【英语原著】哈利·波特与魔法石 （11）

‘Shoo!’ said Mr Dursley loudly.
The cat didn’t move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.
Mrs Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Door’s problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word (‘Shan’t!’). Mr Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:
‘And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation’s owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern.’ The news reader allowed himself a grin. ‘Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?’

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Rowling, J.K.. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone . Bloomsbury. Kindle Edition.

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Knowledge Point

• shoo
  said to animals or children to make them away

• a stern look 严厉的目光
  stern [adjective]
  severe or showing disapproval

• "Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr Dursley wondered."
  ⇒ 正常语序：Mr Dursley wondered whether this was normal cat behaviour.

• "Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house."
  ⇒ pull yourself together [phrasal verb]
  to become calm and behave normally again after being angry or upset
  控制自己的情绪，冷静下来
  例句：
  Just pull yourself together. There's no point crying about it.
  （要控制自己的情绪，没必要为了那件事哭。）

• "She told him over dinner all about……"
  ⇒ over 此处等同于during，在……期间

• "Although owls normally hunt at night……"
  ⇒ hunt [verb]
  to chase or try to catch and kill an animal or bird to food, sport or profit
  ⇒ hunt at night 在夜间猎食

• "……there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise."
  ⇒ sighting [noun]
  看见，目击（尤指罕见或隐藏的人或物）

• sleeping pattern
  睡眠模式

• "The news reader allowed himself a grin."
  ⇒ grin [noun] 露齿笑；咧嘴笑😁
  a wide smile
  （看到这么多奇异景象）新闻播报员也允许自己（在播报新闻的时候）咧嘴一笑；新闻播报员忍不住乐了。

• ‘Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?’
  ⇒ over （又一次出现了了over）
  这里的意思是“交换，变换位置”
  这个场景在电视节目里很常见，切换镜头，像内场切换至外场；新闻播报栏目播完了转到天气预报栏目等。Jim McGuffin应该是负责天气预报的。
  ⇒ shower 这里等同于mass
  a shower of sth ~ a large amount of sth
  ⇒ any more v.s. anymore
  anymore adv. （不）再，再也（不）（any longer），多用于否定和疑问句
  any more
  在本文中的用法是：any作副词，后接形容词或副词，常见比较级
  如：“any better”（好一点点）、“any bigger”（大一点点）
  ⇒ 将any more和anymore放在一起比较：
  I don’t buy books anymore because I don’t need any more books.
  （我不想再买书了，因为我不需要更多的书。）

知识星球——读英语原著