Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige".

每一场魔术表演都有三个步骤。第一个步骤是“以虚代实”:魔术师秀出一个真实的东西,一副牌、一只鸟或一个人,让你看这样东西,叫你检视它,看它的确是真的,平常的不得了。但是,其中一定有假。第二个步骤是“偷天换日”,魔术师利用这个普通的东西,做出令人叹为观止的表演,现在你很想找出秘诀,但是绝对找不到。因为你根本没有真正在看,你并不是真的想知道,你想要被骗。但是你还不会鼓掌,因为把东西变不见还不够,你必须把它变回来。所以魔术都有第三个步骤,最难的部分,我们称之为“化腐朽为神奇”。

If anybody really believed the things I did on stage, they wouldn't clap, they'd scream.

如果大家把我的表演当真,就不会鼓掌,只会尖叫。

You never understood... why we did this. The audience knows the truth. The world is simple, miserable, solid all the way through. But if you can fool them, even for a second... then you can make them wonder. And you get to see something very special. ... You really don't know. ... It was the look on their faces.

你不懂我们为什么要变魔术?观众知道真相。现实既残酷又悲惨。没有奇迹,没有魔法。但是如果你能骗倒他们,即使只有一秒钟,就能让他们惊叹,然后你就能… 然后你就能看到非常特别的事。你真的不知道吗?那就是观众脸上的表情。

The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything.

魔术的秘密没啥了不起,变魔术的技巧才重要。

The sacrifice... that's the price of a good trick.

自我牺牲才是精彩魔术的代价。

You're familiar with the phrase "Man's reach exceeds his grasp"? It's a lie. Man's grasp exceeds his nerve. The only limits on scientific progress are those imposed by society. The first time I changed the world, I was hailed as a visionary. The second time I was asked politely to retire. The world only tolerates one change at a time. And so here I am. Enjoying my "retirement". Nothing is impossible, Mr. Angier, what you want is simply expensive.

你听过这句俗话吗? “心有余而力不足”。那不是真话。人类只是胆量不够。社会一次只能接受一种改变。我第一次试着改变世界,被称为先知;第二次他们却请我退休。所以我在这里享受退休时光。没有不可能的事,只是很贵不贵的问题。