《HP官方资料翻译集（物品篇）》霁随心

83、疾病和残疾

　　【Pottermore中关于疾病和残疾（Illness and Disability）的内容】
　　（翻译参考了哈吧《【翻译】PM罗琳2014.07.31更新Read About》）

　　我在创作哈利的世界时，很早就思考到疾病和残疾的问题。巫师们会感冒吗？他们可以治愈困扰麻瓜的疾病吗？有残疾的巫师吗？巫师医学的限度在哪里，或者说他们可以治疗一切吗？
　　其中的一些问题指向故事的核心，因为死亡的主题贯穿着每一本哈利波特书籍。决定了魔法不能让死者复活（连复活石也不能真正让死者复活）后，我就必须决定什么可以杀死一位巫师；他们可能患上什么样的疾病；他们可能会受怎样的伤；什么样的疾病和伤可以被治愈。
　　我决定到，从广义上讲，巫师们拥有力量去改变或者颠覆“世俗”的自然法则，但无法改变“魔法”的自然法则。因此，一个巫师可以染上任何一种麻瓜可能染上的疾病，但是他可以治好这一切；当他遇上可能杀死一个麻瓜的蝎子蛰咬，他也可以使自己安然无恙；然而他若是被毒触手咬伤，便可能会死去。同样，非魔法事故造成的骨折，比如跌倒或拳脚相向，可以通过魔法进行修补，但诅咒或魔咒回火的后果却可能非常严重、永久甚至危及生命。这就是为什么吉德罗·洛哈特因为他自己发出的损坏记忆魔咒而永久地失了忆，为什么可怜的隆巴顿夫妇因为魔法的折磨而受到了永久的损害，为什么疯眼汉穆迪在巫师战斗中眼睛和腿受损后，要安一只木腿和一只魔法眼睛；卢娜·洛夫古德的母亲，潘多拉，因为她自己的咒语实验出错而死去；比尔·韦斯莱遭遇到芬里尔·格雷伯克的攻击后，
　　留下了无法复原的伤疤。
　　由此可知，尽管巫师们在对付流感和各种严重伤害时比起我们有着令人羡慕的优势，他们却需要对付我们永远不必面对的麻烦。麻瓜世界不仅远离魔鬼网和炸尾螺这类危险事物，保密法还使我们不会与任何感染了龙痘（顾名思义，最初是由在工作中紧密接触秘鲁毒牙龙的巫师感染的）和死斑谷病的人接触。
　　莱姆斯·卢平的苦楚有意识地参照了血液传播的疾病，如HIV感染以及随之而带来的耻辱感。斯内普为他熬制的是类似抗逆转录病毒药物的魔药，以防他的病情发展成为“完全成熟”的严重状态。人们面对慢性疾病患者时所表现出的孤立，正是卢平人物性格上重要的一部分。与此同时，疯眼汉穆迪是所有傲罗中最坚强的，他的人格魅力要比他身上的严重残疾更为引人注目。

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作者有话要说：　　Illness and Disability
By J.K. Rowling

I pondered the issue of illness and disability very early in the creation of Harry's world. Did wizards catch colds? Could they cure illnesses that baffled Muggles? Were there disabled wizards? What were the limits of wizarding medicine, or could it fix anything?
Some of these questions went to the heart of the story, because the theme of death runs through every volume of the Potter books. Having decided that magic could not raise the dead (even the Resurrection Stone does not truly return the dead to life), I then had to decide what might kill a wizard; what kind of illnesses they could catch; what injuries they might sustain, and which of the last two could be cured.
I decided that, broadly speaking, wizards would have the power to correct or override 'mundane' nature, but not 'magical' nature. Therefore, a wizard could catch anything a Muggle might catch, but he could cure all of it; he would also comfortably survive a scorpion sting that might kill a Muggle, whereas he might die if bitten by a Venomous Tentacula. Similarly, bones broken in non-magical accidents such as falls or fist fights can be mended by magic, but the consequences of curses or backfiring magic could be serious, permanent or life-threatening. This is the reason that Gilderoy Lockhart, victim of his own mangled Memory Charm, has permanent amnesia, why the poor Longbottoms remain permanently damaged by magical torture, and why Mad-Eye Moody had to resort to a wooden leg and a magical eye when the originals were irreparably damaged in a wizards' battle; Luna Lovegood's mother, Pandora, died when one of her own experimental spells went wrong, and Bill Weasley is irreversibly scarred after his meeting with Fenrir Greyback.
Thus it can be seen that while wizards have an enviable head start over the rest of us in dealing with the flu, and all manner of serious injuries, they have to deal with problems that the rest of us never face. Not only is the Muggle world free of such perils as Devil's Snare and Blast-Ended Skrewts, the Statute of Secrecy has also kept us free from contact with anyone who could pass on Dragon Pox (as the name implies, originally contracted by wizards working closely with Peruvian Vipertooths) or Spattergroit.
Remus Lupin's affliction was a conscious reference to blood-borne diseases such as the HIV infection, with the attendant stigma. The potion Snape brews him is akin to the antiretroviral that will keep him from developing the 'full-blown' version of his illness. The sense of 'apartness' that the management of a chronic condition can impose on its sufferers was an important part of Lupin's character. Meanwhile, Mad-Eye Moody is the toughest Auror of them all, and a man who was very much more than his significant disabilities.