| 西碧·崔老妮 Sybill Trelawney 作者：J.K.羅琳 2014年10月31日 |
| 最初發佈於Pottermore；收錄於2016年9月6日出版的電子書《霍格華茲短篇故事集：英雄主義、艱難險阻與危險嗜好》 |
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西碧是真正的先知卡桑德拉·崔老妮的玄孫女。儘管卡桑德拉的天賦在之後的幾代人中已經大大削弱，但西碧繼承到的天賦還是超出了她自己的了解。西碧對自己謊稱的才華半信半疑（她至少有九成是個騙子），養成了一種戲劇化的表達方式，喜歡通過預言厄運和災難來唬住她那些更容易上當的學生。西碧精於算命先生的那些小把戲：她在奈威的第一堂課上就準確看出他容易緊張、易受心理暗示，於是告訴奈威他會打碎一個杯子，而奈威也確實打破了。在其他的情況下，那些容易上當的學生還會幫着她完成表演。崔老妮教授告訴文妲·布朗，她最害怕的那件事會在十月十六日發生，而當文妲在那天收到寵物兔子死亡的消息時，她立刻就聯想起了這個預言。妙麗所有的邏輯推理和判斷（文妲並沒有害怕這隻非常小的兔子死；兔子也並非死於十六日，而是死於前一天）都是白費力氣：文妲只想相信自己的悲傷是被預言了的。根據平均法則，崔老妮教授連珠炮似的預言總有說中的時候，但在大多數情況下，她都只是在誇誇其談、自吹自擂罷了。 |
Sybill is the great-great granddaughter of a genuine Seer, Cassandra Trelawney. Cassandra's gift has been much diluted over ensuing generations, although Sybill has inherited more than she knows. Half-believing in her own fibs about her talent (for she is at least ninety per cent fraud), Sybill has cultivated a dramatic manner and enjoys impressing her more gullible students with predictions of doom and disaster. She is gifted in the fortune teller's tricks; she accurately reads Neville's nervousness and suggestibility in his first class, and tells him he is about to break a cup, which he does. On other occasions, gullible students do her work for her. Professor Trelawney tells Lavender Brown that something she is dreading will happen to her on the sixteenth of October; when Lavender receives news on that day that her pet rabbit has died, she connects it instantly with the prediction. All of Hermione's logic and good sense (Lavender was not dreading the death of the rabbit, which was very young; the rabbit did not die on the sixteenth, but the previous day) are lost: Lavender wants to believe her unhappiness was foretold. By the law of averages, Professor Trelawney's rapid fire predictions sometimes hit the mark, but most of the time she is full of hot air and self-importance. |
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儘管如此，西碧也確曾極罕見地閃過一絲真正的超視感應，但她事後卻完全不記得。她之所以獲得了霍格華茲的教職，是因為她在和鄧不利多面試時，表露出自己在潛意識中是重要信息的知情者。鄧不利多在學校為她提供了庇護，一方面是為了保護她，另一方面也是希望她能做出更多真正的預言（他要為下一個等待很多年）。 |
Nevertheless, Sybill does experience very rare flashes of genuine clairvoyance, which she can never remember afterwards. She secured her post at Hogwarts because she revealed, during her interview with Dumbledore, that she was the unconscious possessor of important knowledge. Dumbledore gave her sanctuary at the school, partly to protect her, partly in the hope that more genuine predictions would be forthcoming (he had to wait many years for the next). |
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西碧知道自己在教職工里地位低下，因為他們幾乎都比自己更有才華，因此西碧大部分時間都遠離同事們，待在她悶熱而擁擠的塔樓辦公室里。並不令人意外地，她漸漸對酒精產生了過度依賴。 |
Conscious of her low status on the staff, who are almost all more talented than she is, Sybill spends most of her time apart from her colleagues, up in her stuffy and overcrowded tower office. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, she has developed an over-reliance on alcohol. |
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崔老妮教授與麥教授是截然相反的兩個人：一個就像是江湖騙子，善於擺佈他人、浮誇做作；另一個則智慧過人，嚴厲而正直。但我知道，當一個完美的局外人、不屬於霍格華茲人的桃樂絲·恩不里居試圖把西碧趕出學校時，曾在許多場合批評崔老妮的麥米奈娃還是會展現出她性格中真正的善良，站出來為她辯護。雖然我在現實生活中遇到崔老妮教授也會感到惱火，但她也有可悲之處。我認為米奈娃察覺到了她內心潛在的不勝任感。 |
Professors Trelawney and McGonagall are polar opposites; the one something of a charlatan, manipulative and grandiose, the other fiercely intelligent, stern and upright. I knew, however, that when the consummate outsider and non-Hogwartian Dolores Umbridge attempted to oust Sybill from the school, Minerva McGonagall, who has been critical of Trelawney on many occasions, would show the true kindness of her character and rally to her defence. There is a pathos about Professor Trelawney, infuriating though I would find her in real life, and I think that Minerva sensed her underlying feeling of inadequacy. |
J.K.羅琳的想法[]
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我為許多霍格華茲教職工創作了詳盡的背景故事（比如阿不思·鄧不利多、麥米奈娃和魯霸·海格），有些用在了書中，有些則沒有。在占卜課老師輾轉來到霍格華茲之前，我對她的經歷只有一個模糊的想法，這在某種程度上也挺合適的。在我的想像中，西碧來到霍格華茲之前曾在魔法世界里四處漂泊，試圖以她祖先的名聲來確保一份工作，卻又不屑從事那些她覺得配不上先知地位的職業。 |
I created detailed histories for many of the Hogwarts staff (such as Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and Rubeus Hagrid), some of which were used in the books, and some of which were not. It is in some ways fitting that I only ever had a vague idea of what had happened to the Divination teacher before she washed up at Hogwarts. I imagine that Sybill's pre-Hogwarts existence consisted of drifting through the wizarding world, trying to trade on her ancestry to secure employment, but scorning any that did not offer what she feels is the status due to a Seer. |
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我喜歡康沃爾的姓氏，但直到系列小說的第三本才用上，而崔老妮教授的姓氏就是這麼來的。我不想用任何滑稽的、隱含欺騙意味的名字稱呼她，而是用一個令人印象深刻、具有吸引力的名字。「崔老妮」是個很古老的名字，暗示西碧為了給人留下深刻印象，過度依賴祖先的名聲。有一首好聽的康沃爾老歌就叫這個名字（《西部人之歌》）。西碧的名字與「希比爾」同音，她是古代的一個女超視者。我的美國編輯希望我用「希比爾」，但我更喜歡自己的版本，因為這個詞雖然參照了古時候那個令人敬畏的超視者，但它實際上只是個過時名字「茜比爾」的變體。我覺得，崔老妮教授不太有資格成為「希比爾」。 |
I love Cornish surnames, and had never used one until the third book in the series, so that is how Professor Trelawney got her family name. I did not want to call her anything comical, or which suggested chicanery, but something impressive and attractive. 'Trelawney' is a very old name, suggestive of Sybill's over-reliance on her ancestry when seeking to impress. There is a beautiful old Cornish song featuring the name (The Song of the Western Men). Sybill's first name is a homonym of 'Sibyl', which was a female clairvoyant in ancient times. My American editor wanted me to use 'Sibyl', but I preferred my version, because while it keeps the reference to the august clairvoyants of old, it is really no more than a variant the unfashionable female name 'Sybil'. Professor Trelawney, I felt, did not really qualify as a 'Sibyl'. |
內容來源[]
- J.K.羅琳的寫作：西碧·崔老妮. J.K.羅琳. 魔法世界網. 2015年8月10日 （英語）.