《HP官方资料翻译集（物品篇）》霁随心

61、货币与计量单位

　　【英国巫师的货币】
　　金加隆（Galleon）、银西可（Sickles）、铜纳特（Knuts）
　　1加隆=17西可；1西可=29纳特
　　《神奇的魁地奇球》里有关金飞侠的部分提到，1269年，150加隆的奖金相当于今天的100多万加隆。也就是说，加隆在13世纪中期就已经在英国的巫师社会流通。当时的1加隆比今天的6667加隆还要值钱。
　　根据罗琳访谈，在2001年，1加隆可折合4.97英镑或10.17美元。

　　【小矮妖金币（Leprechaun gold）】
　　爱尔兰队的吉祥物小矮妖在魁地奇比赛前撒下了大量的小矮妖金币。这些“加隆”偶尔会参与流通（它们在几个小时后会消失），但是古灵阁的妖精专家可以将它们和真硬币区分开来。
　　罗恩用小矮妖金币还了哈利给他买全景望远镜的钱，但是并不知道这些钱是假的。
　　在弗雷德和乔治赢得魁地奇世界杯的赌注后，卢多·巴格曼付给了他们小矮妖金币。他们在发现后向卢多追要无果。同样，巴格曼还把这种假硬币支付给了几个妖精，不过他们把卢多抓住了，并让他付出了沉重的代价。

　　【假加隆】
　　五年级时，赫敏为D.A.成员制作了假加隆，作为一种秘密通信的手段，传达以后的集会时间。

　　【美国巫师的货币】
　　卓锅（Dragot），具体汇兑不详。

　　【古代巫师的货币】
　　嗅幻草（Niffler's fancy）是一种具有魔法属性的稀有植物，叶子会像铜一样泛着光，曾被一些古代的巫师当成货币使用。

　　【Pottermore上有关于计量单位（Measurements）的内容】
　　（翻译来自《【翻译】Pottermore文字资料翻译集合》）
　　就像英国的巫师不使用电和计算机一样，他们也从未采用公制计量方式。巫师们不受麻瓜政府决策的影响，因此当1965年英国公制化进程开始时，巫师群体完全忽略了这种变化。
　　巫师们并不在意复杂的计算，因为毕竟可以使用魔法，所以他们认为用盎司、磅、石作重量单位，用英寸、英尺、英里作长度单位，用纳特、西可、加隆作货币单位没有什么不妥。

　　罗琳的想法：
　　《哈利·波特与魔法石》在英国首次获准出版发行时，编辑告诉我按出版业的通行做法，所有的计量单位都将被改为公制。我拒绝了这项提议。因为就我上面提到的原因，这样做毫无意义。但这也不是作者就自己的政治倾向所作的声明。我并不是欧洲一体化的反对者，正相反，我很希望英国成为欧洲大家庭的一员，而且我自己就有一部分法国血统。我对公制计量方法也没什么意见。其实公制比英制更具逻辑性，能让烹饪变得更简单。然而我确实认为英制更有趣，更独特，因此更适合我所描写的（巫师）社会。
　　在书中保留英制的决定引发了一个意外的插曲，那就是我收到了“英制计量协会（British Weights and Measures Association）”的入会邀请。我不同意许多会员所持的英国应该拒绝公制的看法，正要把邀请信扔进废纸篓，就在此时灵光乍现，我改主意了。下面说的就不是什么光彩的事了。我想到的是如果我入会的话会把我妹妹戴气疯的。戴在生气时最好玩了。另外她最讨厌的就是因为规矩有些年头人们就得因循守旧，或是这种组织体现的“这就是天生的英国作派，不用你们这些外国佬告诉我们怎么称黄油”的态度。
　　我成为会员的事被报道后，她果然怒气冲天，暴跳如雷，令我十分满意。我笑得前仰后合，然后告诉她我入会就是为了气她。这让她恼怒得近乎语无伦次，把她变得更好玩了。说实话，我想没有谁能以一枚邮票换来这么多乐趣吧。

　　Measurements
New from J.K.Rowling
Just as British witches and wizards do not use electricity or computers, they have never turned metric. They are not governed by the decisions of the Muggle government, so when the process of metrication (switching to metric measurements) began in 1965, witches and wizards simply ignored the change.
Witches and wizards are not averse to laborious calculations, which they can, after all, do magically, so they do not find it inconvenient to weigh in ounces, pounds and stones; measure in inches, feet and miles; or pay for goods in Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons.
J.K.Rowling’s Thoughts
When the manuscript of Harry Potter and the Philosopher\'s Stone was first accepted for publication in Britain, the copy editor advised me that all weights and measures would be changed to metric, which was the publisher\'s standard practise. I refused to allow the change because, for the reasons stated above, there was no logic to the thing. However, this ought not to be taken as any kind of political statement on the part of the author. I am not anti-European; on the contrary, I am all for Britain being part of Europe, and I am part French myself. Nor do I have anything against the metric system, which is much more logical than the imperial, and which certainly makes baking much easier. However, I do find the old system much more picturesque, much quirkier, and therefore more appropriate to the kind of society I was describing.
The decision to keep the imperial system in the book had an unexpected sequel, which was an invitation to join the British Weights and Measures Association. As I do not agree that Britain ought to refuse to use the metric system (as many of this society\'s members do), I was about to throw this invitation in the bin when I was struck by a sudden thought, and changed my mind. I know that what I am about to say does not reveal very good things about my character, but I had realised in a flash how much it would enrage my sister, Di, if I signed up. Di is never funnier than when infuriated, and among her many pet hates is the old-bufferish adherence to the old ways just for the sake of them, or because-by-God-it\'s-British-and-no-Johnny-Foreigner-is-Going-To-Tell-Me-How-To-Measure-Suet-ness that such an organisation represents.
When my membership came out in the press, she exploded in a really satisfying outpouring of rage. I could hardly stop laughing long enough to tell her that I\'d only joined to annoy her. This rendered her almost incoherent with indignation, which was possibly even funnier. Frankly, I doubt whether anyone has ever had as much fun for the price of a postage stamp.