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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two of America's top authors, John Irving and Stephen King, made a plea(1) to J.K. Rowling on Tuesday not to kill the fictional boy wizard Harry Potter in the final book of the series, but Rowling made no promises.
"My fingers are crossed for(2) Harry," Irving said at a joint news conference before a charity reading by the three writers at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
The author of "The World According to Garp" and a string of(3) other bestsellers(4) said he and King felt like "warm-up bands" for Rowling, who is working on the seventh and last book in the Harry Potter series, and who has said two characters will die.
King, who shot to fame(5) in 1974 with "Carrie," said he had confidence that Rowling would be "fair" to her hero.
Rowling, a Briton whose books have sold 300 million copies worldwide according to her publishers, said she was well into the process of(6) writing the final book.
"I feel quite liberated," she said.
"I can resolve(7) the story now and it's fun in a way it wasn't before because finally I've reached my resolution, and I think some people will loathe it and some people will love it, but that's how it should be."
"We're working toward the end I always planned but a couple of characters I expected to survive have died and one character got a reprieve(8)," she said, declining to elaborate.
Asked about the wisdom of killing off fictional characters, Rowling said the conventions(9) of the genre(10) demanded the hero go on alone.
"I understand why an author would kill a character from the point of view(11) of not allowing others to continue writing after the original author is dead," she added, leaving the door open to(12) the worst fears of some fans -- that Harry could die.
"When fans accuse me of sadism(13), which doesn't happen that often, I feel I'm toughening(14) them up to go on and read John and Stephen's books," she said. "I think they've got to be toughened up somehow. It's a cruel literary world out there."
1. made a plea 请求
2. My fingers are crossed for … 为…祈祷
3. a string of 一系列，一串
4. bestseller 畅销品
5. shoot to fame 一举成名
6. be well into the process of … 进展顺利
7. resolve 解开（戏剧）的冲突
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纽约（路透社）- 两位美国顶级作家约翰·欧文和史蒂芬.金周二恳求《哈利.波特》丛书的作者JK.罗琳不要在她的大结局版本里置这个小魔法师于死地，但罗琳没有作任何承诺。
“我为哈利祈祷，”欧文说。他与金和罗琳参加了在纽约城市广播音乐厅举行的慈善读书会前的联合记者招待会。
这位著有《 加普的世界观》和其他一系列畅销书的作者和金都感到仿佛是罗琳的“热身乐队”。罗琳正着手写作哈利.波特系列的第七部也是最后一部小说，声称有两个人物将死去。
因1974年出版《魔女嘉莉》而一举成名的金说他相信罗琳会公正对待她的男主人公。
据出版商统计, 英国作家罗琳的《哈利.波特》丛书在全世界卖了3亿本。她说最后这本书的进展顺利。
“我感到被解放了。”她说。
“现在我能讲完这个故事了，这是前所未有的乐趣，因为我终于下定决心。我相信有人会厌恶它，有人会喜欢它。但事情就是这个样子。”
“写作正朝着我一直计划的结局发展。但两个我原本想让生还的人物已经死了，还有一个暂且得到保全。”她说。但她拒绝透露细节。
当问到为什么有杀死小说人物的构思时，罗琳说小说这个流派的传统就是要求男主人公独步前行。
“我理解为什么作家要让人物死去，那是出于避免他人在原作者去世后再续写小说的考虑。”她补充道，并没有化解书迷最大的担心 – 哈利可能会死。
“当书迷指责我的残忍，当然这不常发生，我感到我在强化他们，使他们能继续读约翰和史蒂芬的书。”她说。“我想读者总是要变坚强的。那就是个残酷的文学世界。”
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| 中国国际广播电台 译 |
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8. reprieve 缓刑，暂缓
9. convention 惯例，习俗
10. genre 流派
11. from the point of view 从…的观点看
12. leave the door open to … 让门敞开着
13. sadism 虐待狂，残忍
14 toughen 使（变）坚韧
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Director: Liu Chi