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Something incredible had happened.
不可思议的事情发生了。
I might have caused it, but it had not come from me.
可能是我造成的，但不是来源于我。
I had inadvertently tapped into something visceral and wild:
我无意中发现了一些发自内心和狂野的东西：
the teacher's face, the shouts of fear, astonishment—and joy.
老师的表情，恐惧、惊讶和欢乐的呼喊。
The joy was the hardest to explain.
这种喜悦难以言喻。
Surprise comes easy, but joy never does.
惊喜来得容易，快乐却不易。
I was an alchemist who had somehow—unknowingly, unintentionally—discovered how to turn lead into gold.
我是一个炼金术士，不知不觉无意中发现了把铅变成金子的方法。
Even a nine-yearold knows this is impossible.
甚至一个九岁的孩子都知道这是不可能的。
You could only do that with real magic.
只有真正的魔法才能实现。
The gulf between wanting to become a great magician and actually doing it is enormous, however,
然而，想要成为一名伟大的魔术师与现实还是有着巨大的差距，
and the career of a young magician is marked as much by humiliation and public failure as it is by the occasional success.
公演失败蒙羞和偶然成功对于年轻魔术师的职业生涯都同样重要
In high school, I staged a show in the auditorium and my entire world came out to watch— 600 friends, family members, girls from school, everyone I wanted to defy or impress.
高中时，我在礼堂里举办了一场表演，我所认识的人——600名朋友、家人、学校里的女生，所有我想挑战或打动的人都来观看。
They all looked on in horror, fascination, and pity as I twirled about the stage, frantically trying to remember every bit of choreography from every David Copperfield special I had ever seen.
当我在舞台上转动，疯狂地想要记住我看到的大卫·科波菲尔的每一个特别的动作时，他们都流露出惊恐、着迷和同情的表情。
The audience sat mute, aghast, enduring the spectacle and waiting for the catastrophe to end.
观众们坐在那里哑口无言，忍受着我的表演，等待着灾难的结束。
A few years later, I staged a Harry Houdini–style underwater escape in the river that flowed through the middle of the campus of the University of Iowa, where I went to school.
几年后，我在流经我上学的地方——爱荷华大学校园中央的河中上演了一场哈利·霍迪尼式水下逃生。
