VOA慢速英语2018 音乐家用水杯作乐器 为听众演奏动人音乐

 

Jamey Turner often performs to large crowds in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, a short drive from Washington, D.C.

弗吉尼亚州亚历山大旧城区距离华盛顿特区仅仅一小功夫的车程，杰米·特纳经常在这座小城的街头为围观的市民演奏音乐。

You can find Turner playing an unusual musical instrument, the glass harp¹, near Alexandria's historic² waterfront.

你可以看到特纳正在亚历山大市历史悠久的河滨弹奏一种非同寻常的乐器——玻璃竖琴。

A glass harp is made up of different sized stemmed⁴ drinking glasses, each filled with water.Turner makes music by running his fingers over the tops of the glasses.By doing so, each glass makes a different musical sound.

不同型号的高脚玻璃杯盛着不同量的水就变身成了玻璃竖琴。特纳的手指在杯口灵敏地滑动飞舞，弹奏出优美的旋律。摩擦杯口时，每个杯子都能发出不同的音符。

Visitors to Alexandria like what they see and hear.They thank Turner by leaving a dollar or more in his box for donations⁵.

游客们喜欢在亚历山大的所见所闻。为了感谢特纳带给他们的听觉享受，游客们纷纷在募捐盒里留下一美元甚至更多的钱。

Nicole Schwarss is a visitor from Germany.

妮可·施瓦尔斯是一名来自德国的游客。

I think it's fantastic. I've never heard something like this before, she said.

她说：“真是太奇妙了。我之前从来没有听过这样的音乐。”

Jamey Turner is 78 years old.He says he has been playing the glass harp for 50 years.Turner says he became interested at the age of six, when he heard his father playing with a glass of water at the dinner table.

杰米·特纳今年78岁。他弹奏玻璃竖琴已经有50个年头了。特纳说六岁那年他看到爸爸在餐桌上弹奏玻璃竖琴，从此便一发不可收拾的迷上了它。

Today Turner puts together his instrument by placing 60 different glasses on a wooden soundboard.He holds the glasses in place with rubber bands, which keeps them from breaking.He then adds different amounts of water to each one to create different musical notes.

把60个大小不同的玻璃杯固定在木质音板上就是特纳的乐器了。他用橡皮筋把杯子固定到位，防止杯子摔碎，然后往每个杯子里面加不同量的水，这样每个杯子就能发出不同的音符了。

Turner says adding or taking away just a little water will change the sound.Adding water to a glass will make a lower sound.The smaller bowls of water produce a higher sound, while the larger ones produce a lower, deeper sound.

特纳说只要添加或者去掉少量的水就能改变杯子发出的声音。加水可以降调，去水可以升调，大杯子发出的声音则更加浑厚低沉。

Turner says he uses low-priced glass because it sounds better than costly⁶ crystal⁷.And he has more control over the sound.

特纳用廉价的玻璃杯作为乐器，因为它们发出的声音比昂贵的水晶玻璃杯发出的声音更优美。此外，廉价的玻璃杯也能让他更好的把控音符。

Before buying new glasses, he will test them in stores.He decides if they produce the right sound by rubbing⁸ his finger over the top of them.

在购买新杯子之前，特纳会在商铺里测试。他依据手指在杯口摩擦发出的声音来判断是否是他想要的杯子。

The glass harp was popular 300 years ago when composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote music for the instrument.There have been about 400 musical compositions written just for the glass harp.But Turner plays all kinds of music, even popular music from China.

从沃尔夫冈·阿马德乌斯·莫扎特这样的作曲家为玻璃竖琴谱曲开始，这种乐器已经流行了三百年了。如今，世界上已经有近400首专门为玻璃竖琴而创作的曲子了。但是特纳却能用玻璃竖琴弹奏所有的音乐，就连中国的流行音乐也难不倒他。

Turner says he has performed all over the United States and in Japan.

特纳说他在美国各地演出，还去过日本。

Few people play the glass harp these days, but Turner says he sees videos of people experimenting with the instrument on YouTube.He hopes the next generation will continue making its music.

如今，很少有人再弹玻璃竖琴了，但是特纳曾在YouTube上看到过人们演奏玻璃竖琴的视频，他希望下一代可以奏玻璃竖琴这门手艺传承下去。

Words in This Story

stemmed – adj. having a stem³, the long and thin part: such as the long, thin piece that supports the bowl of a wine glass

soundboard – n. a thin sheet of wood over which the strings⁹ of a piano or similar instrument are positioned to increase the sound produced

rubber bands – n. circles of stretchy rubber for holding things together

crystal – n. a special type of glass that is very clear

composer – n. a person who writes music

1 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

2 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

3 stem   

n.茎，干，船首，词干，血统；vt.堵住，阻止，抽去梗；vi.起源于，发生

参考例句：

• Cut the stem cleanly,just beneath a leaf joint.把茎切整齐点，正好切在叶根下。
• The ship was in a blaze from stem to stern.整艘船从头到尾都着火了。

4 stemmed   

adj.有茎的，去掉茎的v.遏制[阻止]（液体的流动等）( stem的过去式和过去分词 )；封堵；遏止

参考例句：

• Our ship stemmed on against the current. 我们的船逆水而行。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The concern about this axiom stemmed from the fact. 对于这个公理的考虑是基于这样的事实。 来自辞典例句

5 donations   

n.捐赠( donation的名词复数 )；赠送；捐款；捐赠物

参考例句：

• The hospital receives a good deal of money in donations. 这家医院收到捐赠来的大笔款项。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The charity is completely reliant on public donations. 这一慈善团体完全依靠公众捐款。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 crystal   

n.水晶，水晶饰品，结晶体；最好的玻璃器皿

参考例句：

• It used to be a crystal stream.那曾是条清澈见底的小溪。
• Those fine wine glasses are made of crystal.那些漂亮的酒杯是用水晶做的。

8 rubbing   

n. 摩擦, 研磨, 按磨

参考例句：

• This insect makes its strange noise by rubbing its back legs together. 这只昆虫摩擦它的两条后腿发出一种奇怪的声音。
• Jerry was already unhappy because he fumbled the ball,but his teammates kept rubbing it in. 本来杰瑞就很不高兴，因为他失了球，而他的队友们还一再提那件事。

9 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。