第10章 Make him a conductor

让他当指挥

To tune my cello

One of my friends，a musician，is always upbeat. Nothing gets her down. But when she developed ringing in one ear，I was concerned it might overwhelm even her. When I asked if her condition was especially annoying to a musician，she shook her head. “Not really，” she said cheerfully. “The ringing sound is in the key of B flat，so I use it to tune my cello a half-tone lower.”

给大提琴调音

我的一个音乐家朋友总是那么乐观，没有什么事能让她消沉。但是，当她的一只耳朵得了耳鸣之后，我担心这会让她受不了。我问她耳鸣是不是使音乐家特别恼火，她摇了摇头，高兴地说：“这个耳鸣声正好是在降B调上，因此我用它把大提琴调低半个音。”

What was wrong？

When I moved to California，I was a nervous wreck about earthquakes. My friend Lisa，who was born and raised there，was completely blase. I remember once when we pulled up to a light，her Honda began to shake. She looked worried until I stammered，“I think that we're having an earth quake. ”“Thank goodness，” Linda said. “I thought something was wrong with my car.”

出什么问题了？

当我刚搬到加州住的时候，我对地震极为紧张。而我那位在加州土生土长的朋友丽莎却对此完全无动于衷。我记得有一次我们在等红灯的时候，她的本田车开始抖动起来。她看起来很担心，直到我结结巴巴地说：“我想我们是碰到地震了。”她立刻松了一口气说道，“谢天谢地，我还以为是我的车出问题了。”

Make him a conductor

My musical director wasn't happy with the performance of one of our percussionists. Repeated attempts to get the drummer to improve failed. Finally，in front of the orchestra，the director said in frustration，“When a musician just can't handle his instrument，they take it away，give him two sticks and make him a drummer！“ A whisper was heard from the percussion section：“And if he can't handle that，they take away one of his sticks and make him a conductor.“

让他当指挥

我们的乐队指挥对一位打击乐手的表现很不满意。他想让鼓手有所改进的多次努力都失败了。最后，指挥当着整个乐队的面生气地说：“当一个音乐家不能玩好自己的乐器的时候，他们就把他的乐器拿走，给他两根棍，让他当鼓手。”这时候，从打击乐器那边传来耳语声：“如果他还不能摆弄好它，就拿走一根棍，让他当指挥。”

I can turn him off

After earning my degree in broadcast journalism，I was fortunate to land a job as a disc jockey at a top-rated local radio station. One day before work，I stopped by my parents'house，where my mother was chatting with some friends. She introduced me to everyone and proudly mentioned that I had my own radio show. “How is it having a son who's a popular radio personality？” asked one friend. “It's wonderful！” Mom replied with glee. “For the first time in his life，I can turn him off whenever I please.”

我可以把他关掉

我在获得广播新闻学位以后，很幸运地在当地一家顶级广播电台里谋得一份流行音乐节目主持人的工作。有一天，我在上班之前到父母家里去了下。我妈正在和几个朋友聊天。她把我介绍给每一个人，并且骄傲地提到我已经有了自己的广播节目。有一个朋友问： “有一个在电台工作的儿子感觉怎么样？”妈妈髙兴地说：“太好了！这还是在他人生中头一回，只要我愿意，我就可以把他关掉。”

单词&词组

musician [mju：5ziFEn] n.音乐家

upbeat [5Qpbi：t] n.积极乐观的

cello [5tFelEJ] n.大提琴

stammer [5stAmE] n.结巴地说出，口吃

percussionist [pE5kQFEnIst] n.打击乐器演奏者

orchestra [5C：kistrE] n.管弦乐队

frustration [frQs5treiFEn] n.挫折，失败，沮丧

conductor [kEn5dQktE] n.（乐队）指挥，售票员，列车长，导体

disc jockey电台的音乐节目主持人

glee [^li：] n.高兴

知道不知道

Disk Jockey简称DJ。jockey这个词是很早就有的，做名词是指专业的骑手；作动词是指挥马匹或让其他东西处于良好的运动状态。20世纪30年代，广播进入了美国人的生活，信息传播的速度大大加快。1940年，电视机又取代了广播，除新闻之外，大多数娱乐节目都转向电视播放。此时，广播希望通过某些方式夺回其在娱乐节目上的地位，于是新的意义上的jockey就出现了：数以万计的电台开始播放音乐录音带（discs），同时聘请熟悉音乐的人士担任解说。人们很喜欢这种娱乐方式，有些解说人因此而非常出名。逐渐地，电台播出的音乐录音带对听众选购录音带产生了很大影响，音乐制作人和唱片公司纷纷将录音带送到电台，希望多多宣传。于是，一个新的职产生了：disc jockeys被用来指代那些音乐解说人，因为他们引导了听众的音乐欣赏口味和音乐本身的流行趋势。