◎ 胡立宗

Harry Potter can breathe a sigh of relief. Only one in five adult fans think the boy wizard will die in the final book of J.K. Rowling’s hit series, according to an opinion poll.

哈利波特可以喘口大氣了。一項民調顯示，只有1/5的成年書迷認為，J.K.羅琳的暢銷系列小說最後一集中，這位少年魔法師真的會死去。

The Zogby Interactive survey was conducted as speculation over which characters will be killed off in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" runs wild on the Internet before the book’s July 21 release.

這項佐格比互動調查的起因是，在小說7月21日正式發行之前，為了那個角色會在「哈利波特與致命聖靈」中遇害，網路上早就已經吵翻天。

Rowling has said two characters will die in the seventh and final book of the Harry Potter series.

羅琳曾說，在哈利波特第七集也是最後一集中，有兩個角色會死掉。

The survey of 1,373 U.S. adults who plan to read the book found only one in five─or 20 percent─believed one of those two characters would be Potter.

針對1,373名打算讀這本小說的美國成年人的調查，發現5個人中只有1個（20％）相信，哈利波特會是死掉的兩個角色當中的一個。

Nearly half, or 47 percent, don’t believe the main character will meet that dire fate, while 32 percent admit they can’t guess what surprises they might find in the final book of the series and are unsure if Potter will die.

接近一半、即47％的人不相信主角會碰到那樣可怕命運，32％則承認他們猜不出在最後一集中會有什麼意外的情節，也不確定哈利波特會不會死。

新聞辭典

the/a sigh of relief：欣慰地嘆一口氣。容易和a sign of relief（緩和的跡象）搞混。與嘆氣有關的還有：a deep sigh（深深嘆息）；a yearning sigh（懷念的嘆息）；a profound sigh（意味深長的嘆息）。

kill off︰殺光、滅絕（特別是無差別的屠殺），口語用法還有消磨、毀掉的意思。Working every day kills off all of my tolerance.（每天工作磨光我的耐心。）

dire：形容詞，悲慘的、極度緊迫的。We are in dire need of help.（我們急需幫助。）