The Blue Man paused. His voice dropped. “The factory dismissed me. The foreman said I scared the other workers. Without work, how would I eat? Where would I live?
    蓝皮人又顿了一下，声音低沉下来。“工厂把我解雇了。工头说我把其他工人吓着了。没有工作，我怎么吃饭呢？我到哪里住呢？
    “I found a 16)saloon, a dark place where I could hide beneath a hat and coat. One night, a group of 17)carnival men were in the back. They smoked cigars. They laughed. One of them, a rather small fellow with a wooden leg, kept looking at me. Finally, he approached.
    “我在一家酒吧里找到了一份工作，酒吧里很昏暗，我把自己藏在帽子和外套里面。一天晚上，酒吧最里面坐了一伙巡回游艺团的人。他们抽着雪茄，大声说笑。其中一个装着一条木腿的小个子，一直看着我。终于，他走过来。
    “By the end of the night, I had agreed to join their carnival. And my life as a commodity had begun.”
    “晚上收工的时候，我已经同意加入他们的巡回游艺团了。我将自己当作商品出售的日子开始了。”
    Eddie noticed the 18)resigned look on the Blue Man’s face. He had often wondered where the 19)sideshow cast came from. He assumed there was a sad story behind every one of them.
    爱迪注意到蓝皮人脸上无可奈何的表情。他过去常常好奇，杂耍团里的那些演员是从哪里来的。他相信，他们每个人背后都有一个悲惨的故事。
    “One winter, I came to this pier. Ruby Pier. They were starting a sideshow called The Curious Citizens. I liked the idea of being in one place, escaping the bumpy horse carts of carnival life.
    “一年冬天，我来到了这里，‘红宝石码头’。他们正开始上演一场名为‘怪异人物’的杂耍戏。能在一个地方住下来，不用再跟随巡回游艺团在马车上四处颠簸，这主意不错。

 “This became my home. I lived in a room above a sausage shop. I played cards at night with the other sideshow workers, with the 20)tinsmiths, sometimes even with your father. In the early mornings, if I wore long shirts and draped my head in a towel, I could walk along this beach without scaring people. It may not sound like much, but for me, it was a freedom I had rarely known.”
    “这里便成了我的家。我住在香肠店楼上的一个房间里。晚上，我跟其他杂耍演员、白铁工，有时还跟你的父亲一起玩纸牌。清晨，我穿上长袖衫，头上蒙住毛巾之后，就可以沿着这海边散步，而不会吓着别人。对别人来说这可能算不了什么，但是，对我来说，这是一种不寻常的自由。”
    He stopped. He looked at Eddie.
    他收住话头，望着爱迪。
    “Do you understand? Why we’re here? This is not your heaven. It’s mine.”
    “你明白了吗？我们为什么会在这里？这里不是你的天堂。这是我的天堂。”
    Take one story, viewed from two different angles.
    取一个故事，从两个不同的角度来看。
    Take a rainy Sunday morning in July, in the late 1920s, when Eddie and his friends are tossing a baseball. Take a moment when that ball flies over Eddie’s head and out into the street. Eddie, wearing 21)tawny pants and a wool cap, chases after it, and runs in front of an automobile, a Ford Model A. The car 22)screeches, 23)veers, and just misses him. He shivers, exhales, gets the ball, and races back to his friends.
    那是二十年代末，七月里的一个星期天，在这个阴雨天的早晨，爱迪和他的朋友们正在玩棒球。突然，棒球从爱迪的头顶飞过，落到了街上。身穿黄褐色裤子、头戴绒线帽子的爱迪跑去捡球，冲到了一辆汽车前面，那是一辆福特A型车。汽车发出一阵刺耳的刹车声，掉转了方向，从他身边擦过。他浑身一颤，舒了口气，捡起球，跑回到他的朋友们那里。
    Now take that same story from a different angle. A man is behind the wheel of a Ford Model A, which he has borrowed from a friend to practice his driving. The road is wet from the morning rain. Suddenly, a baseball bounces across the street, and a boy comes racing after it. The driver 24)slams on the brakes and 25)yanks the wheel. The car skids, the tires screech.
    现在，我们从另一个角度来看同一个故事。一个男人正坐在一辆福特A型车的驾驶盘后面，这车是他从一个朋友那里借来练习驾驶的。由于早晨下过雨，路很滑。突然，一个棒球从街上横着弹过，一个男孩子跟在球后冲了过来。司机猛踩刹车，扭转方向盘。汽车打滑了，车轮发出刺耳的声音。

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