On Nov.18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert. If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is not a small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he walks with the aid of two crutches.
1995年11月18日，小提琴家伊扎克·帕尔曼举办了一场音乐会。如果你曾经听过帕尔曼的音乐会，你就知道对他来说走上舞台可不是一件容易的事情。他小的时候患过小儿麻痹症，所以走路要借助双拐。
The audiences sat quietly while he made his way across the stage to his chair and began his play. But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. We thought that he would have to stop the concert. But he didn’t. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again.
观众静静地等着他穿过舞台坐在椅子上开始表演。但是这一次出了点意外。当他刚刚演奏完前面几小节的时候，一根琴弦断了。我们以为他不得不结束这场演奏会，然而他却没有。他停了一下，闭上了眼睛，然后向指挥示意重新开始。
The orchestra began and he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.
乐队再一次开始演奏，他用前所未有的激情、力量和纯洁的内心演奏着。
Of course, everyone knows that it is impossible to play a harmonious work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that.
当然，我们都知道仅用三根琴弦是无法演奏出和谐的乐曲的。你我都明白这一事实，但是那晚伊扎克·帕尔曼拒绝承认。
When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium.
当演奏结束的时候，大厅里先是一阵可怕的沉寂。接着，人们从座位上起立并欢呼起来，从观众席的每一个角落都爆发出了热烈的掌声。
He smiled, wiped the sweat from his brow and then he said in a quiet, sacred tone, “You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.”
他微笑着，擦去了额头的汗珠，他用平静的、虔诚的语气说道：“有些时候音乐家需要去发现，用不完整的乐器，你还能演奏出怎样的音乐。”
So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.
也许这就是对生命的解释。我们要学会在这个动荡多变、充满迷惑的世界里演奏音乐，也许开始的时候倾尽所有来演奏，当有些东西不再拥有的时候，就用我们所剩下来的来演奏。
|