As a magician, I try to create images that make people stop and think. I also try to challenge myself to do things that doctors say are not possible. I was buried alive in New York City in a coffin, buried alive in a coffin in April, 1999, for a week. I lived there with nothing but water. And it ended up being so much fun that I decided I could pursue doing more of these things. The next one is I froze myself in a block of ice for three days and three nights in New York City. That one was way more difficult than I had expected. The one after that, I stood on top of a hundred foot pillar for 36 hours. I began to hallucinate so hard that the buildings that were behind me started to look like big animal heads.
作爲一個魔術師， 我總是嘗試去創造一個現象 可以讓人們駐足思考。 我也試着挑戰自己 做一些醫生看來不可能的事情。 我曾於1999年4月， 被埋在紐約一口棺材裏 整整一個星期。 着一個禮拜僅靠水存活下來。 但結果是我從中獲得極大的樂趣。 於是我決定去追求 實現更多這樣的事。 下一次就是我把自己凍在一個大冰塊裏 整整三天三夜，地點是紐約。 那次要比我想象的困難許多。 接下來的一次，我站在一百多英尺高的柱子頂端 整整36個小時。 快結束時我開始產生非常強烈的幻覺 以至於我覺得身後的建築看起來像巨型動物的頭。
So, next I went to London. In London I lived in a glass box for 44 days with nothing but water. It was, for me, one of the most difficult things I'd ever done, but it was also the most beautiful. There was so many skeptics, especially the press in London, that they started flying cheeseburgers on helicopters around my box to tempt me. (Laughter) So, I felt very validated when the New England Journal of Medicine actually used the research for science.
後來，我去了倫敦。 在倫敦，我在一個玻璃箱裏生存了44天 也是除了水什麼都沒有。 對於我來說，這次是所有挑戰中最艱難的一次， 但它仍然是非常美好的一次歷程。 當時有許多持懷疑態度的人，尤其是倫敦的記者們， 他們坐直升機徘徊在我的玻璃箱周圍 到處扔漢堡引誘我。 (笑聲) 我通過這次活動被認可而感到非常高興， 事實上新英格蘭醫學雜誌 還以此作爲研究供科學參考。
My next pursuit was I wanted to see how long I could go without breathing, like how long I could survive with nothing, not even air. I didn't realize that it would become the most amazing journey of my life.
我的下一個追求便是想試試不呼吸能堅持多久， 也就是說什麼都沒有的情況下我能活多久， 甚至沒有空氣。 我並沒有意識到， 這一次成就了我生命中最美妙的旅程。
As a young magician I was obsessed with Houdini and his underwater challenges. So, I began, early on, competing against the other kids, seeing how long I could stay underwater while they went up and down to breathe, you know, five times, while I stayed under on one breath. By the time I was a teenager I was able to hold my breath for three minutes and 30 seconds. I would later find out that was Houdini's personal record.
作爲一個年輕的魔術師 我沉迷於霍迪尼和他在水下屏氣挑戰。 孩童時候，我就開始與其他的孩子們比試， 看可以在水下待多久， 當他們得反覆探頭出水面呼吸， 大概5次之多，我卻可以一直待在水下，完全不需要換氣。。 當我是青少年的時候 我已經可以水下屏氣達3分30秒之久， 後來我才發現那就是霍迪尼的個人紀錄。
In 1987 I heard of a story about a boy that fell through ice and was trapped under a river. He was underneath, not breathing for 45 minutes. When the rescue workers came they resuscitated him and there was no brain damage. His core temperature had dropped to 77 degrees. As a magician, I think everything is possible. And I think if something is done by one person it can be done by others. I started to think, if the boy could survive without breathing for that long, there must be a way that I could do it.
在1987年，我聽說了一個故事， 一個男孩掉進冰封的河裏， 困於河底。 他45分鐘內沒有呼吸。 當救援人員趕到 搶救並喚醒他時，發現他並沒有腦損傷， 他的心臟溫度降至77度。 作爲一個魔術師，我相信一切皆有可能。 我認爲如果某個人可以做到某件事， 那麼任何人都可以做到。 我開始思索，如果這個男孩 可以如此長時間不呼吸而活下來， 那麼必定有某種途徑讓我也可以做到。
So, I met with a top neurosurgeon. And I asked him, how long is it possible to go without breathing, like how long could I go without air? And he said to me that anything over six minutes you have a serious risk of hypoxic brain damage. So, I took that as a challenge, basically. (Laughter) My first try, I figured that I could do something similar, and I created a water tank, and I filled it with ice and freezing cold water. And I stayed inside of that water tank hoping my core temperature would start to drop. And I was shivering. In my first attempt to hold my breath I couldn't even last a minute. So, I realized that was completely not going to work.
於是我找了最好的神經科醫師， 問他人若是不呼吸最長支撐多久， 也就是哪怕連空氣都沒有我能撐多久? 他告訴我，任何超過6分鐘不呼吸的行爲， 都會因缺氧而造成 嚴重腦損傷的危險。 那麼毫無疑問，我便把它列入了我的挑戰。 (笑聲) 第一次試驗，我打算模擬那個男孩遭遇的情況， 弄一個水缸， 注滿徹骨的冰水， 然後就跳進那個水缸裏， 希望我的體溫可以下降。 當不住地時我顫抖。第一次嘗試 我甚至連一分鐘都堅持不了。 於是我意識到簡單的模擬行不通，