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The answer to whether Harry Potter lives or dies lies in a stack of(1) sealed boxes, shrouded(2) as if hidden beneath an invisibility cloak.
Barnes & Noble, the world's largest book retailer(3), has started taking delivery of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final Harry Potter novel, at a warehouse somewhere in the northeastern United States.
With its ending wrapped in secrecy(4) and high security surrounding its distribution, the book will go on sale around the world at midnight on Friday.
Taking care not to break its contract with Potter's U.S. publisher Scholastic Corp., Barnes & Noble gave reporters a tour of its distribution center -- but asked them to keep the location secret.
"We have had security all around the building, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Barnes & Noble Chief Executive Steve Riggio told Reuters.
In Britain, The Sunday Telegraph reported trucks carrying books from warehouses to shops will be fitted with satellite tracking systems to ensure they stick to assigned routes, while pallets(5) of books have been fitted with alarms in an operation estimated to cost $20 million. British publisher Bloomsbury would not comment.
Barnes & Noble would not even say when it started taking delivery of the books or when they would be sent to more than 700 stores across America.
Hundreds of white boxes destined(6) for retail stores were emblazoned(7) in red with the book's title and strict instructions "Do not open before July 21, 2007."
Fans are desperate to know whether the teen-age wizard Potter lives or dies after author J.K. Rowling revealed in June last year that she would kill off(8) at least two characters in book seven, and that a third got a reprieve(9).
1. a stack of：一堆，大量的
2. shroud：遮蔽、隐藏
3. retailer：零售商
4. secrecy：秘密
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哈里波特小说最后一册被密封在箱子中，如同被隐形斗篷罩住一般，没有人能知道哈里波特是生是死。
在美国东北部的某个仓库，世界最大图书零售商Barnes & Noble开始了哈里波特第七册《哈里波特与死亡圣灵》，也是最后一册的运输工作。
在周五午夜全球销售之前，小说结局都处于保密状态，派送过程也处于严密防守。
为了遵守与美国发行商Scholastic Corp.的协议，Barnes & Noble向媒体透露了派送中心的行程，但要求他们对藏书地点三缄其口。
Barnes & Noble首席执行官Steve Riggio对路透社说：“我们一周七天，每天二十四小时对小说进行监视保护。”
The Sunday Telegraph称在英国的运输途中有卫星跟踪系统监视，确保运输车按照指定路径行驶，每批书籍上也都安装了价值2000万美元的警报器。对此英国出版商Bloomsbury未置可否。
Barnes & Noble甚至不会透露开始派送的时间或者说何时书籍能够到达全美700多家书店。
预备零售的上百白色箱子上印着红色书名和禁令：“2007年7月21日前勿开封”。
去年六月作者J.K. Rowling透露在第七册中她将为至少两个主要人物判死刑，第三个判死缓，粉丝们因此为少年魔法师波特的生死揪心不已。
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| 中国国际广播电台 译 |
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5. pallet：烫书脊用金属板，用于印刷或修饰缚书中的字母或从事或应用于封页的一种工具
6. destined：去往…的
7. emblazon：用纹章装饰
8. kill off：消灭
9. reprieve：缓刑
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