原文欣赏“Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?” Harry asked.
"你为什么会说疯子才去打劫古灵阁？"哈利不解地问。

“Spells — enchantments,” said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. “They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way — Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat.”
"因为……"海格一边说，一边摊开了他的报纸，"他们说有许多龙在看守着那些保险金库，而且你得找出逃跑路线——古灵阁在伦敦城下几英里的地方，很深很深的地底下，即使你得手了，在你想方设法出来的时候也会被饿死的。"

Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.
哈利坐在一边思考这个问题，而海格在读他的报纸《预言家日报》，哈利从他姨夫那儿知道当人们遇到问题时就会一个人呆在一边，但这的确太困难了，从他出生到现在还从没遇到过这么多的问题。

“Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual,” Hagrid muttered, turning the page.
"魔法部长还是像往常一样将事情搞得一团糟。"海格抱怨着，翻开报纸的另一页。

“There's a Ministry of Magic?” Harry asked, before he could stop himself.
"还有魔法部长？"哈利脱口而出。

“'Course,” said Hagrid. “They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin’ fer advice.”
"当然了。"海格说："他们曾想让邓布利多做魔法部长，当然，邓布利多从不愿意离开霍格沃茨，所以没接这项工作。那是个笨手笨脚的家伙，他每天早上都会派猫头鹰来向邓布利多请教。"

“But what does a Ministry of Magic do ?”
"但是魔法部长是做什么的？"

“Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country.”
"他们的主要职责就是让魔法远离麻瓜。"

“Why?”
"为什么？"

“Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone.”
"为什么？啊呀，哈利，每个人都想拥有魔法去解决问题呀。最好不让麻瓜发现我们。"

讲解与练习辨析die from, die of, die for, die off和die out

die out 绝种,死光

die of 意为 “因……而死”（原因多来自内部如情感、冻饿、生病等），其后跟hunger，cold, illness, old age, a fever, heat等名词,
The man died of lung-cancer(肺癌)。
这个人死于肺癌。
The beggar died of hunger and cold.
这个乞丐死于饥饿和寒冷。

die from 意为“由于……而死”(外因)（原因常来自外部创伤、交通事故），其后常跟wound， accident, over work, carelessness, drinking 等名词。
The engineer died from overwork.
这个工程师死于操劳过度。
The child died from weakness.
这个孩子因体质太虚弱而死了。

die for: 为某种目的而献身、牺牲

还有，一个die off 是逐渐死去

get one's hands on sth.

To get ones hands on (something ) means to manage to obtain it. For example : "I want to get hands on some tickets for the Beyonce concert . ""
的意思是设法得到某物，例如：“我想设法拿到几张碧昂丝演唱会的门票”。

leave sb alone: 不管(不理,不干涉,让单独呆着)
leave me alone 别管我，让我一个人静静。

mess up 弄糟
She felt she'd messed up her whole life.
她感觉到把自己的一生都搞砸了。

练习：

1. He died _____ the traffic accident last week.
A. of B. from C. with
2. This old man died _____ solitude, because his son deserted(抛弃) him.
A. by B. from C. of

Key: B C