| 猫头鹰 Owls 作者：J.K.罗琳 2014年7月30日 |
| 最初发布于Pottermore |
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古老的英国迷信中所谓的在白天看见猫头鹰飞行会带来不幸，其实很容易解释：当巫师不顾暴露身份、在白天传送信息时，一定是因为魔法世界里发生了什么重大的事情。麻瓜们也许事后会受到些不愉快的影响，但完全不知道为什么会这样。 |
The old British superstition that it is unlucky to see owls flying by daylight is readily explained, for when wizards break cover to send messages by day, something dramatic must be afoot in the magical world. Muggles may subsequently experience the unpleasant aftershocks, without any idea of their cause. |
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作为（几乎是）夜行性的猛禽，猫头鹰不可避免地被麻瓜们视为邪恶的生物，但在许多世纪以来，它一直都是男女巫师们忠实的仆人与伙伴。尽管有许多进行长距离魔法通信的替代手段（包括守护神、飞路粉以及镜子甚至是硬币之类被施过魔法的物品），通过忠实可靠的猫头鹰仍然是全世界巫师最常用的方法。 |
As a (mostly) nocturnal bird of prey, the owl is inevitably seen as sinister by Muggles, but it has been a faithful servant and helpmeet to witches and wizards for many centuries. In spite of the many alternatives available for magical communication across long distances (including Patronuses, Floo powder, and enchanted devices such as mirrors and even coins), the faithful and reliable owl remains the most common method used by wizardkind across the world. |
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将猫头鹰作为信使的优点正是那些让麻瓜带着怀疑的眼光看待它们的特质：它们在夜幕下行动，让麻瓜有一种迷信上的厌恶；它们有非常优秀的夜视能力；同时行动敏捷、隐蔽，又能在受到威胁时展现攻击性。如此众多的猫头鹰被世界各地的巫师雇佣，因此可以肯定地说，它们几乎要么属于各国的猫头鹰邮政系统，要么是男女巫师的个人财产。 |
The advantages of owls as messengers are those very qualities that make Muggles view them with suspicion: they operate under cover of darkness, to which Muggles have a superstitious aversion; they have exceptionally well-developed night vision; and are agile, stealthy and capable of aggression when challenged. So numerous are the owls employed by wizards worldwide that it is generally safe to assume that virtually all of them are either the property of the Owl Postal Service of their country, or of an individual witch or wizard. |
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无论是因为它们与生俱来的魔法天赋（就像猪被认为天生就没有魔法），还是因为它们的世代祖先都被巫师豢养和训练，所遗传的特性让它们更容易做到，猫头鹰总是学得很快，并且似乎在追踪收件的男女巫师时非常努力。 |
Whether because they possess an innate bent for magic (just as pigs are reputed to be innately non-magical), or because generations of their ancestors have been domesticated and trained by wizards and they have inherited the traits that make this easy, owls learn very quickly, and seem to thrive on their task of tracing and tracking the witch or wizard for whom their letters are intended. |
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长期以来，各个文化的男女巫师都相当了解名字与本人之间的神秘关联。尽管个中缘由对那些把小猫头鹰训练成巫师宠物或邮局猫头鹰的人来说也是个谜，但这些鸟似乎就是能把名字和本人联系起来，不论要找的巫师在哪里，都能够追寻到他们的踪迹。猫头鹰不需要知道地址，但巫师们通常还是会在信封上写下，以防猫头鹰被截获、信件落入他人之手。 |
The mystical association between the name and the human who bears it has long been understood by witches and wizards of all cultures. While the process remains mysterious even to those who train up owlets to become wizarding pets or postal owls, the birds appear to be able to make such a connection between the name and its possessor that enables them to trace the witch or wizard concerned wherever he or she may be. An owl does not need to know an address, although witches and wizards generally add the place to the envelope on the off-chance that the owl is intercepted and the letter falls into other hands. |
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如果巫师不希望收到信件（或者被其他方式追踪到），就必须使用驱避咒、伪装咒或屏蔽咒等一系列咒语。它能让你杜绝所有通信，或者只接收来自特定猫头鹰的信息。如果一个巫师决心不要被执着的债权人或者前男女朋友联系上，他们也许会只针对那个人使用屏蔽咒，但这种小花招可以通过请其他人派送猫头鹰的方式轻易规避。总的来说，要避免收到猫头鹰传书，需要使用强大的保护魔法，同时甘愿放弃一大堆生日贺卡。 |
