【英语原著】哈利·波特与魔法石 （14）
The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind … He couldn’t see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on. He yawned and turned over. It couldn’t affect them …
How very wrong he was.
Mr Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn’t so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.
**
Rowling, J.K.. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone . Bloomsbury. Kindle Edition.
Knowledge Point
-
⇒ to get into sth 进入
to get into bed 上床 -
"Mrs Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind."
⇒ fall asleep
to start to sleep
e.g. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
⇒ ...turning it all over in his mind
（白天的所见所闻）不停得在他脑海中打转 -
"His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley."
⇒ 尝试翻译：在他入睡前，最后一个令他安慰的想法是：即使Potter一家参与其中，他们也没有理由接近他和他太太。 -
"Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind …"
⇒ 尝试翻译：Potters一家非常清楚他和Petunia是怎么看待他们的…… -
"He couldn’t see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on."
⇒ He thought he and Petunia could not become involved in all the things that were probably going on.
'How' usually tells us something about manner. In this case, Dursley couldn't see the manner in which he and Petunia could become involved; he couldn't determine the means by which he and Petunia might become embroiled.
⇒ 尝试翻译：他觉得他和Petunia不可能卷入将来可能发生的事当中。 -
"He yawned and turned over."
⇒ yawn [verb]
to open the mouth wide and take a lot of air into the lungs and slowly send it out, usually when tired or bored
yawn
⇒ turn over
to change the position of your body when you are lying or sleeping so that you face the opposite direction -
"It couldn’t affect them … "
⇒ affect [verb]
to change or influence something.
If something affects something else, it has an effect on it. -
"How very wrong he was. "
⇒ 尝试翻译：他真是大错特错。 -
"Mr Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness."
⇒ to drift into sth 不知不觉陷入；不经意地陷入……
⇒ 尝试翻译：Mr Dursley可能已经不安地入睡了，但墙外的那只猫却毫无睡意。 -
"It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive."
⇒ 尝试翻译：它一动不动地坐在那里宛如一尊雕像，它的眼睛直直地得盯着Privet Drive远处的角落，眨都不眨一下。 -
"It didn’t so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead."
⇒ quiver [verb]
to shake slightly, often because of strong emotion
⇒ slam [verb]
to shut a door or a lid with great force so that it makes a loud noise, often because you are angry
⇒ not so much as (相当于一个副词)
甚至于；连……都不
⇒ 尝试翻译：即使临街的车被砰地关上门，两头猫头鹰猛得从头上扑过去，它（那只猫）甚至没有颤过一下。
⇒ 辨析：not so much ... as (和not so much as完全不同)
If you say that something is not so much one thing as something else, you mean it is more the second thing.
结构：not A so much as B或者not so much A as B
含义：“与其说A倒不如说B”或者“是B,而不是A”，可灵活翻译。
例句：I don't feel angry so much as sad.
（我感觉与其说是愤怒，例不如说是悲哀。） -
"In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all."
⇒ 尝试翻译：事实上，直到午夜那只猫都没有动。
知识星球——读英语原著
