When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.
我们的故事开始于一个晦暗、阴沉的星期二，德思礼夫妇一早醒来，窗外浓云低垂的天空并没有丝毫迹象预示这地方即将发生神秘古怪的事情。德思礼先生一边哼着小曲，一边挑出一条他最不喜欢的领带戴着上班，德思礼太太高高兴兴地一直絮絮叨叨，把唧哇乱叫的达力塞到了儿童高脚椅里。
重点解说
wake up 叫醒
dull 阴沉的，多云的
grey 灰色的，多云的
gossip away
gossip 在这里用作不及物动词，意为“八卦（他人隐私），说三道四”
away在这里是熟词僻义，表示“一直，持续不断地”
在这里强调德思礼太太一直持续不断地絮絮叨叨
wrestle sth into 强迫某物到...
wrestle v.用力移动；使劲搬动
None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window.
他们谁也没留意到一只黄褐色的猫头鹰扑腾地扇着翅膀从窗前飞过。
重点解析
tawny 黄褐色的
flutter past 飞过
At half past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. ‘Little tyke,’ chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four’s drive.
8点半，德思礼先生拿起他的公文包，在德思礼太太脸颊上亲了一下，正准备亲达力，跟这个小家伙道别，可是没有亲成，因为小家伙正在发脾气把麦片往墙上摔，“臭小子”德思礼先生嘟哝了一句，笑呵呵地走出家门，他坐进汽车，倒出四号车道。
重点解析
have a tantrum 耍小孩子脾气
little tyke 小淘气
chortle v.开心地哈哈笑
back out of number four's drive 倒出四号车道
It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr Dursley didn’t realise what he had seen – then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn’t a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive – no, looking at the sign; cats couldn’t read maps or signs. Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.
在街角上，他看到了第一个异常的信号---一只猫在看地图。一开始，德思礼先生还没弄明白他看到了什么，于是又回过头去。只见一只花斑猫站在女贞路路口，但是它没有看地图。他到底在想些什么？很可能是光线使他产生了错觉吧。德思礼先生眨了眨眼，盯着猫看，猫也回瞪着他。当德思礼先生拐过街角继续上路的时候，他从后视镜里看着那只猫，猫这时正在读女贞路的标牌，不，是在看标牌，可猫是不会读地图或读标牌的。德思礼先生定了定神，把猫从脑海里赶走。他开车进城，一路上想的是希望今天他能得到一大批钻机的订单。
重点解说
on the corner of 在拐角处；<英俚>失业的
jerk one's head around 急忙转头
in sight phrase. 看得见，在望，在即，临近
a trick of 一个...的错觉
stare at 等着看
around the corner phrase.在拐角近处，即将来临，将来发生
give sb a little shake 定了定神
put sth out of one's mind 把某事抛之脑外、不去想某事
nothing but/except 除此之外没有
But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn’t help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr Dursley couldn’t bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren’t young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something … yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on, and a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills.
但快进城时，另一件事又把钻机的事从他脑海里赶走了。当他的车汇入清晨拥堵的车流时，他突然看见路边有一群穿着奇装异服的人。他们都披着斗篷。德思礼先生最看不惯别人穿得怪模怪样，瞧年轻人的那身打扮！他猜想这大概又是一种无聊的新时尚吧。他用手指敲击着方向盘，目光落到了离他最近的一大群怪物身上。他们正兴致勃勃，交头接耳。德思礼先生很生气，因为他发现他们中间有一对根本不年轻了，那个男的显得比他年龄还大，竟然还披着一件翡翠绿的斗篷！真不知羞耻！接着，德思礼先生突然想到这些人大概是为什么事募捐吧，不错，就是这么回事，车流移动了，几分钟后德思礼先生来到格朗宁公司的停车场，他的思绪又回到了钻机上。
重点解说
out of sb's mind phrase.（尤指因生病或忧虑而）精神错乱，发狂；酩酊大醉
traffic jam phrase.堵车，交通堵塞
seem to be phrase.看来，好像
a couple of phrase.几个；一对
The nerve of him！ 真不知羞耻！
move on phrase.离去、继续前进；把...往前移；更换工作（或话题等）
arrive in phrase.到达，达到
car park 停车场，停车房
