欧美人文风情第327篇:J.K. 罗琳与哈利波特的故事

 While on a train at age 25, an idea struck J.K. Rowling like a bolt of lightning: 25 岁的 J.K. 罗琳坐在火车上时，一个想法如闪电般闪过脑中：

Boy doesn't know he's a wizard goes to wizard school. 一名不知道自己是巫师的男孩到巫师学校上学。

Not having a pen on her at the time, Rowling sat on the train as the ideas came flooding in. 当时罗琳手边没有笔，灵感源源不绝流泻进来时她正坐在火车上。

That night, she began writing her first book—Harry¹ Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. 当晚，她开始着手写她的第一本书－－《哈利波特：神秘的魔法石》。

She didn't know it at the time, but years later, those very words would spark the imagination of millions of children worldwide. 当时她不知道，但几年后，书中的那些文字点燃了世上几百万名孩子的想象力。

Shortly after she began writing, however, her mother passed away. 然而，在她开始写书后不久，她的母亲就过世了。

Regrettably, Rowling had never shared with her mother the wonders of Harry Potter. 遗憾的是，罗琳从未将《哈利波特》的成功奇景和她母亲分享。

The years after her mother's passing were hard for Rowling. 母亲离世后的日子对罗琳来说不是很好过。

As a struggling writer, she married and had her first child. However, the marriage was short-lived. 这位刻苦挣扎的作家之后结了婚，并有了第一个孩子。然而，这段婚姻却很短暂。

Reflecting on this period, Rowling says, "I'd failed on an epic² scale." 回顾这段时期，罗琳说：「我失败得一塌糊涂。」

In her own words, this is when she entered the darkest period of her life and questioned whether she would get through it. 在她自己的说法，她在这段时间进入了人生最黑暗的时期，并质疑自己是否能撑过去。

Amidst the darkness, Rowling found comfort in her writing and went on to complete the Harry Potter series. 在这段黑暗期，罗琳在书写中找到慰藉，并继续完成《哈利波特》系列小说。

These very years, the ones that tested her resolve and inner strength, formed much of her writing and ultimately how the series would unfold. 就是这几年，考验她的决心和内在力量的几年，成就了她大部分的写作，以及系列故事最终展开的方式。

Many of the characters and creatures that make up the wizarding world arose from this dark period of her life. 构成巫师世界的许多角色和生物是从她人生这段黑暗期中诞生的。

She would later reflect, the books wouldn't be what they are if she hadn't have died. 她之后回想，如果她没有死去过，这些书不会是现在的样子。

I mean, her death is virtually on every other page of the Harry Potter books. 我的意思是，《哈利波特》书籍中几乎每隔几页就能看到她的毁灭。

Harry Potter has since become the best-selling book series in history. 《哈利波特》自此成了史上最畅销的系列作品。

The books have sold over 400 million copies, and the movie series has grossed 5.3 billion dollars in total. 小说销售量超过四亿本，电影系列也总共赚进五十三亿美元。

Rowling is now credited with doing more for childhood literacy than any other person in history. 现在人们认为，罗琳在儿童的识字能力方面贡献良多，比起史上其他人都更多。

She now views her dark period as providing the very direction she needed to focus on the only work that mattered to her: 现在，她认为自己的那段黑暗期正好提供了她所需要的方向，让她专注在对她来说唯一重要的工作：

being a mother and telling great stories. 做好一个母亲，并说出很棒的故事。

"And so rock bottom became the solid foundation upon which I rebuilt my life," Rowling acknowledges. 「所以人生的谷底成为我重建人生的稳固基石。」罗琳承认。

In life, it is not what happens to us that matters, but rather how we choose to interpret what happens, 人生中，重要的不是我们发生了什么事情，而是我们选择如何诠释这些事，

and therefore who we become as a result. 并且最终成为怎么样的人。

You know you've found the hidden wisdom in your deepest scar, when you view it as your greatest gift. 当你将最深的伤口视为最棒的礼物，你就知道你已经找到了其中深藏的智慧。

 

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 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。