热爱《哈利波特》的小伙伴们，让我们一起来看原著小说学英语喽！
When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray 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.
None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.
（选自《哈利波特与魔法石》第一章）
1、我们的故事开始于一个——dull, grey Tuesday， 晦暗、阴沉的星期二。dull指天气时则是“阴沉的、昏暗的，多云的”（not bright, with a lot of clouds）。此外，除了形容天气，dull还可以形容人，即“迟钝的，愚笨的”（slow in understanding）。
例：The first day of our holiday was dull.我们度假的第一天天空阴云密布。
例：At his best the man is still rather a dull fellow. 他这人即使是处在最佳状态的时候，也依然是一个迟钝的家伙。
grey在形容天气时，和dull相近，都是“多云的，阴沉的”（full of clouds）意思。不过，在英文中，形容天气阴沉时，会习惯性把grey和dull连在一起使用。
例：It was a dull, grey day. 那天天气很阴沉。
a dull, grey day
2、就在这个阴沉的星期二早上——Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for wor，Mr. Dursley正在哼着小曲挑领带。pick out是指“挑选某人或某物”（to choose someone or something from a group of similar people or things）。
例：I have been picked out to represent the whole team. 我被选出来代表全队。
3、而Mrs. Dursley在干什么呢？——Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. 她一边聊着八卦，一边把宝贝儿子塞进婴儿椅里。英语中没有gossip away这个短语，但我们要讲一讲away的特殊用法。
我们最常见的away做副词时的意思是“离开，不在”，可当away跟在动词后面时，还可以表达“持续地，劲头十足地”（sth. is done continuously or with a lot of energy）。
例：They were soon chatting away like old friends. 他们很快像老朋友一样聊了起来。
这下，gossip away的意思就很清楚了，那就是“讲八卦讲个不停”。
至于wrestle的本意是“摔跤”，但它还可以进一步引申为“用力把某人拉到某处”（move sb. somewhere using a lot of force ， for example, by twisting a part of someone’s body into a position）。
例：We had to physically wrestle the child from the man’s arms. 我们只得用力地从那个男人怀里把孩子夺回来。
4、夫妇俩都在忙着——None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. 没人注意到一只猫头鹰从他们窗前飞过。tawny（[ˈtɔni]）是一种颜色，用作形容词，指“黄褐色的”（brownish-yellow in colour）。
例：She had tawny hair. 她有一头黄褐色的头发。
a large, tawny owl
flutter作为不及物动词，意思是“（鸟和其他有翅膀的生物）拍（翅），振（翅）”（(of a bird or other winged creature) fly unsteadily or hover by flapping the wings quickly and lightly）。
例：The butterfly fluttered from flower to flower. 蝴蝶在花丛中飞来飞去。
那么，都是“飞”，fly和flutter有什么区别呢？
fly指的是脱离地面的“飞”，而flutter则是强调快速而无规律的振动翅膀，脱不脱离地面不一定。
例：The white duck fluttered up out of the water and flew to the palace. 这只白鸭子振翅飞离水面，飞向天空。
【To Be Continued】
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