By J.K. Rowling Originally published on

on Aug 10th 2015

冥想冥想盆 J.K.罗琳 原载于 2015年8月10日

A Pensieve is a wide and shallow dish made of metal or stone, often elaborately decorated or inlaid with precious stones, and carrying powerful and complex enchantments. Pensieves are rare, because only the most advanced wizards ever use them, and because the majority of wizardkind is afraid of doing so.

冥想盆是一种由金属或石头制成的宽而浅的盘子，通常被精心装饰或镶嵌有宝石，携带着强大而复杂的魔力。Pensieves是罕见的，因为只有最先进的巫师曾经使用他们，因为大多数巫师是害怕这样做。

The perceived dangers of the Pensieve relate to its power over memory or thought. The Pensieve is enchanted to recreate memories so that they become re-liveable, taking every detail stored in the subconscious and recreating it faithfully, so that either the owner, or (and herein lies the danger) a second party, is able to enter the memories and move around within them. Inevitably, those with things to hide, those ashamed of their pasts, those eager to keep hold of their secrets, or protective of their privacy, will be wary of an object like the Pensieve.

冥想盆的危险性与它的记忆力或思维能力有关。冥想盆被施了魔法来重新创造记忆，使它们变得可以重新活下去，把存储在潜意识中的每一个细节忠实地重新创造出来，这样无论是拥有者，还是（这里存在着危险）第二方，都能够进入记忆并在其中移动。不可避免地，那些有事情要隐藏的人，那些对自己的过去感到羞愧，那些渴望保留自己的秘密，或保护自己的隐私的人都会对像冥想盆这样的物体保持警惕。

Even more difficult than the recreation of memories is the use of a Pensieve to examine and sort thoughts and ideas, and very few wizards have the ability to do so. Albus Dumbledore is seen using the Hogwarts Pensieve in this way, notably in Chapter Thirty of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when he adds thoughts to the Pensieve and Harry’s face turns into Snape’s; Dumbledore is reminding himself of the hidden connection between Snape and Harry (that Snape was in love with Harry’s mother, and is now – though immensely grudgingly – honour-bound to protect him).

比重塑记忆更难的是用冥想盆来检查和整理思想和观念，而很少有巫师有这样的能力。阿不思·邓布利多就是以这种方式使用霍格沃茨冥想盆的，尤其是在《哈利·波特与火焰杯》第三十章中，当他在冥想盆上添加了一些想法，哈利的脸变成了斯内普的脸；邓布利多提醒自己斯内普和哈利之间隐藏的联系（斯内普爱着哈利的母亲，现在——虽然非常不情愿——光荣地承诺要保护他）。

Traditionally, a witch or wizard’s Pensieve, like their wand, is buried with them, as it is considered an intensely personal artefact; any thoughts or memories left inside the Pensieve are likewise interred with their owner, unless he or she has requested otherwise. The Hogwarts Pensieve, however, belongs not to any individual but to the school. It has been used by a long line of headmasters and headmistresses, who have also left behind their life experience in the form of memories. This forms an invaluable library of reference for the headmaster or headmistress of the day.

传统上，一个女巫或巫师的冥想盆，就像他们的魔杖一样，是与他们一起埋葬的，因为它被认为是一个强烈的个人手工艺品；任何留在冥想盆里的想法或记忆也同样与他们的主人埋葬在一起，除非他或她另有要求。然而，霍格沃茨的冥想盆不属于任何个人，而是属于学校。它被一长串的校长和女校长所使用，他们也以回忆的形式留下了他们的生活经验。这形成了一个非常宝贵的参考图书馆的校长或女校长的一天。

The Hogwarts Pensieve is made of ornately carved stone and is engraved with modified Saxon runes, which mark it as an artefact of immense antiquity that pre-dates the creation of the school. One (unsubstantiated) legend says that the founders discovered the Pensieve half-buried in the ground on the very spot where they decided to erect their school.

霍格沃茨的冥想盆是由雕刻精美的石头制成的，上面刻有经过修改的撒克逊符文，这标志着它是一件巨大的古代文物，早于学校的创建。一个（未经证实的）传说说，创始人在决定建立他们的学校的地方发现了半埋在地下的冥想盆。

The name ‘Pensieve’ is a homonym of ‘pensive’, meaning deeply, seriously thoughtful; but it also a pun, the ‘sieve’ part of the word alluding to the object’s function of sorting meanings from a mass of thoughts or memories.

“冥想”这个名字与“沉思”的谐音，意味着深刻、认真地思考；但它也是一个双关语，这个词的“筛子”部分暗示着对象从大量的思想或记忆中整理含义的功能。