Last term, Harry and Ron had helped Gryffindor win the House Championship, beating Slytherin for the first time in seven years.
上学期,哈利和罗恩为格兰芬多赢得了学院杯冠军,这是他们学院七年来第一次打败斯莱特林。
A very small, mousy-haired boy had been called forward to place the hat on his head.
一个非常瘦小的灰头发男孩被叫到前面,戴上了分院帽。
Harry's eyes wandered past him to where Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, sat watching the Sorting from the staff table, his long silver beard and half-moon glasses shining brightly in the candlelight.
哈利的目光移到了坐在教师席上观看分院仪式的邓布利多校长身上,他银白的长须和半月形的眼镜在烛光下闪闪发亮。
Several seats along, Harry saw Gilderoy Lockhart, dressed in robes of aquamarine.
再过去几个座位,哈利看到了穿一身水绿色长袍的吉德罗洛哈特。
And there at the end was Hagrid, huge and hairy, drinking deeply from his goblet.
最顶头坐着虎背熊腰、须发浓密的海格,正举着杯子大口地喝酒。
“Hang on . . .” Harry muttered to Ron. “There's an empty chair at the staff table. . . . Where's Snape?”
“等等……”哈利低声对罗恩说,“教师席上有一个位子空着……斯内普哪儿去了?”
Professor Severus Snape was Harry's least favorite teacher. Harry also happened to be Snape's least favorite student.
西弗勒斯斯内普教授是哈利最不喜欢的老师,而哈利碰巧又是斯内普最不喜欢的学生。
Cruel, sarcastic, and disliked by everybody except the students from his own House, Snape taught Potions.
斯内普为人残忍刻薄,除了他自己学院(的学生以外,大家都不喜欢他。他教授的是魔药学。
“Maybe he's ill!” said Ron hopefully.
“也许他病了!”罗恩满怀希望地说。
“Maybe he's left,” said Harry, “because he missed out on the Defense Against the Dark Arts job again!”
“也许他走了,”哈利说,“因为他又没当上黑魔法防御术课教师!”
“Or he might have been sacked !” said Ron enthusiastically. “I mean, everyone hates him —”
“也许他被解雇了!”罗恩兴奋地说,“你想,所有的人都恨他——”
“Or maybe,” said a very cold voice right behind them, “he's waiting to hear why you two didn't arrive on the school train.”
“也许,”一个冰冷的声音在他们背后说,“他在等着听你们两个说说为什么没坐校车来。”
Harry spun around. There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze, stood Severus Snape.
哈利一转身,西弗勒斯斯内普就站在眼前,黑袍子在凉风中抖动着。
He was a thin man with sallow skin, a hooked nose, and greasy, shoulder-length black hair, and at this moment, he was smiling in a way that told Harry he and Ron were in very deep trouble.
他身材枯瘦,皮肤灰黄,长着一个鹰钩鼻,油油的黑发披到肩上。此刻他脸上的那种笑容告诉哈利,他和罗恩的处境非常不妙。