英语PK台 第700期:贫穷时我们更彼此关爱,中转命运的钢琴曲《星尘》

 Stardust

《星尘》
When I put my hand in my mailbox, I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. The check I expected and badly needed wasn't there. The school secretary explained later that we, teachers, weren't paid until the end of the month. This was a problem. I had four dollars in my wallet, and the end of the month was a whole month away.
我把手伸进我的信箱时，心里咯噔一下。我迫切想要收到的那张支票不在里面。学校秘书后来解释说，我们这些教师的薪水要到本月底才能支付。这对我来说有些麻烦，我的钱包里只剩下4美元，而且此时刚刚月初。
What to do? The four dollars I had left wouldn't even pay for my cheap motel 1 room that night, much less buy dinner. I had my trumpet 2 in the car, as I played trumpet as well as a little piano, and my first thought was to find a "gig" that night, but it was too late in the afternoon, and I didn't know the city well enough to go looking. So I did something most musicians have done at one time or another. I decided 3 to hock my horn.
我该怎么办？我仅有的这4美元甚至不够当天晚上廉价汽车旅店的房费，晚餐就更不用想了。我车里放着一把小号，而且我会吹小号，还会弹一点儿钢琴，因此我的第一个想法是当天晚上找到一个“现场演奏”的差事，但此时已接近傍晚，而且我对这座城市还不是很熟悉，找到这样的机会并非易事。于是，我做了大多数音乐家曾经做过的事情。我决定把我的小号“送去”典当行。
I drove downtown to an unpleasant area where the hock shops, cheap bars and winos were. I hocked my trumpet for fifteen dollars; enough money to get by for a day or two, but then what?
我把车开到市中心的一个环境较差的地方，这里到处是典当行、廉价酒吧，还有酒鬼。我的小号典当了15美元，这钱足够让我坚持一两天，但之后又该怎么办呢？
There was a little bar next to the pawn 4 shop. I walked in, sat at the bar and ordered a thirty-five cent beer. I sat there sipping 5 my beer and trying to think my way out of this problem." "You look like you lost your last friend, Sonny," said the bartender. "What's the matter?"
挨着典当行是一个小酒吧。我走进去，坐在吧台旁，点了一杯35美分的啤酒。我坐在那里啜饮着我的啤酒，试图想出摆脱困境的办法。“你像是遇到倒霉事了，年轻人。”调酒师对我说，“出了什么事？”
His name was Charlie, about 60, which seemed quite old to me at the time. I think I was about 24. I told him what had happened. Then I went back to staring at the old piano I had seen as I came in the door.
他的名字叫查理，60岁上下，当时对我来说这年纪似乎已经很大了，我记得自己当时也就大约24岁。我把自己遇到的麻烦告诉了他，然后继续盯着我进门时看到的那架旧钢琴发呆。
Charlie was watching me. "Play piano, too, do you?" he asked. "Just a little," I replied. "I'm not very good." A few moments went by. Pretty soon Charlie said, "Do you know "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael?"
查理看着我。“你也会弹钢琴，是吧？”他问。“只会一点点，”我回答说，“弹得不是很好。”我们彼此沉默了几分钟，然后查理突然说：“你会弹豪吉·卡迈克的《星辰》吗？”
I could, and I told him so."Sorta wish you would play it for me," said Charlie, "That's my favourite song." I shrugged 6 my shoulders, went over to the piano, and played "Stardust" as well as I could. Charlie loved it and clapped his hands.
我告诉他我会。“希望你能为我弹奏这首曲子，”查理说，“这是我最喜欢的曲子。”我耸了耸肩，走到钢琴前，尽我所能地弹奏了“星尘”。查理鼓掌表示喜欢我的演奏。
"You're right," he said, "You're not very good, but that's a fine song. You're not so bad you'd run anybody off," he said. "Tell you what, if you'll come in here every night and play, I'll rustle 7 you up enough tips to keep you going till you get your check from school."
“你说得对，”他说，“你弹得是不太好，但这首曲子非常不错。你弹得也不赖，不会让任何人失望的，”他说，“你要是每天晚上都来这里演奏，我会帮你弄到足够的小费，让你成功挺到从学校拿到薪水的日子。”
So the next evening, I played the old songs I knew the old customers loved: "Margie", "Tea for Two" and always "Stardust." The audience was much older than me, with tattered 8 clothes, the women over made-up with too bright lipstick 9. They listened to the old songs I played so badly and many got tears in their eyes.
