‘Bad news, Vernon,’ she said. ‘Mrs Figg’s broken her leg. She can’t take him.’ She jerked her head in Harry’s direction.
Dudley’s mouth fell open in horror but Harry’s heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley’s birthday his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger bars or the cinema. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she’d ever owned.
‘Now what?’ said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he’d planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn’t easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty again.
‘We could phone Marge,’ Uncle Vernon suggested.
‘Don’t be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy.’
The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn’t there – or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn’t understand them, like a slug.
Rowling, J.K.. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone . Bloomsbury. Kindle Edition.
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‘Bad news, Vernon,’ she said. ‘Mrs Figg’s broken her leg. She can’t take him.’ She jerked her head in Harry’s direction.
⇒ 从这句话可以看出，每次Dudley一家出门会把Harry交给Mrs Figg来看管。但是这次Mrs Figg的腿摔伤了，连她自己都自顾不暇了，所以我们可以猜测接下来Harry会跟着Dudley一家一起出门。这就是Petunia所谓的“Bad news”。
⇒ jeck one's head
有关“jeck”的用法又一次出现了~不过这次添加了方位“in Harry’s direction”，朝着Harry的方向。 -
Dudley’s mouth fell open in horror but Harry’s heart gave a leap.
⇒ fall [verb] ~ become
此处的“fall”有“become”的含义。比如为大家所知的“fall asleep”就有这一层含义。
e.g. She suddenly fell ill. （她突然生病了。）
⇒ leap [verb/noun]
为了更好地理解“leap”在这里作为名词的含义，我们可以看一下如下关于它的动词解释。
If your heart leaps, you have a sudden, strong feeling of pleasure or fear. -
Every year on Dudley’s birthday his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger bars or the cinema. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there.
⇒ Every year …… Every year ……
读起来有中文“排比句”的感觉。但是从内容来看，前后两句形成了鲜明的对比。尤其突出了后者的悲惨程度，也就是Harry每年是和疯女人呆在一起的。
⇒ adventure [verb]
If you adventure somewhere, you go somewhere new, unusual, and exciting.
⇒ “a mad old lady who lived two streets away”是“Mrs Figg”的同位语。
由两个或两个以上同一层次的语言单位组成的结构，其中前项与后项所指相同，句法功能也相同，后项是前项的同位语。
e.g. Yesterday I met Tom, a friend of my brother's. -
The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she’d ever owned.
⇒ cabbage [noun] 【参见图片】
⇒ photograph
[noun] a picture produced using a camera
[verb] to take a picture using a camera
cabbage
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‘Now what?’ said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he’d planned this.
⇒ furiously [adverb]
in a very angry way
⇒ Aunt Petunia如此愤怒地看着Harry，仿佛“he’d planned this”，是Harry一手策划的。 -
Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn’t easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty again.
⇒ 对于Mrs Figg腿摔伤这件事情Harry应该感到难过的，但是他提醒自己（错过了这一次）他整整一年后才会被迫再次看到“Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty”了，就难过不起来了。
“Tibbles, Snowy, Mr Paws and Tufty”是四只猫的名字，Mrs Figg真是“a cat-lover”。据说这几只猫能懂人类的语言，很是厉害嘛。 -
The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn’t there – or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn’t understand them, like a slug.
⇒ nasty [adjective]
bad or very unpleasant
⇒ slug [noun] 鼻涕虫【参见图片】
⇒ Dursleys一家说Harry坏话时如入无人之境，当他是空气一般。
slug
知识星球——读英语原著
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