VOA常速英语2019--美国独特乐器：班卓琴（在线收听）

The Banjo is a uniquely American instrument. The roots of the banjo were brought over by enslaved peoples from Africa, who were brought to the Caribbean into the United States, and they made the early gourd banjos. And then in the 1830s, the African American design was modified by some white Southerners, who lived in Virginia, to create the basis of the modern banjo.

班卓琴是美国特有的乐器。究其渊源，班卓琴是非洲奴隶带来的，他们先是到了加勒比海，然后又流入了美国。随后，他们制作了早期的葫芦班卓。后来，也就是19世纪30年代的时候，这个来自非裔美国人的设计得到了一些美国南方人的修改，这些人住在弗吉尼亚州。他们修改的版本是现代班卓琴的雏形。

So really, the banjo is the American instrument and it was made by both black and white cultures came together to produce this instrument.

所以，其实班卓琴是美国乐器，是由黑人文化和白人文化的融合，才有了这种乐器。

And so, I bought a banjo from Tommy and that’s how we met.

我从汤米手中买了一把班卓琴，我们就是这样认识的。

And Tommy very graciously invited me to start coming over. And I would come over and work for a couple of hours, and in three months, I had a banjo that I had made myself.

汤米很热情地邀请我来做客。然后我每次做客都会待上几小时。之后，在不到3个月的时间里，我给自己做了一把班卓琴。

You have the round part and you have the straight part and they’re made separately. We start with a board. I will take this and I will put it in a steam box and the steam will make it very soft. And then, I will put it in this form and it will actually be able to bend without breaking. It’ll bend around this and I will put one layer inside and another layer inside. When it comes out, it will look something like this.

班卓琴有圆的部分，也有直的部分，这两部分是单独制作的。制作班卓琴要从琴身着手。我会把这个放进蒸笼里，蒸气会让它变软。然后，我会把它变成这个样子，弯曲之后也不会折断。它会这样弯曲，然后我把一个又一个镶嵌物放在里面。等做好之后，大概是这个样子。

I wanted a banjo when I was a teenager, so I mowed yards around my neighborhood to raise money, and I bought a banjo, and I said, maybe I can improve it. So, I started trying to improve that one and thought, I could make one a little better than that and a little better than that and then on up till today. As I sell one, you know, I don’t take the money or spend it. I kind of put it back in. I’ll buy more parts to make more banjos. The next one I do may sound different. It may sound better. It may not sound as good as the last one. I always say if you use good parts and you put it together right, you’re going to have a good banjo.

我还是少年的时候，就想要一把班卓琴。所以我通过为街坊邻里除草来赚钱，然后买了一把班卓琴。然后我又觉得，我可以改进这把班卓琴。于是，我开始改进我手上的那把。之后，我又突发奇想，还能继续改进那把班卓琴，精益求精，一直到今天。每次卖出一把班卓琴，我不会攒着钱不花，或者挥霍而尽。我选择将这笔钱投入到零部件的购置中，从而制作更多的班卓琴。每次我制作的班卓琴，音色都不同，可能更好听些，也可能更难听些。我总是说，零部件用得好，班卓琴就能组装的好，就能制成一把精良的班卓琴。

I like making banjos. I like working with wood. I like working with inlay. I like working with customers. I like working with people to help them take their vision and make something real out of it.

我喜欢制作班卓琴。我喜欢跟木头打交道，跟镶嵌物打交道，跟顾客打交道。我还喜欢跟人共事，帮他们选择适合自己的班卓琴，通过这样来做些有意义的事。