TED英文演讲：神奇的巧合
小的巧合一直发生在我们的生活中，但它们通常会被我们忽视。在这个巧妙戏法中，魔术师Helder Guimarães 通过一副扑克牌，一美元纸币以及一只长颈鹿玩偶向我们展示了这些细小的“巧合”。
演讲者：Helder Guimaraes
作为一名近距离魔术师，凭借其优雅、精巧的表演赢得了众多奖项。
https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?width=500&height=375&auto=0&vid=u3053pg60yu
I'd like to start my performance by saying 90 percent of everything is crap. It's called Sturgeon's law, and what that means is that the majority of anything is always bad.
我想引用一句话来开始我的表演：世间万物，90%都是渣滓。这是史特金定律，其含义是任何事情的大部分都是糟糕的。
I have a giraffe here. I'm going to throw the giraffe behind my back and whoever catches it is going to help me on this next thing. Sir, you caught the giraffe. I have a playing card in my hand. Freely name any card in the deck.
我有个长颈鹿玩偶，我要背对你们把它扔出去，接到它的人要协助我后面的一项表演。先生，你接到了长颈鹿。我手里有一张扑克牌，请随便说出一副牌中的任意一张牌。
Audience member: 10 of hearts. Helder Guimarães: 10 of hearts. You could have named any card in the deck, but you said the 10 of hearts. Ninety percent of everything is crap, so there's this to prove that Sturgeon was correct. Sir, this is not your show. Keep the giraffe for a moment, okay? Jesus. Crazy people.
观众：红桃10。Guimarães：红桃10。你可以选择一副牌中的任意一张，但你偏偏选了红桃10。90%的东西都是渣滓，这将会证明史特金是正确的。先生，不要抢镜。长颈鹿暂时搁在你那儿，好吗？天啊。疯狂的人啊。
Well, the truth is, why is the majority of everything bad? And my answer is: I think we stop thinking too soon. I'll give you a clear little example, something that people used to do around the turn of the century -- not this century, the other one.
事实上，为什么大多事情都是糟糕的？我的回答是，我们总是过早地停止思考。我给你们举一个简单明了的例子，在世纪之交那阵子，人们经常这样做—不是在这个世纪，是上一个。
The idea was to take a piece of paper and fold it inside out using only your weaker hand, in my case, the left hand. Something that would look like this. By the way you reacted, I can see your lack of interest. But that's okay, I understand why. We stop thinking too soon.
是这样的：拿起一张纸，用那只不常用的手，将其向内折叠，对我而言，是左手。看起来像这样。通过你们的反应，我知道你们不感兴趣。但没关系，我知道为什么。我们过早地停止思考。
But if we give it a little bit more thought, like a paper clip. A paper clip makes this a little bit more interesting. Not only that, if instead of using my hand with the fingers, I use my hand closed into a fist, that makes this even a little bit more interesting. Not only that, but I will impose myself a time limit of one second, something that would look like this. Now --
但如果我们考虑得稍稍多些呢？比如一颗回形针。一颗回形针会让你们更有一些兴趣吧。更进一步，如果不用手指，而是握成拳头，会让你们更有一点点儿兴趣。而且，我会给自己限定一秒钟的时间，看起来像这样。
no, no, no. Sturgeon may be correct. But he doesn't have to be correct forever. Things can always change. Sir, what was the card? The 10 of hearts? There's this to prove that things can always change -- the 10 of hearts.
不不不。史特金也许说得对。但他不可能永远是对的。事情总是在变化着。先生，您说的是哪张牌？红桃10吗？这奇迹的时刻证明事情总是在变化——红桃10。
Secrets are important. And secrets are valuable. And this is the best secret I've ever experienced. It starts with a deck of cards onto the table, an old man and a claim, "I will not touch the deck till the end." It doesn't matter who the man was, all that matters was that sentence ringing in my head: "I will not touch the deck till the end."
