《哈利波特1》｜单词注释｜Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
1
THE VANISHING GLASS
2
Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all.
3
The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and
lit
up the brass number four on the Dursleys’ front door;
lit /lɪt/ vt. 照亮(light的过去式及过去分词)
4
it crept into their living room,
5
which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that
fateful
news report about the owls.
fateful /'fetfl/ adj. 重大的
6
Only the photographs on the
mantelpiece
really showed how much time had passed.
mantelpiece /'mæntlpis/ n. 壁炉台
7
Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured
bobble hats
— but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby,
bobble hat 绒球帽
8
and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a
roundabout
at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.
roundabout /ˈraʊndəbaʊt/ n. [英]旋转木马
9
The room
held
no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.
hold /hoʊld/ vt. 拥有
10
Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long.
11
His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice which made the first noise of the day.
12
“Up! Get up! Now!”
13
Harry woke with a start. His aunt
rapped
on the door again.
rap /ræp/ vi. 敲击
14
“Up!” she
screeched
.
screech /skritʃ/ vi. 发出尖锐的声音
15
Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the cooker.
16
He rolled
onto
his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one.
onto /ˈɑːntə/ prep. 朝
17
There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he’d had the same dream before.
18
His aunt was back outside the door.
19
“Are you up yet?” she
demanded
.
demand /dɪˈmænd/ vt. 查问
20
“
Nearly
,” said Harry.
nearly /'nɪrli/ adv. 即将
21
“Well,
get a move on
, I want you to look after the bacon. And don’t you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy’s birthday.”
get a move on 赶快
22
Harry groaned.
23
“What did you say?” his aunt snapped through the door.
24
“Nothing, nothing . . .”
25
Dudley’s birthday — how could he have forgotten?
26
Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks.
27
He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on.
28
Harry was used to spiders, because the
cupboard
under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.
cupboard /ˈkʌbərd/ n. 柜橱
29
When he was dressed he went down the
hall
into the kitchen.
hall /hɔl/ n. 走廊
30
The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley’s birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.
31
Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise —
unless
of course it involved
punching
somebody.
unless /ən'lɛs/ conj. 除非
punch /pʌntʃ/ vt. 用拳猛击
32
Dudley’s favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn’t often catch him. Harry didn’t look it, but he was very fast.
33
Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.
34
He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley’s, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was.
35
Harry had a thin face,
knobbly
knees, black hair, and bright green eyes.
knobbly /'nɑbli/ adj. 有节的
36
He wore
round
glasses held together with a lot of
Sellotape
because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.
round /raʊnd/ adj. 圆形的
sellotape /'seləuteip/ n. 透明胶带(商标名称)
37
The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightning.
38
He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.
39
“In the car crash when your parents died,” she had said. “And don’t ask questions.”
40
Don’t ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.
41
Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.
42
“
Comb
your hair!” he barked,
by way of
a morning greeting.
comb /koʊm/ v. 梳
by way of 当作
43
About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut.
44
Harry must have had more
haircuts
than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place.
haircut /'hɛrkʌt/ n. 理发
45
Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother.
46
Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small,
watery
blue eyes, and
thick
blond hair that lay
smoothly
on his thick, fat head.
watery /'wɑtəri/ adj. 充满水的
thick /θɪk/ adj. 浓的
smoothly /'smʊðli/ adv. 平整地
47
Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a
wig
.
wig /wɪɡ/ n. 假发
48
Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn’t much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents.
49
His face fell.
50
“Thirty-six,” he said, looking up at his mother and father. “That’s two less than last year.”
51
“Darling, you haven’t counted Auntie Marge’s present, see, it’s here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy.”
52
“All right, thirty-seven then,” said Dudley, going red in the face.
53
Harry, who could see a huge Dudley
tantrum
coming on, began
wolfing
down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.
tantrum /ˈtæntrəm/ n. 发脾气
wolf /wʊlf/ v. 狼吞虎咽地吃
54
Aunt Petunia obviously
scented
danger, too, because she said quickly,
scent /sent/ vt. 察觉到(坏事等的)存在
55
“And we’ll buy you another two presents while we’re out today. How’s that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?”
56
Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, “So I’ll have thirty . . . thirty . . .”
57
“Thirty-nine,
sweetums
,” said Aunt Petunia.
sweetums 宝贝
58
“Oh.” Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest
parcel
. “All right then.”
parcel /ˈpɑːrsl/ n. 包裹
59
Uncle Vernon chuckled.
