美国国家公共电台 NPR On Harry Potter's 20th Anniversary, Listen To His NPR Debut

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The first "Harry¹ Potter" book came out 20 years ago today. And before there were multimillion-dollar movies, Sorting Hat Halloween costumes and temporary tattoos² of a lightning scar, there were just two books published in England that were getting some buzz. Here's what our audience heard on December 3, 1998.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The books "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone" and its sequel were written by Joanne Rowling. She wrote part of "Harry Potter" on scraps³ of paper at a Scottish cafe when she was a struggling single mother.

SHAPIRO: That was the first mention of "Harry Potter" on our network.

SIEGEL: I guess I made the first mention of it. I was reading an introduction there to a story by the late great reporter and dear friend of mine Margot Adler.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

MARGOT ADLER, BYLINE⁴: When a galley⁵ of "Harry Potter" arrived on my desk last June, I popped it carelessly into my bag. Perhaps, I thought, a book to read out loud to my son during summer vacation. Our whole family sat riveted⁶ for a week.

SHAPIRO: This was just as American audiences were meeting Harry, Hermione and Ron.

SIEGEL: Here's more of that first report now, starting with a not-yet-famous, not-yet-billionaire author arriving at a party.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

ARTHUR LEVINE: We're celebrating the arrival of J.K. Rowling and "Harry Potter's" publication in the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

ADLER: Arthur Levine, who brought "Harry Potter" to Scholastic⁷, is speaking at a book party in Manhattan. Rowling, who is in her early 30s, has never been to the United States before, and she's come with her 5-year-old daughter. Rowling says the idea for 11-year-old Harry Potter came to her in 1990.

J K ROWLING: I was on a train, staring out of the window at some cows, thinking of nothing in particular, and the idea for Harry just kind of fell into my head. It was the purest stroke of inspiration I've ever had. I could see him. I could see little round glasses and I could see his scar. And, you know, he was a very real boy to me from the beginning.

The acorn⁸ that arrived on that train was Harry, a boy who doesn't know he's a wizard, who has always been able to make strange stuff happen but unconsciously, normally when he's scared or angry. And the fact that unbeknownst to him, his name has been down at this amazing school for witchcraft⁹ and wizardry since birth. But he doesn't know this because the relatives with whom he lives have hoped that if they're horrible enough to him they'll be able squash the magic out of him. They know what he is, but they've never told him.

ADLER: Much of "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone" takes place in a phantasmagorical alternate world at a wizard school called Hogwarts, a bizarre take off of a British boarding school, except this school is filled with giants and with professors with names like Sprout¹⁰, Snape and Dumbledore. And there is a word in the book that could actually enter general usage - muggle.

ROWLING: Muggle is a word for someone who is totally non-magic. It's what wizards call people who have no magical blood in their veins¹¹. But people are writing to me very often now and using that word and slightly enlarging its meaning to mean someone fairly dull and unimaginative.

ADLER: In the book, the wizard world and the muggle world are totally distinct. They have different candy, different clothing, even different sports. I brought a few kids into our studio to ask Rowling a few questions. One is Skylar (ph), just about age 8.

SKYLAR: How did you get the idea of writing about magic?

ROWLING: When I was younger, I think my greatest fantasy would have been to find out that I had powers that I'd never dreamt of, that I was special, that these people couldn't be my parents. I'm far more interesting than that. I think a lot of children secretly might think that sometimes. So I just took that one stage further and I thought, what's the best way of breaking free of that? OK, you're magic.

ADLER: No one knows how successful "Harry Potter" will be in this country. It will be fascinating to chart how far "Harry Potter" will go in the muggle world.

SIEGEL: That's the late NPR reporter Margot Adler, who did our first story about "Harry Potter" in December 1998. The first "Harry Potter" book came out in the U.K. 20 years ago today.

1 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

2 tattoos   

n.文身( tattoo的名词复数 )；归营鼓；军队夜间表演操；连续有节奏的敲击声v.刺青，文身( tattoo的第三人称单数 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的胳膊上刺满了花纹。
• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的双臂刺满了纹身。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 galley   

n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇；

参考例句：

• The stewardess will get you some water from the galley.空姐会从厨房给你拿些水来。
• Visitors can also go through the large galley where crew members got their meals.游客还可以穿过船员们用餐的厨房。

6 riveted   

铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意

参考例句：

• I was absolutely riveted by her story. 我完全被她的故事吸引住了。
• My attention was riveted by a slight movement in the bushes. 我的注意力被灌木丛中的轻微晃动吸引住了。

7 scholastic   

adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的

参考例句：

• There was a careful avoidance of the sensitive topic in the scholastic circles.学术界小心地避开那个敏感的话题。
• This would do harm to students' scholastic performance in the long run.这将对学生未来的学习成绩有害。

8 acorn   

n.橡实，橡子

参考例句：

• The oak is implicit in the acorn.橡树孕育于橡子之中。
• The tree grew from a small acorn.橡树从一粒小橡子生长而来。

9 witchcraft   

n.魔法，巫术

参考例句：

• The woman practising witchcraft claimed that she could conjure up the spirits of the dead.那个女巫说她能用魔法召唤亡灵。
• All these things that you call witchcraft are capable of a natural explanation.被你们统统叫做巫术的那些东西都可以得到合情合理的解释。

10 sprout   

n.芽，萌芽；vt.使发芽，摘去芽；vi.长芽，抽条

参考例句：

• When do deer first sprout horns?鹿在多大的时候开始长出角？
• It takes about a week for the seeds to sprout.这些种子大约要一周后才会发芽。

11 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》