Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.

家住女贞路四号的德思礼夫妇总是骄傲地说，他们是非常正常的人家，谢天谢地哦~他们从来不期待任何诡异神秘的事情，因为他们觉得这些荒谬至极。

重点解析

the last people you'd expect to do 最后一个期望做/最不可能做某事

be involved in/with 被卷入、被牵涉进（某事），暗指某人被卷入一些不好的、麻烦的、棘手的事件中

在表达“ 卷入、与...有关联”时，我们也常用relate to或者connect with，但着两个短语只强调具有关联性，不侧重事件的好坏

hold with赞成、与某人持同样意见、相信

thank you very much（特殊语境中）拜托了、谢天谢地

Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.

德思礼先生在一家名为格朗宁的公司做主管，公司生产钻机。他高大粗壮，胖得几乎连脖子都快没有了，可他却蓄着一脸大胡子。德思礼太太是一位瘦削的金发女人，她的脖子几乎比正常人长一倍。这样每当她花许多时间隔着篱笆墙引颈而望、窥探左邻右舍时，她的长脖子可就派上了大用场。德思礼夫妇有一个小儿子，名叫达力。在他们看来，这世间没有比达力更好的孩子了。

重点解析

beefy adj. 身体健壮的，粗壮的

这个词形容人身材粗壮，肌肉发达，尤指男性。与beefy相比，我们熟悉的muscular也是指人肌肉发达，不同的是，muscular侧重于因身材健康而显现的肌肉发达、紧实有力，脂肪少。beefy侧重于肥肉多。

hardly any 几乎没

hardly any表示否定含义，修饰neck，则说明德思礼先生几乎没有脖子。

come in useful是个固定短语，意思是“迟早有用，迟早会派上用场”。

作者没有用“which is useful”表达Mrs Dursley的长脖子有用，而是说“会派上用场”，言外之意就是，在伸脖子探头观察邻居家的动静时，Mrs Dursley的长脖子具有很大的优势，这是作者的高级黑啊~

twice the usual amount 平均值的两倍

The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn’t think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley’s sister, but they hadn’t met for several years; in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended she didn’t have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street.The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn’t want Dudley mixing with a child like that.

德思礼一家几乎有他们想要的一切东西，但他们有个秘密，他们最害怕的是这秘密会被人发现。他们想，若其他人发现波特一家的事，他们会无法承受得住。波特太太是德思礼太太的妹妹，不过她们已经有好些年没有见面了。实际上，德思礼太太佯装自己根本没有这个妹妹，因为她妹妹和她那一无是处的妹夫，与德思礼一家人的为人处世完全不一样。一想到邻居们会说波特夫妇来到了他们居住的街道，德思礼夫妇会吓得胆战心惊。他们知道波特家也有个儿子，只是他们从来没见过他。这孩子也是他们不与波特一家来往的一个很好的理由，他们不愿让达力跟这种孩子厮混。

重点解析

find out about sth 发现某事

good-for-nothing 废物，毫无用处

shudder to do sth 害怕做某事

is a/another good reason for doing sth 是一个好的理由去做某事

keep sb away 远离某人

A mix with B A和B混在一起

unDursleyish adj. 不像德思礼一家，没有德思礼家的特征