守望者

Originally published on pottermore logo on Aug 10th 2015

Azkaban has existed since the fifteenth century and was not originally a prison at all. The island in the North Sea upon which the first fortress was built never appeared on any map, Muggle or wizarding, and is believed to have been created, or enlarged, by magical means.

阿兹卡班在十五世纪被建成，一开始并不是一座监狱。这座小岛位于北海，最初的城堡就建在那里。阿兹卡班没有出现在任何一张地图上，不论是麻瓜的还是巫师的，它被认为是通过魔法创造或扩大的。

The fortress upon it was originally home to a little-known sorcerer who called himself Ekrizdis. Evidently extremely powerful, but of unknown nationality, Ekrizdis, who is believed to have been insane, was a practitioner of the worst kinds of Dark Arts. Alone in the middle of the ocean, he lured, tortured and killed Muggle sailors, apparently for pleasure, and only when he died, and the concealment charms he had cast faded away, did the Ministry of Magic realise that either island or building existed. Those who entered to investigate refused afterwards to talk of what they had found inside, but the least frightening part of it was that the place was infested with Dementors.

这座城堡最初是一位自称艾克斯蒂斯的不知名巫师的住所。这位国籍不明的巫师无疑非常强大，但他被认为患有精神病，是最恶劣的黑魔法的实践者。他独自一人居住在大洋中间，仅仅是为了找乐子去引诱、折磨和杀害麻瓜水手，直到他死后，他丢在那里的隐藏咒才消失，魔法部才意识到岛屿和建筑的存在。 那些进去调查的人后来拒绝谈论他们在里面发现了什么，但是最不可怕的就是那个地方有摄魂怪出没。

Many in authority thought Azkaban an evil place that was best destroyed. Others were afraid of what might happen to the Dementors infesting the building if they deprived them of their home. The creatures were already strong and impossible to kill; many feared a horrible revenge if they took away a habitat where they appeared to thrive. The very walls of the building seemed steeped in misery and pain, and the Dementors were determined to cling to it. Experts who had studied buildings built with and around Dark magic contended that Azkaban might wreak its own revenge upon anybody attempting to destroy it. The fortress was therefore left abandoned for many years, a home to continually breeding Dementors.

许多当权者认为阿兹卡班是一个邪恶的地方，最好摧毁它。 其他人则担心如果夺走摄魂怪的家园，可能会发生什么。 这些生物已经很强壮了，不可能被杀死; 许多人担心如果夺走了它们繁衍生息的栖息地，就会遭到可怕的报复。 建筑的墙壁似乎浸透了痛苦和苦难，摄魂怪决定紧紧抓住它不放。 研究过黑魔法及其周边建筑的专家认为，阿兹卡班可能会对任何试图摧毁它的人进行报复。 这座堡垒因此被遗弃了许多年，成为了摄魂怪不断繁殖的家园。

Once the International Statute of Secrecy had been imposed, the Ministry of Magic felt that the small wizarding prisons that existed up and down the country in various towns and villages posed a security risk, because attempts by incarcerated witches and wizards to break out often led to undesirable bangs, smells and light shows. A purpose-built prison, located on some remote Hebridean island, was preferred, and plans had been drawn up when Damocles Rowle became Minister for Magic.

《国际保密法》一经实施，魔法部就认为，遍布全国各地的各个城镇和村庄的小型巫师监狱构成了安全风险，因为被监禁的巫师和女巫试图越狱时往往会发出不妙的爆炸声、气味和闪光。当时人们倾向于在一个偏远的希布里底群岛上建造一座专门的监狱，但达摩克利斯 · 罗尔成为魔法部长时，新计划制定了。

Rowle was an authoritarian who had risen to power on an anti-Muggle agenda, capitalising on the anger felt by much of the wizarding community at being forced to go underground. Sadistic by nature, Rowle scrapped the plans for the new prison at once and insisted on using Azkaban. He claimed that the Dementors living there were an advantage: they could be harnessed as guards, saving the Ministry time, trouble and expense.

罗尔是位独裁者，他利用了大多数巫师被迫转入地下的愤怒，靠反麻瓜的议题上台。出于暴虐的天性，罗尔立即取消了新监狱的建设计划，并坚持使用阿兹卡班。他声称盘踞在那里的大量摄魂怪有他们的好处：他们可以充当守卫，这样可以节省魔法部的时间精力和资金。

In spite of opposition from many wizards, among them experts on both Dementors and buildings with Azkaban’s kind of Dark history, Rowle carried out his plan and soon a steady trickle of prisoners had been placed there. None ever emerged. If they were not mad and dangerous before being placed in Azkaban, they swiftly became so.

尽管遭到许多巫师的反对，其中包扩对摄魂怪和阿兹卡班的黑暗历史有所研究的人。但罗尔执行了他的计划，不久，一批批囚犯被安置在那里。 从来没有出现过。 如果他们在被安置在阿兹卡班之前没有疯狂和危险，他们很快就会变得疯狂和危险。

Rowle was succeeded by Perseus Parkinson, who was likewise pro-Azkaban. By the time that Eldritch Diggory took over as Minister for Magic, the prison had been operating for fifteen years. There had been no breakouts and no breaches of security. The new prison seemed to be working well. It was only when Diggory went to visit that he realised exactly what conditions inside were like. Prisoners were mostly insane and a graveyard had been established to accommodate those that died of despair.

