By J.K. Rowling

Originally published on 

 

on Aug 10th 2015

 

马尔福一家

J.K.罗琳

原载于

2015年8月10日

 

 

The Malfoy name comes from old French and translates as ‘bad faith’. Like many other progenitors of noble English families, the wizard Armand Malfoy arrived in Britain with William the Conqueror as part of the invading Norman army. Having rendered unknown, shady (and almost certainly magical) services to King William I, Malfoy was given a prime piece of land in Wiltshire, seized from local landowners, upon which his descendants have lived for ten consecutive centuries.

 

Malfoy这个名字来源于古法语，翻译过来就是“不诚实”。和许多其他英国贵族家庭的祖先一样，巫师阿尔芒·马尔福随征服者威廉来到英国，成为入侵的诺曼军队的一员。在为国王威廉一世提供了不为人知的，阴暗的（几乎肯定是不可思议的）服务之后，马尔福在威尔特郡得到了一块最好的土地，这是从当地地主那里抢来的，他的后代在这块土地上已经连续生活了十个世纪。

 

Their wily ancestor Armand encapsulated many of the qualities that have distinguished the Malfoy family to the present day. The Malfoys have always had the reputation, hinted at by their not altogether complimentary surname, of being a slippery bunch, to be found courting power and riches wherever they might be found. In spite of their espousal of pure-blood values and their undoubtedly genuine belief in wizards’ superiority over Muggles, the Malfoys have never been above ingratiating themselves with the non-magical community when it suits them. The result is that they are one of the richest wizarding families in Britain, and it has been rumoured for many years (though never proven) that over the centuries the family has dabbled successfully in Muggle currency and assets. Over hundreds of years, they have managed to add to their lands in Wiltshire by annexing those of neighbouring Muggles, and the favour they curried with royalty added Muggle treasures and works of art to an ever-expanding collection.

 

他们诡计多端的祖先阿尔芒概括了马尔福家族至今所具有的许多品质。马尔福一家一向有一种名声，用他们并不完全是恭维的姓来暗示，他们是一群狡猾的人，无论他们在哪里都能找到自己的权力和财富。尽管马尔福人崇尚纯正的价值观，而且毫无疑问地相信巫师们比麻瓜们优越，但在适合他们的情况下，马尔福家族从来没有超越于讨好非魔法社区的能力。其结果是，他们是英国最富有的巫师家族之一，多年来(尽管从未被证实)有传言称，几个世纪以来，该家族在麻瓜货币和资产方面取得了成功。几百年来，他们通过吞并邻近麻瓜的土地来增加他们在威尔特郡的土地，他们受到皇室的青睐，把麻瓜的珍宝和艺术品增加到一个不断扩大的收藏中。

 

Historically, the Malfoys drew a sharp distinction between poor Muggles and those with wealth and authority. Until the imposition of the Statute of Secrecy in 1692, the Malfoy family was active within high-born Muggle circles, and it is said that their fervent opposition to the imposition of the Statute was due, in part, to the fact that they would have to withdraw from this enjoyable sphere of social life. Though hotly denied by subsequent generations, there is ample evidence to suggest that the first Lucius Malfoy was an unsuccessful aspirant to the hand of Elizabeth I, and some wizarding historians allege that the Queen’s subsequent opposition to marriage was due to a jinx placed upon her by the thwarted Malfoy.

 

从历史上看，马尔福一家把贫穷的麻瓜和那些有钱有权的人区别开来。直到1692年《保密法》颁布之前，马尔福家族一直活跃在出身高贵的麻瓜圈子里，据说，他们强烈反对实施该规约的部分原因是，他们将不得不退出这一令人愉快的社会生活领域。尽管后人极力否认，但有充分的证据表明，第一个卢修斯·马尔福是一个不成功的追求者，伊丽莎白一世的手，一些巫师史学家声称，女王后来反对结婚是因为被挫败的马尔福给她下了咒。

 

With that healthy degree of self-preservation that has characterised most of their actions over the centuries, once the Statute of Secrecy had passed into law the Malfoys ceased fraternising with Muggles, however well-born, and accepted that further opposition and protests could only distance them from the new heart of power: the newly created Ministry of Magic. They performed an abrupt volte-face, and became as vocally supportive of the Statute as any of those who had championed it from the beginning, hastening to deny that they had ever been on speaking (or marrying) terms with Muggles.