于是，第二天晚上，我在那里演奏了我知道年长的顾客们会喜爱的几首老曲子——《玛吉》、《两人茶》，以及绝对少不了的《星尘》。观众们的年龄都比我大得多，他们个个衣衫褴褛，女人们都浓妆艳抹，涂着颜色过于鲜艳的口红。他们用心听着我弹奏的一首首老曲子，许多人眼里都挂着泪花。
Charlie liked to call me Hoagy, because Hoagy had written "Stardust", and everyone loved it as much as Charlie. Several times a night, Charlie would yell 10 out, "Play Stardust, Hoagy," and then he would pass the tip jar and cajole the customers. "We need to help this kid out," I would hear him say, and I could sometimes hear him tell them how I didn't get my check and had to hock my horn.
查理喜欢把我叫作“豪吉”，因为是豪吉写了《星尘》这首曲子，这里的每个人都像查理一样喜欢这首曲子。每晚，我都会弹奏好几遍《星辰》。查理会时不时大喊：“我们想听《星辰》，豪吉。”然后，他会在顾客间传递小费罐，并劝说他们给些小费。“我们应该多帮帮这孩子。”我会听到他这样说。有时还会听到他向顾客们讲述我没拿到薪水，还把自己的小号典当了的悲惨经历。
About the third evening when I took a short break and was standing 11 at the bar next to an older lady wearing an old ill-fitting red dress, she spoke 12 to me. "Honey," she said, "We haven't got the money to tip you much, but I can help some. My apartment is upstairs, and I don't come in at night. You can sleep there if you want, and you won't have to pay for a hotel room. You ain't the type to be stayin' in these old flophouses, anyway." The next night she brought me a key.
大约在第三天晚上，当我站在吧台旁休息一小会儿时，旁边的一位穿着不太合身的红色连衣裙的年长女士对我说：“小伙子，”她说，“我们没有钱给你很多小费，但我可以帮你些别的。我的公寓就在楼上，我晚上不住那，如果你愿意，你可以睡在那里。这样可以给你省些旅店的房费。你也不是住这种廉价旅店的那种人。”第二天晚上她给了我一把钥匙。
So I would teach at daytime, and play at Charlie's at night time, and I came to know and love those unfortunate people, as they did me. When, after a month, I finally got paid, I went back to play for them one more time. This time I told Charlie not to pass the tip jar around, that I had been paid. 
于是，我在白天教书，晚上会来查理的酒吧演奏，并且开始逐渐了解并喜欢上这些不幸的人，就像他们对我一样。一个月后，我终于拿到了薪水。我再次回到那间酒吧，为他们再演奏一次。这次，我告诉查理不要传递小费罐，因为我已经拿到薪水了。
So that night, he just left it on the bar, but the customers put their nickels 13, dimes 14 and quarters in it anyway. When I emptied it, there was a twenty-dollar bill in there, too. That was probably from Charlie, but I'll never know for sure. 
因此，那天晚上，他把小费罐放在了吧台上，但客户们还是将他们的5美分、10美分、25美分硬币放进了小费罐里。当我把小费罐里的钱币全部倒出来时，发现里面还有一张20美元的纸币。这或许是查理给的，但已无从查证。
I left a little early that night after saying goodbye to everyone and thanking them. There were tears in all their eyes—and mine. By golly, we made it... together.
那天晚上我离开的比较早，离开之前，我分别向每个人告了别，并表达了谢意。他们的眼睛里都充满了泪水，我的也一样。最终，我们抑制住了悲伤，互相安慰，彼此告别......
I don't know what it is that makes poor folks, the down and outers, want so much to help their fellow man, and yet they're the least able to do so. As I became a good pianist in later years and played at the "ritzy" clubs, I can remember playing one where all the customers were multimillionaires, but not a one of them would have given me the scraps 15 off his plate if I were starving. I like to believe they just need some 'stardust' to be kind.
我不知道是什么让这些贫穷、落魄的人，拥有如此强烈的愿望去帮助与他们有相似境遇的人，即便他们的能力非常有限。几年后，我成为了一名优秀的钢琴演奏者，并且开始在“高级”夜总会演奏。我记得一次演奏时，所有顾客全都是千万富翁，但在我饥饿难耐时，他们是不会分给我他们自己盘子里的残羹剩饭的。我愿意相信，要让这些人变得善良，只需要让他们多听几遍《星尘》。