散文佳作108篇 第79期:Life in a violin Case 琴匣子中的生趣

琴匣子中的生趣

Alexander Bloch

亞歷山大·布洛克

In order to tell what I believe, I must briefly sketch something of my per-sonal history.

為了闡明我生活的信條，我必須簡(jiǎn)單介紹一下我的經(jīng)歷。

The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising business career and studymusic. My parents, although sympathetic, and sharing my love of music, disapproved of it as aprofession. This was understandable in view of the family background. My grandfather hadtaughtmusic for nearly forty years at Springhill College in Mobile and, though much beloved andrespected in the community, earned barely enough to provide for his large family. My fatheroften said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness 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 professioncarried with it a picture of a precarious existence with uncertain financial rewards. My parentsinsisted upon college instead of a conservatory of music, and to college I went-quite happily,as I remember, for although Iloved my violin and spent most of my spare time practicing, I hadmany other interests.

我生活的轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)是我決定不做發(fā)跡有望的商人而專攻音樂。我父母雖然同情我，也像我一樣熱愛音樂，卻反對(duì)我以音樂為職業(yè)。考慮到我的家庭情況，他們的這種態(tài)度是完全可以理解的。我祖父在莫比爾的斯普林希爾學(xué)院教授音樂達(dá)40年之久，深受學(xué)院師生的熱愛和敬重，他的工資卻幾乎不夠維持一大家人的生活。父親常說若不是祖母精明能干，克勤克儉，一家人非挨餓不可。所以在我們家，只要一提起音樂這個(gè)行當(dāng)，大家就會(huì)想起那收入微薄、朝不保夕的苦日子。父母堅(jiān)持要我上大學(xué)，不準(zhǔn)我進(jìn)音樂學(xué)院，我也就上了大學(xué)。我記得自己當(dāng)時(shí)還挺高興，因?yàn)殡m然我熱愛小提琴，大部分課余時(shí)間都花在練琴上，但我還有許多其他的愛好。

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

不等尊從哥倫比亞大學(xué)畢業(yè)，家庭經(jīng)濟(jì)嚴(yán)重惡化，我感到自己有責(zé)任退學(xué)找工作，就這樣我投身子商界——事后我每次想起這段經(jīng)歷都覺得是虛度了年華。

Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage business. My whole point is that it was not forme. I went into it for money, and aside from the satisfaction of being able to help the family,money is alll got out of it. It was not enough. I felt that life was passing me by. From beingmerely discontented I became acutely miserable. My one ambition was to save enough toquit 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 cafe, order ameager meal and scribble my harmony exercises. I continued to make money, and finally, bitby bit, accumulated enough to enable me to go abroad. The family being once more solvent,and my help no longer necessary, I resigned from my position and, feeling like a man releasedfrom jail, sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, worked harder than I had ever dreamed ofworking before and enjoyed every minute of it.

我從來無意貶低經(jīng)商，我的意思是它不適合我。我經(jīng)商只是為了掙錢。除了能補(bǔ)貼家用給我?guī)硪稽c(diǎn)滿足以外，我從這項(xiàng)職業(yè)得到的唯一東西就是錢。這是不夠的。我感到年華似水從我身邊流走。對(duì)職業(yè)的不滿使我痛苦不堪。我唯一的抱負(fù)就是積攢足夠的錢，然后改行，到歐洲去學(xué)音樂。于是，我天天黎明即起，練習(xí)小提琴，再去“商業(yè)區(qū)”上班，幾乎來不及囫圇吞下倉(cāng)促準(zhǔn)備的早餐，搞得我可憐的媽媽惶恐不安。我不與商界同事共進(jìn)午餐，總愛找個(gè)便宜的餐館，隨便混上一頓，信手寫些和聲練習(xí)曲.。我不停地掙錢，終于，一分一分地?cái)€夠了出國(guó)的錢。這時(shí)，家庭經(jīng)濟(jì)情況也好轉(zhuǎn)了，不再需要我的幫助。我辭去商務(wù)，感到自己像出獄的犯人一樣自由，乘船去了歐洲，一去就是四年。我學(xué)習(xí)要比從前想象的刻苦得多，然而生活得很快樂。

"Enjoyed" is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a freeman and I was doingwhat I loved to do and what I was meant to do.

“快樂”一詞還不足以表達(dá)我的心情。我是樂不可支，飄飄欲仙了。我過著真正的生活。我是個(gè)自由人，做我愛做的、命中注定要做的事情。

If I had stayed in business I might be a comparatively wealthy man today, but I do not believeI would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles, those innersatisfactions that money can never buy, and that are too often sacrificed when a man'sprimary goal is finanaal success.

假如我一直經(jīng)商，今天可能已經(jīng)成了一個(gè)相當(dāng)富有的人，但我認(rèn)為我那時(shí)的生活并沒有帶來成功;為了金錢我可能放棄了一切無形的東西，放棄了精神上的種種樂趣，那是金錢永遠(yuǎn)買不來的，一個(gè)人要是把獲取金錢當(dāng)做主要的奮斗目標(biāo)，他的精神樂趣就常常被犧牲了。

When I broke away from business it was against the advice of practically all my friends andfamily. So conditioned are most of us to the association of success with money that thethought 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."

我毅然脫離商業(yè)，幾乎違背了所有的親友的勸告。我們大多數(shù)人習(xí)慣把成功與金錢連在一起。那種為理想而放棄高薪的念頭簡(jiǎn)直會(huì)被人認(rèn)為是瘋子的念頭。如果真是如此，我倒要說一聲：“咦!瘋子真了不起!”

Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high a price for it.

錢固然是好東西，但是為了錢而付出的代價(jià)往往太高昂了。