1月2日，中国驻英大使刘晓明抨击日本军国主义像“伏地魔”，3天后日本驻英大使反击称中国才是亚洲的“伏地魔”。看过《哈利•波特》系列电影的读者大概都知道这是一个什么样的人物，不过也难免有些读者不太了解。今天我们就简要介绍一下这个小说中的虚构人物。

Lord Voldemort (born Tom Marvolo Riddle) is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Voldemort first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was released in 1997.

伏地魔（出生名汤姆•马沃罗•里德尔）是J•K•罗琳的魔幻小说《哈利•波特》系列中的一个虚构人物。伏地魔首次出现是在1997年出版的《哈利•波特与魔法石》中。

In the series, Voldemort is the archenemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord". Almost no witch or wizard dares to speak his name, instead referring to him by epithets such as "You-Know-Who", "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" or "the Dark Lord". Voldemort's obsession with blood purity signifies his aim to rid the wizarding world of Muggle (non-magical) heritage and to conquer both worlds, Muggle and wizarding, to achieve pure-blood dominance. Through his mother's family, he is the last descendant of wizard Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the leader of the Death Eaters, a group of evil wizards and witches dedicated to ridding the Wizarding World of Muggles and establishing Voldemort as its supreme ruler.

在该系列小说中，伏地魔是哈利•波特的宿敌，预言称其“具有战胜黑魔王的力量”。所有巫师都不敢直呼其名，而是用You-Know-Who（神秘人）或He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named（那个连名字都不能提的人）或者the Dark Lord（黑魔王）等称呼来指代。伏地魔疯狂崇拜血统纯正性，他的目标是将所有麻瓜遗迹彻底清除出巫师界，并最终统治麻瓜和巫师界，以达到对纯正血统的绝对统治。在他母亲的家族中，他是霍格沃茨魔法学校四个创始人之一的萨拉查•斯莱特林的最后一名后裔。他还是食死族的头目。食死族是一群致力于将麻瓜赶出巫师界的邪恶巫师，他们将伏地魔推举为最高统治者。

Rowling reveals that I am Lord Voldemort is an anagram of the character's birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. According to the author, Voldemort's name is an invented word. "Voldemort" is pronounced with a silent 't' at the end, as in the French word "mort", meaning "death". (Source: Wikipedia)

罗琳透露说，I am Lord Voldemort这句话其实是伏地魔的出生名Tom Marvolo Riddle所有字母重新排列后得出的。她表示，伏地魔这个名字是凭空造出来的，Voldemort结尾的字母t不发音，与法语单词mort相同，意为“死亡”。

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）