诗翁彼豆故事集 第21期:兔子巴比蒂和她的呱呱树桩(5)

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

　　The story of “Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump” is, in many ways, the most “real” of Beedle's tales, in that the magic described in the story conforms, almost entirely¹, to known magical laws. 在许多方面，《兔子巴比蒂和她的呱呱树桩》都是彼豆故事中最“真实”的，因为故事中的魔法几乎完全遵循了已知的魔法规则。

　　It was through this story that many of us first discovered that magic could not bring back the dead –and a great disappointment and shock it was, convinced as we had been, as young children, that our parents would be able to awaken² our dead rats and cats with one wave of their wands. 正是通过这个故事，我们许多人第一次发现魔法不能起死回生——这是一种莫大的失望和震惊，因为作为孩子，我们一直相信父母只要一挥魔杖，就会让那些死去的老鼠和猫苏醒过来。

　　Though some six centuries have elapsed since Beedle wrote this tale, and while we have devised innumerable ways of maintaining the illusion of our loved ones' continuing presence, (Note. 1: Wizarding photographs and portraits move and (in the case of the latter) talk just like their subjects. 尽管从彼豆写这个故事起已经过了六个多世纪，我们仍一直在想发明各种办法保持那种我们所爱的人还会继续存在的幻想。（注释一：魔法照片和肖像会动，而且（在肖像中）还会像真人一样说话。

　　Other rare objects, such as the Mirror of Erised, may also reveal more than a static image of a lost loved one. 其他稀罕物品，如厄里斯魔镜，跟静态图片比起来，也能透露已故亲人更多的情况。

　　Ghosts are transparent³, moving, talking and thinking versions of wizards and witches who wished, for whatever reason, to remain on earth. JKR) wizards still have not found a way of reuniting body and soul once death has occurred. 幽灵是某些巫师的透明的、活动的、会说话会思想的翻版，这些巫师出于某种原因希望继续留在世界上。——J.K。罗琳注但是，巫师们仍然没有找到一种在死亡发生之后，把身体和灵魂重新连接在一起的办法。

　　As the eminent⁴ wizarding philosopher Bertrand de Pensées-Profondes writes in his celebrated⁵ work A Study into the Possibility of Reversing the Actual and Metaphysical Effects of Natural Death, with Particular Regard to the Reintegration of Essence and Matter: “Give it up. It's never going to happen.” 正如著名的魔法哲学家伯特兰·德·潘西-普罗方德斯在他的名著《对自然死亡之实际及抽象结果的研究，特别是对精神与物质的再度统一的研究》中所写的：“放弃吧。这种事永远不会发生。”

　　The tale of Babbitty Rabbitty does, however, give us one of the earliest literary mentions of an Animagus, for Babbitty the washerwoman is possessed⁶ of the rare magical ability to transform into an animal at will. 不过，兔子巴比蒂的故事倒是首次在文学作品中提到了阿尼马格斯，因为洗衣妇巴比蒂拥有罕见的法术，能够随心所欲地变形为一只动物。

　　Animagi make up a small fraction of the wizarding population. 阿尼马格斯只占巫师人口中的很少一部分。

　　Achieving perfect, spontaneous human to animal transformation⁷ requires much study and practice, and many witches and wizards consider that their time might be better employed in other ways. 要熟练而自然地由人转变为动物，需要大量的钻研和练习，许多巫师认为把时间用在别的方面更有价值。

　　Certainly, the application of such a talent is limited unless one has a great need of disguise or concealment⁸. 当然，对这种才能的利用是非常有限的，除非此人特别需要伪装或隐藏自己。

　　It is for this reason that the Ministry⁹ of Magic has insisted upon a register of Animagi, for there can be no doubt that this kind of magic is of greatest use to those engaged in surreptitious, covert¹⁰ or even criminal activity. 正是由于这个原因，魔法部坚持把所有的阿尼马格斯登记在案，因为对于那些从事鬼鬼祟祟、不可告人的勾当，甚至从事犯罪活动的人来说，这类魔法无疑是十分有用的。

分享到：