【寒假最强书单】没看过《哈利•波特》系列小说？出门别说自己学过英语！
经常有人问：怎样才能成为一枚有追求、有文化、有知识、有B格的四有骚年？世纪君答：诸君，去读书吧！是的，假日属于书，那些跃动着的文字，让你如沐春风。这个假日，世纪君就奉上一份“寒假最强书单”。为何“最强”？因为世纪君：综合了英国教育部考试委员会、作家JK Rowling、Philip Pullman以及英国《卫报》、美国《纽约时报》等多家国际媒体开出的青少年书单；参考了香港教育图书公司、《澳门日报》、台湾国立图书馆所列的青少年必读书目；邀请了曾在北外任教、与世纪君共事多年的英国文学博士Paul Brennan先生，一起精选出这十本书。每日一读，如抱暖阳。
今天，让我们翻开《哈利•波特》系列小说，开启一段惊心动魄的魔幻冒险旅程。
“我不知道耶稣更伟大还是摇滚乐更伟大。我们（披头士）比耶稣还要受欢迎。”英国摇滚乐队披头士的灵魂人物约翰•列侬曾经说道。英国作家J.K.罗琳从未像列侬一样以如此桀骜不驯的态度评价自己的代表作《哈利•波特》，但她似乎比列侬更有资格说出这样的话。自1997年出版以来，《哈利•波特》不仅名列世界上最畅销小说之列，其同名系列电影也成为了全球史上最卖座的电影系列。
In the 1960s the British pop star John Lennon claimed that his group, The Beatles, were bigger than Jesus. JK Rowling has never said anything so arrogant about Harry Potter, but if she did, she may have more reasons to say it than Lennon did. Since the first Harry Potter story was published in 1997, the kid in glasses with a gift for magic has become a global legend. This fictional boy may be the most famous child on the planet.
从小被寄养在姨丈家里的哈利•波特，饱受姨丈一家人的歧视与欺侮，然而就在11岁生日那天，他得知自己原本是巫师，并且被录取为霍格沃茨魔法学校中的一员。登上霍格沃茨特快列车，哈利开始了他的魔幻旅程，一切都那么新奇，在那里，他第一次有了自己的好朋友：罗恩和赫敏。在不断研习各种各样的魔法课程的同时，哈利也意识到他的终极使命：战胜魔法史上最邪恶的巫师——伏地魔。
Harry’s parents were killed by Lord Voldemort, who also tried to kill the baby Harry but failed. He left Harry with a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt on his forehead. Voldemort is Harry’s enemy. The entire epic story of the books is given shape by the battle between Harry and Voldemort. It ends as it began, with the two facing each other, one representing good, the other evil.
But before we reach that point, the author Rowling has a whole magical world to create. Harry is taken away from the care of his guardians, the unpleasant Dursleys, and is educated in order to become an elite wizard at Hogwarts School. There he meets his two closest friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, and many eccentric teachers and mentors.
《哈利•波特》魔幻文学系列小说一共分为7部，幻想离奇、惊险刺激的故事总让人想一口气从第一部《哈利•波特与魔法石》读到最后一部《哈利•波特与死亡圣器》。与其他文学作品只展示只字片语的想象火花不同，《哈利•波特》系列构建了一个完整而严密的魔法世界。一切都显得如此合情合理，成功营造出了一种身未能至，心向往之的信服感。此外，哈利和他的小伙伴们的成长过程也极易引起共鸣。一路走来，他们经历了许多坎坷，包括哈利那昙花一现的初恋。
Although each of the seven books can be read as its own adventure, you only get the full “Potter effect” by reading all the way through, from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007).
The Harry Potter books are popular with so many because they are adventures. We read adventures because they allow us to imagine an exciting life we can’t live ourselves.
On the other hand, though, we still need our heroes to be a little bit like us, and Harry and his young friends are like us in many ways.
They are growing up, like us, and they experience the ups and downs on the way. During the years that many young people spend with Harry, they experience their first romances, and this makes Harry’s own teenage affair more interesting to them.
虽然故事的主题始终围绕着哈利•波特对战伏地魔的主线在进行，且最终正义战胜了邪恶。但《哈利•波特》系列最吸引人的地方在于哈利的自我牺牲、无私奉献的精神，这一点与耶稣颇为相似。正是哈利的精神，使他成为了故事里拯救了整个魔法世界的大英雄。
But it’s the tale of Harry versus Voldemort that keeps us going with these classics of children’s writing to the end, our arrival at that moment when Voldemort is defeated and, of course, Harry triumphs.
However, it is not through special wizarding skills that Harry wins out, but an act of sacrifice. Here, one might say, Harry, like many western fictional characters before him, is like Jesus. Through his selflessness, he becomes a hero and makes sure there is good in the world.
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