60
“Little
tyke
wants his money’s worth, just like his father. ’
Atta boy
, Dudley!” He
ruffled
Dudley’s hair.
tyke /taɪk/ n. [口]小孩子
Atta boy 好小子
ruffle /ˈrʌfl/ v. (用手指)将头发弄乱
61
At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley
unwrap
the racing bike, a cine-camera,
unwrap /ʌn'ræp/ vt. 打开
62
a
remote-control
aeroplane, sixteen new computer games and a video recorder.
remote control n. 遥控
63
He was ripping the paper off a gold
wristwatch
when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and
worried
.
wristwatch /'rɪstwɔtʃ/ n. 手表
worried /'wɝɪd/ adj. 烦恼的
64
“Bad news, Vernon,” she said. “Mrs. Figg’s broken her leg. She can’t take him.” She jerked her head in Harry’s direction.
65
Dudley’s mouth fell open in horror, but Harry’s heart gave a
leap
.
leap /liːp/ n. 跳跃
66
Every year on Dudley’s birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to
adventure parks
, hamburger bars or the cinema.
adventure park 探险公园
67
Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away.
68
Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she’d ever owned.
69
“Now what?” said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he’d planned this.
70
Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg,
71
but it wasn’t easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and
Tufty
again.
tufty /'tʌfti/ adj. 簇生的
72
“We could phone Marge,” Uncle Vernon suggested.
73
“Don’t be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy.”
74
The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn’t there — or rather, as though he was something very
nasty
that couldn’t understand them, like a
slug
.
nasty /ˈnæsti/ adj. 低劣的
slug /slʌɡ/ n. 鼻涕虫
75
“What about what’s-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?”
76
“On holiday in
Majorca
,” snapped Aunt Petunia.
Majorca /mə'dʒɔ:kə/ n. 马略卡岛（位于西班牙东部）
77
“You could just leave me here,” Harry
put in
hopefully (he’d be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley’s computer).
put in 插(话)
78
Aunt Petunia looked as though she’d just swallowed a lemon.
79
“And come back and find the house in
ruins
?” she
snarled
.
ruin /ˈruːɪn/ n. 毁坏
snarl /snɑːrl/ vi. 咆哮
80
“I won’t blow up the house,” said Harry, but they weren’t listening.
81
“I suppose we could take him to the zoo,” said Aunt Petunia slowly, “. . . and leave him in the car. . . .”
82
“That car’s new, he’s not sitting in it alone. . . .”
83
Dudley began to cry loudly.
84
In fact, he wasn’t really crying — it had been years since he’d really cried — but he knew that if he
screwed
up his face and
wailed
, his mother would give him anything he wanted.
screw /skruː/ v. 扭曲(脸)
wail /wel/ v. (因悲伤或疼痛）恸哭
85
“
Dinky
Duddydums, don’t cry, Mummy won’t let him
spoil
your special day!” she cried,
flinging
her arms around him.
dinky /'dɪŋki/ adj. 小而精致的
spoil /spɔɪl/ vt. 毁掉
fling /flɪŋ/ v. 猛动(身体部位)
86
“I . . . don’t . . . want . . . him . . . t-t-to come!” Dudley yelled between huge,
pretend
sobs
. “He always sp-spoils everything!”
pretend /prɪˈtend/ vt. & vi. 假装
sob /sɑːb/ vt. & vi. 哭泣
87
He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother’s arms.
88
Just then, the doorbell rang —“Oh,
good Lord
, they’re here!” said Aunt Petunia
frantically
— and a moment later, Dudley’s best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother.
good Lord 天哪
frantically /ˈfræntɪklɪ/ adv. 紧张忙乱地
89
Piers was a
scrawny
boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people’s arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them.
scrawny /'skrɔni/ adj. 骨瘦如柴的
90
Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.
91
Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn’t believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys’ car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life.
92
His aunt and uncle hadn’t been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they’d left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.
93
“I’m warning you,” he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry’s,
94
“I’m warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you’ll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas.”
95
“I’m not going to do anything,” said Harry, “
honestly
. . .”
honestly /'ɑnɪstli/ adv. 真诚地
96
But Uncle Vernon didn’t believe him. No one ever did.
97
The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn’t make them happen.
98
Once, Aunt Petunia,
tired of
Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn’t been at all,
tired of 厌烦
99
had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost
bald
except for his
fringe
, which she left “to hide that horrible scar.”
bald /bɔːld/ adj. 秃顶的
fringe /frɪndʒ/ n. 刘海
100
Dudley had laughed himself
silly
at Harry, who spent a
sleepless
night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his
baggy
clothes and Sellotaped glasses.
silly /'sɪli/ adv. 极度地
sleepless /'slipləs/ adj. 失眠的
baggy /'bæɡi/ adj. 宽松而下垂的
101
Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had
sheared
it off.
shear /ʃɪr/ vt. 剪
102
He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn’t explain how it had grown back so quickly.
