33、The Thirty-second Owl( From GG) 1996. ...
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January of 1996. perhaps—
公元1996年的一月吧，或许——
Albus—
阿不思——
Fifty years. I have been here fifty shit-scraping years. And in all that time, you— you of all people— never sent me sweets. Just the smell of them made me shake with joy. It was the most glorious thing I've tasted in my life.
五十年。我已在这里过了五十年狗屎一样的日子。其间，你——你们所有的人——从未给我寄过甜品。仅仅是这气味就让我快乐地颤抖了。这是我一生中尝过的最美妙的东西了。
Fifty years. My body is a skeleton pecked with sores, I can barely remember how I could have been beautiful once. I'm the only inmate alive. The guards have left. An ancient house elf shoves the food between the bars. Even the charms on my watch are fading.The hands waver, the calendar's nearly dead. I think an owl takes three days or so to get from Hogwarts to here? More, perhaps, these days? Is the world expanding beneath me? Is that why I've become so distant? So it must be sometimes in January, the sun's in about the right place.
五十年。我已是形容枯槁，千疮百孔，我几乎是记不起我曾经那风采动人的模样了。整所监狱只剩我一个活人了。警卫们均已离去。一个很老很老的家养小精灵从栏杆间推入食物。连我手表上的咒语都在逐渐消失。它的指针颤着，日期也几乎是显现不出了。我想猫头鹰从霍格沃茨飞往这里要三左右吧？这些天来，也许，还要更久？我身下的世界是在不断延伸吗？所以你我才如此天各一方？跟据太阳的大致位置判断，现在一定是一月的某个时候。
But I am nothing to you anymore but an ear. Writing ancient lovers tearful letters in your Christmas sherry again, Albus? Back & forth we go, back & forth. Your hand hasn't even changed. I'm running out of parchment. Most of my correspondents are dead. I've read every book in this room a dozen times. I suppose Fawkes is still there? Everything as it always was?
但我对你而言只能是一名听众了罢。又一次在你的圣诞雪利酒里泪洒缃素，写着古代恋人式的悲情书了，阿不思？我们就这么兜兜转转，百折千还。你的笔迹竟是分毫未改。我的羊皮纸已消耗殆尽。大部分与我通信的人都逝去了。我已把这房间里的每一本书都读了无数次。我猜福克斯还在那里？一切也都平常如旧吧？
I don't bother to sleep anymore. If I read Gertrude in delirium, she almost makes sense. Words of one, two syllables. Listen to me.
我再不费心逼自己入睡了。我在癫狂之中读格特鲁德时，她那只有一两个音节的单词碎片也几乎是有了道理。听我说。
Poor Albus. I'm barely even angry with you anymore. Scheisse, I almost feel sorry for you. You never had children, did you?Never married, never settled down? You'll just die and take It and the Potter boy with you, leaving nothing but pretty bird song & a bag of candy.
可怜的阿不思，我几乎是再无法生你的气了。可恶啊，我都可以说是在为你难过了。你没有孩子，对吧？没有结婚，没有归所？你只会带着“它”与那个姓波特的男孩死去，什么也不剩——除了鸟儿温柔的悲歌，与一袋糖果。
But this means you have something in common with me. You and I— we fall in love with people better than us, and we do it badly. I let you win that duel because I thought you would save me, you betraying bastard, and you left me to rot instead. You don't care about anyone but the boy anymore, I know. But you will not break me. You will not break me.
但这意味着你我是有一些共同之处的。你和我——我们都爱上了比自己更好的人，又亲手摧毁了这场感情。我让你赢得了那场决斗，因为我满以为你会拯救我，而你这个负心的卑鄙小人，却是把我丢在这腐烂。我清楚你除了那个男孩再不关心任何人。但你摧毁不了我。你绝对摧毁不了我。
We're getting too old. We belong a century ago by the millstream, Albus, not rotting away in our towers caught on the horns of the world. We belong at the beginning, where our brilliance is not weighted by responsibility, our beauty not marriedby age. Before the consequences start breaking us.
我们萎败得太彻底了。我们属于一世纪前磨坊水车下萦折的小溪。阿不思，不是困在我们各自的塔楼里在进退两难中径自腐烂。我们属于开始，那里我们的光辉不会被责任压倒，我们的美丽也不会被岁月吞噬。在注定的结局开始摧毁我们之前。
I've stopped thinking of you, those times in the past. I've tried to stop thinking of anything, really. Just back & forth across my cell. Words over the door. Triangles and circles and lines.
我已停下想你了，以及那些往昔。我试着停下想任何事，真的。只是在我的牢房里兜兜转转，兜兜转转。词语在门上方斑驳。三角形，圆，以及直线。
You're right. One boy, at least, should walk away with a good life. Ours are long, long destroyed.
你是对的。一个孩子，至少，应带着一个美好的人生走得远远的。而我们的呢，在很久，很久前就被摧毁了。
译者注：
1：you of all people：作all of you（你们所有人）解，否则按原句译为“在所有人中最应了解我的你”
2：Words of one, two syllables：这句话翻了那么多版本就没见过有一版一样的已经没招了
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第33章 The Thirty-second Owl( From GG)
