诗翁彼豆故事集 第10期:好运泉(5)

 (Note 3: Professor Kettleburn survived no fewer than sixty-two periods of probation¹ during his employment as Care of Magical Creatures teacher. （注释三：凯特尔伯恩教授在担任神奇动物保护课期间至少经历了62个课时的试用期。

His relations with my predecessor² at Hogwarts, Professor Dippet, were always strained, Professor Dippet considering him to be somewhat reckless. 他和我霍格华兹的前辈狄劈教授关系很紧张，狄劈教授认为他很鲁莽。

By the time I became Headmaster, however, Professor Kettleburn had mellowed³ considerably⁴, although there were always those who took the cynical⁵ view that with only one and a half of his original limbs remaining to him, he was forced to take life at a quieter pace. ) 但等到我担任校长的时候，凯特尔伯恩教授已经变得相当成熟了，尽管总有那么些人挖苦他仅剩的独臂和半条腿，以至于他只能安静平缓的生活。）

Headmaster Armando Dippet imposed a blanket ban on future pantomimes, a proud non-theatrical tradition that Hogwarts continues to this day. 校长阿曼多·迪佩特规定今后全面禁止哑剧演出，这样一个傲慢的非戏剧性的传统，霍格沃茨一直延续至今。

Our dramatic fiasco notwithstanding, 'The Fountain of Fair Fortune' is probably the most popular of Beedle's tales, although, just like 'The Wizard and the Hopping⁶ Pot', it has its detractors. 尽管我们的演出以惨败收场，但《好运泉》大概是彼豆故事里最受欢迎的一个故事，不过它像《巫 师和跳跳埚》一样，也遭到了一些人的诋毁。

More than one parent has demanded the removal of this particular tale from the Hogwarts library, including, by coincidence, a descendant of Brutus Malfoy and one-time member of the Hogwart? Board of Governors, Mr Lucius Malfoy. 不止一位家长要求把这个特别的故事从霍格沃茨图书馆清除出去，其中碰巧就有布鲁图斯·马尔福的一位后裔——卢修斯·马 尔福先生，他一度是霍格沃茨学校董事会的成员。

Mr Malfoy submitted his demand for a ban on the story in writing: Any work of fiction or non-fiction that depicts⁷ interbreeding between wizards and Muggles should be banned from the bookshelves of Hogwarts. 马尔福先生提交了要求取缔这个故事的书面申请：任何描绘巫师和麻瓜通婚的虚构或非虚构类作品，都应该禁止出现在霍格沃茨的书架上。

I do not wish my son to be influenced into sullying the purity of hi? bloodline by reading stories that promote wizard-Muggle marriage. 我不希望我的儿子因阅读这些宣传巫师和麻瓜通婚的故事而受到影响，玷污其血统的纯正。

My refusal to remove the book from the library was backed by a majority of the Board of Governors. 我拒绝把这本书从图书馆撤掉的决定得到了董事会大多数成员的支持。

I wrote back to Mr Malfoy, explaining my decision: 我给马尔福先生写了一封回信，解释了我的决定：

So-called pure-blood families maintain their alleged⁸ purity disowning, banishing⁹ or lying about Muggles or Muggle-borns on their family trees. 所谓的纯血种家庭为维护他们所声称的血统的纯正，通过抵赖或说谎的方式，否认他们家庭里有麻瓜或麻瓜出身者。

They then attempt to foist¹⁰ their hypocrisy¹¹ upon the rest of us by asking us to ban works dealing¹² with the truths they deny. 他们还企图把他们的这种伪善强加给我们其他 人，要我们取缔那些说出他们所否认的真相的作品。

There is not a witch or wizard in existence whose blood has not mingled¹³ with that of Muggles, and I should therefore consider it both illogical and immoral¹⁴ to remove works dealing with the subject from our students' store of knowledge. 世界上任何一位巫女或巫师，其血管里都混杂着麻瓜的血液，因此我认为，把这一主题从我们学生的知识宝库中清除出去，是既不合理，也不道德的。

(Note 4: My response prompted several further letters from Mr Malfoy, but as they consisted mainly of opprobrious¹⁵ remarks on my sanity¹⁶, parentage and hygiene¹⁷, their relevance¹⁸ to this commentary is remote. ) （注释四：我的回应引发了马尔福先生的几次回信，但当他们发现我无理的评论源自于我的明智，血统和卫生学知识时，他们对此的评论慢慢平息了。）

This exchange marked the beginning of Mr Malfoy's long campaign to have me removed from my post as Headmaster of Hogwarts, and of mine to have him removed from his position as Lord Voldemort's Favourite Death Eater. 这次交流，标志着马尔福先生长期致力于把我从霍格沃茨校长的位置上拉下来的开始，也标志着我决定了把他从伏地魔最得力的食死徒的位置上拉下来。

 

1 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。

2 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

3 mellowed   

（使）成熟( mellow的过去式和过去分词 )； 使色彩更加柔和，使酒更加醇香

参考例句：

• She's mellowed over the years. 这些年来他变得成熟了。
• The colours mellowed as the sun went down. 随着太阳的落去，色泽变得柔和了。

4 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

5 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

6 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。

7 depicts   

描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述

参考例句：

• The book vividly depicts French society of the 1930s. 这本书生动地描绘了20 世纪30 年代的法国社会。
• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively. 他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。

8 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

9 banishing   

v.放逐，驱逐( banish的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• And he breathes out fast, like a king banishing a servant. 他呼气则非常迅速，像一个国王驱逐自己的奴仆。 来自互联网
• Banishing genetic disability must therefore be our primary concern. 消除基因缺陷是我们的首要之急。 来自互联网

10 foist   

vt.把…强塞给，骗卖给

参考例句：

• He doesn't try to foist his beliefs on everyone.他不会勉强每个人接受他的信念。
• He tried to foist some inferior goods on me.他企图把一些劣质货强售给我。

11 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 mingled   

混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• The sounds of laughter and singing mingled in the evening air. 笑声和歌声交织在夜空中。
• The man and the woman mingled as everyone started to relax. 当大家开始放松的时候，这一男一女就开始交往了。

14 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。

15 opprobrious   

adj.可耻的，辱骂的

参考例句：

• It is now freely applied as an adjective of an opprobrious kind.目前它被任意用作一种骂人的形容词。
• He ransacked his extensive vocabulary in order to find opprobrious names to call her.他从他的丰富词汇中挑出所有难听的话来骂她。

16 sanity   

n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确

参考例句：

• I doubt the sanity of such a plan.我怀疑这个计划是否明智。
• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。

17 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

18 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。