诗翁彼豆故事集 第3期:巫师和跳跳埚(3)

 　　Albus Dumbledore on “The Wizard and the Hopping¹ Pot” 阿不思·邓布利多关于《巫师和跳跳锅》的批注：

　　A kind old wizard decides to teach his hardhearted son a lesson by giving him a taste of the local Muggles' misery². 一位善良的老巫师，想给铁石心肠的儿子一个教训，让他尝尝当地麻瓜们的苦难。

　　The young wizard's conscience awakes, and he agrees to use his magic for the benefit of his non-magical neighbours. 年轻巫师的良知觉醒了，他同意利用自己的魔法去帮助那些不会魔法的邻居。

　　A simple and heart-warming fable³, one might think – in which case, one would reveal oneself to be an innocent nincompoop. 读者会认为这是一个简单而温馨的寓言故事——在这种情况下，读者会暴露自己是一个天真的傻瓜。

　　A pro-Muggle story showing a Muggle-loving father as superior in magic to a Muggle-hating son? 这是一个亲麻瓜的故事，表明爱麻瓜的父亲在魔法上比恨麻瓜的儿子高明，是不是？

　　It is nothing short of amazing that any copies of the original version of this tale survived the flames to which they were so often consigned⁴. 因此，这个故事的原版书没有一本能够逃脱火焰而保存下来，也就毫不令人吃惊了，这样的书是经常会被丢进火里焚烧的。

　　Beedle was somewhat out of step with his times in preaching a message of brotherly love for Muggles. 彼豆宣传对麻瓜要怀有手足之情，这跟他的时代有点格格不入。

　　The persecution⁵ of witches and wizards was gathering⁶ pace all over Europe in the early fifteenth century. 十五世纪早期，迫害巫师的行径在欧洲愈演愈烈。

　　Many in the magical community felt, and with good reason, that offering to cast a spell on the Muggle-next-door's sickly pig was tantamount to volunteering to fetch the firewood for one's own funeral pyre. 魔法界的许多人觉得，向隔壁麻瓜邻居的瘟猪施咒语，就等于是在主动往焚烧自己的火堆上添加柴火，这么想也是有道理的。

　　Note 1. It is true, of course, that genuine witches and wizards were reasonably adept⁷ at escaping the stake, block and noose⁸ (see my comments about Lisette de Lapin in the commentary on “Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump” ) . 注释一：这当然是真的，那些真诚的巫女和巫师们开始熟练的逃避火刑，石块和套索（参见“芭比蒂兔兔和饶舌树桩”注释里我对利塞特的兔子的评论）。

　　However, a number of deaths did occur: Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (a wizard at the royal court in his lifetime, and in his death-time, ghost of Gryffindor Tower) was stripped of his wand before being locked in a dungeon⁹, and was unable to magic himself out of his execution; 然而，一些杀戮还是发生了，西敏汀的尼古拉斯爵士（生前是宫廷的御用巫师，死后是格兰芬多塔的常驻幽灵）在关入地牢前被剥夺了魔杖，因此他无法使用魔法来让自己免于处决。

　　And wizarding families were particularly prone¹⁰ to losing younger members, whose inability to control their own magic made them noticeable, and vulnerable, to Muggle witch-hunters. 巫师的家庭尤其容易失去年轻的家庭成员，由于他们没有控制魔法的能力使得自己引人注目，对于麻瓜巫师狩猎者来说他们十分脆弱。

　　“Let the Muggles manage without us!” was the cry, as the wizards drew further and further apart from their non-magical brethren, culminating with the institution of the International Statute¹¹ of Wizarding Secrecy¹² in 1689, when wizardkind voluntarily went underground. 他们的口号是：“让麻瓜们自生自灭吧！”巫师跟他们的非魔法兄弟的距离越来越远，最后于一六八九年颁布了《国际巫师保密法》，从此巫师界便自动转入地下。

　　Children being children, however, the grotesque¹³ Hopping Pot had taken hold of their imaginations. 然而，孩子就是孩子，古怪滑稽的跳跳埚占据了他们的想象。

1 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

2 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

3 fable   

n.寓言；童话；神话

参考例句：

• The fable is given on the next page. 这篇寓言登在下一页上。
• He had some motive in telling this fable. 他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

4 consigned   

v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃

参考例句：

• I consigned her letter to the waste basket. 我把她的信丢进了废纸篓。
• The father consigned the child to his sister's care. 那位父亲把孩子托付给他妹妹照看。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 adept   

adj.老练的，精通的

参考例句：

• When it comes to photography,I'm not an adept.要说照相，我不是内行。
• He was highly adept at avoiding trouble.他十分善于避开麻烦。

8 noose   

n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑

参考例句：

• They tied a noose round her neck.他们在她脖子上系了一个活扣。
• A hangman's noose had already been placed around his neck.一个绞刑的绳圈已经套在他的脖子上。

9 dungeon   

n.地牢，土牢

参考例句：

• They were driven into a dark dungeon.他们被人驱赶进入一个黑暗的地牢。
• He was just set free from a dungeon a few days ago.几天前，他刚从土牢里被放出来。

10 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

11 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

12 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

13 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。