晨韵推荐：双语美文--哈利波特与凤凰社 Chapter 6（上）

绚斓晨韵

'WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS！'

'I love hearing Mum shouting at someone else,' said Fred, with a satisfied smile on his face as he opened the door an inch or so to allow Mrs Weasley's voice to permeate the room better, 'it makes such a nice change.'

' - COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE, AS IF WE HAVEN'T GOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT WITHOUT YOU DRAGGING STOLEN CAULDRONS INTO THE HOUSE - '

The idiots are letting her get into her stride,' said George, shaking his head. 'You've got to head her off early otherwise she builds up a head of steam and goes on for hours. And she's been dying to have a go at Mundungus ever since he sneaked off when he was supposed to be following you, Harry - and there goes Sirius's mum again.'

Mrs Weasley's voice was lost amid fresh shrieks and screams from the portraits in the hall.

George made to shut the door to drown the noise, but before he could do so, a house-elf edged into the room.

Except for the filthy rag tied like a loincloth around its middle, it was completely naked. It looked very old. Its skin seemed to be several times too big for it and, though it was bald like all house-elves, there was a quantity of white hair growing out of its large, batlike ears. Its eyes were a bloodshot and watery grey and its fleshy nose was large and rather snoutlike.

“我们这里不是窝藏赃物的地方！”

“我真喜欢听妈妈冲着别人嚷嚷，”弗雷德脸上带着满足的微笑说道，他把门打开了一两英寸，好让韦斯莱夫人的声音更清楚地传进屋里，“换换口味真不赖。”

“——完全不负责任，好像我们的烦心事儿还不够多似的，你还要把这一大堆偷来的坩埚拖进屋子——”

“那些傻瓜怎么会让她由着性子发火呢。”乔治摇摇头说，“必须趁早转移她的注意力，不然她的火气会越来越大，接连几小时嚷嚷个没完没了。哈利，自从蒙顿格斯在应该跟踪你的时候偷偷溜走之后，妈妈就一直盼着狠狠地教训他一顿——哦，小天狼星的妈妈又叫起来了。”

韦斯莱夫人的声音几乎被淹没在了门厅里那些肖像发出的一片尖厉刺耳的叫声中。

乔治想关上房门，把声音挡在外面，但没等他来得及这么做，一个家养小精灵侧身闪了进来。

除了腰上围了一条脏兮兮的破布，就像热带国家男子用来遮体的腰布，他全身几乎一丝不挂。他的模样很老了，皮肤似乎比他的身体实际需要的多出了好几倍，虽然他的脑袋像所有家养小精灵一样光秃秃的，但那两只蝙蝠般的VOA英语网里却长出了一大堆白毛。他两眼充血，水汪汪灰蒙蒙的，肉乎乎的鼻子很大，简直像猪的鼻子一样。

The elf took absolutely no notice of Harry and the rest. Acting as though it could not see them, it shuffled hunchbacked, slowly and doggedly, towards the far end of the room, all the while muttering under its breath in a hoarse, deep voice like a bullfrog's.

'. . . smells like a drain and a criminal to boot, but she's no better, nasty old blood traitor with her brats messing up my mistress's house, oh, my poor mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum they've let into her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh, the shame of it, Mudbloods and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do . . .'

'Hello, Kreacher,' said Fred very loudly, closing the door with a snap.

The house-elf froze in his tracks, stopped muttering, and gave a very pronounced and very unconvincing start of surprise.

'Kreacher did not see young master,' he said, turning around and bowing to Fred. Still lacing the carpet, he added, perfectly audibly, 'Nasty little brat of a blood traitor it is.'

'Sorry？' said George. 'Didn't catch that last bit.'

'Kreacher said nothing,' said the elf, with a second box to George, adding in a clear undertone, 'and there its twin, unnataral little beasts they are.'