 

几个世纪以来，这种健康的自我保护一直是他们大多数行为的特点，一旦“保密法规”通过成为法律，马尔福就不再与麻瓜友好，不管他们出身如何，并接受了进一步的反对和抗议只会让他们远离新的权力之心：新成立的魔法部。他们突然转过脸来，像那些从一开始就拥护“规约”的人一样大声地支持“规约”，急忙否认他们曾经和麻瓜说话(或结婚)过。

 

The substantial wealth at their disposal ensured them considerable (and much resented) influence at the Ministry for generations to come, though no Malfoy has ever aspired to the role of Minister for Magic. It is often said of the Malfoy family that you will never find one at the scene of the crime, though their fingerprints might be all over the guilty wand. Independently wealthy, with no need to work for a living, they have generally preferred the role of power behind the throne, happy for others to do the donkey work and to take the responsibility for failure. They have helped finance many of their preferred candidates’ election campaigns, which have (it is alleged) included paying for dirty work such as hexing the opposition.

The Malfoys’ unfeigned contempt for all Muggles who could not offer them jewels or influence, and for the majority of their fellow wizards, drew them naturally towards the pure-blood doctrine, which seemed for several years in the twentieth century to be their likeliest source of untrammelled power. From the imposition of the Statute of Secrecy onwards, no Malfoy has married a Muggle or Muggle-born. The family has, however, eschewed the somewhat dangerous practice of inter-marrying within such a small pool of pure-bloods that they become enfeebled or unstable, unlike a small minority of fanatic families such as the Gaunts and Lestranges, and many a half-blood appears on the Malfoy family tree.

 

他们可支配的大量财富使他们在魔法部的几代人中有相当大的影响力，尽管马尔福从未渴望过魔法部长的角色。人们常说马尔福一家人在犯罪现场是找不到的，尽管他们的指纹可能遍布犯罪现场。独立富裕，不需要为生活而工作，他们一般都喜欢在王座背后的权力角色，乐于为别人做驴活儿，为失败承担责任。他们帮助资助了许多他们喜欢的候选人的竞选活动，这些活动（据称）包括支付给反对派施咒等肮脏的工作。

马尔福一家对所有不能给予他们珠宝和影响力的麻瓜们的毫不掩饰的蔑视，对于他们大多数的巫师伙伴来说，这自然地使他们倾向于纯正血统的教义，在二十世纪的几年里，这似乎是他们不受约束的权力最可能的来源。从《保密法》生效以来，没有一个马尔福娶过麻瓜或麻瓜出身的人。然而，这个家庭避免了在一小群纯正血统的人中间通婚的危险做法，这种做法使他们变得衰弱或不稳定，不像少数狂热的家族，如冈特和莱斯特兰奇，许多混血儿出现在马尔福的族谱上。

 

Notable Malfoys of past generations include the fourteenth-century Nicholas Malfoy, who is believed to have dispatched many a fractious Muggle tenant under the guise of the Black Death, though escaping censure by the Wizards’ Council; Septimus Malfoy, who was greatly influential at the Ministry in the late eighteenth century, many claiming that Minister for Magic Unctuous Osbert was little more than his puppet; and Abraxas Malfoy, who was widely believed to be part of the shady plot that saw the first Muggle-born Minister (Nobby Leach) leave his post prematurely in 1968 (nothing was ever proven against Malfoy).

Abraxas’s son, Lucius, achieved notoriety as one of Lord Voldemort’s Death Eaters, though he successfully evaded prison after both of Lord Voldemort’s attempted coups. On the first occasion, he claimed to have been acting under the Imperius Curse (though many claimed he called in favours from high-placed Ministry officials); on the second occasion, he provided evidence against fellow Death Eaters and helped ensure the capture of many of Lord Voldemort’s followers who had fled into hiding.

 

过去几代人中著名的马尔福包括14世纪的尼古拉斯·马尔福，他被认为在黑死病的伪装下赶走了许多脾气暴躁的麻瓜房客，赛普蒂默斯·马尔福虽然逃过了巫师委员会的责难，但他在十八世纪末的魔法部里却颇有影响力。许多人声称魔法部长奥斯伯特只不过是他的傀儡；他被广泛认为是第一个麻瓜出身的部长（NobbyLeach）在1968年过早离开他的职位的阴谋的一部分（没有任何证据证明对马尔福不利）。

阿伯拉克萨斯的儿子卢修斯作为伏地魔的食死徒而臭名昭著，尽管在伏地魔的两次政变中他都成功地逃脱了牢狱之灾。第一次，他声称自己是在夺魂咒下行动的（尽管很多人声称他向魔法部高级官员求情）；第二次，他提供了针对其他食死徒的证据，并帮助伏地魔抓获了许多躲藏起来的追随者。