TheNightMetEinstein爱因斯坦给我上了一堂音乐课教学提纲

1、精品文档The Night Met Einstein 爱因斯坦给我上了一堂音乐课作者： Jerome WeidmanWhen I was a very young man, just beginning to make my way1), I was invited to dine at the home of a distinguished New York philanthropist. After dinner, our hostess led us to an enormous drawing room. Other guests were pouring in, and my eye

2、s beheld two unnerving sights: Servants were arranging small gilt chairs in long, neat rows; and up front, leaning against the wall, were musical instruments.Apparently I was in for2) an evening of chamber music.I use the phrase “inf or ”b ecause music meant nothing to me. I am almost tone deaf only

3、 with great effort can I carry the simplest tune and serious music was to me no more than an arrangement of noises. So I did what I always did when trapped: I sat down, and when the music started, I fixed my face in what I hoped was an expression of intelligent appreciation, closed my ears from the

4、inside, and submerged myself in my own completely irrelevant thoughts.After a while, becoming aware that the people around me were applauding, I concluded it was safe to unplug my ears. At once I heard a gentle but surprisingly penetrating voiceon my right: “You aforend of Bach3)? ”那时我还是个小青年，刚刚踏入社会，

5、应邀前往纽约市一位非常著名的慈善家家中出席晚宴。晚宴后，女主人领我们来到一间特别宽敞的会客厅。在其他宾客纷纷涌入的时候，我看到了两件令人不安的事情：一是佣人们正在将金色的小椅子整整齐齐地排成几个长排；一是在前方的墙壁上，斜倚着一件件乐器。很显然，一场室内音乐会即将开始，看来今晚我注定要遭罪了。我使用“遭罪”一词，因为音乐对我来说如同对牛弹琴。我几乎听不出任何曲调 费尽九 牛二虎之力我才能哼出最简单的调子， 而严肃音乐对我来说只不过是聒噪之音。 所以我就使 出了每当深陷音乐困局时的拿手好戏： 我坐了下来，音乐声起时，脸上就摆出一副我期望中 的充满智慧、痴迷沉醉的表情，但内心却将耳朵封闭， 沉浸在

6、与音乐完全无关的自我的思绪 中。I knew as much about Bach as I know about nuclearfission4). But I did know one of the most famous faces in the world, with the renowned shock5) of untidy white hair and the ever-present pipe between the teeth. I was sitting next to Albert Einstein.“ Well, ” I saidn cuomfortably and h

7、esitated. I had been asked a casual question. All I had to do was be equally casual in my reply. But I could see from the look in myneighbor 'sextraordinary eyes that their owner was not merely going through the perfunctory6) duties of elementary politeness. Regardless of what value I placed on

8、my part in the verbal exchange, to this man his part in it mattered very much.Above all, I could feel that thiswas a man to whom you did not tell a lie, however small.“Id on'tk now anything about Bach, ”I said awkwardly. “ I 'nvev er heard any of his music. ”A look of perplexed astonishment

9、washed acrossEinstein 's mobile face.“You have never heard Bach? ”He made it sound as though I had said I'd tnaekveenr a bath.“It isn 't that I downant to' litke Bach,” I repl iehdastily. “It 's just that I'm tone deaf, oralmost tone deaf, and I've never really heard anyb

10、ody's music. ”old man 's face. “ Please, ” hsea id abruptly.“ YwouillA look of concern came into the come with me? ”He stood up and took my arm. I stood up. As he led me across that crowded room, I kept my embarrassed glance fixed on the carpet. A rising murmur of puzzled speculation followe

11、d us out into the hall. Einstein paid no attention to it.Resolutely, he led me upstairs. He obviously knew the house well. On the floor above, he opened the door into a book-lined study, drew me in, and shut the door.“ Now,” he said with a small, troubled smile.te“ll Ymoeu, pwleillase, how long you

12、havefelt this way about music?”I wish gyo ub awcoku dldownstairs and listen, Dr.“All my life,” I said, feeling awful.Einstein. The fact that I don't enjoy it doesn't matter.Einstein shook his head and scowled7), as though I had introduced an irrelevance.“Tell me, please, ” he said t.h ere “a

13、nIys kind of music that you do like? ” 过了一阵，感觉到周围的人们在鼓掌，我便认定可以敞开耳朵了。就在这时，我听到一 个温和但却具有惊人穿透力的声音在我右边响起： “你喜欢巴赫吗？ ” 我对巴赫的了解并不比我对核裂变的了解多。但我却认识这世上最著名的一张面孔：那 一团举世闻名的乱蓬蓬的白发，还有那支从不离嘴的烟斗。原来，我正坐在阿尔伯特 ·爱因 斯坦旁边。“呃”我有点尴尬，不知该怎样回答才好。他问的是一个很随意的问题，我只要做出 一个同样随意的回答即可。 但我从他那双异乎寻常的眼睛里看得出来， 这双眼睛的主人并不 只是出于基本的礼貌随口问问而已。

