中國(guó)網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
By Michael T. Smith
硯青 選 安旻 譯
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I sat on my deck, enjoying the evening. Birds chirped and fluttered around the birdfeeder in the backyard. Finches clung to a bag of thistle hanging on a tree branch, only ten feet from me. They’d grown used to my presence and no longer flew away, when I stepped out for fresh air. I sat and watched them pull the thistle through the tiny openings in the fabric. Their feathers, red, purple and yellow, pleased my eye. From a distant tree, I heard the song of a cardinal: purdy, purdy, purdy. The song changed. It was a starling. Next, it was a version of the robin’s evening song. A little later it was a song I couldn’t identify. It was a mocking bird. For more than thirty minutes, he sang through his repertoire of songs. He was loud; his singing perfect. He didn’t have a song of his own. He mocked the songs of other birds, pieced them together, and created a concert for my enjoyment. I was reminded of “American Idol,” a show my stepdaughter, Heather, has me addicted to. Hopeful singers competed against each other, singing the songs of others, judged by a panel of three, now four. The top contestants went to Hollywood, where they competed against others. Each week they were faced with new challenges. One-by-one they were eliminated until a winner was chosen. A carpenter built a house. He used skills, learned as a young man, to construct a basic house. Over time, the carpenter learned more. He added his personal touch to his work. He took the basics he learned from those before him and made it a creation of his own. The mocking bird, the winner of “American Idol,” and the carpenter have a common link. They took the ideas of others, copied and learned from them. They added to what they learned and created their own works of art. We don’t have to be original. We start with the building blocks placed in our path by those before us. We have a choice: we can continue to copy, or we can add our own blocks for the next to follow and learn from. I have to run. I think I hear my mocking bird outside. I want to hear what he has created for my enjoyment today. |
我坐在露臺(tái)上，欣賞傍晚的夜色。后院鳥(niǎo)兒啁啾，在喂鳥(niǎo)器旁邊盤(pán)旋。雀兒停在樹(shù)枝上的一堆薊上面，離我只有十英尺遠(yuǎn)。它們已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了我的存在，在我出去呼吸新鮮空氣時(shí)，它們不再飛走了。我坐著，從窗簾的縫隙里看它們拉扯著薊。它們的羽毛是紅色、紫色和黃色的，十分悅目。 遠(yuǎn)處一棵樹(shù)上傳來(lái)紅雀的歌聲：勃第，勃第，勃第。后來(lái)歌聲變了，那是一只椋鳥(niǎo)。接下來(lái)，是知更鳥(niǎo)的傍晚之歌。再后來(lái)的曲子我就聽(tīng)不出了。 那是一只八哥。他唱了足有半個(gè)多小時(shí)，聲音洪亮，曲調(diào)完美。他沒(méi)有自己的曲子，只會(huì)模仿其他鳥(niǎo)兒，把它們的曲子拼湊成一場(chǎng)音樂(lè)會(huì)，供我欣賞。 這讓我想起《美國(guó)偶像》，因?yàn)槔^女海瑟的緣故，我迷上了這個(gè)節(jié)目。選手們通過(guò)演唱?jiǎng)e人的歌曲來(lái)互相競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，由三人評(píng)審團(tuán)進(jìn)行評(píng)判，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)變成四個(gè)人。最優(yōu)秀的選手們到好萊塢進(jìn)行最后的淘汰賽。每周他們都會(huì)面臨新的挑戰(zhàn)。選手們一個(gè)接一個(gè)遭到淘汰，直到冠軍脫穎而出。 我又想到了木匠修建房屋。他用年輕時(shí)學(xué)到的技能建一座簡(jiǎn)單的房子。隨著時(shí)間累積，木匠學(xué)到了更多的東西，在工作中加入了個(gè)人的風(fēng)格。就這樣，他運(yùn)用從前人那里學(xué)到的基本技能，把房子變成了自己的作品。 八哥、《美國(guó)偶像》的冠軍和木匠之間有一個(gè)共同點(diǎn)。他們都學(xué)習(xí)和借鑒他人的成果，在此基礎(chǔ)上加以創(chuàng)新，最后創(chuàng)作出屬于自己的藝術(shù)品。 我們不必追求獨(dú)創(chuàng)。我們從前人放在我們面前的建筑材料的基礎(chǔ)上開(kāi)始。我們可以選擇：或者繼續(xù)模仿，或者把自己的木料加上去，供后人效仿學(xué)習(xí)。 我要趕快出去了，我又聽(tīng)到那只八哥在外面高歌了。我想聽(tīng)聽(tīng)他今天創(chuàng)作了什么曲子讓我欣賞。 （來(lái)源：英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)雜志） |
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Vocabulary: deck: （房屋的）露天平臺(tái)。 flutter: 拍翅而飛，盤(pán)旋。 finch: 雀科鳴鳥(niǎo)（如燕雀、金翅雀等）。 thistle: 薊。 American Idol: 福斯廣播公司從2002年起主辦的美國(guó)大眾歌手選秀賽。 |
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