Stardust
《星塵》

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.
我把手伸進我的信箱時，心里咯噔一下。我迫切想要收到的那張支票不在里面。學校秘書后來解釋說，我們這些教師的薪水要到本月底才能支付。這對我來說有些麻煩，我的錢包里只剩下4美元，而且此時剛剛月初。
What to do? The four dollars I had left wouldn't even pay for my cheap motel room that night, much less buy dinner. I had my trumpet 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 to hock my horn.
我該怎么辦？我僅有的這4美元甚至不夠當天晚上廉價汽車旅店的房費，晚餐就更不用想了。我車里放著一把小號，而且我會吹小號，還會彈一點兒鋼琴，因此我的第一個想法是當天晚上找到一個“現(xiàn)場演奏”的差事，但此時已接近傍晚，而且我對這座城市還不是很熟悉，找到這樣的機會并非易事。于是，我做了大多數(shù)音樂家曾經(jīng)做過的事情。我決定把我的小號“送去”典當行。
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?
我把車開到市中心的一個環(huán)境較差的地方，這里到處是典當行、廉價酒吧，還有酒鬼。我的小號典當了15美元，這錢足夠讓我堅持一兩天，但之后又該怎么辦呢？

There was a little bar next to the pawn shop. I walked in, sat at the bar and ordered a thirty-five cent beer. I sat there sipping 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?"
挨著典當行是一個小酒吧。我走進去，坐在吧臺旁，點了一杯35美分的啤酒。我坐在那里啜飲著我的啤酒，試圖想出擺脫困境的辦法。“你像是遇到倒霉事了，年輕人。”調酒師對我說，“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歲上下，當時對我來說這年紀似乎已經(jīng)很大了，我記得自己當時也就大約24歲。我把自己遇到的麻煩告訴了他，然后繼續(xù)盯著我進門時看到的那架舊鋼琴發(fā)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?"
查理看著我。“你也會彈鋼琴，是吧？”他問。“只會一點點，”我回答說，“彈得不是很好。”我們彼此沉默了幾分鐘，然后查理突然說：“你會彈豪吉·卡邁克的《星辰》嗎？”
I could, and I told him so."Sorta wish you would play it for me," said Charlie, "That's my favourite song." I shrugged my shoulders, went over to the piano, and played "Stardust" as well as I could. Charlie loved it and clapped his hands.
我告訴他我會。“希望你能為我彈奏這首曲子，”查理說，“這是我最喜歡的曲子。”我聳了聳肩，走到鋼琴前，盡我所能地彈奏了“星塵”。查理鼓掌表示喜歡我的演奏。
"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 you up enough tips to keep you going till you get your check from school."
“你說得對，”他說，“你彈得是不太好，但這首曲子非常不錯。你彈得也不賴，不會讓任何人失望的，”他說，“你要是每天晚上都來這里演奏，我會幫你弄到足夠的小費，讓你成功挺到從學校拿到薪水的日子。”
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 clothes, the women over made-up with too bright lipstick. 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長的顧客們會喜愛的幾首老曲子——《瑪吉》、《兩人茶》，以及絕對少不了的《星塵》。觀眾們的年齡都比我大得多，他們個個衣衫襤褸，女人們都濃妝艷抹，涂著顏色過于鮮艷的口紅。他們用心聽著我彈奏的一首首老曲子，許多人眼里都掛著淚花。
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 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.
查理喜歡把我叫作“豪吉”，因為是豪吉寫了《星塵》這首曲子，這里的每個人都像查理一樣喜歡這首曲子。每晚，我都會彈奏好幾遍《星辰》。查理會時不時大喊：“我們想聽《星辰》，豪吉。”然后，他會在顧客間傳遞小費罐，并勸說他們給些小費。“我們應該多幫幫這孩子。”我會聽到他這樣說。有時還會聽到他向顧客們講述我沒拿到薪水，還把自己的小號典當了的悲慘經(jīng)歷。
About the third evening when I took a short break and was standing at the bar next to an older lady wearing an old ill-fitting red dress, she spoke 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.
大約在第三天晚上，當我站在吧臺旁休息一小會兒時，旁邊的一位穿著不太合身的紅色連衣裙的年長女士對我說：“小伙子，”她說，“我們沒有錢給你很多小費，但我可以幫你些別的。我的公寓就在樓上，我晚上不住那，如果你愿意，你可以睡在那里。這樣可以給你省些旅店的房費。你也不是住這種廉價旅店的那種人。”第二天晚上她給了我一把鑰匙。
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，我在白天教書，晚上會來查理的酒吧演奏，并且開始逐漸了解并喜歡上這些不幸的人，就像他們對我一樣。一個月后，我終于拿到了薪水。我再次回到那間酒吧，為他們再演奏一次。這次，我告訴查理不要傳遞小費罐，因為我已經(jīng)拿到薪水了。
So that night, he just left it on the bar, but the customers put their nickels, dimes 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，他把小費罐放在了吧臺上，但客戶們還是將他們的5美分、10美分、25美分硬幣放進了小費罐里。當我把小費罐里的錢幣全部倒出來時，發(fā)現(xiàn)里面還有一張20美元的紙幣。這或許是查理給的，但已無從查證。
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.
那天晚上我離開的比較早，離開之前，我分別向每個人告了別，并表達了謝意。他們的眼睛里都充滿了淚水，我的也一樣。最終，我們抑制住了悲傷，互相安慰，彼此告別......
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 off his plate if I were starving. I like to believe they just need some 'stardust' to be kind.
我不知道是什么讓這些貧窮、落魄的人，擁有如此強烈的愿望去幫助與他們有相似境遇的人，即便他們的能力非常有限。幾年后，我成為了一名優(yōu)秀的鋼琴演奏者，并且開始在“高級”夜總會演奏。我記得一次演奏時，所有顧客全都是千萬富翁，但在我饑餓難耐時，他們是不會分給我他們自己盤子里的殘羹剩飯的。我愿意相信，要讓這些人變得善良，只需要讓他們多聽幾遍《星塵》。