地鐵站里的小提琴家

by Sabina

A man sat at a metro station in Washington D.C. and started to play the violin； it was a cold January morning. He played 6 Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time， since it was rush hour， it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station， most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was music playing. He slowed his pace， stopped for a few seconds， and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later， the violinist received his first dollar tip： a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later， someone leaned against the wall to listen to him， but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother dragged him along， hurriedly， but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents， without exception， forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played， only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over， no one noticed it. No one applauded， nor was there any recognition. No one knew this but the violinist was 1）Joshua Bell， one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway， Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston and the seats averaged $100.

Joshua Bell playing 2）incognito in the metro station was organized by the 3）Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception， taste and priorities of people. One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be： If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written， how many other things are we missing？

My additional thoughts would only be that so many people do things because they are“fashionable” that they forget to look at things with their own eyes， listen with their own ears， and appreciate anything with their own hearts.

有個男人在華盛頓特區的一個地鐵站里坐下來并拉起了小提琴；那是一個寒冷的一月清晨。在約四十五分鐘的時間里，他演奏了六首巴赫的曲子。在他演奏的那段時間里，由于是上班高峰期，差不多幾千人穿過那個地鐵站，其中大多數人都是在去上班的路上。三分鐘后，一個中年男子注意到有音樂在演奏。他放慢了自己的腳步，停了幾秒鐘，而后又急匆匆地去忙自己的事情了。又過了一分鐘，那個小提琴家收到了他的第一份賞金：一位女士把錢扔到了琴盒里，停也沒停就繼續趕路了。幾分鐘后，有個人倚在墻邊聽他演奏，不過那人看著自己的表，又開始趕路了。很顯然，他上班遲到了。

最注意小提琴家的是一個三歲的男孩。他的母親一路拽著他，著急忙慌地，而他則停下來看著那位小提琴家。最終，那位母親使勁兒地推著男孩，那孩子繼續趕著路，但同時卻一直回頭張望。其他幾個孩子也有著同樣的表現。而所有的父母，無一例外地，逼著他們繼續前行。

在那位音樂家演奏的45分鐘里，僅有六個人停下腳步并稍作停留。大約有二十個人給了他錢，但仍然以他們正常的步伐繼續趕路。他一共收到了32美元。當他結束演奏，安靜離開的時候，沒有一個人注意到。沒有一個人喝彩，也沒有一個人認出他來。沒有人知道，那位小提琴家就是喬舒亞·貝爾，世界上最杰出的音樂家之一。他用一把價值350萬美元的小提琴演奏了史上難度最高曲目中的一首。在地鐵站演奏的兩天前，喬舒亞·貝爾在波士頓一家劇院的演奏會門票全部售罄，而且平均票價100美元。

喬舒亞·貝爾潛伏在地鐵站演奏是由《華盛頓郵報》策劃的，它是一項關于人的感知、品味和優先選擇習性的社會實驗的一部分。從這個實驗可能得出這樣一個結論：如果我們沒有時間停下來聆聽世界上最棒的音樂家當中的一位來演奏史上最棒的音樂，我們還會錯過多少事情呢？

我另外的想法只會是：太多人做一些事情只是因為那是“潮流”使然。但是他們忘記了用自己的雙眼去觀察，用自己的耳朵去聆聽以及用自己的心去感受。