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One day, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez was walking along the streets of downtown Los Angeles
有一天，洛杉磯時報的專欄作家Steve Lopez走在洛杉磯大街上
when he heard beautiful music.
聽到一曲美妙的樂曲
And the source was a man, an African-American man,
音樂是從一個男人，一個非裔男人
charming, rugged, homeless, playing a violin that only had two strings.
一個頗有魅力，粗曠的流浪漢用一把只剩下兩根弦的小提琴在演奏
And I'm telling a story that many of you know,
我現在要講的這個故事你們很多人已經知道了
because Steve's columns became the basis for a book, which was turned into a movie,
因為Steve的專欄后來成了一本書的基礎，然后又被拍成電影
with Robert Downey Jr. acting as Steve Lopez, and Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Anthony Ayers,
其中Robert Downey Jr扮演Steve Lopez，Jamie Foxx扮演了Nathaniel Anthony Ayer
the Juilliard-trained double bassist
他原本是茱莉亞音樂學院培訓的雙重貝斯手
whose promising career was cut short by a tragic affliction with paranoid schizophrenia.
不料他的職業生涯卻因為患上偏執型精神分裂癥而不幸中斷
Nathaniel dropped out of Juilliard, he suffered a complete breakdown,
Nathaniel從茱莉亞音樂學院輟學，他完全崩潰了
and 30 years later he was living homeless on the streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.
30年后的他流落在洛杉磯Skid Row大街上無家可歸
I encourage all of you to read Steve's book or to watch the movie
我鼓勵大家都去看看Steve的書，或者看看電影
to understand not only the beautiful bond that formed between these two men,
不光是去理解這兩個男人之間建立的美好的紐帶
but how music helped shape that bond,
而且也看看音樂是如果幫助建立這種紐帶的
and ultimately was instrumental -- if you'll pardon the pun -- in helping Nathaniel get off the streets.
而那是最終改變Nathaniel流浪生活的最有用的工具
I met Mr. Ayers in 2008, two years ago, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
我和Ayers先生在2008年相見，那是兩年前在迪斯尼音樂廳
He had just heard a performance of Beethoven's First and Fourth symphonies,
他才聽了貝多芬第一，第四交響樂
and came backstage and introduced himself.
到后天來自我介紹
He was speaking in a very jovial and gregarious way about Yo-Yo Ma and Hillary Clinton
他說話很愉快，很合群，提到了馬友友和希拉里·克林頓
and how the Dodgers were never going to make the World Series,
道奇隊不可能進入世界聯賽
all because of the treacherous first violin passage work in the last movement of Beethoven's Fourth Symphony.
而這都是因為最后一刻貝多芬第四交響樂中開始的那段變幻莫測的小提琴演奏起的作用
And we got talking about music, and I got an email from Steve a few days later
我們談了一會兒音樂。幾天后我收到Steve的來信
saying that Nathaniel was interested in a violin lesson with me.
告訴我Nathaniel有興趣跟我說學小提琴
Now, I should mention that Nathaniel refuses treatment
我應該提一下的是Nathaniel拒絕治療
because when he was treated it was with shock therapy and Thorazine and handcuffs,
因為當初他接受的是電擊療法，用的是鎮靜劑和手銬
and that scar has stayed with him for his entire life.
那些傷疤從此留在了他的生活中
But as a result now, he is prone to these schizophrenic episodes,
結果呢，他的精神分裂癥現在變得更容易發作
the worst of which can manifest themselves as him exploding and then disappearing for days,
最糟糕的表現是，他發作后會消失幾天
wandering the streets of Skid Row, exposed to its horrors, with the torment of his own mind unleashed upon him.
在Skid Row大街上流浪，暴露著內心的恐懼，讓心靈的煎熬在身上釋放
And Nathaniel was in such a state of agitation
Nathaniel當初就是處在這樣的一種狀態下
when we started our first lesson at Walt Disney Concert Hall --
我們在迪斯尼音樂廳開始了第一課的時候
he had a kind of manic glint in his eyes, he was lost.
他的目光中夾雜著狂躁，他是一個迷失了方向的人
And he was talking about invisible demons and smoke,
他提到了無形的惡魔和煙霧
and how someone was poisoning him in his sleep.
有人怎樣在他睡覺時給他下毒
And I was afraid, not for myself, but I was afraid that I was going to lose him,
我感到很害怕，不是為我自己的安全擔心，而是害怕我會失去他
that he was going to sink into one of his states,
他又會沉浸到他的某一種他的狀態中
and that I would ruin his relationship with the violin
而我會毀了他和小提琴建立起來的關系
if I started talking about scales and arpeggios and other exciting forms of didactic violin pedagogy.
如果我開始講音階和琶音和其他形式的精彩的說教式的小提琴教學法
