1、A Violinist in the Metro地铁里的小提琴家(注:因为一位音乐家朋友,而知道了这样一个故事,起初,以为是故事,到后来发现 ,故事是真实的)A man sat at a metro station in Washington D.C. and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated th
2、at thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.一月某个寒冷的早晨，华盛顿（美国首都）的一个地铁站里，有个人坐下来并开始拉小提琴。他连续演奏了六首巴赫的曲子，大约 45 分钟。由于恰逢上班人流高峰时段，我们可以估算，在这 45 分钟里，有成千上万的人经过这座地铁站，大多是赶去上班的人。Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace
3、 and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried on to meet his schedule.三分钟过去了，一位中年男士注意到地铁站里有人在拉小提琴。他放慢脚步，逗留了几秒，然后匆匆离去，显然不想迟到。A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.又过了一分钟，小提琴家收到了第一笔小费：一位女士往收钱的盒子里投了一美元，并
4、未停歇就继续赶路了。A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.过了一会儿，有个人倚着墙听他拉小提琴，但这位先生看了看手表又迈步走开了，显然是上班要迟到了。The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along
5、, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.对小提琴演奏者关注最多的是一个三岁的小男孩。紧跟在身后的母亲催促他快走，但这个
6、孩子还是停下来看小提琴家的表演。最后，母亲使劲推着小男孩走开了，孩子不情愿，三步一回头。后来又有好几个孩子象这样停下来看表演，但他们的父母都让他们继续赶路，无一例外地强行把孩子带走了。In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence too
7、k over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.在音乐家演奏的 45 分钟里，只有 6 个人驻足片刻欣赏音乐，有大约 20 人给钱后原速走开。他一共收到了 32 美元的“小费” 。他演奏完毕、地铁站归于沉寂的时候也没人注意到。无人喝彩，也没有人认出他是谁。No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most int
8、ricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.成千上万的路人匆匆经过却无人知道这个在地铁站拉小提琴的人居然是有“小提琴王子”美誉的约夏?贝尔，世界上最优秀的音乐家之一。也没有人意识到，这位世界知名的小提琴家是用一把价值 350 万美元的名琴倾情演绎了一首首难度空前的旷世美曲。Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats averaged $100.就在他
9、地铁献艺的两天之前，约夏?贝尔在波士顿某剧场演出的门票已经售罄，均价高达100 美元！This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.这是一个真实的故事。约夏?贝尔在地铁站里微服匿名演奏，是华盛顿邮报精心安排的，这是一项关于感知力、品味及因人迥异的轻重缓急优先次序的社
10、会实验的一部分。The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour:Do we perceive beauty?Do we stop to appreciate it?Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?华盛顿邮报这项实验的要点是：在普通寻常的大众场合，在不合时宜的时段，我们会不会感知美妙的事物？我们会不会停下脚步来欣赏这美妙的事物？我们会不会在料想不到的情况下赏识和认可别人的才能？One of the possible conclu
11、sions from this experience could be:If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?从这个故事可以得出许多不同的结论，其中之一也许是：假如我们连停下来倾听世界顶级音乐家演奏最美妙乐曲的空闲也没有，我们在一生中会错过多少值得欣赏的东西呢？ 另译：倘若我们不肯为倾听世界最优秀音乐家演绎最动听音乐而停歇片刻，那么我们又会在不经意间错过多少美好的事物呢？Thank you, Renato and William, for recommending and sharing this enlightening and thought-provoking true story.
