4.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire外文.doc

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire By J.K. Rowling  CHAPTER ONE THE RIDDLE HOUSE The villagers of Little Hangleron still called it “the Riddle House,” even though it had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there. It stood on a hill overlooking the village, some of its windows boarded, tiles missing from its roof, and ivy spreading unchecked over its face. Once a fine-looking manor, and easily （absolutely, without a doubt）the largest and grandest building for miles around, the Riddle House was now damp, derelict (abandoned property), and unoccupied. The Little Hagletons all agreed that the old house was “creepy.” Half a century ago, something strange and horrible had happened there, something that the older inhabitants of the village still liked to discuss when topics for gossip were scarce. The story had been picked over (examine meticulously, check closely) so many times, and had been embroidered in so many places, that nobody was quite sure what the truth was anymore. Every version of the tale, however, started in the same place: Fifty years before, at daybreak on a fine summers morning when the Riddle House had still been well kept and impressive, a maid had entered the drawing room to find all three Riddles dead. The maid had run screaming down the hill into the village and roused as many people as she could. “Lying there with their eyes wide open! Cold as ice! Still in their dinner things!” The police were summoned, and the whole of Little Hangleton had seethed 沸腾 (British Slang) cup of tea) once, Ive offered it a hundred times. Never wanted to mix, he didnt.” “Ah, now,” said a woman at the bar, “he had a hard war, Frank. He likes the quiet life. Thats no reason to — ” “Who else had a key to the back door, then?” barked the cook. “Theres been a spare key hanging in the gardeners cottage far back as I can remember! Nobody forced the door last night! No broken windows! All Frank had to do was creep up to the big house while we was all slee