各国名人英文介绍-J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling is the pen name she uses as a writer. The J is for Joanne, her real first name, but she prefers to be called Jo. Apparently¹, people only call her Joanne when they’re angry with her. The K is made up. Her publisher asked her to write using a name with two initials², but she didn’t have a middle name.

Jo did a few different things before she struck upon the idea of writing children’s books. She worked as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International and as an English teacher in Portugal. The idea for the Harry³ Potter novels came from nowhere while she was on a train to London. She said, “The characters and situations came flooding into my head”.

Seven Potter novels later and Rowling is one of the richest women in the world. In fact, she is the first novelist ever to become a billionaire from writing. Her rags to riches story is a fantasy story in itself. She was on government handouts⁴ while writing her first novel. Her last four books broke records for the fastest sellers in literary⁵ history.

Today she devotes much of her time to many charitable causes. She famously demanded that Coca-Cola donate $18 million to the Reading is Fundamental charity if it wanted a tie-up with the Potter movies. The future? In March 2008, she said: "I will continue writing for children because that's what I enjoy".

1 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

2 initials   

n.首字母，姓名

参考例句：

• a glass tankard with his initials etched on it 刻有他姓名首字母的玻璃大酒杯
• All the towels were personalized with their initials. 所有毛巾上都标有物主姓名的首字母。

3 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。

4 handouts   

救济品( handout的名词复数 )； 施舍物； 印刷品； 讲义

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts. 士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Even after losing his job, he was too proud to accept handouts. 甚至在失去工作后，他仍然很骄傲，不愿接受施舍。

5 literary   

adj.文学（上）的

参考例句：

• Literary works of this kind are well received by the masses.这样的文学作品很受群众欢迎。
• The book was favourably noticed in literary magazines.这本书在文学杂志上得到好评。