26 The Cave

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX The Cave Harry could smell salt and hear rushing waves; a light, chilly breeze ruffled his hair as he looked out at moonlit sea and star-strewn sky. He was standing upon a high outcrop of dark rock, water foaming and churning below him. He glanced over his shoulder. A towering cliff stood behind, a sheer drop, black and faceless. A few large chunks of rock, such as the one upon which Harry and Dumbledore were standing, looked as though they had broken away from the cliff face at some point in the past. It was a bleak, harsh view; the sea and the rock unrelieved by any tree or sweep of grass or sand.

第二十六章山洞哈利能闻到盐的味道，听到海浪拍击的声音；他望着月光下的大海和满天星斗的天空，一阵清风吹乱了他的头发。 他站在一块黑色的高岩上，水在他下面翻腾着泡沫。 他回头瞥了一眼。 身后矗立着一座高耸的悬崖，陡峭的悬崖，漆黑而无面。 几块大块的岩石，比如哈利和邓布利多现在站着的那块，看上去像是在过去的某个时候从悬崖上脱落下来的。 这是一幅凄凉、严酷的景象；大海和岩石上没有树木，也没有草地和沙子。

'What do you think?' asked Dumbledore. He might have been asking Harry's opinion on whether it was a good site for a picnic. 'They brought the kids from the orphanage here?' asked Harry, who could not imagine a less cosy spot for a daytrip. 'Not here, precisely,' said Dumbledore. 'There is a village of sorts about halfway along the cliffs behind us. I believe the orphans were taken there for a little sea air and a view of the waves. No, I think it was only ever Tom Riddle and his youthful victims who visited this spot. No Muggle could reach this rock unless they were uncommonly good mountaineers, and boats cannot approach the cliffs; the waters around them are too dangerous. I imagine that Riddle climbed down; magic would have served better than ropes. And he brought two small children with him, probably for the pleasure of terrorising them. I think the journey alone would have done it, don't you?' Harry looked up at the cliff again and felt goosebumps.

“你觉得怎么样？”邓布利多问。 他可能是在问哈利，这里是不是野餐的好地方。 “他们把孤儿院的孩子们带到这儿来了？”哈利问，他想不出还有比这更舒适的地方适合一日游了。 “确切地说，不是在这里。”邓布利多说。 “在我们身后的悬崖中间有一个村庄。 我相信孤儿们被带到那里是为了呼吸一下海上的空气，看看海浪。 不，我想只有汤姆·里德尔和他的年轻受害者来过这里。 麻瓜除非是极好的登山运动员，否则是够不到这块岩石的，而船又不能靠近悬崖。他们周围的水域太危险了。 我猜想里德尔是爬下来的；魔法比绳子管用多了。 他还带了两个小孩，可能是为了吓唬他们的乐趣。 我想单是这次旅行就够了，你说呢？”哈利又抬头看了看悬崖，浑身起了鸡皮疙瘩。

'But his final destination– and ours– lies a little further on. Come.' Dumbledore beckoned Harry to the very edge of the rock, where a series of jagged niches that made footholds led down to boulders that lay half- submerged in water and closer to the cliff. It was a treacherous descent and Dumbledore, hampered slightly by his withered hand, moved slowly. The lower rocks were slippery with sea water. Harry could feel flecks of cold salt spray hitting his face. 'Lumos,' said Dumbledore, as he reached the boulder closest to the cliff face. A thousand flecks of golden light sparkled upon the dark surface of the water a few feet below where he crouched; the black wall of rock beside him was illuminated too. 'You see?' said Dumbledore quietly, holding his wand a little higher. Harry saw a fissure in the cliff into which dark water was swirling. 'You will not object to getting a little wet?' 'No,' said Harry. 'Then take off your Invisibility Cloak– there is no need for it now– and let us take the plunge.'

但他的最终目的地——以及我们的——在更远的地方。 来了。”邓布利多示意哈利走到岩石的边缘，那里有一系列参差不齐的壁龛，可以作为落脚点，通向半浸在水里、离悬崖更近的巨石。 这是一次危险的下山，邓布利多因为一只干瘪的手，走得很慢。 较低的岩石被海水弄得很滑。 哈利能感觉到一片片冰冷的盐雾打在他的脸上。 “荧光闪烁。”邓布利多走到离悬崖最近的那块大石头边说。 在他蹲着的地方下面几英尺的黑暗水面上，一千个金色的光点闪闪发光；他身边的黑色岩壁也被照亮了。 “你看到了什么?邓布利多轻轻地说，把魔杖举得高一点。 哈利看见悬崖上有一道裂缝，黑乎乎的水正打着旋儿涌进去。 “你不反对淋点湿吧？”“没有。”哈利说。 “那就脱下你的隐形衣——现在用不着了——让我们冒险一试。”

