《HP官方资料翻译集（物品篇）》霁随心

60、时间转换器

　　【Pottermore中关于时间转换器（Time-Turner）的内容】
　　（翻译来自哈原吧《★Pottermore罗琳背景素材专贴★》第74搂，我只是把人名的翻译改成了HP中文维基上的）

　　尽管时间旅行这一题材不少麻瓜幻想类作品都有所涉及，可它即便在魔法世界也只在有限的意义上才可行。虽然这一题材被包裹上了一层极为神秘的外衣——神秘事物司一直对其进行着调查和研究——但似乎魔法也只能帮到你这么多。
　　根据将自己终生职业生涯都用于在神秘事物司中研究时间魔法的索尔·克罗克教授：
　　“正如我们的研究目前所表明的那样，在不会严重伤害到时间旅行者及时间本身的情况下，可返回到过去的时间最长也在五小时左右。我们可将简单但不太稳定、且受益于容器的逆时咒装进小型的、施了魔法的沙漏中，并把它戴在男女巫师的脖子上，根据使用者希望重现的小时数转圈。
　　“任何企图回到比几个小时前更久远的男女巫师最终都会受到灾难性的伤害。多年来，一直没人能明白时间旅行者穿越太过久远后无人生还的原因。自从1899年爱洛伊丝·敏塔布卡在了1402年长达5天之久以来，所有的相关实验都被搁置了。现在我们了解到，她的身体在返回到现在的过程中一下衰老了五百岁，且受到了无法挽回的伤害，最终在我们成功解救她不久后，她病逝于圣芒戈魔法伤病医院。不仅如此，她停留在遥远过去中的那五天极大地影响到了她所遇见过的所有人的生命路线，显著改变了他们的人生轨迹，以致于至少25位他们的后代消失在了现在，使其‘未出生’。
　　“最终，在敏塔布夫人恢复期间出现了一些警示信号，即时间本身的法则也遭到了严重破坏。在她刚回到现在之后的那个星期二整整持续了两天半的时间，而星期四却以短短的四个小时一晃而过。当时的魔法部为了掩盖此事而陷入了极大麻烦，便从那时起颁布了最为严厉的法规及处罚条例，以约束对时间旅行的研究。”
　　即便是由魔法部管控的时间转换器，其非常有限的使用也受到了几百条法规的严格限制。虽然不像一下跳跃五个世纪那样具有潜在的危险性，但仅返回一个小时也足能产生戏剧化的后果，因此如果魔法部允许使用这些稀有且法力强大的物件的话，它也会采取最为严厉的措施以确保安全。大多数巫师会惊讶于时间转换器通常只能被用来解决时间管理上最微不足道的琐事，而绝不能用于更大更重要的事，因为，正如索尔·克罗克所说，“正因人类头脑无法理解时间，因而我们一旦擅自干预了时间法则，便也无法理解随之出现的损害。”
　　就在赫敏·格兰杰被允许在霍格沃茨使用时间转换器的三年后，魔法部所存的全部时间转换器都在神秘事物司的一场打斗中被毁。

　　罗琳的想法：
　　在《阿兹卡班》一书中我对于时间旅行这个话题处理得太轻心随意了。虽说我并不后悔（《阿兹卡班》是全系列中我的最爱之一），但它的确给我带来了巨多的麻烦，毕竟如果巫师们可以回到过去解决问题，那我接下来的情节该怎么走？
　　后来令我满意的是，我阶段性地解决了这个问题。首先，我让邓布利多和赫敏强调回到过去后一旦被人看见有多么危险，以提醒读者时间旅行会产生诸多难以预料且危险的后果和解决方案。其次，我安排赫敏将唯一引进霍格沃茨的时间转换器上交了。第三，我把其余的时间转换器在神秘事物司打斗中全部打碎，以防未来出现回到过去哪怕只有短暂一瞬的可能。
　　这只是你写幻想类小说时必须谨慎对待你所发明的设定的一个例子。因为任何好处都有弊端。

　　【Time-Turner By J.K. Rowling】
In spite of the many Muggle fantasies around the subject, time travel is possible in only a limited sense even in the magical world. While the subject is shrouded in great secrecy - investigations are ongoing in the Department of Mysteries – it appears that magic can take you only so far.
According to Professor Saul Croaker, who has spent his entire career in the Department of Mysteries studying time-magic:
‘As our investigations currently stand, the longest period that may be relived without the possibility of serious harm to the traveller or to time itself is around five hours. We have been able to encase single Hour-Reversal Charms, which are unstable and benefit from containment, in small, enchanted hour-glasses that may be worn around a witch or wizard’s neck and revolved according to the number of hours the user wishes to relive.
‘All attempts to travel back further than a few hours have resulted in catastrophic harm to the witch or wizard involved. It was not realised for many years why time travellers over great distances never survived their journeys. All such experiments have been abandoned since 1899, when Eloise Mintumble became trapped, for a period of five days, in the year 1402. Now we understand that her body had aged five centuries in its return to the present and, irreparably damaged, she died in St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries shortly after we managed to retrieve her. What is more, her five days in the distant past caused great disturbance to the life paths of all those she met, changing the course of their lives so dramatically that no fewer than twenty-five of their descendants vanished in the present, having been “un-born”.
‘Finally, there were alarming signs, during the days following Madam Mintumble’s recovery, that time itself had been disturbed by such a serious breach of its laws. Tuesday following her reappearance lasted two and a half full days, whereas Thursday shot by in the space of four hours. The Ministry of Magic had a great deal of trouble in covering this up and since that time, the most stringent laws and penalties have been placed around those studying time travel.’
Even the use of the very limited amount of Time-Turners at the Ministry’s disposal is hedged around with hundreds of laws. While not as potentially dangerous as skipping five centuries, the re-use of a single hour can still have dramatic consequences and the Ministry of Magic seeks the strictest guarantees if it permits the use of these rare and powerful objects. It would surprise most of the magical community to know that Time-Turners are generally only used to solve the most trivial problems of time-management and never for greater or more important purposes, because, as Saul Croaker tells us, ‘just as the human mind cannot comprehend time, so it cannot comprehend the damage that will ensue if we presume to tamper with its laws.’
The Ministry’s entire stock of Time-Turners was destroyed during a fight in the Department of Mysteries about three years after Hermione Granger was granted permission to use one at Hogwarts.
J.K. Rowling's thoughts
I went far too light-heartedly into the subject of time travel in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. While I do not regret it (Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favourite books in the series), it opened up a vast number of problems for me, because after all, if wizards could go back and undo problems, where were my future plots?
I solved the problem to my own satisfaction in stages. Firstly, I had Dumbledore and Hermione emphasise how dangerous it would be to be seen in the past, to remind the reader that there might be unforeseen and dangerous consequences as well as solutions in time travel. Secondly, I had Hermione give back the only Time-Turner ever to enter Hogwarts. Thirdly, I smashed all remaining Time-Turners during the battle in the Department of Mysteries, removing the possibility of reliving even short periods in the future.
This is just one example of the ways in which, when writing fantasy novels, one must be careful what one invents. For every benefit, there is usually a drawback.