VOA常速英语2016--印证纽约历史的独特吉他（在线收听）

Luthier Turns Wood From Landmark N.Y.C. Buildings Into Guitars 印证纽约历史的独特吉他

Rick Kelly started making wooden musical instruments when he was a teenager. But he didn't start turning timber use in old hotels, bars and churches into guitars until 10 years ago when film director Jim Jarmusch offered him wood from his loft ceiling.

瑞克还小的时候，就开始制造木质乐器了。但十年后，电影导演占渣木殊把自己阁楼天花板的木材送给他后，他才开始使用陈旧旅店、酒吧和教堂的木材来做吉他。

"He happened to be a customer in the shop,” Kelly said. “I got to know him a little bit. He offered me the wood, so I said, 'Sure.' So he sent the guys, the workers, over with a truckload of it, and started doing it that way. That was the first load I got, out of Jim's loft."

那时候他正好来店里逛。我跟他有一定的交情。他要把木材送给我，于是我说，“好啊”。于是他就请了工人们，载着一卡车的木材来送给我。这是我获得的第一批木材。

A lot of that wood is more than 100 years old. It's the 19th-century white pine timber from upstate New York that formed New York City's homes and buildings.

这批木材中的很多都有上百年的年头了。是19世纪纽约北部的白松木，那时候很多纽约的建筑都采用白松木做素材。

“It's sort of this alchemy that happens" with the wood, "especially in the roof area, where it gets over 100 degrees [Fahrenheit] ... during the day and cool at night,” Kelly said. “It goes through this change that sort of makes the wood really resonant, because the resin in the wood crystallizes, opens up the pores for vibration.”

屋顶木材有一个特点，白天温度可高达100华氏度，而晚上又会变凉。这种温度变化让木质的音效很好，因为木材里的树脂会结晶，为震动发声制造了孔隙。

Church beams

Kelly shops for wood all over the city. He found some of his latest guitar-quality wood in a trash receptacle — planks and beams from a Serbian Orthodox church that burned down earlier this year.

如今已64岁的瑞克还在满城的搜罗木材。他在垃圾桶里找到了最近时兴的吉他木材——源自今年年初烧毁的塞尔维亚东正教堂里的木板和横梁。

In his store, he keeps careful track of his collection, noting on each piece of wood the building that it was once part of.

他在店里精心保存着自己的搜集品，在每一块木材上标记着它的来源。通常，瑞克的客户会指定某种木材。

Often, his clients request a certain type of wood, Bob Dylan, for example, wanted his guitar made out of wood from Chumley’s, a historic New York bar that is currently undergoing extensive renovation.

比如鲍勃就想要Chumley酒吧的木材。这家纽约酒吧历史悠久，目前正在进行大翻修。

Whether famous musicians or average players, Kelly’s clients are willing to pay over $2,000 for a guitar, because they appreciate the authenticity of the instruments.

瑞克的客户，无论是知名音乐家还是普通乐手，都愿意花2000多美元来他家买吉他，因为他们很欣赏瑞克家吉他的真材实料。

“What these timbers have seen — they were here when George Washington was walking around these trees,” he said. “And what those trees saw, what they saw becoming a fancy hotel in the 1800s or a flophouse during the Depression, and then a condo in the recent years. ... They have gone through a lot of changes, all the buildings have, and what this wood sees is pretty amazing, I am sure."

这些木材见证过什么呢？它们可能是乔治华盛顿曾经环绕踱步的树。可能是19世纪某个豪华酒店，或者美国经济萧条时期的某个低价旅馆，也可能是近年的公寓楼。它们都经历过沧海桑田，见证过的都让人惊奇，我敢肯定。我一开始做这件事的时候，中间的整个过程都很吸引我。

That image resonates with his customers, one of whom said, "When I saw Rick talk about [his work] so passionately, [that] took it even to another level."

当我看到瑞克兴致勃勃地谈论他的作品时，感觉这一切都升华了一样。

Rick Kelly’s guitars are more than one-of-a-kind, beautifully carved instruments. They offer his clients something priceless: a piece of New York City's history.

他做出的吉他不只是独一无二、精心雕琢的乐器。这些乐器还给的客人带来了无价的东西：纽约城的历史。