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Albus Dumbledore on “Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump”
阿不思·鄧布利多評《兔子巴比蒂和她的呱呱樹樁》
The story of “Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump” is, in many ways, the most “real” of Beedle's tales, in that the magic described in the story conforms, almost entirely, to known magical laws.
在許多方面，《兔子巴比蒂和她的呱呱樹樁》都是彼豆故事中最“真實”的，因為故事中的魔法幾乎完全遵循了已知的魔法規則。
It was through this story that many of us first discovered that magic could not bring back the dead –and a great disappointment and shock it was, convinced as we had been, as young children, that our parents would be able to awaken our dead rats and cats with one wave of their wands.
正是通過這個故事，我們許多人第一次發現魔法不能起死回生——這是一種莫大的失望和震驚，因為作為孩子，我們一直相信父母只要一揮魔杖，就會讓那些死去的老鼠和貓蘇醒過來。
Though some six centuries have elapsed since Beedle wrote this tale, and while we have devised innumerable ways of maintaining the illusion of our loved ones' continuing presence, (Note. 1: Wizarding photographs and portraits move and (in the case of the latter) talk just like their subjects.
盡管從彼豆寫這個故事起已經過了六個多世紀，我們仍一直在想發明各種辦法保持那種我們所愛的人還會繼續存在的幻想。（注釋一：魔法照片和肖像會動，而且（在肖像中）還會像真人一樣說話。
Other rare objects, such as the Mirror of Erised, may also reveal more than a static image of a lost loved one.
其他稀罕物品，如厄里斯魔鏡，跟靜態圖片比起來，也能透露已故親人更多的情況。
Ghosts are transparent, moving, talking and thinking versions of wizards and witches who wished, for whatever reason, to remain on earth. JKR) wizards still have not found a way of reuniting body and soul once death has occurred.
幽靈是某些巫師的透明的、活動的、會說話會思想的翻版，這些巫師出于某種原因希望繼續留在世界上。——J.K。羅琳注但是，巫師們仍然沒有找到一種在死亡發生之后，把身體和靈魂重新連接在一起的辦法。
As the eminent wizarding philosopher Bertrand de Pensées-Profondes writes in his celebrated work A Study into the Possibility of Reversing the Actual and Metaphysical Effects of Natural Death, with Particular Regard to the Reintegration of Essence and Matter: “Give it up. It's never going to happen.”
正如著名的魔法哲學家伯特蘭·德·潘西-普羅方德斯在他的名著《對自然死亡之實際及抽象結果的研究，特別是對精神與物質的再度統一的研究》中所寫的：“放棄吧。這種事永遠不會發生。”
The tale of Babbitty Rabbitty does, however, give us one of the earliest literary mentions of an Animagus, for Babbitty the washerwoman is possessed of the rare magical ability to transform into an animal at will.
不過，兔子巴比蒂的故事倒是首次在文學作品中提到了阿尼馬格斯，因為洗衣婦巴比蒂擁有罕見的法術，能夠隨心所欲地變形為一只動物。
Animagi make up a small fraction of the wizarding population.
阿尼馬格斯只占巫師人口中的很少一部分。
Achieving perfect, spontaneous human to animal transformation requires much study and practice, and many witches and wizards consider that their time might be better employed in other ways.
要熟練而自然地由人轉變為動物，需要大量的鉆研和練習，許多巫師認為把時間用在別的方面更有價值。
Certainly, the application of such a talent is limited unless one has a great need of disguise or concealment.
當然，對這種才能的利用是非常有限的，除非此人特別需要偽裝或隱藏自己。
It is for this reason that the Ministry of Magic has insisted upon a register of Animagi, for there can be no doubt that this kind of magic is of greatest use to those engaged in surreptitious, covert or even criminal activity.
正是由于這個原因，魔法部堅持把所有的阿尼馬格斯登記在案，因為對于那些從事鬼鬼祟祟、不可告人的勾當，甚至從事犯罪活動的人來說，這類魔法無疑是十分有用的。
