If my memory serves me well, once there were people came out with such phrase, “He managed to complete everything within an extraordinarily short period, just like performing a magic trick!” I didn’t feel right with this to be delivered to my ears. I wondered, in what circumstances this kind of phrase was being created?

若我的記憶沒搞錯的話, 我記得我聽過有人說過這麼一句話:“他可以很快在短短幾天之內把全部東西做好, 好像變魔術一樣!”聽進耳裡,心裡感覺不是滋味. 這是出於什麼心態說出來的語句啊?

I have some thought on this “magic” term, hence I would like to cite an explanatory phrase on magic from the movie “The Prestige” before I further elaborate on my critique.


“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".”

我對魔術這個詞有點意見, 在批判以前先來個鋪陳. 在此我引述電影【頂尖對決】裡對魔術的剖解:

“每一個好的魔術都有三個階段；一開始是「以虛代實」(The Pledge)，魔術師會告訴你即將要看到的東西，但是當然的，你看到的可能不是真的。第二步是「偷天換日」(The Turn)，魔術就是在這個步驟完成，如果你想要在這邊找到其中的秘密，是找不到的。最後是「化腐朽為神奇」(The Prestige)，在這邊魔術師將原本已經消失的東西給變回來；這邊就是整個魔術轉折的地方，然後你將會因為看到一個你從沒見過的東西而吃驚不已.”

Without a doubt, the Prestige is the part that captivating the public. The magician spends his effort to deceive the audience’s eye by contradicting the law of physic, and then bring back the subject to their vision, everyone will be astonished by this incredible show. At the end of the show, they will not forget to applause with an unbelievable expression on their face. It will be highly discussed within the group if you were able to heighten the degree of the incredibility.

魔術之所以讓人著迷, 無非是那三部曲的最後一個步驟. 魔術師花盡心思將目標以違反物理法則的形式掩過觀眾的眼睛, 過後再將之重新呈現在他們眼前. 過後大家都對這表演驚嘆無比, 那不可思議的表情表露無遺, 過後不忘大力的鼓掌. 只要你將那神奇的程度提得越高, 它的議論性就越高.

Back to that spoken phrase from a person, perhaps he was impressed by his ability to accomplish the task within a short period, therefore he voiced out that phrase. What has he done actually? Has he done something great that it is relatable with magic? Or it is a unilateral blind worship because of his own incapability after all?

回到有人說的那句話, 可能他應該是出於對他在短時間內可以將事情辦好而道出這麼一句話吧! 可是他到底做了什麼? 他是完成了不可能的任務嗎? 以至他的舉止可以與魔術並列. 還是他只是大驚小怪, 覺得別人的進度比自己快而不假思索的將他進行偶像崇拜?

If you are a magician, who else is unfit for that position? Perhaps I am a sorcerer too.

假如你是魔術師, 那麼有誰還不是魔術師呢? 可能我還是個巫師呢.