接替罗尔的是帕尔修斯 · 帕金森，他同样支持阿兹卡班。 当埃尔德里奇 · 迪戈里接任魔法部长时，这座监狱已经运作了15年。 没有越狱，也没有安全漏洞。 新监狱似乎运作良好。 直到迪戈里去参观时，他才真正意识到里面的情况是怎样的。 囚犯大多数是精神病患者，已经建立了一个墓地来安置那些因绝望而死的人。

Back in London, Diggory established a committee to explore alternatives to Azkaban, or at least to remove the Dementors as guards. Experts explained to him that the only reason the Dementors were (mostly) confined to the island was that they were being provided with a constant supply of souls on which to feed. If deprived of prisoners, they were likely to abandon the prison and head for the mainland.

回到伦敦，迪戈里成立了一个委员会，探索阿兹卡班的替代方案，或者至少取消摄魂怪的守卫身份。 专家们向他解释说，摄魂怪(大多数)被限制在岛上的唯一原因是，他们不断得到可供食用的灵魂。 如果囚犯被剥夺了权利，他们很可能会放弃监狱而前往大陆。

This advice notwithstanding, Diggory had been so horrified by what he had seen inside Azkaban that he pressed the committee to find alternatives. Before they could reach any decision, however, Diggory caught dragon pox and died. From that time until the advent of Kingsley Shacklebolt, no Minister ever seriously considered closing Azkaban. They turned a blind eye to the inhumane conditions inside the fortress, permitted it to be magically enlarged and expanded and rarely visited, due to the awful effects of entering a building populated by thousands of Dementors. Most justified their attitude by pointing to the prison’s perfect record at keeping prisoners locked up.

尽管有这样的建议，迪戈里还是被他在阿兹卡班的所见所闻吓坏了，于是他向委员会施压，要求寻找替代方案。 然而，在他们做出任何决定之前，迪戈里染上了龙痘，死了。 从那时起直到金斯利 · 沙克尔博尔特的出现，没有部长认真考虑过关闭阿兹卡班。 他们对堡垒内部的非人道环境视而不见，允许堡垒奇迹般地扩大和扩大，由于进入了一个由数千摄魂怪居住的建筑物所带来的可怕后果，很少有人造访。 大多数人指出，监狱在关押囚犯方面有着完美的记录，这证明他们的态度是正确的。

Nearly three centuries passed before that record was broken. A young man was successfully smuggled out of the prison when his visiting mother exchanged places with him, something that the blind and loveless Dementors could not detect and would have never expected. This escape was followed by another, still more ingenious and impressive, when Sirius Black managed to evade the Dementors single-handed.

在这个记录被打破之前，差不多过去了三个世纪。 一个年轻人成功地逃出了监狱，因为他的母亲来探望他，这是失明和没有爱的摄魂怪所不能察觉到的，也是他从来没有想到的。 这次逃脱之后又发生了另一次，更加巧妙和令人印象深刻的是，小天狼星布莱克独自逃脱了摄魂怪的追捕。

The weakness of the prison was demonstrated amply over the next few years, when two mass breakouts occurred, both involving Death Eaters. By this time the Dementors had given their allegiance to Lord Voldemort, who could guarantee them scope and freedom hitherto un-tasted. Albus Dumbledore was one who had long disapproved of the use of Dementors as guards, not only because of the inhumane treatment of the prisoners in their power, but because he foresaw the possible shift in loyalties of such Dark creatures.

在接下来的几年里，监狱的软弱无力被充分展现出来，当时发生了两起大规模越狱事件，都涉及食死徒。 这时摄魂怪已经效忠于伏地魔，他可以保证他们的活动范围和自由，迄今为止他们还没有尝到过。 另一个长期反对使用摄魂怪作为看守的人是阿不思·邓不利多，不仅仅是因为在他们的权力下对囚犯的非人道待遇，而且因为他预见到这些黑暗生物的忠诚可能会发生转变。

Under Kingsley Shacklebolt, Azkaban was purged of Dementors. While it remains in use as a prison, the guards are now Aurors, who are regularly rotated from the mainland. There has been no breakout since this new system was introduced.

在金斯利 · 沙克尔波特的领导下，阿兹卡班被清除了摄魂怪。 虽然它仍然作为一个监狱使用，现在的守卫是傲罗，他们定期轮流从大陆来。 自从这个新系统引进以来，还没有出现突破。

J.K. Rowling’s thoughts 罗琳的想法

The name ‘Azkaban’ derives from a mixture of the prison ‘Alcatraz’, which is its closest Muggle equivalent, being set on an island, and ‘Abaddon’, which is a Hebrew word meaning ‘place of destruction’ or ‘depths of hell’.

阿兹卡班这个名字来源于监狱恶魔岛和阿巴顿的混合物，前者是与麻瓜最相似的一个岛屿，后者在希伯来语中的意思是毁灭之地或地狱深处。