2、第一只猫头鹰 ...
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September 10th, 1951
Dumbledore—
邓布利多——
Lo, it is I. Your old friend, Gellert Grindelwald. Your surprise at receiving this, believe me, is somewhat less than my surprise at writing it. Still, I go where I will, do what I will, as you well know.
嘿，是我。你的老朋友，盖勒特·格林沃德。你一定惊讶于收到这封信，不过相信我，这比起我提笔写下它时的讶异可能要略微逊色。正如你所知，我仍旧想去哪就去哪，想做什么就做什么，向来如此。
I hope this finds you in good time, especially after all that bragging I've heard about England's owls. The birds do not fly easy around Nurmengard's tower. The storms pour down off the mountains like floods. I'm twenty feet under the lightning rod, and, oh, the crackles it makes when the cloud fronts break, like the whole castle's under Cruciatus. Huge anvils in the sky with the thunder hammering down from them through the night of boiling pitch, and when the clouds part it's the werewolf moons of the North coming in through the bars. It's beautiful. Though not to your taste, I assume; too uncivilized.
我希望这封信能尽快送到你手中，尤其是在听说过那些关于英国猫头鹰动人的吹嘘之后。这些鸟很难靠近纽蒙伽德的高塔，暴雨像洪水一般自山顶倒灌，我就在距塔顶避雷针下方20英尺的位置。因此，当爆裂声撕碎云层时，整座塔就像是被施了钻心咒。乌云如同巨大的铁砧被沥青般滚烫而浓稠的夜色吞没，雷声自其上滚鸣而下。待云层散尽，北方满月的光自铁窗的缝隙间坠落。这很美，虽然这并不称你的胃口，我觉得；这太粗蛮了。
You're no doubt staring down your nose at this, letter and bedraggled owl both. (She likes white mice.) Are you really surprised, old friend, that I'd have the stomach to write to you, even after everything that happened? You shouldn't be. This is dear old Gellert, you should say. Bagshot's German pest. Never leaves me alone, even now that he's sitting in prison all day with nothing better to do. My much-lauded gold is going grey, Albus, imagine that! Still, I must say, as prisons go, the stonework is exquisite. Good of me to encourage the masons so, if curses could be considered encouragement, and they left the magic scars like jagged ivy in the granite, very pretty. Enjoy the irony. Old. Friend. Locked in my own prison.
你无疑是轻蔑地打量着这封信和那只狼狈不堪的猫头鹰。（她爱吃小白鼠。）你一定很惊讶吧，老朋友？就算是在一切发生过后，我还仍有胃口给你写信？哦，不，你应该不会。这位是亲爱的老盖勒特，你应该是这么说的——那个巴沙特家的德国佬，他从不肯让我清净，就算他现在整日待在监狱里也无事可做。我那备受称赞的金发开始变得灰白，阿不思，想想吧！不过，我还是得说，作为监狱，这里的石墙堪称精美。亏我那么称赞这些石匠，如果诅咒也算是褒奖的一种——那些魔法的痕迹像是花岗石上扭曲的常春藤，非常漂亮。呵，这可真是讽刺，老朋友。我被困在我自己的监狱里。
You still at that school of yours? Enjoying teaching, I hope? Reading plenty? Eating well? Taking good care of It? You'd better be.
你还是在你们的那个学校？在享受教学吗，和我希望的一样？读的书多么？吃的还好吧？还好好保管着它吗？你最好是的。
Give my regards to that mad bird of yours. Hope I didn't kill him too much.
另外替我问候下你的疯鸟，希望我没有伤它太深。
Listen to me. Hope. Hope. With the mold gathering on the walls of my cell. Laugh at me, Albus. Go on hating me like you always have. Enjoy yourself.
你听我说，但愿，但愿如此。牢房里的霉菌已经在日复一日里长满了，嘲笑我吧，阿不思，继续像你一直以来的那样恨我。祝好。
注：
1.文中的“它”指老魔杖，是GG和AD年轻时的梦想。
2.“你的疯鸟”这里指福克斯而不是送信的猫头鹰，所以“your”译作了“你的”（要是说猫头鹰应该用“你们的”）。
3.“德国佬”这个翻译借鉴了知乎的阿七，这位太太的翻译也超级棒，当初就是看她入的坑。
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第2章 第一只猫头鹰
