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
So, I just started playing.
于是，我开始拉琴
And I played the first movement of the Beethoven Violin Concerto.
我演奏了贝多芬小提琴协奏曲的第一乐章
And as I played, I understood that there was a profound change occurring in Nathaniel's eyes.
当我演奏的时候，我知道Nathaniel的眼睛里有一种奥妙的变化
It was as if he was in the grip of some invisible pharmaceutical,
好象他抓住了什么隐形的药
a chemical reaction, for which my playing the music was its catalyst.
象是经历了化学反应，而我的演奏就是催化剂
And Nathaniel's manic rage was transformed into understanding, a quiet curiosity and grace.
他的狂躁愤怒也转化成理解，安静的好奇，和优雅
And in a miracle, he lifted his own violin and he started playing, by ear,
神奇的是，他拿起了他的小提琴，他也跟着开始演奏
certain snippets of violin concertos
小提琴协奏曲的某些片断
which he then asked me to complete -- Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius.
然后他又要我来完成，门德尔松，柴可夫斯基，西贝柳斯
And we started talking about music, from Bach to Beethoven and Brahms,
于是我们开始谈论音乐：从巴赫到贝多芬，布拉姆斯
Bruckner, all the B's, from Bartok, all the way up to Esa-Pekka Salonen.
布鲁克纳，所有名字以B打头的人，从巴托克一直到艾沙·佩卡·萨洛宁
And I understood that he not only had an encyclopedic knowledge of music,
我了解到他不但是一本音乐大百科全书
but he related to this music at a personal level.
而且他能将这些音乐跟他个人的感受联系起来
He spoke about it with the kind of passion and understanding
他讲到那些东西时充满了激情和对音乐深刻的理解，
that I share with my colleagues in the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
仿佛是我跟我在洛杉矶交响乐团的同事们之间交流时一样
And through playing music and talking about music,
通过演奏音乐，谈论音乐
this man had transformed from the paranoid, disturbed man
这个人从一个偏执，不安的
that had just come from walking the streets of downtown Los Angeles
刚才还在洛杉矶大街上晃悠的流浪汉
to the charming, erudite, brilliant, Juilliard-trained musician.
变成了一个迷人，博学，优秀的受过朱丽亚音乐学院教育的音乐家
Music is medicine. Music changes us.
音乐是良药。音乐改变着我们
And for Nathaniel, music is sanity.
对nathaniel来说，音乐是帮助他开启心智
Because music allows him to take his thoughts and delusions
因为音乐可以帮他将他的思维，妄想，转换成形，
and shape them through his imagination and his creativity, into reality.
通过他的想象力和创造力变成现实
And that is an escape from his tormented state.
而正是这个帮助他从煎熬中解脱出来
And I understood that this was the very essence of art.
而我知道这就是艺术的真髓
This was the very reason why we made music,
这正是我们创造音乐的原因
that we take something that exists within all of us at our very fundamental core,
我们用我们每个人都拥有的一种内在，我们的最根本的核心
our emotions, and through our artistic lens,
我们的感情，通过我们的艺术的镜头
through our creativity, we're able to shape those emotions into reality.
通过我们的创造力，将我们的情感塑造成现实
And the reality of that expression reaches all of us and moves us, inspires and unites us.
而这种现实的表达，传递给我们所有的人，感动我们，启迪我们，团结我们
And for Nathaniel, music brought him back into a fold of friends.
而对Nathaniel，音乐把他带回到一群朋友中
The redemptive power of music brought him back into a family of musicians
音乐的挽救力将他带回到音乐的大家庭
that understood him, that recognized his talents and respected him.
这里人们理解他，承认他的天赋，尊重他
And I will always make music with Nathaniel,
而我会永远为他创造音乐
whether we're at Walt Disney Concert Hall or on Skid Row, because he reminds me why I became a musician.
无论是在迪斯尼的音乐厅，或者Skid Row的大街上，因为他提示着我为什么我要做音乐家
Thank you.
谢谢