Perhaps only a small boy training to be a wizard at the Hogwarts school of magic could cast a spell so powerful as to create the biggest book launch ever. Wherever in the world the clock strikes midnight on June 20th, his followers will flock to get their paws on one of more than 10m copies of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”. Bookshops will open in the middle of the night and delivery firms are drafting in extra staff and bigger trucks. Related toys, games, DVDs and other merchandise will be everywhere. There will be no escaping Pottermania.

Yet Mr Potter’s world is a curious one, in which things are often not what they appear. While an excitable media (hereby including The Economist, happy to support such a fine example of globalisation) is helping to hype the launch of J.K. Rowling’s fifth novel, about the most adventurous thing that the publishers (Scholastic in America and Britain’s Bloomsbury in English elsewhere) have organised is a reading by Ms Rowling in London’s Royal Albert Hall, to be broadcast as a live webcast. Hollywood, which owns everything else to do with Harry Potter, says it is doing even less. Incredible as it may seem, the guardians of the brand say that, to protect the Potter franchise, they are trying to maintain a low profile. Well, relatively low.

Ms Rowling signed a contract in 1998 with Warner Brothers, part of AOL Time Warner, giving the studio exclusive film, licensing and merchandising rights in return for what now appears to have been a steal: some $500,000. Warner licenses other firms to produce goods using Harry Potter characters or images, from which Ms Rowling gets a big enough cut that she is now wealthier than the queen—if you believe Britain’s Sunday Times rich list. The process is selfgenerating: each book sets the stage for a film, which boosts book sales, which lifts sales of Potter products.

Globally, the first four Harry Potter books have sold some 200m copies in 55 languages; the two movies have grossed over $1.8 billion at the box office. This is a stunning success by any measure, especially as Ms Rowling has long demanded that Harry Potter should not be over commercialised. In line with her wishes, Warner says it is being extraordinarily careful, at least by Hollywood standards, about what it licenses and to whom. It imposed tough conditions on Coca Cola, insisting that no Harry Potter images should appear on cans, and is now in the process of making its licensing programme even more restrictive. Coke may soon be considered too mass market to carry the brand at all.

The deal with Warner ties much of the merchandising to the films alone. There are no officially sanctioned products relating to “Order of the Phoenix”; nor yet for “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”, the film of the third book, which is due out in June 2004. Warner agrees that Ms Rowling’s creation is a different sort of commercial property, one with long-term potential that could be damaged by a typical Hollywood marketing blitz, says Diane Nelson, the studio’s global brand manager for Harry Potter. It is vital, she adds, that with more to come, readers of the books are not alienated. “The evidence from our market research is that enthusiasm for the property by fans is not waning.”

