读者文摘:魔术改变了我的生活(7)

I'm here because I've spent my entire life learning to do something incredible,

我来到这里，是因为我的整个生命都在学习做一些不可思议的事情，

and tonight I'm going to share it with you.

今晚我要和你们分享。

When I'm done, you can clap, you can boo, you can stay, you can leave—I don't care."

结束后，你们可以鼓掌，可以喝倒采，可以留下来，可以离开——我不在乎。”

This succeeds in shocking them.

这成功震惊到了他们。

Now the entire room has turned to watch.

现在整个房间的人都在观看。

"I'm going to give this gentleman my wallet," I say.

“我要把我的钱包给这位先生，”我说。

"I'm choosing him because he's the biggest guy here and I need someone to keep the wallet safe."

“我选择他是因为他是这里块头最大，我需要有人来保管钱包。”

I look down at Crew Cut. "What's your name?"

我低头看着大汉。“你叫什么名字?”

He looks at me like he wishes he'd gone somewhere else this evening.

他看着我，好像他后悔来到了这个地方。

"Marcus."

“马库斯”

I hand him my wallet.

我把钱包递给他。

"Marcus, I want you to put this on the table and put both hands on top of it.

“马库斯，我要你把这个放在桌子上，双手放在上面。

Don't open it yet. But make sure that no one else opens it either. Got it?"

先别打开。但是也要确保没有其他人打开。明白吗?”

Marcus nods.

马库斯点点头。

I know that if this works, he will remember this experience for the rest of his life.

我知道，如果成功的话，他将终生记住这段经历。

He will tell his children about this moment.

他将告诉他的孩子们这一时刻。

I've spent six years developing this illusion, and it has been worth the effort.

我花了六年时间来培养这种错觉是值得的。

If I had five minutes to justify¹ my entire existence as a magician, this is what I would perform.

接下来，我将用五分钟来证明我是一名魔术师。

I turn to the rest of the room.

我转向房间的其他地方。

"I'm going to need six random² people to help.

“我将随机选择六个人来帮忙。

If I just asked for volunteers, you might think that I had confederates in the audience,

如果我要求志愿者，你们可能会认为我在观众中有托儿，

so I'm going to take this gentleman's hat"—and here I reach down and snatch a baseball cap from someone's head—

所以我要拿起绅士头上的这顶帽子”——然后我伸手从某人头上抓起一顶棒球帽——

"and throw it out into the room. If you catch it, stand up."

“我把它扔到房间里，如果谁接住了帽子，就请站起来。”

Thirty seconds later, six people are standing³ and the man has his hat back.

三十秒后，六个人站了起来，帽子还回去了。

1 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

2 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。