VOA常速英语2022 音乐家布伦特·摩根的谋生之路

（单词翻译）

音乐家布伦特·摩根的谋生之路

Making a Living: Musician Brent Morgan

Hey, my name is Brent Morgan.Im 33 years old and I write and produce music for a living.And this is my ordinary life.So, this is my studio.I have two different portions as you can see.Right here is where I do my live streaming every single day.As you can see, Ive got my SM7 mic rigged up.Ive got my Sony camera.Im here most of my time every single day.I sit in this chair probably like four to five hours a day at least.And then if you come over here, this is where I do all of my writing and recording¹.

嗨，我叫布伦特·摩根。我今年33岁，以创作和制作音乐为生。这就是我平凡的生活。这就是我的工作室。如您所见，我把它分成两部分。就在这里，我每天都在这里直播。如你所见，我已经把我的SM7麦克风装好了。我有我的索尼相机。我每天大部分时间都在这里。我坐在这张椅子上大概一天至少有四到五个小时。如果你到这里来，这就是我所有写作和录音的地方。

I got an interest in music when I was in 11th grade.My whole life before that was focused on sports.I had scholarships lined up for baseball.But I also joined a band with my friends.I started realizing that I could sing and I could play by ear.So, I started teaching myself piano and guitar and just performing for some friends here and there.And then I got really interested and I went to college for music and started giving lessons.I started realizing my life was surrounded by music.So, I really wanted to pursue it.I even remember when I was about to propose to my wife, I had to go talk to her parents and say, Im going to do music for a living.And it was terrifying.

我在11年级时就对音乐产生了兴趣。在此之前，我的一生都专注于体育运动。我拿到了棒球的奖学金。但是我也和我的朋友们一起参加了一个乐队。我开始意识到我可以唱歌，我可以改变。所以，我开始自学钢琴和吉他，只是在这里和那里给一些朋友表演。然后我真的很感兴趣，我上了大学学音乐，并开始讲课。我开始意识到我的生活被音乐包围了。所以，我真的很想继续从事这个行业。我甚至记得当我要向我的妻子求婚时，我不得不去跟她的父母说，我要以音乐为生。这太可怕了。

Luckily, I had just won $100,000 from Petco (a pet store), the week before I asked that question.So, it kind of gave me some leverage².

幸运的是，在我问这个问题的前一周，我刚刚从Petco(一家宠物商店)赢得了10万美元。所以，这给了我一些筹码。

I entered this contest and wrote a jingle³ for them about rescue animals and I won $100,000.It was $50,000 for me and $50,000 for the shelter that I rescued my dog from.Thats when I started realizing like this is how you monetize it.I got to where I was writing probably four to five jingles⁴ a week.

我参加了这次比赛，并为他们写了一首关于救援动物的广告歌，我赢得了10万美元。我自己留了5万美元，我从收容所救出我的狗时花了5万美元。就在那时，我开始意识到，那时我才意识到这就是赚钱的方法。我到了我要写的地方，大概一周写四到五首广告歌。

The tricky⁵ part is to fit an extremely catchy⁶ melody and all of the talking points that the company wants you to talk about in 15 to 30 seconds.

棘手的部分是，要把公司希望你在15到30秒内谈论的所有谈话要点和非常朗朗上口的旋律结合起来。

So, when I was in the thick of writing all these jingles, I was getting very, very weird⁷ requests for jingles;companies that want a jingle for their funeral home or want a jingle for their porta potties (portable toilet) that were going to be used at festivals.I had one for, it was a horse rehabilitation⁸ clinic.And I was like there is no way I could write you a jingle.And why do you need to advertise this in a jingle form?It was great money.I was very excited.There was a lot of news publications about it.But eventually, I started realizing I was losing the ability to write longer songs which is my passion.And so I just stopped.I completely stopped writing jingles for almost two years.And I started trying to focus writing songs again.And luckily, they started taking off for me and for other artists that I was writing for.

当我正忙着写这些广告歌的时候，我收到了非常非常奇怪的关于顺口溜的请求；一些公司想要为他们的殡仪馆唱一首广告歌，或者想为他们的便池(移动厕所)想要在节日上使用的广告歌。有一个是一家马匹康复诊所。我想我不可能给你写一首广告歌。你为什么要用广告歌的形式来宣传这个呢？但那是一大笔钱。我非常兴奋。有很多新闻出版物都在报道这件事。但最终，我开始意识到我正在失去写更歌曲的能力，这是我的激情所在。所以我就停了下来。我几乎有两年完全不写广告歌了。我又开始试着集中精力写歌。幸运的是，我和我为之写作的其他艺术家一起成长起来了。

Theres so many different ways to make money and to make a living using music, mine being: YouTube streams, Spotify, Apple music streams and all of the different streaming, you know, sites.I also livestream my music to my fans on a daily basis on an app called YouNow.You can make $10,000 to $15,000 a month if you stick to it and you stream daily.

