VOA常速英语:音乐是我的血液

“To me, music is a release, an emotional release that brings satisfaction and comfort to the one who produces it. “
“对于我来说，音乐就是一种释放，一种情感释放，为创作的人带来满足和慰藉。”

“Well, I started out playing the piano when I was six. I was at a church dance, and there was a band from New Orleans that came to play for that dance.And they had two young trumpet players in the band, they were really cool.So, what happened——all the girls went after these two trumpet players, including my girlfriend.So, I said, “Well, I’ve got to do something about this,’ so, I went home and I asked Dad if I could play the trumpet.And he told me, he said, ‘Why do you want to play the trumpet?’ I said, ‘Well, I think I like the trumpet.’And he said, ‘Well, I’ll tell you what, I’ll get a trumpet for you, but you cannot stop the piano, you have to continue the piano.’And I started lesssons on the trumpet; I continued lessons on the piano and trumpet.And it went on like that for a while, and I got my girl back.”
“我六岁开始弹钢琴。有一次教堂举办舞会，请了一支来自新奥尔良的乐队来演奏。乐队里有两个年轻的小号手。他们真的很酷。然后不出意料的——所有的女孩子都跑去追求这两个小号手，其中就包括我女朋友。于是当时我说，‘我得出手管管这事了。’后来我跑到了家里面，问爸爸我能不能去吹小号。他问我说，‘你为什么想要吹小号呢？’我回答说，‘因为我觉得我喜欢。’接着他又说，‘我告诉你，我会给你买小号，但是你得接着练钢琴。绝对不能放弃。’就这样，我开始学小号了；而且也没有放弃学钢琴。没过多久，我女朋友就回头来找我了。”

“The trumpet is one coil of tubes, starting here and going there, through the valve system.Depend upon what valve you’re using, when you press a valve, you send the air through a certain combination of tubes.This, plus the tension of the lips——now, for higher notes you have a tighter tension in here; lower notes are more relaxed.”
“小号其实就是由一圈管构成的，从这里开始，一路沿着到这里，中间会有活塞系统。根据所用活塞的不同，当你按下一个活塞时，空气会通过一套特定的管道组合流出。这里，再加上嘴唇的绷紧程度——如果你想吹出高音符，那么嘴唇就要用力绷紧了，如果是想吹出低音符，那么嘴唇这里就要稍微放松一些。”

“Eventually Jeff Brown, the manager of Ray Charles, approached me and he said,Ray Charles is forming a new band, and he would be interested in you playing trumpet within the band.’And of course, you know, Ray Charles, I said ‘Yes!’”
“终于，雷·查尔斯的经纪人杰夫·布朗找到了我，跟我说，‘雷·查尔斯要组建一个新乐队，他很有兴趣请你来乐队中担任小号手。’当然你也知道，那是雷·查尔斯啊，我立马回答说‘可以！’”

“First of all, to be selected by Ray Charles was an honor to me, I was honored by that and a little nervous——a little nervous.I didn’t know then of the genius of Ray Charles that I found out later.And now in my life, I’m playing music mainly with the ‘Marco Island Strummers.’It’s called “Strummers’ because the featured instrumentation of that group was to be banjos.”
“首先，能被雷·查尔斯选中真的是我的荣幸。但我一方面感到荣幸，另一方面却又有点紧张。当时的我对雷·查尔斯了解并不多，日后才发现他的极高天赋。我现在主要就是跟着Marco Island Strummers乐队一起吹吹小号，之所以叫“Strummers” （胡乱弹奏的人），是因为团队里的特色乐器是班卓琴。”

“To be a musician, it’s like fulfilling a part of your life that’s irreplaceable.It’s something that I enjoy and I get a satisfaction from it.”
“成为一名音乐家，就像是要完成你生命中不可替代的一部分。我始终乐在其中，也从中获得了极大的满足。”