103
Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a
revolting
old
jumper
of Dudley’s (brown with orange
bobbles
).
revolting /rɪ'voltɪŋ/ adj. 极其讨厌的
jumper /'dʒʌmpɚ/ n. [英]套头毛衣
bobble /'bɑbl/ n. 小羊毛球(尤用作衣服缀饰)
104
The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a
glove puppet
, but certainly wouldn’t fit Harry.
glove puppet 手套式木偶
105
Aunt Petunia had decided it must have
shrunk
in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn’t punished.
shrink /ʃrɪŋk/ vt. & vi. 收缩
106
On the other hand, he’d gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens.
107
Dudley’s gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry’s surprise as anyone else’s, there he was sitting on the chimney.
108
The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry’s headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings.
109
But all he’d tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big bins outside the kitchen doors.
110
Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.
111
But today, nothing was going to go wrong.
112
It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn’t school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg’s cabbage-smelling living room.
113
While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia.
114
He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the
council
, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.
council /ˈkaʊnsl/ n. 会议
115
“. . . roaring along like maniacs, the young
hoodlums
,” he said, as a motorcycle
overtook
them.
hoodlum /'hudləm/ n. 暴徒
overtook /ˌovɚˈtʊk/ v. （英）赶上
116
“I had a dream about a motorcycle,” said Harry, remembering suddenly. “It was flying.”
117
Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic
beetroot
with a mustache: “MOTORCYCLES DON’T FLY!”
beetroot /'bitrut/ n. 甜菜的根
118
Dudley and Piers
sniggered
.
snigger /'snɪɡɚ/ vi. 窃笑
119
“I know they don’t,” said Harry. “It was only a dream.”
120
But he wished he hadn’t said anything.
121
If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn’t,
122
no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.
123
It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families.
124
The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then,
125
because the smiling lady in the
van
had asked Harry what he wanted before they could
hurry
him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.
van /væn/ n. 厢式货车
hurry /ˈhɜːri/ vt. & vi. 催促
126
It wasn’t bad either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a
gorilla
scratching its head and looking
remarkably
like Dudley, except that it wasn’t blond.
gorilla /ɡəˈrɪlə/ n. 大猩猩
remarkably /rɪˈm ɑrkəblɪ/ adv. 非常地
127
Harry had the best morning he’d had in a long time.
128
He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime,
129
wouldn’t
fall back on
their favorite hobby of hitting him.
fall back on 转而依靠
130
They ate in the zoo restaurant and when Dudley had a tantrum because his
knickerbocker glory
wasn’t big enough,
knickerbocker glory 冰淇淋圣代（一种甜品）
131
Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.
132
Harry felt,
afterward
, that he should have known it was all too good to
last
.
afterward /ˈæftɚwɚd/ adv. 以后
last /læst/ v. 持续
133
After lunch they went to the reptile house.
134
It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of
lizards
and snakes were
crawling
and
slithering
over bits of wood and stone.
lizard /'lɪzɚd/ n. 蜥蜴
crawl /krɔːl/ vi. 爬行
slither /'slɪðɚ/ v. 滑行
135
Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge,
poisonous
cobras
and thick, man-crushing
pythons
. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place.
poisonous /ˈpɔɪzənəs/ adj. 有毒的
cobra /'kobrə/ n. 眼镜蛇
python /ˈpaɪˌθɑn/ n. 巨蟒
136
It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon’s car and crushed it into a
dustbin
— but at the moment it didn’t look
in the mood
. In fact, it was
fast asleep
.
dustbin /'dʌstbɪn/ n. (家庭用的)垃圾箱〔桶〕
in the mood 兴致勃勃
fast asleep 熟睡的
137
Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown
coils
.
coil /kɔɪl/ n. （绳或线等的）卷
138
“Make it move,” he
whined
at his father.
whine /waɪn/ vi. 发牢骚
139
Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn’t
budge
.
budge /bʌdʒ/ vt. & vi. (使)稍微移动
140
“Do it again,” Dudley ordered. 142 Uncle Vernon
rapped
the glass
smartly
with his knuckles, but the snake just
snoozed
on.
rap /ræp/ vi. 敲击
smartly /ˈsm ɑrtlɪ/ adv. 迅速地
snooze /snuːz/ vi. 打盹
141
“This is boring,” Dudley
moaned
. He shuffled away.
moan /moʊn/ vt. & vi. 抱怨
143
Harry moved in front of the
tank
and looked
intently
at the snake.
tank /tæŋk/ n. （养鱼、蛇等用的）玻璃容器
intently /ɪnˈt ɛntlɪ/ adv. 专注地
144
He wouldn’t have been surprised if it had died of
boredom
itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day
long
.
boredom /ˈbɔːrdəm/ n. 厌倦
long /lɔŋ/ adv. 始终
145
It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up – at least he got to visit the rest of the house.
