然而,對(duì)表演者來說,靈巧算不了什么。如果它只是呆板的騙術(shù)的話,一點(diǎn)價(jià)值也沒有,
but to watch and laugh at the astonishment of the spectators.
只是在觀看者的驚訝中博得一笑而已。
A single error of a hair's breadth, of the smallest conceivable portion of time, would be fatal;
一個(gè)極其細(xì)微的失誤,哪怕是時(shí)間上最不經(jīng)意的錯(cuò)位,都是致命的;
the precision of the movements must be like a mathematical truth; their rapidity is like lightning;
動(dòng)作的精確必須像數(shù)學(xué)公理一樣,如閃電般快捷;
To catch four balls in succession, in less than a second of time, and deliver them back so as to return with seeming consciousness to the hand again;
在一秒鐘之內(nèi)連續(xù)接住四個(gè)球,然后將它們?cè)賿佅蚩罩?,通過表面上意識(shí)的連續(xù)性造成連續(xù)不斷的假象;
to make them revolve around him at certain intervals, like the planets in their spheres;
這種假象就是為了使球以一定的間歇圍著他轉(zhuǎn),就像行星在軌道上轉(zhuǎn)一樣;
to make them chase each other like sparkles of fire, or shoot up like flowers or meteors;
使它們像火花一樣彼此追逐,或者像花和流星一樣綻放;
to throw them behind his back, and twine them round his neck like ribbons, or like serpents;
將球拋到身后,像緞帶或蛇一樣繞著脖子;
to do what appears an impossibility, and to do it with all the ease, the grace, the carelessness imaginable;
做似乎不可能的事情,一切都顯得那樣從容、優(yōu)雅,淡定得令人難以想象;
to laugh at, to play with the glittering mockeries, to follow them with his eye as if he could fascinate them with its lambent fire,
嬉笑著,玩著表面令人炫目實(shí)則無甚價(jià)值的把戲,讓人們眼睛圍著他轉(zhuǎn),目不暇接,仿佛他能用閃爍的火光令他們著迷似的,
or as if he had only to see that they kept time with the music on the stage,
抑或仿佛只有他自己能發(fā)現(xiàn)他們?cè)谖枧_(tái)上隨著音樂的節(jié)拍亦醉亦癡,
there is something in all this which he who does not admire may be quite sure he never really admired anything in the whole course of his life.
所有這些都有一個(gè)要素,不會(huì)對(duì)這一切表示贊賞的他也許相當(dāng)確定的是,在他的整個(gè)生涯里他從未真正對(duì)什么表示過贊賞。