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One day, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez was walking along the streets of downtown Los Angeles
有一天，洛杉矶时报的专栏作家Steve Lopez走在洛杉矶大街上
when he heard beautiful music.
听到一曲美妙的乐曲
And the source was a man, an African-American man,
音乐是从一个男人，一个非裔男人
charming, rugged, homeless, playing a violin that only had two strings.
一个颇有魅力，粗旷的流浪汉用一把只剩下两根弦的小提琴在演奏
And I'm telling a story that many of you know,
我现在要讲的这个故事你们很多人已经知道了
because Steve's columns became the basis for a book, which was turned into a movie,
因为Steve的专栏后来成了一本书的基础，然后又被拍成电影
with Robert Downey Jr. acting as Steve Lopez, and Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Anthony Ayers,
其中Robert Downey Jr扮演Steve Lopez，Jamie Foxx扮演了Nathaniel Anthony Ayer
the Juilliard-trained double bassist
他原本是茱莉亚音乐学院培训的双重贝斯手
whose promising career was cut short by a tragic affliction with paranoid schizophrenia.
不料他的职业生涯却因为患上偏执型精神分裂症而不幸中断
Nathaniel dropped out of Juilliard, he suffered a complete breakdown,
Nathaniel从茱莉亚音乐学院辍学，他完全崩溃了
and 30 years later he was living homeless on the streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.
30年后的他流落在洛杉矶Skid Row大街上无家可归
I encourage all of you to read Steve's book or to watch the movie
我鼓励大家都去看看Steve的书，或者看看电影
to understand not only the beautiful bond that formed between these two men,
不光是去理解这两个男人之间建立的美好的纽带
but how music helped shape that bond,
而且也看看音乐是如果帮助建立这种纽带的
and ultimately was instrumental -- if you'll pardon the pun -- in helping Nathaniel get off the streets.
而那是最终改变Nathaniel流浪生活的最有用的工具
I met Mr. Ayers in 2008, two years ago, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
我和Ayers先生在2008年相见，那是两年前在迪斯尼音乐厅
He had just heard a performance of Beethoven's First and Fourth symphonies,
他才听了贝多芬第一，第四交响乐
and came backstage and introduced himself.
到后天来自我介绍
He was speaking in a very jovial and gregarious way about Yo-Yo Ma and Hillary Clinton
他说话很愉快，很合群，提到了马友友和希拉里·克林顿
and how the Dodgers were never going to make the World Series,
道奇队不可能进入世界联赛
all because of the treacherous first violin passage work in the last movement of Beethoven's Fourth Symphony.
而这都是因为最后一刻贝多芬第四交响乐中开始的那段变幻莫测的小提琴演奏起的作用
And we got talking about music, and I got an email from Steve a few days later
我们谈了一会儿音乐。几天后我收到Steve的来信
saying that Nathaniel was interested in a violin lesson with me.
告诉我Nathaniel有兴趣跟我说学小提琴
Now, I should mention that Nathaniel refuses treatment
我应该提一下的是Nathaniel拒绝治疗
because when he was treated it was with shock therapy and Thorazine and handcuffs,
因为当初他接受的是电击疗法，用的是镇静剂和手铐
and that scar has stayed with him for his entire life.
那些伤疤从此留在了他的生活中
But as a result now, he is prone to these schizophrenic episodes,
结果呢，他的精神分裂症现在变得更容易发作
the worst of which can manifest themselves as him exploding and then disappearing for days,
最糟糕的表现是，他发作后会消失几天
wandering the streets of Skid Row, exposed to its horrors, with the torment of his own mind unleashed upon him.
在Skid Row大街上流浪，暴露着内心的恐惧，让心灵的煎熬在身上释放
And Nathaniel was in such a state of agitation
Nathaniel当初就是处在这样的一种状态下
when we started our first lesson at Walt Disney Concert Hall --
我们在迪斯尼音乐厅开始了第一课的时候
he had a kind of manic glint in his eyes, he was lost.
他的目光中夹杂着狂躁，他是一个迷失了方向的人
And he was talking about invisible demons and smoke,
他提到了无形的恶魔和烟雾
and how someone was poisoning him in his sleep.
有人怎样在他睡觉时给他下毒
And I was afraid, not for myself, but I was afraid that I was going to lose him,
我感到很害怕，不是为我自己的安全担心，而是害怕我会失去他
that he was going to sink into one of his states,
他又会沉浸到他的某一种他的状态中
and that I would ruin his relationship with the violin
而我会毁了他和小提琴建立起来的关系
if I started talking about scales and arpeggios and other exciting forms of didactic violin pedagogy.
如果我开始讲音阶和琶音和其他形式的精彩的说教式的小提琴教学法
