Life in a Violin Case

                                                   Alexander Bloch

    The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising business career and study music.My parents, although sympathetic, and sharing my love of music, disapproved of it as a profession.This was understandable in view of 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 enough to provide for his large family.My father often said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness of my grandmother that kept the wolf at bay.As a consequence of this example in the family, the very mention of music as a profession carried with it a picture of a precarious existence 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.

    Now do not for a moment mean to disparage business.My whole point is that it was not for me.I went into it for money, and aside from 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 miserable.My one ambition was to save enough to quit and go to Europe to study music.I used to get up at dawn to practice before I left for "downtown", distracting my poor mother by bolting a hasty breakfast at the last minute.Instead of lunching with my business associates, I would seek out some cheap cafe, order a meager meal and scribble my harmony exercises.I continued to make money, and finally, bit by bit, accumulated enough to enable me to go abroad.The family being once more solvent, and my help no longer necessary, I resigned 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.

    If I had stayed in business, I might be a comparatively wealthy man today, but I do not believe I would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles, those inner satisfactions that money can never buy, and that are too often sacrificed when a man’s primary goal is financial success.When I broke away from business, it was against the advice of practically all my friends and family. So conditioned are most of us to be the association of success with money that the thought of giving up a good salary for an idea seemed little short of insane. If so, all I can say is “Gee! It’s great to be crazy.”

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

参考译文

               有小提琴相伴的人生

我人生的转折点缘于我放弃前程似锦的经商之路而选择学习音乐的决定。我的父母尽管能理解，也像我一样热爱音乐，却反对我以音乐为职。考虑到我的家庭背景，这是可以理解的。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，虽然在社区里深受爱戴，赚的钱却几乎难以维持这么一个大家庭。父亲常说是多亏祖母精打细算、省吃节用才使这个家庭免于挨饿。正因为家里的前车之鉴，所以只要一提到以音乐为职业就令人联想到无固定收入的情形。我父母坚持让我上大学而不让我进音乐学院，因此我就上了大学--我记得当时上大学是很快乐的，因为虽然我很热爱小提琴，也把大部分课余时间花在练习上，但我仍有很多其他爱好。

在从哥伦比亚大学毕业之前，家里遇到了严重的经济困难，这使我感到我应该退学去找份工作。因此我就走上了经商之路。

如今，我一点也没有瞧不起做生意。我只是觉得做生意不适合我。我经商只是为了赚钱。除了能够帮上家庭而感到满足之外，我从中所得到的也就只有钱了，但这是远远不够的。我感觉生活在我身边匆匆流逝。从一开始我只是不满意，到后来就变得很痛苦了。我的一个志向就是省下足够的钱，放弃生意去欧洲学习音乐。我常常摸黑起床，赶在去“商业区”上班之前练一练琴，练到最后一刻，匆忙吃了几口饭就走了，这让我可怜的母亲很担心。我午饭没有和同事一起吃，而是去找家便宜的餐馆，简简单单吃了一下，就随便练了几首曲子。我不断努力赚钱，一点一点积累，终于最后攒够了出国的钱。这时家境也有所好转，不需要我帮忙了，我便辞职去欧洲，感觉自己像是个刚从监狱放出来的人一样自由。我在欧洲呆了四年，比以前想象中更努力学习小提琴的同时，时时刻刻都感觉很快乐。

“快乐”一词可能还不够。我像在云中漫步，但我活得真实。我很自由，做着自己爱做的、想做的事。

如果我继续做生意的话，我今天也许已成为一个相当富裕的人。但我却不相信我的人生是成功。因为我可能因此放弃那些无形的东西、放弃那金钱永远买不到的心灵满足感。如果一个人把金钱上的成功视为目标的话，他可能就要失去这些东西了

金钱是个好东西，但也可能使人为之付出过高的代价。