《你在天堂里遇见的五个人》迄今已在全球热销400万册，被译成多国文字，占据美国畅销书排行榜前五位超过40周。《你在天堂里遇见的五个人》是都市人的心灵良药，让读者换一种全新的视角思索人生的价值。

他叫爱迪，八十三岁生日那天，为了拯救身处险境的女孩而殒命游乐场。醒来时，爱迪已身处天堂，这才发现：那里并不是牧歌萦绕的伊甸园，而是地球上生活片断的交叠重现。五个被爱迪或铭记或忽略或遗忘的人，轮流登场，引领他寻找逝去的时光，追问人生的谜底。本文描述了爱迪遇见的第一个人——陌生的蓝皮人，他让爱迪懂得：天地间仿佛有一条巨大的锁链串联着每个生命，每一个人都会影响到另一个人，世界上各式各样的故事，说到底都是同一个。

“Let me begin with my real name,” the Blue Man said. “I was 1)christened Joseph Corvelzchik, the son of a 2)tailor in a small 3)Polish village. We came to America in 1894. I was only a boy. My mother held me over the 4)railing of the ship and this became my earliest childhood memory, my mother swinging me in the breezes of a new world.

“让我先来告诉你我的真实姓名吧，”蓝皮人说道。“我洗礼时被命名为约瑟夫·克韦奇克，是波兰一个小村庄里一个裁缝的儿子。我们一家在1894年来到美国。我当时还是一个小孩子。我的母亲抱着我，把我举到船舷栏杆外面，让我在新世界的微风里晃荡，这情景成为了我最初的童年记忆。

“Like most immigrants, we had no money. We slept on a mattress in my uncle’s kitchen. My father was forced to take a job in a 5)sweatshop, sewing buttons on coats. When I was ten, he took me from school and I joined him.”

“像大部分移民一样，我们没有钱。我们睡在我叔叔的厨房里的一张床垫上。我的父亲不得不在一家工厂里缝大衣纽扣，赚血汗钱。当我十岁的时候，父亲让我辍学，开始跟他一起干活儿。”

Eddie watched the Blue Man’s 6)pitted face, his thin lips, his 7)sagging chest. Why is he telling me this? Eddie thought.

爱迪望着蓝皮人的麻子脸，薄嘴唇和松松垮垮的胸脯，心想：他告诉我这些干什么?

“I was a nervous child by nature. Once, I stumbled and dropped a sack of buttons, which spilled over the floor. The 8)foreman screamed that I was worthless, a worthless child, that I must go. I can still see that moment, my father pleading with him like a street beggar, the foreman 9)sneering, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. I felt my stomach twist in pain. Then I felt something wet on my leg. I looked down. The foreman pointed at my soiled pants and laughed, and the other workers laughed, too.

“我天生胆小怯弱。有一次，我绊了一跤，碰落一大袋纽扣，扣子撒了一地。工头大骂我没用，一个没用的孩子，必须被解雇。我现在还能清晰地记得那一刻的情形，我父亲像街上的乞丐一样苦苦哀求，工头用手背抹着鼻涕，嘴角挂着一丝冷笑。我感到心中一阵绞痛。然后，我觉得腿上湿漉漉的。我低头看去。工头指着我尿湿的裤子，大笑起来，其他工人也跟着哄笑起来。