有这么多不同的方式来赚钱和用音乐谋生，我的是：YouTube Streams，Spotify，苹果音乐流和所有不同的流媒体，你知道，网站。我还每天在一款名为YouNow的应用程序上向粉丝直播我的音乐。如果你坚持每天流媒体，你一个月可以赚10,000到15,000美元。

Ive actually incorporated my jingle writing into my live streaming.So, say, Dave tipped me something thats worth $100 dollars, a gift.Thats a huge gift.I might write a jingle about Dave, on the spot.That just causes everybody else to want their own jingle, so they also support me.Some people just support me because theyre really enjoying seeing behind the scenes of the songs that Im making.I got the opportunity to go to China.I got to perform on this stage.

我实际上已经把我的广告歌加进了我的直播中。那么，比方说，戴夫给了我一件价值100美元的小费，一件礼物。这是一份巨大的礼物。我可能会当场写一首关于戴夫的广告歌。这只会让每个人都想要自己的广告歌，所以他们也支持我。有些人只是支持我，因为他们真的很喜欢看我创作的歌曲的幕后。我得到了去中国的机会。我要在这个舞台上表演。

Ive never seen a bigger stage in my life.I want to go back to Beijing or any part of China as soon as I can.It really opened my eyes that the world is so different the further you go.The Voice (TV talent program) approached me on Instagram after seeing some of my successes on there.

我一生中从未见过这么大的舞台。我想尽快回北京或中国的任何地方。它真的让我大开眼界，你走得越远，世界就变得如此不同。美国好声音(电视选秀节目)在Instagram上看到我的一些成功后，在Instagram上找到了我。

Being there for an entire month to work on a minute and a half of one song that youre going to sing on TV was so overwhelming.If anything, it just made me a better musician because thats all I thought about for an entire 30 days was that one song and how to make it better.

在那里花了整整一个月的时间来创作一首你要在电视上上唱歌的歌曲的一分半钟，这让人不知所措。如果说有什么不同的话，那就是它让我成为了一名更好的音乐家，因为在整整30天的时间里，我一直在想的就是这首歌，以及如何让它变得更好。

About a week into my stay at The Voice, I started noticing my voice was not recovering at all.It was very weird.It was swelling⁹.My throat was swelling up.When I got back home, I started going to doctors and nobody could figure out.They would look in my throat and not see anything.My voice goes away every day at five oclock.I cant¹⁰ sing.I had to cancel all gigs that I was doing.I couldnt go back to The Voice.It was two years of me going from doctor to doctor.It scared me.I didnt know if I was going to have a future and doing what I love.I ended up finding out it was a thing called Muscle Tension Dysphonia, which, to make it short, is basically where your brain stops telling your vocal¹¹ cords to relax.So, if I get hit in my shoulder, my vocal cords close up because its messed up.Ive been doing treatment now and doing allergy¹² shots and different things and my voice is improving literally¹³ weekly.

我在美国好声音工作了大约一周后，我开始注意到我的声音根本没有恢复。真的很奇怪。它在肿胀。我的喉咙肿起来了。当我回到家的时候，我开始去看医生，没有人知道。他们会检查我的喉咙，什么也看不到。我的声音每天5点钟就消失了。我不能唱歌。我不得不取消我正在做的所有演唱会。我不能再回到美国好声音了。我花了两年时间从一名医生换到另一名医生。它吓到我了。我不知道我是否会有未来，会不会做我喜欢做的事。我最终发现这是一种叫做肌肉紧张性发音障碍的疾病，简而言之，基本上就是你的大脑停止告诉你的声带放松的地方。所以，如果我的肩膀被击中，我的声带就会关闭，因为它搞砸了。我现在一直在做治疗，打过敏针，做不同的事情，我的声音每周都在改善。

So, I live in Madison, Alabama.My whole family lives here.My mom, my dad, my sisters.We are all within five minutes of each other.I met my wife in high school.She was on the high school soccer team.She was like the star.I joined the soccer team which Id never played soccer because I wanted to meet her.And it worked.I ended up getting to know her.We started dating.And now, weve been married ever since.

我住在阿拉巴马州的麦迪逊。我全家都住在这里。我的妈妈，我的爸爸，我的姐妹们。我们彼此的距离都在5分钟之内。我在高中认识了我的妻子。她是高中足球队的队员。她就像明星。我加入了我从未踢过球的足球队，因为我想见她。而且它起作用了。我最终开始了解她。我们开始约会。我们那以后就结婚了。