P 154Life in a violin case

Life in a Violin Case

The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising（前程似锦的）business career and study music. My parents, although sympathetic（共鸣的，赞同的）, and sharing my love of music, disapproved（不赞同的）of it as a profession. This was understandable in view of（鉴于）

the family background. My grandfather had taught music for nearly forty years at Springhill College in Mobile and, though much beloved and respected in the community, earned barely（勉强地）enough to provide for his large family. My father often said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness（切切实实的节俭）of my grandmother that kept the wolf（n.饥饿）at bay（免受饥饿）. As a consequence of this example（前车之鉴）in the family, the very mention of music as a profession carried with it a picture of a precarious（不稳定的，靠不住的）existence（日子）with uncertain financial

rewards. My parents insisted upon college instead of a conservatory of music, and to college I went –quite happily, as I remember, for although I loved my violin and spent most of my spare time practicing, I had many other interests.

Before my graduation from Columbia, the family met with severe financial reverses and I felt it my duty to leave college and take a job. Thus was I launched upon a business career –which I always think of as the wasted years.

Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage（诋毁）business. My whole point is that it was not for me. I went into it for money, and aside from（除了....以外）the satisfaction of being able to help the family, money is all I got out of it. It was not enough. I felt that life was passing me by. From being merely discontented I became acutely（极其地）miserable. My one ambition was to save enough to quit and go to Europe to study music. I used to get up at dawn（闻鸡起舞）to practice before I left for “downtown”, distracting（使烦恼）my poor mother by bolting（吞咽）a hasty breakfast at the last minute. Instead of lunching with my business associates（同伴，合作人）, I would seek out some cheap café, order a meager（贫瘠的，瘦的）meal and scribble（潦草地书写）my harmony exercises.（和音练习）I continued to make money, and finally, bit by bit, accumulated enough to enable me to go abroad. The family being once more solvent（有支付能力的）, and my

help no longer necessary, I resign ed（辞职）from my position and, feeling like a man released from

jail, sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, worked harder than I had ever dreamed of working before and enjoyed every minute of it.

“Enjoyed”is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a free man and I was doing what I loved to do and what I was meant to do.

If I had stayed in business, I might be a comparatively（相对地）wealthy man today, but I do not believe I would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles（无形资产）, those inner satisfactions, that money can never buy, and that are too often sacrificed when

a man’s primary goal is financial success.

Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high a price on it.

小提琴上的人生

为了阐明我的信仰，我必须简单介绍一下我的经历。

当我决定放弃前程似锦的工作而去学音乐时，我的人生就出现了转折。尽管父母因为同我一样热爱音乐而懂我的心，但每每听到我想把音乐当做谋生手段时，他们还是直摇头。对于我的家庭背景来说，这一点完全可以理解。我的祖父在莫比尔市的斯普林希尔学院教了将近四十年的音乐，尽管他在社区里深受尊敬和爱戴，但微薄的收入却难以养活一大家人。父亲常说多亏祖母把一分钱掰成两半花，全家人才不至于有了上顿没下顿。正因为这前车之鉴，所以现在只要一提到把音乐当饭碗，大家的脑海里就会立即浮现那些朝不保夕的日子。父母一门心思让我上大学而不是什么音乐学院，于是我上了大学——印象中我那时还是蛮开心的，因为我虽然把大部分课余时间花在练习心爱的小提琴上，但也培养了许多其他爱好。

在我还没来得及从哥伦比亚大学毕业前，家里遭遇了严重的经济困难。我深知作为家中一员，