秘密是重要的，而且秘密是有价值的。这是我所知的最神奇的秘密。最开始桌子上有一副牌，一位老先生说，「直到最后我才会碰这副牌。」这个人是谁不要紧，要紧的是萦绕在我耳际的那句话，「直到最后我才会碰这副牌。」
Now, during all this time, he was holding a small notebook that sometimes he would open and flip through the pages and look at something. But I was not really paying attention to the book because I was paying attention the deck and the claim he had made before, "I will not touch the deck till the end."
在整个过程中，他都握着一个小本子，时不时翻开本子，翻动纸张，目光游走。说实在的，我没大注意那个本子，因为我始终盯着那副牌，时刻想着那句话，「直到最后我才会碰这副牌。」
Now sir, you have the giraffe. Go ahead, throw it in any direction so that you can find someone else at random. Perfect. Sir, you're going to play my role in this story. The old man turned to me and he said, "You could pick a red card or a black card." My answer was ...
先生，拿着长颈鹿的那位先生，请把它朝任意方向扔出去，随意扔给某个人。太完美了。先生，你将在这个故事中扮演我的角色。那位老先生转向我，说，「你来选择一张牌，花色是红色还是黑色？」我的回答是……
Audience member 2: The black card. HG: Indeed! It was a black card. He said, "It could be a club or a spade," and my answer was ... Audience member 2: Spade. HG: Indeed! It was a spade. He said, "It could be a high spade or a low spade." And my answer was ... Audience member 2: A high spade. HG: Indeed! It was a high spade. Since it's a high spade, it could be a nine, a 10, a jack, king, queen or the ace of spades.
观众2：黑色。HG：没错！是黑色花色的牌。「是梅花还是黑桃。」我的回答是……观众2：黑桃。HG：没错！是一张黑桃。他说，「牌面是大是小。」我的回答是……观众2：大的。HG：没错，是大的牌面，既然如此，它可以是黑桃9，10， J，K，Q或A。
And my answer was ... Audience member 2: The king. HG: The king of spades, indeed. Now sir, let's be fair. You selected black, you selected spade, you selected the high spade, and you selected -- sorry? Audience member 2: King. HG: King of spades.
我的回答是……观众2：K。HG：黑桃K，没错。先生，公平起见，你选了黑色花色，你选了黑桃。你选了大牌面，你选了——不好意思？观众2：K。HG：黑桃K。
Did you feel I influenced you in any decision? Audience member 2: No, I just felt your energy. HG: But it was a free choice, correct? Because if not, we could start all over again. But it was really fair? Audience member 2: Absolutely.
你感觉到我影响了你某个选择吗？观众2：没有，我只是感觉到你的气势了。HG：但你是自己做的选择，没错吧？因为如果不是的话，我们可以从头再来。这些选择真的都是由你自己做出的吗？观众2：完全是。
HG: Now, the old man turned to me and he asked me one more question, a number between one and 52. And the first number I thought of was ... Audience member 2: 17. HG: Indeed! It was the 17. The old man only said one more thing: "This is the end."
HG：那老先生转向我，又问了我一个问题，从1到52之间选一个数字。我脑中蹦出的第一个数字就是……观众2：17。HG：没错！是17。那老先生又说了一句，「表演结束了。」
And I knew exactly what that meant. I knew that he was going to touch the deck. Everything that you're about to see is exactly as it looked. He took the deck out of the box. Nothing in the box. He counted, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10."
我完全明白这意味着什么。我知道他要去碰那副牌了。你们马上要看到的跟我当时看到的如出一辙。他从盒子中拿出那副牌。盒子里空了，他数到，「1，2，3，4，5，6， 7，8，9，10。」
The tension was building. "11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17." And on the 17, instead of the king of spades, something appeared in the middle of the deck, that later, I would realize was actually a secret.
