The Blue Man smiled. "No, Edward. You are here so I can teach you something. All the people you meet here have one thing to teach you."
蓝皮人笑了。“不，爱德华。你来这里，是因为我可以教你一些东西。你在这里遇见的所有的人都会教你一件事情。”
The Blue Man held out his hand. "Fairness," he said, "does not govern life and death. If it did, no good person would ever die young."
蓝皮人伸出一只手。“公平，”他说，“并不主宰生与死。不然的话，就没有好人会年纪轻轻地死掉。”
The Blue Man nodded. "You couldn't know. You were too young."
蓝皮人点点头。“你不可能知道。你还太小。”
Eddie was skeptical. His fists stayed clenched.
爱迪仍然抱着怀疑的态度，拳头攥得紧紧的。
Eddie shook his head. "We were throwing a ball. It was my stupidity, running out there like that. Why should you have to die on account of me? It ain't fair."
爱迪摇了摇头。“我们当时正抛球玩。是我犯傻，居然那样跑到街上去。为什么你要因我而死？这不公平。”
"That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind."
“世上没有偶然的行为。我们都是联系在一起的。你无法将一个生命和另一个生命分割开来，就像风和微风紧密相连一样。”
"But now I gotta pay," he said.
“但是，现在我得还债了，”他说。
He rolled his palm upward and suddenly they were standing in a cemetery behind a small group of mourners. A priest by the gravesite was reading from a Bible. Eddie could not see faces, only the backs of hats and dresses and suit coats.
他将手掌向上抬起，霎时间，他们来到了一片墓地，站在一小群哀悼者的身后。一位牧师站在墓穴旁边，正在读《圣经》。爱迪看不到人们的脸，只看到帽子、裙子和上衣的背影。
Eddie stepped back. He squared his body as if bracing for a fight.
爱迪退后几步，两肩端平，摆出一副迎战的架势。
"For my sin. That's why I'm here, right? Justice?"
“为我的罪孽。这就是为什么我来到这里，对吗？为了公道？”
"To pay?"
“还债？”
"What?" he said.
“教什么？”他说。
"Please, Mister…" Eddie pleaded. "I DIDN'T know. Believe me… God help me, I didn't know."
“求求你，先生…”爱迪辩解道。“我不知道。相信我…愿上帝帮助我，我真的不知道。”
"It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect. That death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed.
“因为，在灵魂的深处，人们知道所有的生命都是相互关联的。死亡把一个人带走的同时，也留下了另一个人，在被带走和被留下的短短距离中，生命改变了。
"My funeral," the Blue Man said. "Look at the mourners. Some did not even know me well, yet they came. Why? Did you ever wonder? Why people gather when others die? Why people feel they should?
“我的葬礼，”蓝皮人说。“你看这些哀悼的人群。有些人甚至不太认识我，但他们也来了。为什么？你想过吗？人死的时候，大家为什么都会来呢？为什么人们觉得他们应该来？
"You say you should have died instead of me. But during my time on earth, people died instead of me, too. It happens every day. When lightning strikes a minute after you are gone, or an airplane crashes that you might have been on. When your colleague falls ill and you do not. We think such things are random. But there is a balance to it all. One withers, another grows. Birth and death are part of a whole.
“你说死的应该是你，而不是我。但是，我在地球上的时候，人们也为我而死。这种事情，天天发生。你刚刚离开一分钟，闪电击中了你待过的地方。你本来可能搭乘的飞机坠毁了。你的同事病了，你却没有。我们以为这些事情都是偶然的，但是，这一切的一切，其中自有某种平衡。一个凋谢了，另一个正在成长。出生和入死，皆是一个整体的一部分。
Eddie looked again at the gravesite gathering. He wondered if he'd had a funeral. He wondered if anyone came. He saw the priest reading from the Bible and the mourners lowering their heads. This was the day the Blue Man had been buried, all those years ago. Eddie had been there, a little boy, fidgeting through the ceremony, with no idea of the role he'd played in it.
爱迪又望了一眼墓穴周围的人们。他不知道他自己有没有葬礼，不知道有没有人来。他看到牧师在读《圣经》，人们低着头。这是蓝皮人下葬的那一天，好多年前的事了。爱迪也在那里，一个小男孩，烦躁不安地等着葬礼结束，全然不知他在其中扮演的角色。
"It is why we are drawn to babies…" He turned to the mourners. "And to funerals."
“这就是为什么我们喜欢小孩子…”他转向哀悼者。“喜欢参加葬礼。”
"I am leaving," the Blue Man whispered in his ear. "This step of heaven is over for me. But there are others for you to meet."
“我要走了，”蓝皮人在他耳边轻声说道。“我渡完了天堂的这一重境界。而你还有其他人要见。”
With that, The Blue Man pulled Eddie close. Instantly, Eddie felt everything the Blue Man had felt in his life rushing into him, swimming in his body, the loneliness, the shame, the nervousness, the heart attack. It slid into Eddie like a drawer being closed.
说罢，蓝皮人把爱迪拉到自己身边。顷刻之间，爱迪感到蓝皮人一生的经历都涌进了他的身体，在他的身体里漫游——孤独，羞辱，胆怯，心脏病发。所有这一切都倾注到爱迪的心里，像一个抽屉被关上了一样。
"You lived," the Blue Man answered.
“你活了，”蓝皮人答道。
"But we barely knew each other. I might as well have been a stranger."
“但是，我们几乎互不相识。对你而言，我可能完全是一个陌生人。”
"I still don't understand," Eddie whispered. "What good came from your death?"
“我还不明白，”爱迪轻声说。“你死了对别人有什么好处？”
The Blue Man put his arms on Eddie's shoulders. Eddie felt that warm, melting sensation.
蓝皮人将双手放在爱迪的肩膀上，爱迪再一次感受到了那种温暖的、令人陶醉的感觉。
"Strangers," the Blue Man said, "are just family you have yet to come to know."
“陌生人，”蓝皮人说道，“只不过是你还没有遇见的家里人罢了。”
"Wait," Eddie said, pulling back. "Just tell me one thing. Did I save the little girl? At the pier. Did I save her?"
“等等，”爱迪说道，竭力恢复神思。“就告诉我一件事。我把那个小女孩救出来了吗？在码头上。我把她救出来了吗？”
The Blue Man did not answer. Eddie slumped. "Then my death was a waste, just like my life."
蓝皮人没有回答。爱迪感到一阵失望。“这么说，我的死是毫无意义的了，就像我的生命一样。”
"No life is a waste," the Blue Man said. "The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone."
“没有一个生命是毫无意义的，”蓝皮人说道，“只有当我们觉得孤独的时候，我们才是在浪费自己的生命。”
"Wait!" Eddie yelled, but he was suddenly whisked into the air, away from the cemetery, soaring above the great gray ocean. Below him, he saw the rooftops of old Ruby Pier, the spires and turrets, the flags flapping in the breeze.
“等等！”爱迪大声喊道，但是，他突然被卷到了空中，远离了墓地，翱翔在灰色壮观的大海上空。在他的脚下，是老“红宝石码头”的一片屋顶、塔楼和塔尖，以及微风中飘扬的彩旗。
He stepped back toward the gravesite and smiled. And as he did, his skin turned the loveliest shade of caramel -- smooth and unblemished. It was, Eddie thought, the most perfect skin he had ever seen.
蓝皮人退步向墓穴走去，脸上绽出了微笑。就在这时，他身上的皮肤忽然变了，变成了一种最可爱的淡褐色——光滑平整，毫无瑕疵。爱迪觉得，那是他见过的最完美的皮肤。
Then it was gone.
然后，一切都消失了。