VOA常速英语2016--印证纽约历史的独特吉他

Luthier Turns Wood From Landmark 1 N.Y.C. Buildings Into Guitars 印证纽约历史的独特吉他

Rick Kelly started making wooden musical instruments when he was a teenager. But he didn't start turning timber use in old hotels, bars and churches into guitars until 10 years ago when film director Jim Jarmusch offered him wood from his loft 2 ceiling.

瑞克还小的时候，就开始制造木质乐器了。但十年后，电影导演占渣木殊把自己阁楼天花板的木材送给他后，他才开始使用陈旧旅店、酒吧和教堂的木材来做吉他。

"He happened to be a customer in the shop,” Kelly said. “I got to know him a little bit. He offered me the wood, so I said, 'Sure.' So he sent the guys, the workers, over with a truckload of it, and started doing it that way. That was the first load I got, out of Jim's loft."

那时候他正好来店里逛。我跟他有一定的交情。他要把木材送给我，于是我说，“好啊”。于是他就请了工人们，载着一卡车的木材来送给我。这是我获得的第一批木材。

A lot of that wood is more than 100 years old. It's the 19th-century white pine timber from upstate New York that formed New York City's homes and buildings.

这批木材中的很多都有上百年的年头了。是19世纪纽约北部的白松木，那时候很多纽约的建筑都采用白松木做素材。

“It's sort of this alchemy that happens" with the wood, "especially in the roof area, where it gets over 100 degrees [Fahrenheit] ... during the day and cool at night,” Kelly said. “It goes through this change that sort of makes the wood really resonant 3, because the resin 4 in the wood crystallizes, opens up the pores for vibration 5.”

屋顶木材有一个特点，白天温度可高达100华氏度，而晚上又会变凉。这种温度变化让木质的音效很好，因为木材里的树脂会结晶，为震动发声制造了孔隙。

Church beams

Kelly shops for wood all over the city. He found some of his latest guitar-quality wood in a trash receptacle — planks 6 and beams from a Serbian Orthodox church that burned down earlier this year.

如今已64岁的瑞克还在满城的搜罗木材。他在垃圾桶里找到了最近时兴的吉他木材——源自今年年初烧毁的塞尔维亚东正教堂里的木板和横梁。

In his store, he keeps careful track of his collection, noting on each piece of wood the building that it was once part of.

他在店里精心保存着自己的搜集品，在每一块木材上标记着它的来源。通常，瑞克的客户会指定某种木材。

Often, his clients request a certain type of wood, Bob Dylan, for example, wanted his guitar made out of wood from Chumley’s, a historic New York bar that is currently undergoing extensive renovation 7.

比如鲍勃就想要Chumley酒吧的木材。这家纽约酒吧历史悠久，目前正在进行大翻修。

Whether famous musicians or average players, Kelly’s clients are willing to pay over $2,000 for a guitar, because they appreciate the authenticity 8 of the instruments.

瑞克的客户，无论是知名音乐家还是普通乐手，都愿意花2000多美元来他家买吉他，因为他们很欣赏瑞克家吉他的真材实料。

“What these timbers have seen — they were here when George Washington was walking around these trees,” he said. “And what those trees saw, what they saw becoming a fancy hotel in the 1800s or a flophouse during the Depression, and then a condo in the recent years. ... They have gone through a lot of changes, all the buildings have, and what this wood sees is pretty amazing, I am sure."

这些木材见证过什么呢？它们可能是乔治华盛顿曾经环绕踱步的树。可能是19世纪某个豪华酒店，或者美国经济萧条时期的某个低价旅馆，也可能是近年的公寓楼。它们都经历过沧海桑田，见证过的都让人惊奇，我敢肯定。我一开始做这件事的时候，中间的整个过程都很吸引我。

That image resonates with his customers, one of whom said, "When I saw Rick talk about [his work] so passionately 9, [that] took it even to another level."

当我看到瑞克兴致勃勃地谈论他的作品时，感觉这一切都升华了一样。

Rick Kelly’s guitars are more than one-of-a-kind, beautifully carved instruments. They offer his clients something priceless: a piece of New York City's history.

他做出的吉他不只是独一无二、精心雕琢的乐器。这些乐器还给的客人带来了无价的东西：纽约城的历史。