我越来越紧张了。「…11，12，13，14，15，16，17。」数到17的时候，那张牌不是黑桃K，牌中出现了什么，后来，我意识到这是个秘密。
The old man stood up, he left. I never saw him again. But he left his notebook that was there from the beginning. And when I picked it up, that was the best secret I've ever experienced. We are defined by the secrets we keep and by the secrets we share. And this was his way of sharing a secret with me. Crazy shit! Now --
那位老先生站了起来，离开了。后来我再也没见到过他。但他留下了那个本子，一开始就在那里的本子。当我拿起那本书时，我发现了有史以来最神奇的秘密。每个人都有藏在心里的秘密，也有跟别人分享的秘密。而这是他跟我分享他的秘密的方式。太TM神奇了！
I believe that amazing things happen all the time. I really do. And the reason why we don't see them as often, it's because we don't place ourselves in a position to search for those amazing things. But what if we decided to search for those amazing things, for those small coincidences in life that are truly amazing?
我相信神奇的事情总在不停地上演，我真的相信。而往往发现不了那么多神奇的原因是我们似乎总是不去发现神奇的事物。但是如果我们决定去探寻那些神奇的事情，那些生活中的神奇的巧合，会怎么样？
So you have the giraffe, go ahead, throw it in any direction so you find one last person at random. Sir, I'm going to ask you, do you have, with you, a United States $1 bill? Audience member 3: I think so. HG: Yes? You see, a coincidence! Let's make sure you have it. Do you have it? Audience member 3: Yes. HG: Yes! Perfect. Now, I want you to do exactly the same thing I am about to do. I have a dollar bill here to explain.
那位拿着长颈鹿的先生，请继续，把它扔出去，任意方向，找到最后一位要跟我配合的观众。先生，我要问你，你身上有没有带着1美元纸钞？观众3：我身上有。HG：是吗？你们看，又是一个巧合！我需要确认一下。你真的带着了吗？观众3：是的。HG：太好了！完美。好，现在我需要你跟着我做，我做什么你就做什么。我也拿着一张钞票来演示。
I want you to take the dollar bill, and fold the Washington part inside, like this. So you get this kind of big square, okay? Now, I want you to take the bill and fold it like this, lengthwise, so it becomes like a rectangle, and then again -- really fold it, really crease it -- and when you have it, please fold the bill again into a little square like this and let me know when you have it. Do you have it? Perfect.
我需要你将钞票折叠，有总统像的这面朝里，像这样。像一个大的正方形，没问题吧？我需要你把它这样折叠，纵向折叠，它就成了一个矩形，然后——折叠它，折出痕迹——到这一步时，再折叠一下，折成更小的正方形，叠好后跟我说一声。叠好了吗？完美。
Now, I'm going to approach, and before we start, I want to make sure that we do this in very, very serious conditions. First of all, I want to ensure that we have a marker and we have a paper clip. First of all, take the marker and go ahead and sign the bill. And this is the reason why: later, I'm going to be doing a bunch of stuff on stage and I don't want you to think, oh, while I was distracted by Helder, someone came onstage and swapped the bill.
我要开始表演了，但在此之前，我想确保我们要严肃认真地进行这个表演。首先，我想确认我们有记号笔和回形针。第一步，拿着记号笔在纸钞上签个名，原因是：后面，我要在舞台上做一系列表演，我不希望你们会想， Helder分散了我的注意力，某个人趁机到台上换了一张钱。
So I want to make sure it's exactly the same bill. Now not only that, I want you to take the paper clip and put it around the bill. So even if nobody comes onstage and switches the bill, I don't have enough time to go open the bill and close it and see what I don't want to see. Is that fair? Now you can give me the marker back.
因此，我想确保前后是同一张纸币。而且，我要把回形针别在钱上。这样，即便没人上台换了纸币，我也没有足够的时间来展开合上，看到我不想看的东西。没问题吧？现在你可以给我记号笔了。
And just like that, very clearly, I want to make sure that we place this in full view from the beginning of this experience and to make sure that everyone is going to see it, we're going to actually have a camera man onstage. Yes, perfect, so that you can see. That's your signature? Yes? Perfect. Now, we're going to use also the deck and a glass for this. And we're going to put ourselves in a position to search for an amazing coincidence.