1. When the author says “there will be no escaping Potter mania”, he implies that .

[A] Harry Potter’s appeal for the readers is simply irresistible

[B] it is somewhat irrational to be so crazy about the magic boy

[C] craze about Harry Potter will not be over in the near future

[D] Hogwarts school of magic will be the biggest attraction world over

2. Ms Rowling’s reading in London’s Royal Albert Hall is mentioned to show .

[A] publishers are really adventurous in managing the Potter’s business

[B] businesses are actually more credible than media in Potter’s world

[C] the media are promoting Pottermania more actively than Hollywood

[D] businesses involved with Potter are moving along in an unusual way

3. The author believes that .

[A] Britain’s Sunday Times rich list is not very convincing as it sounds

[B] Time Warner’s management of licenses is a bit over commercialised

[C] other firms may produce goods using Harry Potter images at will

[D] what Ms Rowling got in return for her offering to Warner is a real bargain

4. Paragraph 4 intends mainly to show Warner’s .

[A] determination to promote Potter

[B] consistence in conducting busines

[C] high regard for Ms Rowling’s request

[D] careful restrictions on licensing to Coco-Cola

5. It can be concluded from the last paragraph that .

[A] products of Potter films have brought enormous profits to Warner

[B] current Hollywood’s marketing of Potter may damage its potential

[C] readers could get tired of Ms Rowling’s writings sooner or later

[D] Warner will maintain the same strategy with Potter in future

答案与解析

1. A这是一道句意题。第一段描述了波特迷们的世界性狂热，没有人能躲过哈利波特狂潮，暗示哈利波特的吸引力不可抵挡，所以A项为正确答案。

2. D这是一道例证题。文章说到Rowling应邀朗读一事是为了说明此次商家的行为比较低调，这种举措并不常见。故此答案为D。

3. D这是一道作者观点题。依据“in return for what now appears to have been a steal: some $500,000.”，作者称之为steal，可知答案为D。

4. C这是一道主旨题。段落的主要意思是华纳按Rowling的要求做了，严禁过分的商业化。故答案为C。

5. D这是一道推论题。A项可以从上面推测到，但并不是最后一段的引申，B项，本文对华纳采取的政策时予以肯定的，C项与本文内容相反，前文说华纳不想过分商业化Potter，最后一段重申这种做法的正确性，并说市场调研表明Potter迷们的激情未减，可以推论，公司在未来还将保持这一策略。故答案为D。

译文

也许只有在Hogwarts魔术学校受训并成为魔术师的小男孩才能产生如此大的魅力，造就有史以来最大的销书狂潮。6月20 日，无论在世界的什么地方，午夜的钟声一响，他的追随者就蜂拥而至，抢购1000万册《哈利波特和菲尼克斯命令》中属于自己的一本。书店半夜开门，送货公司招募更多的雇员、租用更多的卡车。相关的玩具、游戏、DVD及其他商品处处皆是。哈里波特热潮无所不在。

然而，波特的世界很奇怪，事情与往常不一样。尽管易于激动的媒体(包括《经济学家》杂志也乐于宣传这样一个全球化的经典之作)帮着鼓吹J.K. Rowling的第五部小说的发行，出版商所做的大胆的宣传不过是请Rowling小姐到伦敦皇家阿尔伯特大厅朗读一段，并在网上实况转播。拥有除出版权之外与哈里波特有关的一切的好莱坞，动作也不多。真是不可思议，商标的拥有者说，为了保护与哈里波特相关的权利，他们正试图保持低姿态，真的够低。

Rowling小姐于1998年与华纳兄弟，美国在线时代华纳的一部分，签订了合约，赋予电影厂独有的许可及商品开发权，而她所得到的现在看起来十分廉价：约50万美元。华纳许可其他公司使用哈里波特的人物形象生产产品，Rowling小姐也从中分得一大块，使她比女王还富有——只要你相信英国Sunday Times所列的富人名单。这是一个增值的过程：书籍为电影搭建平台，电影促进书的销售，书的销售又带动哈里波特产品的销售。

从全球来看，哈里波特的前四册已被翻译成55 种语言的文字，并销售2亿册;两部电影的票房也达到18亿美元。怎么说，这也是令人震惊的成功，尤其是Rowling小姐还一直要求不要将哈里波特过于商业化。与她的要求一致，华纳说他们一直很小心，至少按好莱坞的习惯标准来说是这样，无论是发放哪类许可还是发放给谁都这样。华纳对Coca-Cola实施了严格的要求，坚持哈里波特的形象不能出现在易拉罐上，而目前正将许可的发放进一步严格化。Coca-Cola太大众市场化了，不能持用波特商标。

与华纳的交易使得商品的开发多系于电影本身。还没有官方认可的与《哈利波特和菲尼克斯命令》相关的产品出来，《哈利波特和阿兹卡班囚徒》也没有，后者是第三部书的电影版，电影将在2004 年6月发行。华纳也认为，Rowling小姐的创作是一种不同的商品，它具有长期的潜力，用好莱坞的闪电式营销方式会破坏它的前景，电影厂的哈里波特全球商标经理Diane Nelson就这么认为。她还说，由于更多的系列还未出版，不能将读者疏远很关键。“市场研究表明，波特迷们对波特的激情并没有消减”。