Should a witch or wizard not wish to be sent letters (or tracked in any other way), he or she will have to resort to Repelling, Disguising or Masking Spells, of which there are a great range. It is possible to protect yourself from all correspondence, or all but that carried by a specific owl. If a witch or wizard is determined not to be contactable by a persistent creditor or ex-boy or girlfriend, they might try a masking spell specific to that person, but this ploy is easily circumnavigated by asking somebody else to send the owl. In general, it takes strong protective magic, and a willingness to forego a lot of birthday cards, to avoid the attentions of Owl Post. |
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受过训练的猫头鹰价格昂贵，因此一个巫师家庭共享一只猫头鹰，或只使用邮局猫头鹰是很普遍的情况。 |
Trained owls are expensive, and it is quite usual for a wizarding family to share a single owl, or else only use Postal owls. |
J.K.罗琳的想法[]
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我对猫头鹰的喜爱与迷恋远在产生写《哈利·波特》的第一个念头之前。这能追溯到我在六七岁时，母亲为我制作的一个可爱的猫头鹰玩具，我很喜爱它。 |
My love of, and fascination with, owls long pre-dates the first idea for Harry Potter. I trace it to a cuddly owl toy that my mother made me when I was six or seven, which I adored. |
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当然，猫头鹰长久以来都与魔法有所联系，也在许多描绘男女巫师的插画当中出现，仅次于猫——最具魔力的生物。猫头鹰与智慧的联系在罗马时期就已经存在，它是智慧女神弥涅耳瓦的象征。 |
Of course, owls have been associated with magic for a long time, and feature in many old illustrations of witches and wizards, second only to cats as Most Magical Creature. The owl’s association with wisdom was established in Roman times, for it is the emblem of Minerva, goddess of wisdom. |
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在《哈利·波特》系列中出现的猫头鹰包括雕枭（巨大、毛发簇生、长相凶残，由德拉科·马尔福所有）、小枭（袖珍、可爱，但可能没那么引人瞩目，像罗恩拥有的朱薇琼）以及雪枭，也被称作鬼枭（哈利的海德薇）。 |
Owl breeds shown within the Harry Potter books include the eagle owl (large, tufted and fierce-looking, owned by Draco Malfoy); the Little Owl (tiny, cute, but perhaps not very impressive, like Pigwidgeon, owned by Ron); and the Snowy Owl, which is also known as the Ghost Owl (Harry’s Hedwig). |
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我在描写海德薇时犯了一些基本的错误。首先，雪枭是昼行性的（即在白天飞行）。其次，它们其实非常安静，因此海德薇时常在感到认同和舒服时发出的鸣叫和唧唧声都应该视为被魔法增进了能力。第三，正如无数好心的猫头鹰爱好者和专家不停写信告诉我的一样，猫头鹰不吃培根（海德薇喜欢在早餐送信时吃一点熏咸肉的皮）。 |
I made a few elementary mistakes when it came to my depiction of Hedwig. Firstly, Snowy Owls are diurnal (ie, they fly by day). Secondly, they are virtually mute, so Hedwig’s frequent hoots and chirrups of approval and comfort should be taken as signs of her magically enhanced abilities. Thirdly, as countless well-meaning owl-lovers and experts kept writing to me in the early days, owls do not eat bacon (Hedwig enjoys a bit of bacon rind when she delivers post at breakfast). |
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当我想出埃罗尔这只年老、饱经磨难又超负荷工作的韦斯莱家的猫头鹰时，我的脑海中就浮现出一幅似乎在哪见过的画面：一只滑稽、毛茸茸、一脸迷惑的灰色大鸟，但我不知道它是什么品种。事实上，我很想知道那是一张真实的照片，还是因想象而扭曲后的图像。因此当我第一次参观《哈利·波特与魔法石》的拍摄地利维斯登工作室，并在他们的鸟舍中发现一整排毛茸茸、一脸迷惑的灰色大猫头鹰朝我眨着眼睛时感到无比的喜悦，每只都是我脑中可能是来自于想象的模糊画面的完美复制。它们全都扮演埃罗尔，而且全都是大灰枭。 |
When I dreamed up Errol, the aged, long-suffering and overworked Weasley family owl, I had in mind a picture I thought I had seen, which featured a very comical, large, fluffy, grey, bewildered-looking bird whose breed I had never known. In fact, I wondered whether it had been a real photograph, or whether imagination was distorting the image. It was with sheer delight, therefore, that I rounded a corner on my first ever visit to the aviary at Leavesden Studios, where they were filming Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and saw a line of big, grey, fluffy, bewildered-looking owls blinking back at me, each an exact replica of the half-remembered picture I thought I might have dreamed. They were all playing Errol, and they are Great Greys. |
内容来源[]
- J.K.罗琳的写作：猫头鹰. J.K.罗琳. 魔法世界网. 2015年8月10日. （原始内容存档于2019年11月23日） （英语）.