就像那样，非常清楚，我想确保从一开始就把这个表演的全貌展现出来，确保每个人都会看到，我们会让一个摄影师上台。好，完美，这样你们都能看到了。这是你的签名吗？没错？完美。我们还需要一副牌和一个杯子。而且，我们要做好探寻神奇巧合的准备。
Do you mind, can you help me with this? Go ahead and take some cards and shuffle. And do you mind, can you take some cards and shuffle? You can take some cards and shuffle. You can shuffle cards in a variety of ways. You can shuffle cards like this.
你能帮一下我吗？不介意吧？拿一些牌然后洗一下。你能帮一下我吗？拿一些牌然后洗一下。你可以拿一些牌然后洗一下。你可以用不同的方式来洗，像这样。
You can shuffle cards in a more messed up way, something like this. You can shuffle cards in the American way. As a Portuguese, I don't feel entitled to teach you guys how to do it. But the important part is after shuffling the cards, always remember to cut and complete the cards.
你可以把牌洗得更乱一些，像这样。你可以用美国人的方法洗牌。作为一个葡萄牙人，教你们如何洗牌我不觉得荣幸。重要的是洗好之后，记得把它们高高举起。
Do you mind doing that for me, sir? Please cut and complete. And when you have it, place the cards up in the air. And you too, cut and complete and up in the air. Up in the air. A deck of cards cut and shuffled by one, two, three, four and five people.
你不介意吧，先生？把它们高高举起。洗好之后，把牌高高举起。你也是，把它们高高举起。举在空中。一副牌分成多份，由一个、两个、三个、四个、五个人洗乱。
Now, very clearly, I'm going to gather the deck together. And just like that. I'm going to search for a coincidence in front of everyone. I'm going to try. I have some cards that maybe, maybe they don't mean anything. But maybe that's because we are not paying close attention. Because maybe, maybe they mean a lot.
好，毫无疑问，我要把牌收到一起，就像这样。我要在所有人面前探索神奇的巧合。我要开始了。我手里拿着一些牌，也许它们不能说明什么，但这或许是因为我们观察得还不够仔细。因为，没准这些牌内涵很深。
Before we start, sir, you gave me a dollar bill. Is that your signature? Audience member 3: Yes it is. HG: I want you to see very clearly that I'm going to open your bill and reveal a small secret that we created. And the secret of this dollar bill is the serial number.
在开始之前，先生，你给我的那一美金钞票。这是你的签名吗？观众3：没错。HG：我需要你们仔细看，我要展开这张钞票，向你们揭示我们创造的一个小秘密。秘密就藏在这张钞票的序列号上。Madam, can you take the dollar bill? In the serial number, there is a letter. What is the first number after the letter? Audience member 4: Seven. HG: Seven. Seven. But, that's maybe just one coincidence. What is the second number? Audience member 4: Nine. So after the seven, we have a nine. And after the nine? Audience member 4: Two. HG: The two. And after the two? Audience member 4: Three. HG: Three, and after? Audience member 4: Three. HG: Three. Audience member 4: Seven. HG: Seven. Audience member 4: Four. HG: Four. Audience member 4: Two. HG: Two, and? Audience member 4: Q. HG: Q like in queen?女士，你可以拿着这张钞票吗？在序列号中，有一个字母，字母后面第一个数字是什么？观众4：7。HG：7， 7。但是，也许就这一个巧合吧。第二个数字是什么？观众4：9。HG：好，7之后是9， 9之后呢？观众4：2。HG：2，2之后呢？观众4：3。HG：3，再后呢？观众4：3。HG：3。观众4：7。HG：7。观众4：4。HG：4。观众4：2。HG：2，然后？观众4：Q。HG：就是扑克牌中的Q？
The queen of clubs! All the cards in order, just for you.梅花Q！所有的牌次序完全正确，这是奉献给你们的奇迹。
And that's my show. Thank you very much and have a nice night.以上就是我的演出，非常感谢你们，希望你们今晚过得开心。
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