And with the sudden agility of a much younger man, Dumbledore slid from the boulder, landed in the sea and began to swim, with a perfect breaststroke, towards the dark slit in the rock face, his lit wand held in his teeth. Harry pulled off his Cloak, stuffed it into his pocket and followed. The water was icy; Harry's waterlogged clothes billowed around him and weighed him down. Taking deep breaths that filled his nostrils with the tang of salt and seaweed, he struck out for the shimmering, shrinking light now moving deeper into the cliff. The fissure soon opened into a dark tunnel that Harry could tell would be filled with water at high tide. The slimy walls were barely three feet apart and glimmered like wet tar in the passing light of Dumbledore's wand. A little way in, the passageway curved to the left and Harry saw that it extended far into the cliff. He continued to swim in Dumbledore's wake, the tips of his benumbed fingers brushing the rough, wet rock. mclhfa. Then he saw Dumbledore rising out of the water ahead, his silver hair and dark robes

邓布利多突然像一个年轻得多的人那样敏捷地从巨石上滑了下来，落在海里，以完美的蛙泳动作向岩石表面的黑暗裂缝游去，嘴里叼着点亮的魔杖。 哈利脱下隐形衣，塞进口袋，跟了上去。 水是冰冷的；哈利湿透的衣服在他周围翻腾着，把他压了下去。 他深吸了几口气，鼻孔里充满了盐和海草的味道。他伸手去找那闪闪发光、逐渐缩小、正在向悬崖深处移动的光。 裂缝很快就变成了一条黑暗的隧道，哈利看得出，涨潮时，隧道里会充满水。 黏糊糊的墙壁相距不过三英尺，在邓布利多魔杖的微光下，像潮湿的柏油一样闪闪发光。 往里走了一点，通道向左拐了个弯，哈利看到它一直延伸到悬崖深处。 他继续在邓布利多身后游来游去，麻木的指尖擦着粗糙潮湿的岩石。 接着，他看见邓布利多从前面的水里冒了出来，一头银发，穿着黑袍子

gleaming. When Harry reached the spot he found steps that led into a large cave. He clambered up them, water streaming from his soaking clothes, and emerged, shivering uncontrollably, into the still and freezing air. Dumbledore was standing in the middle of the cave, his wand held high as he turned slowly on the spot, examining the walls and ceiling. 'Yes, this is the place,' said Dumbledore. 'How can you tell?' Harry spoke in a whisper. 'It has known magic,' said Dumbledore simply. Harry could not tell whether the shivers he was experiencing were due to his spine-deep coldness or to the same awareness of enchantments. He watched as Dumbledore continued to revolve on the spot, evidently concentrating on things Harry could not see. 'This is merely the ante-chamber, the entrance hall,' said Dumbledore after a moment or two. 'We need to penetrate the inner place… now it is Lord Voldemort's obstacles that stand in our way, rather than those nature made…'

闪闪发光的。哈利走到那里，发现了通往一个大山洞的台阶。 他爬了上去，水从湿透的衣服上淌下来，他无法控制地颤抖着，爬到寂静而冰冷的空气中。 邓布利多站在山洞中央，高举着魔杖，原地慢慢地转过身来，审视着墙壁和天花板。 “对，就是这里。”邓布利多说。 “你怎么知道？”哈利小声说。 “它懂得魔法。”邓布利多简单地说。 哈利不知道他的颤抖是由于寒气袭人，还是因为他同样意识到了魔法。 他看着邓布利多继续原地打转，显然在关注哈利看不见的东西。 “这只是前厅，门厅。”邓布利多过了一会儿说。 “我们需要穿透内部……现在挡住我们去路的是伏地魔的障碍，而不是大自然制造的障碍……”

Dumbledore approached the wall of the cave and caressed it with his blackened fingertips, murmuring words in a strange tongue that Harry did not understand. Twice Dumbledore walked right around the cave, touching as much of the rough rock as he could, occasionally pausing, running his fingers backwards and forwards over a particular spot, until finally he stopped, his hand pressed flat against the wall. 'Here,' he said. 'We go on through here. The entrance is concealed.' Harry did not ask how Dumbledore knew. He had never seen a wizard work things out like this, simply by looking and touching; but Harry had long since learned that bangs and smoke were more often the marks of ineptitude than expertise. Dumbledore stepped back from the cave wall and pointed his wand at the rock. For a moment, an arched outline appeared there, blazing white as though there was a powerful light behind the crack. 'You've d-done it!' said Harry through chattering teeth, but before the words had left his

邓布利多走近岩壁，用他发黑的指尖抚摸着岩壁，用一种哈利听不懂的奇怪语言喃喃地说着什么。 邓布利多绕着山洞走了两圈，尽可能多地触摸粗糙的岩石，偶尔停下来，用手指在某个地方来回滑动，直到最后他停下来，一只手平贴在墙上。 “给你，”他说。“我们从这里走。 入口是隐蔽的。”哈利没有问邓布利多是怎么知道的。 他从来没有见过一个巫师能像这样，只靠看和摸就把事情解决了。但哈利早就知道，刘海和烟雾往往是不熟练的标志，而不是专业知识的标志。 邓布利多从岩壁上后退了几步，用魔杖指着那块岩石。 刹那间，那里出现了一个拱形的轮廓，白炽的火光，仿佛裂缝后面有一道强光。 “你——你做到了！”话还没说完，哈利就咬牙切齿地说