Like that of her own character, Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling's life has the luster of a fairy tale. Divorced, living on public assistance in a tiny Edinburgh flat with her little daughter, Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at a table in a caféduring her daughter's naps — and it was Harry Potter that rescued her. First, the Scottish Ants Council gave her a grant to finish the book. After its sale to Bloomsbury ( UK) and Scholastic Books, the accolades began to pile up. Harry Potter won The British Book Awards Children's Book of the year, and the Smarties Prize, and rave1 reviews on both sides of the Atlantic .
A graduate of Exeter University, a teacher, and then unemployed single parent, Rowling wrote Harry Potter when" I was very low, and I had to achieve something. Without the challenge, I would have gone stark raving mad. "But Rowling has always written books, and her first book was called Rabbit. " I was about six, and I haven't stopped scribbling since. "
The following is an abstract from what J. K. Rowling wrote about herself. From which we might keep track with the growth of the person who gave birth to the living ambition of the world, Harry Potter the Little Wizard.
I wrote a lot in my teens, but I never showed any of it to my friends, . .. I went to Exeter University straight after school, where I studied French. This was a big mistake. I had listened too hard to my parents, who thought languages would lead to a great career as a bilingual secretary. Unfortunately I am one of the most disorganized people in the world and, as I later proved, the worst secretary ever.
When I was twenty-six I gave up on offices completely and went abroad to teach English as a foreign language. I loved teaching English, and as I worked afternoons and evenings, I had mornings free for writing. This was particularly good news as I had now started my third novel. The new book was about a boy who found out he was a wizard and was sent off2 to wizard school. When I came back from Portugal half a suitcase was full of papers covered with short stories about Harry Potter. I came to live in Edinburgh with my very small daughter, I set myself a deadline; I would finish the Harry novel before starting work as a French teacher, and try to get it published.
It was a year after finishing the book before a publisher bought it. The moment when I found out that Harry would be published was one of the best of my life .
練習題：
Complete th e following sentences with the provided words and phrases : rave stark scribble send off nap
1 . He usually has a quick after lunch.
2 . The child all over the page.
3 . Have you that letter yet?
4 . She simply about French cooking.
5 . He has gone raving mad.
答案：
1. nap 2 . scribbled 3 . sent off 4. raved 5 . stark
譯文：
J. K. 羅琳女士的成名之路
J. K. 羅琳的生活就像她創(chuàng)造的人物哈里· 波特一樣, 頗具童話色彩。離異后, 她帶著年幼的女兒靠政府救濟居住在愛丁堡的小小公寓里?！豆?middot; 波特和魔法石》是她趁著女兒午睡時, 在一家小咖啡館的桌子上寫成的。正是哈里· 波特挽救了她。最初, 蘇格蘭藝術協(xié)會資助她完成了該書。書稿賣給英國的布盧母斯伯里( Blo omsbury) 出版社和學究書籍( Scholastic Bo ok) 出版社以后, 榮譽紛至沓來。該書不僅獲得年度英國兒童圖書獎和聰明人獎, 也得到了大西洋兩岸的盛贊。
羅琳畢業(yè)于?？巳卮髮W, 畢業(yè)后當了一名老師, 后來就成了失業(yè)的單身母親。羅琳說:“ 寫《哈里· 波特》時, 我情緒低落, 我必須做點什么。沒有挑戰(zhàn)的話, 我會變成胡言亂語的十足的瘋子。”其實羅琳一直在寫作, 她的第一本書名為《兔子》。“ 那時我大約六歲,從此我就沒停止過涂鴉。”
下面文字節(jié)選自羅琳的自述。我們或許可以從中找到她成長的軌跡, 正是她創(chuàng)造了小魔法師哈里· 波特, 點燃了全世界人的夢想。
我少年時寫了很多東西, 但從未給朋友們看過? ? 中學畢業(yè)后我直接上了?？巳卮髮W, 學了法語。這是個天大的錯誤。我父母認為學好語言可以從事好職業(yè), 做雙語秘書。我順從了他們。遺憾的是我是這世界上最缺乏條理的人, 事實也證明我是最糟糕的秘書。二十六歲時, 我完全放棄了文秘工作, 到國外教英語。我愛教英語, 因為中午和晚上工作, 早上就可以寫作。這對我來說非常好, 因為當時我已經(jīng)開始寫第三本小說了。新書講的是一個小孩, 發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有魔法, 然后進了魔法學校。我從葡萄牙回國時, 已經(jīng)裝了半行李箱哈里· 波特故事的原稿。之后, 我?guī)е暧椎呐畠簛淼綈鄱”ど? 并且給了自己一個最后期限: 在開始教法語之前完成哈里· 波特, 然后設法出版。
故事寫完一年后, 一個出版商買下了這本書。而得知哈里·波特要出版是我一生中最美妙的時刻。
