琴匣子中的生趣

 　　Life in a Violin Case

　　By Alexander Bloch

　　In order to tell what I believe, I must briefly¹ sketch² something of my personal history.

　　The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising³ business career and study music. My parents, although sympathetic, and sharing my love of music, disapproved⁴ of it as a profession. This was understandable in view of the family background. My grandfather had taught music for nearly forty years at Springhill College in Mobile and, though much beloved and respected in the community, earned barely enough to provide for his large family. My father often said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness⁵ of my grandmother that kept the wolf at bay. As a consequence of this example in the family, the very mention of music as a profession carried with it a picture of a precarious⁶ existence with uncertain financial rewards. My parents insisted upon college instead of a conservatory⁷ of music, and to college I went – quite happily, as I remember, for although I loved my violin and spent most of my spare time practicing, I had many other interests.

　　Before my graduation form Columbia, the family met with severe financial reverses and I felt it my duty to leave college and take a job. Thus was I launched upon a business career – which I always think of as the wasted years.

　　Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage⁸ business. My whole point I is that it was not for me. I went into it for money, and aside from the satisfaction of being able to help the family, money is all I got out of it. It was not enough. I felt that life was passing me by. From being merely discontented I became acutely miserable⁹. My one ambition was to save enough to quit and go to Europe to study music. I used to get up at dawn to practice before I left for “downtown”, distracting my poor mother by bolting a hasty breakfast at the last minute. Instead of lunching with my business associates, I would seek out some cheap café, order a meager¹⁰ meal and scribble¹¹ my harmony exercises. I continued to make money, and finally, bit by bit, accumulated enough to enable me to go abroad. The family being once more solvent¹², and my help no longer necessary, I resigned from my position and, feeling like a man released from jail, sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, worked harder than I had ever dreamed of working before and enjoyed every minute of it.

　　“Enjoyed” is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a free man and I was doing what I loved to do and what I was meant to do.

　　If I had stayed in business, I might be a comparatively wealthy man today, but I do not believe I would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles, those inner satisfactions, that money can never buy, and that are too often sacrificed when a man’s primary goal is financial success.

　　When I broke away from business, it was against the advice of practically all my friends and family. So conditioned are most of us to the association of success with money that the thought of giving up a good salary for an idea seemed little short of insane. If so, all I can say is “Gee! It’s great to be crazy.”Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high a price on it.

　　琴匣子中的生趣

　　亚历山大·布洛克

　　为了阐明我的信仰，我必须简单介绍一下我的经历。

　　我人生的转折点是我决定不做发迹有望的商人而专攻音乐。父母虽然与我志趣相投，也像我一样热爱音乐，却反对我以音乐为职业。考虑到我的家庭情况，他们的态度是完全可以理解的。我祖父在莫比尔的斯普林希尔学院教授音乐达四十年之久，深受学院师生的热爱和敬重，他的工资却只能勉强维持一大家人的生活。父亲常说若不是祖母精明能干，克勤克俭，一家人非挨饿不可。所以在我们家，只要一提起音乐这个职业，大家就联想起收入不稳定的那种苦日子。父母坚持要我上大学，不让我进音乐学院，我也就上了大学。记得当时我还挺开心，因为虽然我热爱小提琴，大部分时间都用来练琴，我还有许多其他的爱好。

　　没等我从哥伦比亚大学毕业，家里的经济情况就变得很糟，我感到自己有责任退学找工作，这才投身商界——我始终认为那段经商岁月是虚掷光阴。

　　我从来无意贬低经商，我的意思是它不适合我。我经商只是为了挣钱，除了能补贴家用给我带来一点满足以外，钱是我经商得到的一切。这是不够的。我感到年华似水从我身边流走。对职业的不满使我痛苦不堪。我唯一的抱负是积攒足够的钱，辞去商务，到欧洲学习音乐。于是，我每天黎明即起，练习小提琴，然后去“商业区”上班。几乎来不及囫囵吞下仓促准备的早餐，弄得我可怜的妈妈惶恐不安。我不与业务合伙人共进午餐，总是找个便宜的餐馆，随便混上一顿，信手写些和声练习曲。我不停地挣钱，终于一分一分攒够了出国的钱。这时，家庭经济情况也好转了，不再需要我的帮助。我辞去商务，感到自己像出狱的犯人一样自由，便乘船去了欧洲，一去就是四年。我学习比从前想象的刻苦得多，但我非常快乐。“快乐”一词还不足以表达我的心情，我是乐不可支，飘飘欲仙。我过着真正的生活。我是个自由人，做我爱做的、命中注定要做的事情。

　　假如我一直经商，今天可能会相当富有，但我不认为我的人生会很成功。我可能会放弃一切无形的、金钱绝对买不到的精神上的满足；这种精神上的满足常常因为人的主要生活目的是发财致富而不可企及。

　　我脱离商界之举是与所有亲友的忠告相违的，因为我们大多数人习惯把成功与金钱联系在一起，为理想而放弃高薪似乎是发疯。如果真是如此，我倒要说：“咳，发疯可真好！”金钱是好东西，但可能为了金钱，我们付出的代价太昂贵。

1 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

2 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

3 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

4 disapproved   

v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My parents disapproved of my marriage. 我父母不赞成我的婚事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She disapproved of her son's indiscriminate television viewing. 她不赞成儿子不加选择地收看电视。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 thriftiness   

节俭，节约

参考例句：

• Taoism has always advocated thriftiness and plain life. 道教历来倡导节俭、朴素的生活。
• That's a positive feeling. Now I added only to my thriftiness but also independence and endurance. 通过这事，我不仅长了点经济头脑，也变得更加独立，更具忍耐力了。

6 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

7 conservatory   

n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的

参考例句：

• At the conservatory,he learned how to score a musical composition.在音乐学校里，他学会了怎样谱曲。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants.这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

8 disparage   

v.贬抑，轻蔑

参考例句：

• Your behaviour will disparage the whole family.你的行为将使全家丢脸。
• Never disparage yourself or minimize your strength or power.不要贬低你自己或降低你的力量或能力。

9 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

10 meager   

adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的

参考例句：

• He could not support his family on his meager salary.他靠微薄的工资无法养家。
• The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and began their meager meal.两个男人同一个女人围着火，开始吃起少得可怜的午饭。

11 scribble   

v.潦草地书写，乱写，滥写；n.潦草的写法，潦草写成的东西，杂文

参考例句：

• She can't write yet,but she loves to scribble with a pencil.她现在还不会写字，但她喜欢用铅笔乱涂。
• I can't read this scribble.我看不懂这种潦草的字。

12 solvent   

n.溶剂；adj.有偿付能力的

参考例句：

• Gasoline is a solvent liquid which removes grease spots.汽油是一种能去掉油污的有溶解力的液体。
• A bankrupt company is not solvent.一个破产的公司是没有偿还债务的能力的。