小精灵根本没有注意哈利和其他人。他就像看不见他们似的，弓着背，拖着脚，慢慢地、一步一步地朝房问那头走去，一边用牛蛙般沙哑、低沉的声音不停地轻声念叨着。

“——闻着就像阴沟和罪犯的气味。她也好不到哪儿去，讨厌的老败家子，领着她的小崽子们糟蹋我女主人的房子。哦，我可怜的女主人啊，如果她地下有知，如果她知道他们把什么样的渣滓弄进了她的家门，她会对老克利切说些什么呢。哦，真丢人啊，泥巴种、狼人、骗子和小偷，可怜的老克利切，他能怎么办呢——”

“你好，克利切。”弗雷德声音很大地说，一边重重地把门关上了。

家养小精灵顿时僵住了，嘴里不再念念有词，而是做出非常明显但很令人怀疑的吃惊样子。

“克利切刚才没有看见年轻的主人。”他说，转身朝弗雷德鞠了一躬。他的脸仍然对着地毯，又用别人完全能够听见的声音说道：“是老败类的讨厌的小崽子。”

“对不起，”乔治说，“最后那句话我没听清。”

“克利切什么也没说，”小精灵又朝乔治鞠了一躬，然后用虽然很轻、但清清楚楚的声音说，“这是他的双胞胎兄弟，一对古怪的小野崽子。”

Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not. The elf straightened up, eyeing them all malevolently, and apparently convinced that they could not hear him as he continued to mutter.

'. . . and there's the Mudblood, standing there bold as brass, oh if my mistress knew, oh, how she'd cry, and there's a new boy, Kreacher doesn't know his name. What is he doing here？ Kreacher doesn't know . . ."

This is Harry, Kreacher,' said Hermione tentatively. 'Harry Potter.'

Kreacher's pale eyes widened and he muttered faster and more furiously than ever.

The Mudblood is talking to Kreacher as though she is my friend, if Kreacher's mistress saw him in such company, oh, what would she say - '

'Don't call her a Mudblood！' said Ron and Ginny together, very angrily.

'It doesn't matter,' Hermione whispered, 'he's not in his tight mind, he doesn't know what he's - '

'Don't kid yourself, Hermione, he knows exactly what he's saying,' said Fred, eyeing Kreacher with great dislike.

Kreacher was still muttering, his eyes on Harry.

哈利不知道要不要放声大笑。小精灵直起身来，用恶毒的目光望了望他们大家，显然相信他们都听不见他的话，因为他又继续念叨开了。

“——还有那个泥巴种，大大咧咧、肆无忌惮地站在那里，如果我的女主人知道，哦，她该哭得多么伤心啊，这里又新来了一个男孩，克利切不知道他叫什么名字。他在这里做什么呢？克利切不知道——”

“克利切，这是哈利，”赫敏怯生生地说，“哈利波特。”

克利切那两只浅色的眼睛突然间睁大了，嘴里念叨得比以前更快更充满火气了。

“那泥巴种居然跟克利切说话，就好像她是我的朋友，如果克利切的女主人看见他跟这样的人在一起，哦，她会说什么呢？”

“不许叫她泥巴种！”罗恩和金妮非常生气地同时说道。

“没关系，”赫敏小声说，“他脑子不正常，不知道自己在说——”

“你别自欺欺人了，赫敏，他很清楚自己在说什么。”弗雷德一边说一边非常厌恶地瞪着克利切。

克利切嘴里仍然念念有词，眼睛望着哈利。

'Is it true？ Is it Harry Potter？ Kreacher can see the scar, it must be true, that's the boy who stopped the Dark Lord, Kreacher wonders how he did it - '

'Don't we all, Kreacher,' said Fred.

'What do you want, anyway？' George asked.

Kreacher's huge eyes darted towards George.

'Kreacher is cleaning,' he said evasively.

'A likely story,' said a voice behind Harry.

Sirius had come back; he was glowering at the elf from the doorway. The noise in the hall had abated; perhaps Mrs Weasley and Mundungus had moved their argument down into the kitchen.

At the sight of Sirius, Kreacher flung himself into a ridiculously low bow that flattened his snoutlike nose on the floor.

“这是真的吗？真的是哈利波特？克利切看见伤疤了，肯定是真的，就是那个阻止了黑魔头的男孩，克利切不知道他是怎么做到的——”

“我们都知道，克利切。”弗雷德说。

“你到底想要什么呀？”乔治问。

克利切的一对大眼睛猛地朝乔治望去。

“克利切在打扫卫生。”他躲躲闪闪地说。

“说得倒很像是真的。”哈利身后的一个声音说。

小天狼星回来了，他在门口怒气冲冲地瞪着小精灵，门厅里的声音平息了，也许韦斯莱夫人和蒙顿格斯把他们的争吵转移到厨房里去了。克利切一看见小天狼星立刻深鞠一躬，身子低得简直滑稽可笑，猪鼻子般的大鼻子压扁在地上。