Author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling, at the UK premiere of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" in a London file photo from May 30, 2004. (AP)
Harry Potter readers, here"s an extra special holiday gift: J.K. Rowling announced Monday that she has completed the sixth Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
"I know you all expected this to happen on Christmas Day, but I was sure that those of you who celebrate Christmas have better things to do on the day itself than fight your way into my study, whereas those of you who DON"T celebrate Christmas would definitely prefer not to wait until the 25th," the British author wrote in a message posted on her Web site.
Rowling noted that while she is pregnant with her third child, she has had the time "needed to tinker with the manuscript to my satisfaction and I am as happy as I have ever been with the end result. I only hope you feel it was worth the wait when you finally read it."
With the new Potter book certain to come out in 2005, fans should be spared the seemingly interminable three-year wait between Potter IV, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," and Potter V, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which came out in the summer of 2003. Rowling did not say whether the new book"s length would top the 870 pages of "Order of the Phoenix."
Rowling"s announcement is also great news for booksellers, who have endured another year of slow sales. More than 100 million copies of the fantasy series, which debuted in 1997, are in print, and "Order of the Phoenix" sold an astonishing 5 million copies within 24 hours of publication. Sales have remained phenomenal even as Rowling"s books have grown longer and darker, reflecting the boy wizard"s maturation into adolescence.
Hollywood has benefited, too; the first three Potter books have been made into hit movies. The books have also inspired countless Potter paraphernalia, including candy, cakes, capes and toys.
Rowling has said that one of her characters will not survive her sixth book, but she refused to identify that character.
Potter himself is safe, at least for now. Rowling has said her teenage hero will survive until the seventh and final book in the series, but has refused to say whether he will reach adulthood.
Only recently, the book"s completion seemed far away. In a message posted Dec. 10, Rowling said she had nothing "noteworthy to report, because I have been spending nearly all my time sitting in front of my computer writing, rewriting and taking the occasional break to bang my head off the desk in frustration or else rub my hands together in fiendish glee (I think the latter has happened once)."
《哈里·波特》的讀者們，這裡有一份特別的聖誕節大禮：J·K·羅琳本週一(12月20日)宣佈，她已經完成了第六部“魔法書”——《哈里·波特和同父異母的王子》。
“我知道大家都盼望在聖誕節看到這部作品。但我敢肯定到聖誕節那天，你們當中那些打算過節的人會有更多精彩的事情要做，不會一頭扎進我的書裡，而那些‘不’過節的人則肯定不樂意等到25號(才看到新書)。”英國作家J·K·羅琳在她的個人網站上發表了這樣的`留言。
羅琳還寫道，當她懷上第三個寶寶的時候，她有時間來“笨拙地修改手稿，讓自己滿意。最終的定稿和以往幾本書一樣令我感到非常高興。我只希望當你們讀到這本書時，會感到所有的等待都是值得的。”
2005年，《哈里·波特》的新書肯定會面世，羅琳的書迷們不必再遭受似乎永無休止的等待，《哈里·波特》系列第四部《哈里·波特和火焰杯》出版後，書迷們苦苦等待了三年，才等來了2003年夏出版的第五部《哈里·波特和鳳凰令》。羅琳沒有說這本新書的長度是否會超過870頁的《鳳凰令》。
羅琳的公告對書商來說也是一個好訊息，他們已經忍受了又一個圖書銷售低迷的年頭。這套1997年問世的魔法童話書的印刷量已經超過1億冊，其中《鳳凰令》在出版後的24小時內賣出了驚人的5百萬冊。《哈里·波特》系列一直保持著強勁的銷售勢頭，儘管羅琳後面的書寫得越來越長，內容也越來越陰暗，主要講述了小男巫哈里·波特步入青春期，逐漸成熟起來的歷程。
好萊塢也從中獲利不少，《哈里·波特》的前三部都被拍成電影，轟動一時。這套書還創造了無數的哈里·波特隨身用品，其中包括糖果、蛋糕、魔法斗篷和玩具等。
羅琳曾經說過，她塑造的人物中有一個將在第六部中死去，但她拒絕透露具體是誰。
哈里·波特本人到目前為止還是安全的。羅琳說過她塑造的少年英雄在第七部、也是最後一部之前是不會死去的，但她拒絕透露哈里是否能夠順利長成大人。
就在最近，這本書的“完工”似乎還是遙遙無期。羅琳在12月10日發表的帖子中還說，她沒有什麼"值得注目的事向大家彙報，因為我幾乎所有時間都坐在電腦前寫作或修改。偶爾休息的時候，我會在挫敗感中拿頭使勁撞桌子，或者由於中邪般的高興來回搓著雙手(我想後者曾經發生過一次)。
Vocabulary:
half-blood: 同父異母者，同母異父者
tinker with : 笨拙地修補
paraphernalia: personal belongings(個人隨身物品)(：夏根建)
學識谷
