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7、Albus P.W.B. Dumbledore ...
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October 13th, 1952
1952年10月13日
Dear Gellert,
亲爱的盖勒特,
Again the thirteenth is peaceful, however much the superstitious fear it. These have been good years for England. Very quiet. Thank you for your letter, however sulky. You retain, I see, that talent for poetry that so sparkled your conversation in your youth.
又是一个平和的13号,即使在迷信中这个数字有多么的可怕。这些年是英格兰有史以来最好的几年,十分安宁。谢谢你的来信,尽管你还在生着气。我能看得出,你还保留着年轻时与人交谈中所闪现的诗歌天赋。
Yes, I know full well what I have done to you. I will not apologize for what was necessary. You had to be removed from power, kept from harming the world, because—well, for the greater good. And seeing as I am a self-righteous old dingbat, as a student most memorably dubbed me a few weeks ago, I would not have murdered you. (I'm even getting some gray hair myself, to properly look the part.) And yet it saddens me, to think of a mind and talent as brilliant as yours wasting away in taffy days; and it saddens me to hear of your suffering. I hope I can provide at least some small joys.
是的,我很清楚我对你做了什么。我不会为这些不得不做的事道歉。你必须放下那些可怕的力量,停止伤害这个世界,为了更伟大的利益。鉴于我是一个“自以为是的老糊涂”,几个礼拜前一个学生给我起了这样一个令人难忘的绰号,我不能杀了你。(我甚至又添了一些灰白色的头发,这让我看起来更像了。)一想到你那无与伦比的头脑和天赋浪费在如太妃糖般的漫长的时间中,我心里就很难过;一想到你曾遭受的痛苦,我就十分悲伤。我希望我至少能给你提供一些微小的快乐。
I think you deserve to know, Gellert, in confidence, of my intentions for what I won from you in that duel. (I admit that I agree with your habit of circumspect wording, given the nature of it.) I intend to take it with me to my grave. If I can succeed in breaking its bloody history...well, as it's been said, I'm a dingbat. But I believe, with all that I've now seen, that the world is better off without it.
我想你必须知道,盖勒特,我从未想过在决斗中从你那里赢得什么。(我承认你的措辞严谨是个好习惯,基于它的本质。)我决定把它带进坟墓,如果我可以成功地终结它血腥的历史……当然,我只是一个自以为是的老糊涂。不过我相信,至少现在来看,没有它,世界会更好。
This is one of those peculiar cases in which I'm unable to anticipate your reaction, I must admit.
不可否认,这正是我无法预料你会如何答复的特殊情况之一。
I must make one more apology, though—if your intent, that time with the ice, was indeed to teach me Russian geography, I'm afraid you quite failed, as I was far too distracted at the time to pay proper attention. I find it odd, though—we knew each other for perhaps two months, and I admit the passion was intriguing, yet you write on it so often. Was that brief time, which you threw away when you left, really so important to you?
另外,我一定要为另一件事道歉——如果你当时弄出那些冰花的本意,是教我俄罗斯地理的话,恐怕你没有达到目的,我那时过于失神,以至于完全无法集中注意力。尽管如此,我觉得很奇怪——我们那时大概只认识了两个月,尽管我承认那是一种忘我的激情,但是你提起它的次数太多了。那段在你转身离开时就被随手抛弃的短暂时光,对你而言真的很重要吗?
I wish you had told me earlier, what those guards were doing to you. I would have had them removed at once, if only through chains of favors. Believe me when I say I had no wish for such degradations to be a part of your sentence; your words left me burning hot with outrage.
我真希望你能早点告诉我关于那些看守对你做的事。我会立即撤换掉他们,只需要让我认识的一些人帮点小忙。相信我,我从未想过让这种遭遇成为你判决的一部分;你在信中的描述让我出离愤怒。
I must to work.
我必须去工作了。
With thanks,
由衷的谢意,