A、The ambition to become the greatest magician. B、The reality that he failed in a swimming race. C、The magician Houdini and his

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 was more difficult than I’d expected. The one after that, I stood on top of a hundred-foot pillar for 36 hours. I began to have illusions that the buildings that were behind me started to look like big animal heads.
    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 were so many skeptics, especially the press in London, that they started flying cheeseburgers on helicopters around my box to tempt me. So, I felt all was worth when the New England Journal of Medicine actually used the research for science.
    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.
    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.
    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 brought him back to life 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.
19 What does the speaker say he tries to do as a magician?
20 What was the most difficult and beautiful thing the speaker did in London?
21 What obsessed the speaker when he was young?
22 What happened to the boy the speaker heard of in 1987?