146
The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry’s.
147
It winked.
148
Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren’t. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.
149
The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:
150
“I get that all the time.”
151
“I know,” Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn’t sure the snake could hear him. “It must be really
annoying
.”
annoying /ə'nɔɪɪŋ/ adj. 使人烦恼的
152
The snake nodded
vigorously
.
vigorously /'vɪgərəsli/ adv. 有力地
153
“Where do you come from,
anyway
?” Harry asked.
anyway /ˈeniweɪ/ adv. 对了
154
The snake
jabbed
its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.
jab /dʒæb/ vt. 猛击
155
Boa Constrictor
,
Brazil
.
Boa Constrictor 蟒蛇
Brazil /brəˈzɪl/ n. 巴西
156
“Was it nice there?”
157
The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This
specimen
was
bred
in the zoo. “Oh, I see — so you’ve never been to Brazil?”
specimen /ˈspesɪmən/ n. 样品
bred brɛd/ vi. 繁殖(breed的过去式和过去分词)
158
As the snake shook its head, a
deafening
shout behind Harry made both of them jump.
deafening /'dɛfnɪŋ/ adj. 震耳欲聋的
159
“DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT IT’S DOING!”
160
Dudley came
waddling
toward them as fast as he could.
waddle /ˈwɑːdl/ vi. (像鸭子一样)摇摇摆摆地走
161
“Out of the way, you,” he said, punching Harry in the
ribs
.
Caught by surprise
, Harry fell
hard
on the
concrete
floor.
rib /rɪb/ n. 肋骨
catch by surprise 使......诧异
hard /hɑːrd/ adj. 用力地
concrete /ˈkɑːŋkriːt/ n. 混凝土
162
What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had
leapt
back with howls of horror.
leapt /lɛpt/ v. 跳跃（leap的过去分词）
163
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor’s tank had vanished.
164
The great snake was
uncoiling
itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor.
uncoil /ˌʌn'kɔɪl/ vi. 展开
165
People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.
166
As the snake slid
swiftly
past him, Harry could have
sworn
a low,
hissing
voice said, “Brazil, here I come. . . . Thanksss,
amigo
.”
swiftly /ˈs wɪftlɪ/ adv. 敏捷地
swear /swer/ vt. 肯定地说
hiss /hɪs/ vi. 发嘶嘶声
amigo /əˈmiɡo/ n. （美）朋友（源于西班牙语 amigo）
167
The
keeper
of the reptile house was in shock.
keeper /'kipɚ/ n. 管理人
168
“But the glass,” he kept saying, “where did the glass go?”
169
The zoo
director
himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again.
director /dəˈrektər/ n. 主管
170
Piers and Dudley could only
gibber
.
gibber /'dʒɪbɚ/ vi. (由于害怕或震惊而)急促不清地说
171
As far as
Harry had seen, the snake hadn’t done anything except snap
playfully
at their heels as it passed,
as far as prep. 就...而言
playfully /ˈplefəlɪ/ adv. 开玩笑地
172
but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon’s car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly
bitten
off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.
bite /baɪt/ vt. & vi. 咬
173
But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, “Harry was talking to it, weren’t you, Harry?”
174
Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry.
175
He was so angry he could hardly speak.
176
He managed to say, “Go — cupboard — stay — no meals,” before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.
177
Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch.
178
He didn’t know what time it was and he couldn’t be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn’t risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.
179
He’d lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he’d been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash.
180
He couldn’t remember being in the car when his parents had died.
181
Sometimes, when he
strained
his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.
strain /streɪn/ n. 使劲
182
This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn’t imagine where all the green light came from.
183
He couldn’t remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions.
184
There were no photographs of them in the house.
185
When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some
unknown
relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.
unknown /ˌʌn'non/ adj. 陌生的
186
Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.
187
A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley.
188
After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had
rushed
them out of the shop without buying anything.
rush /rʌʃ/ vt. 匆忙地做
189
A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved
merrily
at him once on a bus.
merrily /'mɛrəli/ adv. 愉快地
190
A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word.
191
The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.
192
At school, Harry had no one.
193
Everybody knew that Dudley’s
gang
hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to
disagree
with Dudley’s gang.
gang /ɡæŋ/ n. (青少年的)帮派
disagree /ˌdɪsəˈɡriː/ vi. 争执
194