14、 在这一语言交流中，我自己扮演的角色有何价值倒无关 紧要，重要的是对爱因斯坦来说，他扮演的是什么角色。 尤为重要的是，我感到对于这么一 个人，你是不能撒谎的，不管这个谎言有多么不值一提。“我对巴赫其实一无所知， ”我有点尴尬地说， “我从未听过他写的任何一首乐曲。 ” 一种震惊但又困惑不解的表情漫过爱因斯坦那张表情丰富的脸。“你从来没有听过巴赫的音乐？ ” 他那语气好像听到我说我从未洗过澡一样。“并不是我不想喜欢巴赫， ”我赶忙回答道， “只是因为我是个乐盲， 或者说几乎是个乐盲。 我从来没有真正地听过任何人的音乐。 ”老人的脸上露出关切的神情，他突然说道： “请跟我来好吗？ ” 他站起身来，

15、拉住我的胳膊。我也站了起来。他拉着我穿过拥挤的房间，我神情尴尬， 眼睛一直盯着地毯。人群中响起了一阵半是困惑半是猜疑的嗡嗡声， 一直尾随着我们进入大 厅。爱因斯坦对此毫不理睬。他果断地带着我上了楼梯。很显然，他对这栋房子很熟悉。到了楼上，他打开一扇门， 走入一间摆满书籍的房间，把我拉进去，关上了门。“ Well, I” a nswered, “lIi ke songs that have words, and the kind of music where I can follow the tune. ”He smiled and nodded, obviously pleased.“Youg

16、 civaen me an example, perhaps?”“ Well, ” I ventured,“ almost anything by Bing Crosby8).”He nodded again, briskly. “ Good! ”He went to a corner of the room , opened a phonograph9), and started pulling out records. I watched him uneasily. At last, he beamed.“Ah!” he said.He put the record on, and in

17、a moment, the study was filled with the relaxed, lilting strains10) of Bing Crosby ' sW hen the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day.Einstein beamed at me and kept time with the stem of his pipe. After three or four phrases, he stopped the phonograph.“ Now,” he said. “Will you tell me, pl

18、ease, what y ohuave just he ard?” The simplest answer seemed to be to sing the lines. I did just that, trying desperately to stay in tune and keep myvoice from cracking11). The expression on Einstein' wsa fsa celike the sunrise.“You see! ” he cried with delight when I finished. You do have“ an e

19、ar! ”I mumbled12) something about this being one of my favorite songs, something I had heard hundreds of times so that it didn't really prove anything.“ Nonsense! ”s aid Einstein. “It proves everything! Do you remember your first arithmetic13) lesson in school? Suppose, at your very first contac

20、t with numbers, your teacher had ordered you to work out a problem in, say, long division or fractions14). Could you have done so? ”“No, of course not. ”“ Precisely! ” Einstein made a triumphant wave with his pipe stem. “It would have been impossible, and you would have reacted in panic. You would h

21、ave closed your mind to long division and fractions. As a result, because of that one small mistake by your teacher, it is possible your whole life you would be denied the beauty of long division and fractions. ”The pipe stem went up and out in another wave.“But on your first day, no teacher would b

22、e so foolish. He would start you with elementary things then, when you had acquired skill with the simplest problems, he would lead you up to long division and to fractions.“现在，”他淡淡地笑了下，有点困惑地问， “请告诉我，你对音乐的这种感觉有多长时间了？ ” “一直都是这样， ”我苦恼地回答道， “爱因斯坦博士，请您下楼去听音乐吧。我不喜欢听也没 关系的。”爱因斯坦摇了摇头，皱了一下眉，好像我刚才说的是句不相干的话。“

23、请告诉我， ”他说， “有没有什么音乐是你喜欢的呢？ ” “呃，我喜欢有歌词的歌曲， ”我回答说， “还有我能跟得上曲调的音乐。 他笑了，点了点头，显然非常高兴。 “那么，你可以举个例子吗？ ”“呃， ”我鼓足勇气答道，“几乎所有平·克劳斯贝的作品我都喜欢。 ”他又轻快地点了点头：“很好！”他走到房间的一个角落，打开一台留声机，开始翻找唱片。我局促不安地望着他。终于， 他脸上露出了笑容。 “找到了！ ”他说。他放入唱片，书房里随即飘荡起舒缓、轻快的旋律，那是平·克劳斯贝的蓝莹莹的夜遇见金灿灿的天 。爱因斯坦笑眯眯地看着我，一边用烟斗柄打着拍子。播放了三四个短乐句之后，他将留

