The phoenix

　　凤凰

　　Unicorns, dragons and centaurs feature heavily in the world of Harry Potter, and while JK Rowling didn’t invent these magical beasts herself, she certainly gave age-old myths a new lease of life. She re-imagines the phoenix, a bird from Greek mythology, in her second Potter book, The Chamber of Secrets. It’s a swan-sized scarlet bird with a gold beak and talons, who endearingly looks a bit like a half-plucked Christmas turkey when it gets near its ’Burning Day’ – the day the bird extinguishes and is reborn as a new, baby phoenix from its ashes.

　　在哈利波特的世界里，独角兽、龙和半马人举足轻重，尽管罗琳没有自己创造这些魔法神兽，但是确定无疑地是，她给这些老神话赋予了新生命。在哈利波特第二本书《消失的密室》中，她重新想象了来自希腊神话的凤凰。这是一种天鹅大小的深红色鸟类，拥有金色的喙和爪子。临近“燃烧日”时，这只凤凰看起来像扒光了半边毛的圣诞火鸡，它在这天消亡，然后从自己的灰烬里重生出一只新的雏鸟。

　　What JK Rowling does invent is the idea that phoenix feathers can feature as constituent parts of a wizard’s wand, such as those of Harry and Lord Voldemort. A phoenix’s tears can also heal wounds, as Fawkes, Professor Dumbledore’s bird, does to Harry after he’s wounded by the Basilisk in the second book.

　　罗琳的创造之处在于，她让凤凰羽毛成为了巫师魔杖的重要组成部分，比如哈利和伏地魔的。凤凰的眼泪还像邓布利多教授的鸟福克斯一样能治愈创伤，在第二本书中，哈利被蛇怪伤害了，凤凰治愈了他。

　　Bezoar stone

　　牛黄石

　　In his first-year Potions class, Harry learns an important lesson about the humble bezoar from Professor Snape: “a bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons.” It does indeed save one Harry Potter character – Ronald Weasley.

　　在第一年的“魔药”课上，哈利从斯内普教授那里学到了一个关于粗牛黄的教训：“牛黄是一种从山羊胃里取出来的石头，可以拯救你于剧毒之中。”牛黄石确实拯救了《哈利波特》里的一个人物——罗恩.韦斯莱。

　　The word ‘bezoar’ comes from the Persian pād-zahr, meaning antidote. Bezoars are indigestible food masses generally found in the stomach of animals like goats and were believed to be antidotes to poison as early as the Moorish occupation of Spain. The gold around this bezoar proves how much the object must have been revered.

　　“牛黄”一词来自波斯语pād-zahr，意思是解毒剂。牛黄通常是在像山羊这样的动物胃中发现的无法消化的食品，早在摩尔人占领西班牙时就被认为是毒药的解毒剂。牛黄周围黄金的多少是这个物体值得多少尊重的证明。

　　A mandrake

　　幻草

　　Harry and his friends first meet mandrakes in their second year Herbology class. The root is harvested for its ability to return victims of petrification – a Dark paralysis spell – to their normal state. But these aren’t just any old roots; they’re sentient little creatures whose screams become fatal when they reach adulthood. That’s why young wizards learn to pick mandrakes when they’re still seedlings.

　　二年级的草药课上，哈利和他的朋友们见到了幻草。幻草因为具有让石化术受害者复原的能力而被采割，石化术是一种黑暗麻痹法术。但是幻草不仅仅是老根，它们是有感情的小生物，当它们成年后，尖叫声可以致命。这就是为什么年轻的巫师在无籽的时候就学习采摘它们的原因。

　　The crystal ball

　　水晶球

　　Harry Potter was never a huge fan of crystal balls – he meets them as a third year student in his Divination class, taken by eccentric teacher Professor Sybill Trelawney. In this lesson, young wizards learn how to predict the future, but all Harry and Ron can see is a foggy white swirl. Harry fails again in The Order of the Phoenix to predict anything in his Divination OWL (wizarding SATs).

　　哈利波特从来不是水晶球的狂热粉丝——他在三年级的占卜课上见到了水晶球，这节课是偏心的老师西比尔教授上的。在这节课上，年轻的巫师们学习怎么预测未来，但是哈利和罗恩能看到的只是起雾的白色漩涡。在《凤凰社》中，哈利又没能在占卜课上预测到任何东西。