時光器 Time-Turner
New from J.K. Rowling
In spite of the many Muggle fantasies around the subject, time travel is possible in only a limited sense even in the magical world. While the subject is shrouded in great secrecy - investigations are ongoing in the Department of Mysteries – it appears that magic can take you only so far.
雖然許多麻瓜都幻想著時空旅行，在魔法世界也只能有所限制的情況下辦到這件事情。這個議題被嚴格保密──調查仍在神秘部門進行中──不過看來魔法在這件事上也只能達到一定程度而已。
According to Professor Saul Croaker, who has spent his entire career in the Department of Mysteries studying time-magic:
職業生涯都在神秘部門研究時光魔法的Saul Croaker
*教授表示：
*「Croaker」是習慣說不吉祥的話的人，會有這個意義是因為croak就是烏鴉會發出的聲音，通常因為他們會啃食腐肉而代表著死亡的預兆。
‘As our investigations currently stand, the longest period that may be relived without the possibility of serious harm to the traveller or to time itself is around five hours. We have been able to encase single Hour-Reversal Charms, which are unstable and benefit from containment, in small, enchanted hour-glasses that may be worn around a witch or wizard’s neck and revolved according to the number of hours the user wishes to relive.
「就我們目前調查到的，要讓穿越的人和時空本身都不會嚴重損害的話，可以重回過去最長時間在五小時左右。我們有辦法把時光倒流咒（Hour-Reversal Charms）－－不穩定，而且加以遏制反而更會激化它－－包裝在小巧且施過魔法的沙漏中，女巫或巫師可以配帶在脖子上，並根據他們希望重新度過的鐘頭數去翻轉。
‘All attempts to travel back further than a few hours have resulted in catastrophic harm to the witch or wizard involved. It was not realised for many years why time travellers over great distances never survived their journeys. All such experiments have been abandoned since 1899, when Eloise Mintumble became trapped, for a period of five days, in the year 1402. Now we understand that her body had aged five centuries in its return to the present and, irreparably damaged, she died in St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries shortly after we managed to retrieve her. What is more, her five days in the distant past caused great disturbance to the life paths of all those she met, changing the course of their lives so dramatically that no fewer than twenty-five of their descendants vanished in the present, having been “un-born”.
「所有曾希望能回到超過那些時數的女巫或巫師都受到了災難性的傷害。多年來，人們無法理解為什麼穿越到遙遠時空的人都沒從他們的旅程中存活下來。1899年時，Eloise Mintumble回到1402年，並困在那五天。現在我們明白當她回到現代時，她的身體老了五個世紀，因為這無法修復，即使我們試圖拯救，她仍很快就在聖蒙果魔法疾病與傷害醫院去世。不只如此，她那五天的停留嚴重擾動所有她遇到的人，劇烈地改變了他們的人生：至少有二十五位那些人的後裔從現在的時空消失，他們被『未出生』了。從此之後，所有人都放棄時空旅行的實驗。
‘Finally, there were alarming signs, during the days following Madam Mintumble’s recovery, that time itself had been disturbed by such a serious breach of its laws. Tuesday following her reappearance lasted two and a half full days, whereas Thursday shot by in the space of four hours. The Ministry of Magic had a great deal of trouble in covering this up and since that time, the most stringent laws and penalties have been placed around those studying time travel.’
「最後，在Mintumble女士回到現代的後幾天，出現了一些表示時間自身的定律被嚴重破壞而有所擾亂的警訊。在Mintumble女士重新出現後的第一個星期二持續了整整兩天半，星期四卻只有四個小時。魔法部耗費極大的努力掩飾一切，自此之後，最嚴厲的法律和處罰都被用在那些研究時空旅行的人身上。」
Even the use of the very limited amount of Time-Turners at the Ministry’s disposal is hedged around with hundreds of laws. While not as potentially dangerous as skipping five centuries, the re-use of a single hour can still have dramatic consequences and the Ministry of Magic seeks the strictest guarantees if it permits the use of these rare and powerful objects. It would surprise most of the magical community to know that Time-Turners are generally only used to solve the most trivial problems of time-management and never for greater or more important purposes, because, as Saul Croaker tells us, ‘just as the human mind cannot comprehend time, so it cannot comprehend the damage that will ensue if we presume to tamper with its laws.’
即使魔法部允准使用現已為數極少的時光器，也有上百條法規要遵守。雖然隱藏的危害並不如跨越五個世紀那般嚴重，即使只有回去一個鐘頭也能造成重大的後果，而魔法部在准許使用這類稀有又法力強大的物品時都會徵求最嚴謹的保證。如果知道時光器通常只是拿來解決時間控管這種瑣碎的問題而非更重大或更重要的用途，大部分的魔法社群會感到吃驚。因為，正如Saul Croaker教授所言，「就像人類的心智無法領略時間一樣，人類亦無法理解擅自玩弄時間規律會隨之而來的傷害。」
The Ministry’s entire stock of Time-Turners was destroyed during a fight in the Department of Mysteries about three years after Hermione Granger was granted permission to use one at Hogwarts.
魔法部所有庫存的時光器都於一場在神秘部門的戰鬥中全數銷毀，時間就在妙麗‧格蘭傑被准許在霍格華茲使用時光器的三年後。