24、声机停了下来。“现在，请告诉我，你听到了什么？ ”他问。最简单的回答也许就是把歌曲唱出来。于是我唱了起来，拼命让自己不跑调，让声音不那 么粗哑。爱因斯坦脸上的表情就像初升的太阳般明朗。“你瞧！ ”听我唱完，他惊喜地喊了起来， “你还是有乐感的！ ” 我嘀咕着说这是我最喜欢的一首歌，都听过几百遍了，所以不能说明任何问题。“胡说！ ”爱因斯坦说， “它很能说明问题！你还记得你上学时的第一堂算术课吗？假如在你 第一次接触数字时，老师就要你解一道长除法题或者分数题，你能解出来吗？ ”“不能，当然不能。 ”“你说得很对！ ”爱因斯坦挥舞了一下手中的烟斗， 一副胜利的样子， “你是不可能解出来的， 那样只

25、会让你感到惊恐。 你会从此排斥长除法和分数。 结果呢，由于你的老师所犯的一个小 小错误，你可能一辈子都无法领略到长除法和分数的妙处了。 ”他又一次挥舞了一下烟斗。“So it is with music.” Einstein picked up the BiCngrosby record. “This simple, charminglittle song is like simple addition or subtraction. You have mastered it. Now we go on to something more complicated.”He found anoth

26、er record and set it going. The golden voice of John McCormack15) singing The Trumpeter filled the room. After a few lines, Einstein stopped the record.“So!” he said. “You will sing that back to me, please?”I did with a good deal of self-consciousness16) but with, for me, a surprising degree of accu

27、racy.Einstein stared at me with a look on his face that I had seen only once before in my life: on the face of my father as he listened to me deliver the valedictory17) address at myhigh school graduation ceremony.“ Excellent! ” Einstein remarked when I finished.“ Wonderful! Now this!”“This ”tur ned

28、 out to be Caruso18) in what was to me a completely unrecognizable fragment from Cavalleria Rusticana, a one-act opera. Nevertheless, I managed to reproduce an approximation of the sounds the famous tenor had made. Einstein beamed his approval. Caruso was followed by at least a dozen others. I could

29、 not shake my feeling of awe over the way this great man, into whose company I had been thrown by chance, was completely preoccupied by what we were doing, as though I were his sole concern.We came at last to recordings of music without words, which I was instructed to reproduce by humming. When I r

30、eached for a high note, Einstein's mouth opened h, iasn dhead went back as if to help me attain what seemed unattainable. Evidently I came close enough, for he suddenly turned off the phonograph.“Now, young man, ” he said, putting his arm through mine. “We are ready for Bach!”As we returned to o

31、ur seats in the drawing room, the players were tuning up for a new selection. Einstein smiled and gave me a reassuring pat on the knee.“Just allow yourself to listen,” he whisperedis. all. “ T”hatIt wasn't really all, of course. Without the effort the had just poured out for a total stranger I w

32、ould never have heard, as I did that night for the first time in my life, Bach' s Sheep May Safely Graze. I have heard it manytimes since. I don't think I shall er vteire ofit. Because I never listen to it alone. I am sitting beside a small, round man with a shock of untidy white hair, a dea

33、d pipe clamped between his teeth, and eyes that contain in their extraordinary warmth all the wonder of the world.When the concert was finished, I added my genuine applause to that of the others.Suddenly our hostess confronted us.“I'm so sDorrr.y E, instein, ” she said with an icyglare at me, “t

34、hat ymouissed so much of the performance.”Einstein and I came hastily to our f eet19). “I am sorrtyoo, ” he said.“My young friend hereand I, however, were engaged in the greatest activity of which man iscapable. ”She looked puzzled.“ Really? ” she said. “Ains dth waht?at ”Einstein smiled and put his arm across my shoulders. And he uttered ten words thatfor“Opening up yet another fragment of the frontier ofbeauty.”“不过，在你上学的第一天，没有哪个老师会那么愚蠢。他会先教你最基本的东西。然后，当你掌握了技巧， 能够算出最简单的题目时， 他才会带着你更进一步， 学习长除法和分数的解题技巧。 ”“音乐也是如此， ”爱因斯坦拿起了平 ·克劳斯贝的唱片， “这首简单而动听的歌曲就像是简at least one person who is in his