BANJO / 班卓琴

I am a music store owner. One day, when I was cleaning the instruments in my store, I saw an old man come in. His short steps dragged on the carpet. “Is 77 too old to learn the banjo?” he asked.

“It’s never too late to learn to play,” I replied, holding back my doubts. Arthritic knuckles told me I was giving false encouragement. I reached the instructor’s schedule and gave the rates, the available time and the additional information that he would need. To my surprise and delight, the old man, Carl, began banjo lessons three days later with my most patient teacher.

With nothing to do at home but practice, Carl made surprising progress. After breakfast he practiced for his required half hour. While waiting for lunch he picked up his banjo again for just a couple of minutes. Since TV was difficult for him to see and hear, he often played the banjo in the evenings. Carl was always early for lessons so it was a surprise that he didn’t arrive one Tuesday.

The next morning I listened to the answering machine with sadness. “Carl’s in hospital,” the voice recorded.

Two months later, I shared the newspaper obituary with the banjo teacher. We both shed tears for a surprisingly clever banjo student.

Several months later, an old woman came into the store carrying a plant. “This is for Carl’s banjo teacher,” she said. “I’m his wife, Mary.”

“Why did Carl want to play the banjo?” I asked. Mary took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Carl was at some show when he was 10 years old. He came close to the stage to watch the performers. When they were packing up their instruments, the banjo player said to Carl, ‘You want to see this up close?’ Carl climbed up on the stage and from then on he wanted to play the banjo.” Carl had waited 67 years to fulfill this dream! Mary gave the plant to me. “Thank you for the best six months of his life,” she said.

【助讀詞匯】

◇banjo n. 班卓琴

◇arthritic adj. 關(guān)節(jié)炎的

◇knuckle n. 指關(guān)節(jié)，膝關(guān)節(jié)

◇rate n.費(fèi)用，價(jià)格

◇obituary n. 訃聞，訃告

【參考譯文】

班卓琴

我是一家樂器行的老板。一天，當(dāng)我在店里清理樂器的時(shí)候，我看見一位老人走了進(jìn)來。他拖著小步走過地毯，問：“77歲才學(xué)班卓琴會(huì)不會(huì)太老了？”

我抑制住自己的懷疑，說：“學(xué)習(xí)樂器，從任何時(shí)候開始都不晚。”我患關(guān)節(jié)炎的指關(guān)節(jié)告訴我，可能不該這樣鼓勵(lì)他。我伸手拿出指導(dǎo)老師的安排表，然后告訴他學(xué)費(fèi)，上課的時(shí)段，以及一些其他需要了爭(zhēng)的信息。讓我意外和高興的是，老人卡爾三天后就跟我手下最有耐心的老師開始學(xué)彈班卓琴。

因?yàn)樵诩依锍�了練�?xí)沒別的事做，所以卡爾取得了驚人的進(jìn)步。早飯后，他按自己的要求練習(xí)半個(gè)小時(shí)。在等午餐的時(shí)候，他又拿起琴來彈上幾分鐘。因?yàn)樗�看不清電視，也聽不清里面講些什么，所以他常常在晚上練琴。卡爾上課一直來得很早，所以當(dāng)有一天星期四他沒有來上課時(shí)，讓大家感到很意外。

第二天我打開電話答錄機(jī)，傷心地聽到里面的聲音說：“卡爾住院了。”

兩個(gè)月后，我把報(bào)紙上的訃聞給班卓琴老師看。我們都為這個(gè)出奇聰明的學(xué)生流下了眼淚。

幾個(gè)月后，一位老女人端著一盆植物走進(jìn)了樂器行。“這是送給教卡爾班卓琴的老師的，”她說，“我是他的妻子，瑪麗。”

“卡爾為什么想彈班卓琴呢？”我問。瑪麗深深吸了口氣，然后慢慢地吐了出來。“當(dāng)卡爾10歲的時(shí)候，他去看表演。為了看清演奏者，他站到了在舞臺(tái)的最前面。當(dāng)他們收拾樂器的時(shí)候，班卓琴的彈奏者對(duì)卡爾說：‘你想靠近來看嗎？’卡爾爬上了舞臺(tái)，從那以后他就想彈班卓琴。”卡爾等了67年才實(shí)現(xiàn)這個(gè)夢(mèng)想！瑪麗把盆栽遞給我，說：“謝謝你讓他度過了人生中最美好的6個(gè)月。”

【人生啟迪】

生命一天沒結(jié)束，我們的奮斗就一天都不會(huì)終止。不要在人前唏噓感嘆兒時(shí)不能實(shí)現(xiàn)的夢(mèng)想，現(xiàn)在開始努力去實(shí)現(xiàn)它也不晚。無所為的話，你和夢(mèng)想就天各一方。現(xiàn)在就行動(dòng)的話，你和夢(mèng)想可能只有一步之遙。