英语专业晨读美文-人生篇 13 Dad's Mandolin

[00:02.28]Dad’s Mandolin

[00:06.89]My father was a self-taught mandolin player.

[00:11.14]He was one of the best string instrument players in our town.

[00:14.84]He could not read music, but if he heard a tune 1 a few times,

[00:19.17]he could play it. When he was younger,

[00:21.45]he was a member of a small country music band.

[00:23.92]They would play at local dances and on a few occasions

[00:27.58]would play for the local radio station.

[00:29.66]He often told us how he had auditioned 3 and earned a position

[00:33.48]in a band that featured Patsy Cline as their lead singer.

[00:36.45]He told the family that after he was hired

[00:39.13]he never went back. Dad was a very religious man.

[00:42.84]He stated that there was a lot of drinking

[00:45.30]and cursing the day of his audition 2

[00:47.25]and he did not want to be around that type of environment.

[00:50.38]Occasionally, Dad would get out his mandolin

[00:53.46]and play for the family. We three children:

[00:56.06]Trisha, Monte and I, would often sing along.

[00:59.63]Songs such as the Tennessee Waltz, Harbor Lights

[01:03.78]and around Christmas time,

[01:05.04]the well-known rendition of Silver Bells.

[01:07.81]“Silver Bells, Silver Bells, its Christmas time in the city”

[01:11.77]would ring throughout the house.

[01:13.34]Dad loved to play the mandolin for his family.

[01:16.68]He knew we enjoyed singing, and hearing him play.

[01:19.83]He was like that. If he could give pleasure to others,

[01:23.71]he would, especially his family. He was always there,

[01:27.90]sacrificing his time and efforts to see

[01:30.20]that his family had enough in their life.

[01:32.10]I had to mature into a man and have children of my own

[01:35.02]before I realized how much he had sacrificed.

[01:37.68]In August of 1993 my father was diagnosed 4

[01:42.15]with inoperable lung cancer.

[01:44.05]He chose not to receive chemotherapy treatments

[01:47.32]so that he could live out the rest of his life in dignity.

[01:50.04]About a week before his death,

[01:52.00]we asked Dad if he would play the mandolin for us.

[01:55.02]He made excuses but said “okay”.

[01:57.18]He knew it would probably be the last time

[02:00.29]he would play for us.

[02:01.92]He tuned 5 up the old mandolin and played a few notes.

[02:04.84]When I looked around, there was not a dry eye in the family.

[02:08.73]We saw before us a quiet humble 6 man with an inner strength

[02:12.43]that comes from knowing God, and living with him in one's life.

[02:15.74]Dad would never play the mandolin for us again.

[02:18.50]We felt at the time that he wouldn't have enough strength to play,

[02:22.13]and that makes the memory of that day even stronger.

[02:25.22]Dad was doing something he had done all his life, giving.

[02:28.54]As sick as he was, he was still pleasing others.

[02:31.78]Dad sure could play that mandolin!