Chapter 12 The Mirror of Erised
On Christmas Eve,an also important and popular celebrating day,Hogwarts was decorated spectacularly and a large number of students could go home for this family-gathering day.
To his surprise,Harry received many presents such as a sweater from Ron's mother,a Invisibility cloak from Professor Dumbledore which was a very valuable legacy from the Death and a cut wooden flute from Hagrid which would be helpful for Harry to evade the attack by the three-head monster.
Harry used the Invisibility cloak to explore the mystery hided and guarded by the three-head monster.Unexpectedly,Harry found a Erised Mirror which could reflect Harry's dead family and Harry was once immensed in the reflection of his dead parents.Dumbledore found the emotion commotion of Harry in front of the magic mirror and told him the secret of the mirror and life philosophy.
The inscription on the mirror "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi" should be read in inverted order and you can read "I show not your face but your heart's desire",which gave me a sudden surprise and well decoded the mystery meaning of the mirror.It was a stroke of genius of J.K.Rowling.
Words and phrases
1.taunt sb: to try to make sb angry or upset by saying unkind things about them, laughing at their failures, etc. 辱骂；嘲笑；讽刺；奚落
2.grind one's teeth at sb 对sb恨之入骨
3.looks a treat 看上去棒极了
a treat: extremely well or good 极为有效；棒极了
◆ His idea worked a treat (= was successful). 他的主意极为奏效。
4.let slip sth:to give sb information that is supposed to be secret 泄露；无意中说出
◆ I happened to let it slipthat he had given me £1 000 for the car. 我一不小心说出了他花 1 000 英镑买走我那辆车的事
5.breathe down sb's ˈneck: to watch closely what sb is doing in a way that makes them feel anxious and/or annoyed 紧盯着某人看；看得某人发毛（或心烦）；监视
6.bound in 跳跃着跑进来
bound + adv./prep:to run with long steps, especially in an enthusiastic way 跳跃着跑
◆ The dogs bounded ahead. 那些狗在前面蹦蹦跳跳地跑。
7.die away：to become gradually weaker or fainter and finally disappear 逐渐减弱；逐渐模糊；逐渐消失◆ The sound of their laughter died away. 他们的笑声渐渐消失了。
Sentences:
1.Something had been nagging at the back of his mind all day.Not until he climbed into bed was he free to think about it.
有些事整天萦绕在他的心头。直到他上了床，他才有空去想这件事。
nag：to worry or irritate you continuously 不断困扰；老使人烦恼
◆Doubts nagged me all evening. 我一晚上都没有摆脱心中的疑虑。
2.Excitement flooded through him.
表达“兴奋”
3.His heart was pounding far more furiously than when the book had screamed.
heart was pounding furiously 表达“紧张，害怕”
4.After what seemed an age,she turned and left.
what seemed an age 表达“貌似经过了很长的时间”
5.Harry felt as though his insides had turned to ice.
表达“糟糕透顶”的感觉
6.以下是对“欲望”的哲理摘抄(可以进行改写）
1>The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror,that is,he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is.
世界上最幸福的人会像使用普通的镜子一样使用厄里斯魔镜，也就是说，他会透过魔镜看到真实的自己。
2>It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest,most desperate desire of our hearts.
它向我们展示的无非是我们心中最深、最绝望的渴望。
3>This mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.
这面镜子不能给我们知识和真理。人们在它面前虚度光阴，被他们所看到的东西迷惑，或者被逼疯了，不知 道它所显示的是真实的还是虚幻的
4>If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.
如果你曾经遇到过它，你现在就会做好准备。沉湎于梦想而忘记生活是不行的。