SIR ANTHONY EVANS PLAYS LISZT. The words above the door of the theatre were a metre high. On the wall there was a big picture of Sir Anthony at the piano. Hundreds of people were waiting outside the ticket office. It was Sir Anthony's eightieth birthday concert and everybody wanted a ticket. I had a special ticket, because I was a newspaper reporter. I wanted to talk to the famous pianist before his concert. I showed my ticket to the doorman and went into the theatre. Then I walked upstairs to the dressing-rooms.
安東尼·埃文斯爵士演奏會。曲目:李斯特。橫幅張掛在劇院門口,每個字都高達一米。墻上掛著一幅安東尼爵士彈奏鋼琴的巨幅肖像畫。售票處門外排著幾百人的長隊。這是安東尼爵士的八十壽辰音樂會,每個人都想要張票。由于我是報社記者,所以得到了一張記者專用票。我想在音樂會開始之前采訪這位著名的鋼琴家。我把票出示給看門人,然后走進了劇院,朝樓上的化妝間走去。
On my way upstairs I thought about the famous pianist. I was a little afraid. My mouth was dry and my hands were shaking.
我一邊上樓,一邊想著這位著名的鋼琴家。我有點害怕,我的嘴巴發(fā)干,手也在抖。
I arrived outside the dressing-room.
我來到化妝間門外。
There was a big gold star on the door.
門上有一顆很大的金色的星星。
I knocked, and a tall man opened it. He was very old, but his eyes were blue and bright. He was wearing black trousers and a beautiful white shirt. He had a lot of straight, silvery hair. He looked just like his picture on the wall of the theatre.
我敲了敲門,一位高個子男士開了門。他的年紀很大了,可是眼睛湛藍湛藍的,眼神明亮。他穿著黑色的長褲和漂亮的白襯衫,滿頭筆直的銀發(fā)。他看上去跟劇院墻上的那幅畫里一模一樣。
'My name's Sally Hill,' I began. 'I...'
“我叫薩莉·希爾,”我開口道,“我……”
The old man saw my notebook and smiled at me.
老人看見我的筆記本,對我露出了微笑。
'Don't tell me. You're a reporter. Which newspaper do you work for?'
“啊,不用說,你是記者。你是哪一家報社的?”
'The Sunday Times, sir.'
“《星期日時報》,先生。”
'A very good newspaper. Come in and sit down. Ask your questions. We were young once, weren't we, Linda? But of course that was a long time ago.'
“那是家很好的報紙。進來,坐吧。有什么問題就問吧。我們也曾經(jīng)年輕過,對不對,琳達?不過,那當然是很久很久以前的事情了。”
He turned to a tall woman, who was standing in the corner. She smiled at me with friendly brown eyes. 'So this is Lady Evans,' I thought. 'What a nice face she has! She looks like a farmer's wife.'
他轉向角落里站著的一位高個子女士。她那雙褐色的眼睛含著友好的笑意看著我。“那么,這一位一定是埃文斯夫人了,”我心想,“她的臉龐真慈祥!她看上去就像農(nóng)夫的妻子。”
I was not afraid any more. I sat down and opened my notebook.
我不再感到害怕了。我坐下來,攤開筆記本。
'Tell me about yourself, please, Sir Anthony. Did you come from a musical family? Did you start to learn the piano when you were three, like Mozart?'
“請告訴我一些關于您自己的事情,安東尼爵士。您出身于音樂世家嗎?您是不是像莫扎特那樣,三歲就開始學習彈鋼琴了?”
The famous pianist smiled. 'No, no, my dear. I am the first musician in my family. And I was fourteen years old before I touched a piano for the first time.' He saw the surprise on my face. 'We have a little time before my concert. I'll tell you my story. It's a strange story, but every word of it is true. You see, I left school when I was thirteen. Everybody called me Tony in those days. I worked on a farm...'
這位著名的鋼琴演奏家笑道:“不,親愛的孩子,不是這樣。我是我們家出的頭一個音樂家。一直到14歲,我才第一次接觸鋼琴。”他看到我臉上訝異的神色,接著說:“音樂會開始之前,我們能有一小會兒時間,讓我把我的故事講給你聽吧。這是一個不可思議的故事,但字字句句都是真的。是這樣的,我13歲就離開了學校。那會兒他們都叫我托尼。我在一個農(nóng)場里干活兒……”
It was an exciting story and he told it well. At first I tried to write everything down in my notebook. Then the pen fell from my hand and I just listened. I was lost in Sir Anthony's wonderful story. He told me about an old school behind a high wall in a dirty street. There was broken glass on top of the wall. The school yard was very small. As he spoke, pictures came into my mind. I saw a little boy called Tony Evans, playing football with an old tin...
他娓娓道出了一個令人激動的故事。起初,我試圖把他說的每一句話都記在筆記本上。然而,聽著聽著,筆從我手中滑落,我只是投入地聽他講述。我沉浸在安東尼爵士那個奇妙的故事當中。他向我講到一條骯臟的小巷里高墻內(nèi)的一所舊學校,墻頭插著碎玻璃,學校的院子很窄小。他講著講著,我腦海里漸漸浮現(xiàn)出這樣一幅畫面:一個名叫托尼·埃文斯的小男孩,把一個舊罐頭盒當足球踢著……