
Ⅱ. question :
does j. k. rowling cherish her work? how do you know?
参考答案
Ⅰ. 1. an armada of 2 . saddling . .. with 3 . swatting down 4. make a mark
Ⅱ. yes. when she was wrongly accused of plagiarism, she felt“ as if some strange woman had come out of nowhere saying she was my children’s mother .. . it was like a punch in the stomach. ”
参考译文
成名之后
差 不多就在10 年前, 她还只是个无人知晓、靠救济金过活的穷困潦倒的单身妈妈, 时常 装作逛婴儿用品商店的样子, 在那儿的更衣室里获得赠送的尿布。如今, 据伦敦《星 期日泰晤士报》的财富排行榜, j. k. 罗琳在出版了四部《哈利· 波特》( 其中两部已拍成电 影并开发了一大批相关产品) 之后, 其资产预计已达4. 5 亿美元, 比英国女王还要富5 千 万。她个人生活也随之好转, 罗琳在伦敦、爱丁堡及佩思附近的苏格兰山上都购买了价值 数百万美元的豪宅。2001 年底, 37 岁的罗琳和稳重博学而又机敏能干的麻醉师尼尔· 默 里结婚; 2003 年3 月, 他们的儿子戴维出生了。罗琳承认——— 毫不奇怪, 哈利是她最喜欢 的男孩名, 但是她非常明智地避开那个名字, 从而使儿子免遭纠缠。
事实上, 罗琳已经试着使自己的家庭处于隐身斗篷的保护下, 这样他们差不多就能过 平常人的生活。但是在享受一些简单的生活乐趣, 诸如在爱丁堡散步去超市或参加她11 岁女儿杰西卡的圣诞庆典时, 他们都需要时刻警惕大批庸俗小报记者的跟踪。
这种对私人生活的侵犯只是罗琳对出名十分担忧的部分原因。“ 我从没打算要做出影 响深远的事儿, ”她告诉《时代》周刊杂志,“ 我只是决定做我最喜爱的事情, 看看自己是否 擅长于此。”她确实做得很好, 她的律师不断地挫败试图从波特迷中捞好处的效仿者。⋯ ⋯ 但是, 当一位名叫南茜· 斯多弗的美国作家声称罗琳偷用muggle 一词, 并且剽窃她的作品 时, 罗琳感到异常震惊。纽约一位联邦法官认定斯多弗“ 犯诈骗罪”。罗琳说, 那感觉“ 就 像突然间不知从哪里冒出个女人来, 非说她是你孩子的母亲⋯ ⋯ 这不啻是当头一棒。人们 认为如果你非常成功, 你就会免受常情伤害, 然而事实并非如此。”
罗琳很高兴她能用自己的名声和金钱来支持慈善事业, 包括帮助那些单亲家庭和多种 硬化症的受害者。⋯ ⋯“ 出名的好处之一就是你有能力做一些有意义的事情, ”她对《时 代》周刊杂志说。“ 哈利5 ”《凤凰社》出版后, 罗琳打算不再抛头露面, 开始潜心写作“ 哈利 6”并照顾家庭。她希望自己能给人留下这样的印象———“ 就其天赋而言, 她已尽其所能”, 她也“ 不介意给人留下好母亲的印象”。
阅读导评
“全世界最会说故事的魔法妈妈”j. k. 罗琳女士已经并继续对着全球的读者施展魔 法, 她的故事书一部一部没完没了, 她让自己一夜之间名利双收, 成为迄今为止世界上最富 有的女作家。这让很多人“艳羡不已”。然而, 面对名与利, 她不得不努力保持一种淡泊的 态度, 以期真正地享受人生。现在她的“ 哈6”已经出版, 但能否真正享受人生, 谁也无法定 论。
阅读导释
1.《哈利·波特》是关于魔法世界的一系列丛书, 作者j. k. 罗琳女士也似乎因此沾上了“ 魔 气”而被称为“ 女魔法师”。这篇文章是女魔法师成名之后的困惑。
2 - 6. browse v. 随便翻阅, 在图书馆浏览书刊或在商店随意观看, 如: browse through a market ( 漫步市场观看商品) 。maternity 这里是形容词, 意思是“ 适用于孕妇的”。cadge v. 利用他人的慷慨占有, 占用; 这里是指“ 获得商家提供的试用商品”。diaper 是指“ 婴 儿尿布”; changing room 是指“ 更衣室, 换衣间”。
7 - 8. 词组an armada of 意思为“一大批, 一大群”, 如: an armada of specialists( 一大批专家) ; an armada of frustrations( 接二连三的挫折) 。首字母大写, 即the armada, 指“16 世纪西班牙的 无 敌舰队”。times,《泰晤士报》, 创刊于1785 年, 是英国历史最 长、影响最 大的报纸, 一向以 消息准确、社论严肃闻名。1981 年被“传媒大王”默多克( rupert murdoch) 收购。sunday times,《星期日泰晤士报》, 创刊于1922 年, 与《泰晤士报》属同一个老板, 受泰晤士报业公 司领导, 自己有单独的编辑部, 隶属于英国泰晤士报业集团。该报风格比《泰晤士报》活泼。 9. cloak 的意思是“斗篷, 披风, 覆盖物”, 也可引申为“ 掩盖, 掩饰, 幌子”。此句很幽默, 直 译为“罗琳特想能扔出一条大披风将她一家戏法似地变得无影无踪, 以便一家人过上正 常人的生活。”
10 - 12. pageant 是指“庆典, ( 常伴有彩车的) 盛装游行”; 这里是指“( 为庆祝圣诞节而举行 的) 庆祝活动”。vigilance 是形容词vigilant 的名词形式, 意思是“ 警觉, 警惕性”。an army of 的意思也是“ 一群, 大批”, 如: an army of ants ( 一大群蚂蚁) ; an army of the employed ( 就业大军) 。tabloid 是指那种版面比一般报纸小一半, 多以浓缩形式并配插图刊出耸人 听闻的内容的“通俗小报”。
13. 这是一个复合词, 可译为“ 波特迷”。potter 是《哈利·波特》丛书中的男主人翁, 一个聪 明伶俐又善良的小男孩, 为广大读者所喜爱; mania 是后缀, 指喜爱某事物达到了疯狂 的程度, 可译为“⋯⋯狂/迷”。同样的用法, 如bibliomania 指“书迷/集书狂”。
14. a punch in a stomach 的字面意思是“ 对着肚子打一拳”, 这里意译为“当头一棒”。
15. insulate 与from/against 连用, 意为“隔离, 使隔绝( 以免受到影响) ”, 如: insulate ourselves against the cost of inflation ( 使我们免受通货膨胀的损失) 。
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