《HP官方资料翻译集（物品篇）》霁随心

20、冥想盆

　　【Pottmore中关于有关冥想盆（Pensieve）的内容】
　　（翻译参考了pottermore吧帖子《【翻译】Pensieve冥想盆》）

　　冥想盆是一个用金属或者石头制成的宽而浅的盘子，常常会装饰或者镶嵌着贵重的石头，而且会带着强大复杂的魔法。冥想盆是非常稀少的，因为只有那些最强大的巫师会使用冥想盆，而且绝大多数巫师不敢这么做。

　　人们会觉得冥想盆危险，源于它在记忆与思想方面的力量。冥想盆被施加了能重现记忆的魔法，所以它能够忠实地重现储存在潜意识中的任何细节，而且无论是记忆的主人还是其他人（危险正在于此），都能进入那些记忆并且在里面走来走去。不可避免地，那些有秘密、因过去而羞愧、渴望保住他们的秘密与隐私的人，都会对冥想盆这类东西敬而远之。

　　相比重现记忆，更困难的是使用冥想盆将自己的想法与主意进行检查与分类，而且很少有巫师有这么做的能力。值得注意的是，在《哈利波特与火焰杯》第三十章里，阿不思·邓布利多就用这种方式使用霍格沃茨的冥想盆，这一章里描述了：邓布利多将记忆加进冥想盆里，哈利的脸变成了斯内普的。邓布利多利用冥想盆来提醒自己斯内普和哈利之间的隐藏联系（斯内普爱着哈利的母亲，现在仍旧非常不情愿地保护着哈利）。

　　一般来说，一个女巫或者男巫的冥想盆就像他们自己的魔杖，会在他们死后和他们埋在一起，因为它被认为是一件私人物品。任何想法或者记忆都会被留在冥想盆里面，和它们的主人葬在一起，除非其主人另有安排。不过，霍格沃茨的冥想盆不属于任何一个个体，它属于学校。历代的校长都会在死后以记忆的形式将他们的生活经验留给后来一代代的校长们。这样冥想盆就成为了一个无价的图书馆。

　　霍格沃茨冥想盆是用精雕细刻的石头制成的，上面刻着撒克逊如泥文，这标志着它是学校建立之前就存在的古董。传说（未经证实的）创始人在学校选址的时候，正好发现了半埋在地里的冥想盆。

　　“冥想盆（Pensieve）”这个名字源于谐音词“沉思（pensive）”，意为深刻地、严肃地思考；但同时它也是一个双关语，后半部分“筛（sieve）”暗指那种从一大堆想法和记忆里梳理出其中的意义的功能。

作者有话说

　　【Pottermore中冥想盆原文】
A Pensieve is a wide and shallow dish made of metal or stone, often elaborately decorated or inlaid with precious stones, and carrying powerful and complex enchantments. Pensieves are rare, because only the most advanced wizards ever use them, and because the majority of wizardkind is afraid of doing so.
The perceived dangers of the Pensieve relate to its power over memory or thought. The Pensieve is enchanted to recreate memories so that they become re-liveable, taking every detail stored in the subconscious and recreating it faithfully, so that either the owner, or (and herein lies the danger) a second party, is able to enter the memories and move around within them. Inevitably, those with things to hide, those ashamed of their pasts, those eager to keep hold of their secrets, or protective of their privacy, will be wary of an object like the Pensieve.
Even more difficult than the recreation of memories is the use of a Pensieve to examine and sort thoughts and ideas, and very few wizards have the ability to do so. Albus Dumbledore is seen using the Hogwarts Pensieve in this way, notably in Chapter Thirty of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when he adds thoughts to the Pensieve and Harry's face turns into Snape's; Dumbledore is reminding himself of the hidden connection between Snape and Harry (that Snape was in love with Harry's mother, and is now - though immensely grudgingly - honour-bound to protect him).
Traditionally, a witch or wizard's Pensieve, like their wand, is buried with them, as it is considered an intensely personal artefact; any thoughts or memories left inside the Pensieve are likewise interred with their owner, unless he or she has requested otherwise. The Hogwarts Pensieve, however, belongs not to any individual but to the school. It has been used by a long line of headmasters and headmistresses, who have also left behind their life experience in the form of memories. This forms an invaluable library of reference for the headmaster or headmistress of the day.
The Hogwarts Pensieve is made of ornately carved stone and is engraved with modified Saxon runes, which mark it as an artefact of immense antiquity that pre-dates the creation of the school. One (unsubstantiated) legend says that the founders discovered the Pensieve half-buried in the ground on the very spot where they decided to erect their school.
The name 'Pensieve' is a homonym of 'pensive', meaning deeply, seriously thoughtful; but it also a pun, the 'sieve' part of the word alluding to the object's function of sorting meanings from a mass of thoughts or memories.