(阅读理解)

一部哈利波特风靡了整个世界，想了解它背后的故事以及作者的情况吗？

J. K. Rowling is the writer of Harry Potter, which is now one of the best sellers in the world. J. K. Rowling was born in Bristol on July 31st, 1965. She has one sister who is two years younger than her. Both girls loved listening to their father reading bedtime stories to them. They especially loved stories about magical world. Rowling wrote her first story, called Rabbit, at the age of six. After she graduated from the university, Rowling worked as a translator（翻译）in London. During this time, on a long trip in the summer of 1990, the idea came to her of a boy who has magic but doesn’t know it. In 1992 Rowling began to teach English. She lived with her baby daughter, Jessica, and spent much time finishing the first Harry Potter book for young readers. It appeared in June 1997. To her surprise, the book was greatly successful. The film came out in November 2001. Now Harry Potter series（系列）is popular with people of all ages and about 60 million books were sold in 200 countries.

Why has the series been so successful? There are a few things. Many other magical stories take place in faraway lands or in past or future times. But Harry Potter lives in modern England. He is also a very common boy: polite, friendly, brave and clever. So when other children read about Harry, they can imagine being like him. J. K. Rowling is very happy with the success, and she is now busy finishing the whole series of seven books. She is writing full-time and she’s really enjoying life. She says she will go on living a common life with her daughter and writing children’s books.