Chamber of Secrets
密室
The subterranean Chamber of Secrets was created by Salazar Slytherin without the knowledge of his three fellow founders of Hogwarts. The Chamber was, for many centuries, believed to be a myth; however, the fact that rumours of its existence persisted for so long reveals that Slytherin spoke of its creation and that others believed him, or else had been permitted, by him, to enter.
位於地下隱密的密室為薩拉札•史萊哲林在其他三位霍格華茲創辦者不知道的情況下建造的。許多世紀以來，密室被認為是個沒有事實根據的傳說；然而，密室存在的謠言可以持續如此的長久表示史萊哲林曾經提過建造它，而其他人相信了他，或可能被他許可進入密室。
There is no doubt that each of the four founders sought to stamp their own mark upon the school of witchcraft and wizardry that they intended would be the finest in the world. It was agreed that each would construct their own houses, for example, choosing the location of common rooms and dormitories. However, only Slytherin went further, and built what was in effect a personal, secret headquarters within the school, accessible only by himself or by those he allowed to enter.
四位學校創辦人不容質疑的都努力的在學校中加上自己的印記，打算把他們的魔法及巫術學院創建為世界上最好的。他們同意每個人可以建造自己的學院，譬如選擇交誼廳和宿舍的位置。然而，只有史萊哲林更進一步的在學校裡建造實際上他個人的隱密總部，只有他自己和那些他允許的人可以進入。
Perhaps, when he first constructed the Chamber, Slytherin wanted no more than a place in which to instruct his students in spells of which the other three founders may have disapproved (disagreements sprung up early around the teaching of the Dark Arts). However, it is clear by the very decoration of the Chamber that by the time Slytherin finished it he had developed grandiose ideas of his own importance to the school. No other founder left behind them a gigantic statue of themselves or draped the school in emblems of their own personal powers (the snakes carved around the Chamber of Secrets being a reference to Slytherin’s powers as a Parselmouth).
或許，當他一開始建造密室的時候，史萊哲林只是想要一個場地讓來能教導他的學生其他三位創辦人可能不會贊同的咒語（學校早期創辦人們就對教授黑魔法有不一的看法）。但是，密室在史萊哲林完成之後的裝飾就顯現史萊哲林對於自己在學校雄偉的重要地位看法的養成。沒有其他創辦人留下了巨大的個人雕像或是把學校覆蓋在他們自己能力的象徵中（刻在密室裡的蛇是連結到史萊哲林身為爬說嘴的能力）。
What is certain is that by the time Slytherin was forced out of the school by the other three founders, he had decided that henceforth, the Chamber he had built would be the lair of a monster that he alone – or his descendants – would be able to control: a Basilisk. Moreover, only a Parselmouth would be able to enter the Chamber. This, he knew, would keep out all three founders and every other member of staff.
可以確定的是到了史萊哲林被其他三位創辦人逐出學校的時候，他決定從那時開始，他所建造的密室將會是只有他或他的傳人可以控制的怪獸——一隻蛇妖——的巢穴。並且，只有一個爬說嘴可以進入密室。這，他知道，就會確保其他三個創辦人和所有其他教職員被擋於密室之外。
The existence of the Chamber was known to Slytherin’s descendants and those with whom they chose to share the information. Thus the rumour stayed alive through the centuries.
史萊哲林的傳人們和那些他們選擇分享這項資訊的人知道密室的存在。這也是為什麼謠言可以過了這麼多個世紀還繼續持續著。
There is clear evidence that the Chamber was opened more than once between the death of Slytherin and the entrance of Tom Riddle in the twentieth century. When first created, the Chamber was accessed through a concealed trapdoor and a series of magical tunnels. However, when Hogwarts’ plumbing became more elaborate in the eighteenth century (this was a rare instance of wizards copying Muggles, because hitherto they simply relieved themselves wherever they stood, and vanished the evidence), the entrance to the Chamber was threatened, being located on the site of a proposed bathroom. The presence in school at the time of a student called Corvinus Gaunt – direct descendant of Slytherin, and antecedent of Tom Riddle – explains how the simple trapdoor was secretly protected, so that those who knew how could still access the entrance to the Chamber even after newfangled plumbing had been placed on top of it.
明確的證據存在顯示出密室在史萊哲林之死和湯姆•瑞斗在二十世紀進入之間被打開超過一次。當它剛被建造完成時，密室的入口是一個隱藏的活板門和一系列的魔法隧道。然而，當霍格華茲的管線系統的十八世紀時變得更詳盡（這是巫師抄襲麻瓜少有的例子，因為至此時巫師們通常是就地解決大小便，然後施法讓證據消失），密室的入口受到威脅，因為它位於一個被提議建造的廁所之中。當時在學校的傳人，一位叫做柯爾文納斯•剛特的學生——史萊哲林的直系傳人及湯姆•瑞斗的祖先——解釋那簡單的活板門是如何的被秘密保護著，所以只有那些知道它的位置的人仍然可以使用密室的入口，就算當時新奇的管線系統被蓋在其之上。
Whispers that a monster lived in the depths of the castle were also prevalent for centuries. Again, this is because those who could hear and speak to it were not always as discreet as they might have been: the Gaunt family could not resist boasting of their knowledge. As nobody else could hear the creature sliding beneath floorboards or, latterly, through the plumbing, they did not have many believers, and none, until Riddle, dared unleash the monster on the castle.
一隻住在城堡深處的怪獸的耳語也持續了很多個世紀。當然，這是因為那些聽得見牠而可以和牠溝通的人不一定總是那麼謹慎，雖然他們曾經是：剛特家族沒辦法抗拒誇耀他們的了解。由於其他人沒人可以聽見怪獸在地板下或最近，在水管中，滑動，剛特家族的炫耀並沒有多少人相信，而也沒有人，直到瑞斗，膽敢將怪獸控制釋放於城堡中。
Successive headmasters and mistresses, not to mention a number of historians, searched the castle thoroughly many times over the centuries, each time concluding that the chamber was a myth. The reason for their failure was simple: none of them was a Parselmouth.
歷任的校長女校長們，不包括許多歷史學家，在接下來的很多世紀仔細而且多次的搜索著城堡，每一次都定論密室是個神話。他們失敗的原因極其簡單：他們之中沒有人是爬說嘴。
