By J.K. Rowling
Originally published on 

on Aug 10th 2015

密室
J.K.罗琳
原载于
2015年8月10日

The subterranean Chamber of Secrets was created by Salazar Slytherin without the knowledge of his three fellow founders of Hogwarts. The Chamber was, for many centuries, believed to be a myth; however, the fact that rumours of its existence persisted for so long reveals that Slytherin spoke of its creation and that others believed him, or else had been permitted, by him, to enter.

地下密室是萨拉查·斯莱特林在霍格沃茨的三位创始人不知情的情况下创建的。几个世纪以来，密室一直被认为是个神话关于它存在的谣言持续了这么久，这一事实表明，斯莱特林谈到了它的创建，其他人相信他，或者是他允许进入的。

There is no doubt that each of the four founders sought to stamp their own mark upon the school of witchcraft and wizardry that they intended would be the finest in the world. It was agreed that each would construct their own houses, for example, choosing the location of common rooms and dormitories. However, only Slytherin went further, and built what was in effect a personal, secret headquarters within the school, accessible only by himself or by those he allowed to enter.

毫无疑问，四位创始人中的每一位都试图在他们希望成为世界上最优秀的魔法学校上打下自己的印记。大家同意各自建造自己的住房，例如选择公用房间和宿舍的地点。然而，只有斯莱特林走得更远，在学校里建立了一个私人的秘密总部，只有他自己或他允许进入的人才能进入。

Perhaps, when he first constructed the Chamber, Slytherin wanted no more than a place in which to instruct his students in spells of which the other three founders may have disapproved (disagreements sprung up early around the teaching of the Dark Arts). However, it is clear by the very decoration of the Chamber that by the time Slytherin finished it he had developed grandiose ideas of his own importance to the school. No other founder left behind them a gigantic statue of themselves or draped the school in emblems of their own personal powers (the snakes carved around the Chamber of Secrets being a reference to Slytherin’s powers as a Parselmouth).

也许当他第一次建造密室时斯莱特林想要的不过是一个教学生咒语的地方，而其他三位创始人可能不赞成（关于黑魔法的教学，分歧很早就出现了）。然而，从这间教室的装饰可以清楚地看出，斯莱特林在完成它的时候，已经形成了他自己对学校的重要性的宏伟思想。没有其他创始人留下他们自己的巨大雕像，也没有在学校里悬挂他们个人力量的标志（在密室周围雕刻的蛇是指斯莱特林作为蛇嘴的力量）。

What is certain is that by the time Slytherin was forced out of the school by the other three founders, he had decided that henceforth, the Chamber he had built would be the lair of a monster that he alone – or his descendants – would be able to control: a Basilisk. Moreover, only a Parselmouth would be able to enter the Chamber. This, he knew, would keep out all three founders and every other member of staff.

可以肯定的是，在斯莱特林被其他三位创始人赶出学校的时候，他已经决定，从今以后，他建造的密室将是一个怪物的巢穴，只有他一个人——或者他的后代——能够控制它：一个蛇怪。而且，只有蛇佬腔才能进入密室。他知道，这将把三位创始人和其他所有员工排除在外。

The existence of the Chamber was known to Slytherin’s descendants and those with whom they chose to share the information. Thus the rumour stayed alive through the centuries.

斯莱特林的后代和他们愿意与之分享信息的人都知道商会的存在。这样，这个谣言流传了几个世纪。

There is clear evidence that the Chamber was opened more than once between the death of Slytherin and the entrance of Tom Riddle in the twentieth century. When first created, the Chamber was accessed through a concealed trapdoor and a series of magical tunnels. However, when Hogwarts’ plumbing became more elaborate in the eighteenth century (this was a rare instance of wizards copying Muggles, because hitherto they simply relieved themselves wherever they stood, and vanished the evidence), the entrance to the Chamber was threatened, being located on the site of a proposed bathroom. The presence in school at the time of a student called Corvinus Gaunt – direct descendant of Slytherin, and antecedent of Tom Riddle – explains how the simple trapdoor was secretly protected, so that those who knew how could still access the entrance to the Chamber even after newfangled plumbing had been placed on top of it.

有明显的证据表明，在二十世纪斯莱特林去世和汤姆里德尔进入密室之间，密室不止一次被打开过。最初建造时，密室是通过隐藏的暗门和一系列魔法隧道进入的。然而，当霍格沃茨的管道系统在十八世纪变得更加精细时（这是巫师模仿麻瓜的罕见例子，因为到目前为止，他们只是随便站在哪里就松手，并使证据消失），会议厅的入口受到威胁，因为它位于一个拟议的浴室所在地。当时学校里有一个叫柯文纳斯·冈特的学生——斯莱特林的直系后代，《汤姆·里德尔的前传》——解释了简单的活板门是如何被秘密保护起来的，这样那些知道怎么做的人即使在房间的顶部安装了新式的管道之后，仍然可以进入房间的入口。

Whispers that a monster lived in the depths of the castle were also prevalent for centuries. Again, this is because those who could hear and speak to it were not always as discreet as they might have been: the Gaunt family could not resist boasting of their knowledge. As nobody else could hear the creature sliding beneath floorboards or, latterly, through the plumbing, they did not have many believers, and none, until Riddle dared unleash the monster on the castle.

几个世纪以来，关于城堡深处住着一只怪物的传言也很盛行。这又是因为那些能听见它说话的人并不总是像他们本应那样谨慎：冈特一家人忍不住要夸耀他们的知识。由于没有其他人能听到这个怪物在地板下滑动的声音，后来也没有人能听见它穿过管道的声音。他们没有多少人相信这个怪物，直到里德尔胆敢在城堡里放出这个怪物。

Successive headmasters and mistresses, not to mention a number of historians, searched the castle thoroughly many times over the centuries, each time concluding that the chamber was a myth. The reason for their failure was simple: none of them was a Parselmouth.

几个世纪以来，历任校长和情妇们，更不用说一些历史学家，对城堡进行了多次彻底的搜查，每次都得出结论，认为这间密室是个神话。他们失败的原因很简单：他们都不是蛇佬腔。