(1)Everyone has a gift, even the person you think is a total bum. Look at what Harry’s aunt and uncle ended up discovering about him! 每個人都有天賦,甚至是那些你認為非常吊兒郎當的人??纯垂囊谭蛞虌專麄冏罱K發現了他的了不起之處。
(2)Revenge tends to only make you look bad. Harry may at times have tried to get his icky cousin into trouble, but it always backfired. 復仇只會讓自取其辱。哈利有時試圖讓他煩人的表哥入麻煩,但總是適得其反。
(3)People may be following your progress (or your example) even if you don’t know it. Harry had no idea that so many people were interested in how he was doing before he headed out to Hogwarts for the first time. 即便你現在不知道,說不定以后很多人會跟隨你的腳步(或視你為榜樣)。哈利來到霍格沃茲之前根本不知道會有那么多人對他感興趣。
(4)Fame may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Harry Potter arrived at Hogwarts with a reputation already in place. While it may have paid off in some ways, it also attracted the envy and negative attention of boys like Malfoy. 名氣不一定引致贊揚。哈利來到霍格沃茲時,他在魔法世界早已名聲大振了。但這會有不同的效果,比如這也招來了像馬爾福這樣的人的嫉妒。
(5)People are complicated and it’s difficult to see all of their soul in one fell swoop. At first, Hermione seemed like a very uptight show-off. It took a long time for Harry and others to see what a good heart she had. 人是復雜的,一時間很難了解一個人的全部品質。最初,赫敏似乎很愛炫耀自己的聰明。哈利和其他人很久才發現她其實是個很好的人。
(6)It’s easy to be a rival. It’s difficult to be a compassionate rival. 做別人的敵人很容易,做一個有同情心的敵人卻不容易。
(7)Things are seldom as they appear. Hagrid seemed big and scary and his pets often seemed quite monstrous, but in fact Hagrid was one of the most trustworthy people at the school, and his pets were loving creatures. 人和事不都是他們表面上的那樣。海格又高達又嚇人,他的寵物都是些怪獸,但實際上他是哈利在學校最值得信任的朋友,他的寵物其實也都挺可愛的。
(8)Alliances are important. There are a lot of alliances throughout the Harry Potter story. People create alliances for strength or to change the way things are. 盟友是重要的。在哈利·波特的故事里有許多種不同的盟友。人們是為了壯大力量或者改變事物而結盟的。
(9)Alliances can be dangerous. When you are allies with a group of people, your fates are intertwined. You are sharing your vulnerable spots, and it’s easy for things to go awry. That is not to say you should avoid alliances, but you must choose carefully to avoid harm. 盟友又是危險的。當你和一群人結盟時,你們的命運就交織了。你會暴露你的弱點,事情很容易改變。不過這樣不意味著你就應該不結盟,但你要小心地做出選擇,躲避危險。
(10)Two friends can be better than a host. In the end, Ron and Hermione were enough to sustain Harry through the hardest parts of his journey. 兩個朋友有時勝過一幫。在故事的最后,羅恩和赫敏倆人就足夠陪伴哈利挺過最艱難的旅程了。
(11)Sometimes you have to let people help you even if you feel like you can do everything yourself.有時你要讓其他人幫助你,即便你覺得你自己一個人能行。
(12)You never know a person’s full story or rationale for doing things. We can’t reside in peoples’ heads. Even Snape had problems with that.你不可能完全知道別人做事的緣由和故事。我們不是別人肚子里的蛔蟲。對斯內普這個人就是這樣。
(13)Don’t ask others to do what you wouldn’t do yourself. The story would have been quite different if Harry had said, “Yeah…you guys go fight the dark lord. I’m just uh…I’m just gonna chill here I think.”己所不欲勿施于人。如果哈利說“恩,你們去和伏地魔戰斗……我要在這里冷靜地想想”那么故事就會很不一樣了。
(14)Look for people who can balance you somehow. Harry’s darkness was balanced by Ron’s impish sense of humor. His passion was balanced by Hermione’s logic.找那些能與你互補的人為友。羅恩的幽默平衡了哈利的陰郁。他的熱情又和赫敏互補了。
(15)The people who are there for you in the dark times and who are there to celebrate with you when you succeed – those are the people you want and need in your corner.在低谷時陪伴你,在高處時與你同樂——這才是你需要的最親密的朋友。