VOA标准英语2011--Jazz Guitarist Jeff Golub Hopeful Despite Going Blind

Jazz Guitarist Jeff Golub Hopeful Despite Going Blind

 

失明歌手充满希望 音乐谱写充实人生

The year 2011 has been a roller coaster ride for jazz and blues¹ guitarist Jeff Golub. The release of his newest album came after the musician lost his eyesight.

2011年对于爵士乐及布鲁斯吉他手Jeff·Golub就像乘坐过山车一样。他在最新专辑发售后失明。

Golub rose to fame playing guitar with rock stars Rod Stewart and Billy Squier. As a bandleader, he has recorded nine solo albums and toured regularly across the globe. Keeping up a successful career and raising a family has always been a challenge. However, after after 30 years in the business, Golub faces his obstacle yet: blindness.

Jeff·Golub作为吉他手与摇滚明星Rod·Stewart和Billy·Squier一起走红。作为一名乐队领导人,他已经出版了九张个人专辑而且在全球各地都做过巡回演出。职业生涯保持成功和成立家庭一直是对艺人们来说最大的挑战。然而在经过30多年的摸爬滚打后,Golub却面临着他自己的难题：失明。

According to the guitarist, he was diagnosed with a collapse² of the optic nerve, but was told his chances of going totally blind were low.

按照吉他手的标准,他被诊断出患上了视神经障碍,但全盲的机率却很低。

“I lost sight in my right eye and I thought, ‘OK, a lot of people get along without sight in one eye, I can deal with this.’ I wasn’t even telling people. I just wouldn’t see out of my right eye. And then, just in the beginning of July, the end of June, my left eye started to go," he says. "Then I realized I'd better start telling people about this because I’m going to start bumping into things. There isn’t any hiding the fact an more. The doctor said 10 -15 percent of people who have one eye optic nerve collapse will have the other eye follow suit. I thought I was luckier than that, but apparently³ not.”

“我失去了右眼视力，好吧，我想很多人都有一只眼睛看不到，而我一样能处理这个。我甚至没有对任何人说起我的右眼看不到的问题。然而，就在6月底7月初的时候,我的左眼开始也开始出现同样的问题。”他说道。“我意识到自己最好让别人知道这件事,因为我正已经开始乱撞东西了。这件事已经没有隐瞒的必要了。医生说10%到15%的人有一眼视神经崩溃后另一只眼睛也会出现同样症状。我想自己是幸运的，但显然并不是这样。”

Golub and his band pushed on with the release of The Three Kings, a tribute to his blues guitar heroes Albert, Freddie and B.B. King. The album features piano great Henry Butler who, coincidentally, became blind when he was three months old, as well as vocalist and drummer Josh Dion, and fellow guitarists Sonny Landreth and Robben Ford⁴.

Golub和他的乐队正准备发布向他的布鲁斯吉他英雄Albert, Freddie 及B.B. King致敬的专辑《三个国王》。这张专辑由巧合的是三个月大的时候就成为盲人的伟大钢琴家Henry·Butler，歌手兼鼓手Josh·Dion，同行吉他手Sonny·Landreth和Robben·Ford共同呈现。

Golub says the songs, such as “Let The Good Times Roll” and “The Thrill Is Gone,” were chosen with the three Kings in mind.

Golub表示《忘掉过去的好时光》及《激情已逝》都会收录在专辑中。

“It was really easy coming up with the material and it was easy to come up with the arrangements. Everybody pitched in and we all just did it. Everybody played great and everybody had a great time, and it is the music that inspired me to play,” he says. “It is a labor⁵ of love and it’s great to have it out there. I mean there have been so many great blues musicians throughout history that have been blind. The extent I’ll go to to sell a few more records. It’s pretty amazing. Anyway, it’s great that it’s out there, it’s great that promoters have not been shying away, and nobody’s looking at this as a disability.”

“构思素材和计划真的很容易，我们只是做了让每个人都参与进来这件事。每个人都配合的很好，每个人都度过了一段美好的时光，这激发了我的音乐。”他说道。“这是一个由爱的付出带来的爱的收获。我的意思是，在历史上有很多伟大的蓝调音乐家已经失明。在一定程度上我要争取多卖几张专辑。这非常奇妙。无论如何这是伟大的，它的存在实在是太棒了，甚至发起人都没有打退堂鼓，没有人认为这是一个障碍。”

Golub recently performed at an all-star benefit concert called “Friends of Jeff Golub,” to help raise funds for his medical expenses. Despite his condition, he intends to continue living a full life.

Golub最近举行了一场名为“Golub的朋友们”的全明星义演音乐会,这会给他的康复治疗筹集资金。尽管他的状态不佳，但他打算继续过充实的生活。

“Part of it is I’ve got kids. I have an eight-year-old son and a 10-year-old son. I can’t really let my guard down," Golub explains. "They need to see strength coming from me. They don’t need to see me cancelling gigs and wallowing in self-pity. They need to see, you know, their dad.”

“一方面是我有孩子。我有一个8岁和一个10岁的儿子，所以我真的不能让自己垮掉。”Golub解释说。“他们需要我的力量。他们不需要看我取消演出一蹶不振。他们希望看到的是他们的爸爸，你懂的。”

1 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。