All That Jazz|断指的爵士乐家

by Marcus Maurice

A handicap can't stop John Britton from doing what he loves to do.

One of the best things about jazz music is when the musicians on stage start to improvise. The drummer extends the beat, and the bass player follows suit. Soon, the whole band gets into a groove, which is a magical thing to witness. John Britton, an American jazz musician, has had to improvise more than others. When he was in his mother's womb, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his hands, and all of his fingers were cut off below the first knuckle as a result.

Having disfigured hands would usually discourage someone from playing music, but not for Britton, who was born into a musical family. All four of his siblings played instruments or sang, so he naturally wanted to join them. At the age of three, Britton started piano lessons. Unfortunately, having short fingers made for a big disadvantage when it comes to playing the piano. Soon, Britton switched to the trumpet, where his shortened fingers would actually be an advantage. Young trumpeters always have a hard time keeping their fingers straight when learning the basics. For Britton, this wasn't a problem, and he realized that he could play faster and easier than most people because his fingers were much smaller.

As he got older, Britton followed in his older brother Ben's footsteps and started playing jazz. Since they had been jamming together from an early age, it only made sense that they would go on to record an album together. Currently, the Britton brothers live a few hours from each other and play in separate bands, but when they have performances together and start to improvise, the audiences realize that even the darkest clouds have silver linings.

1.  What happened first in the article?

(A) The Britton brothers recorded an album.

(B) John Britton began to play jazz music.

(C) John Britton tried to learn to play the piano.

(D) John Britton realized that he was good at playing the trumpet.

2.  Why did John Britton want to get involved in music?

(A) There was a piano in his house.

(B) His parents expected him to become a musician.

(C) He wanted to record an album with his brother.

(D) All of his brothers and sisters played instruments or sang.

3.  What gave John Britton an advantage over others in terms of trumpet playing?

(A) He learned to read music when he played the piano.

(B) He was born with deformed fingers.

(C) Everyone in his family was a musical genius.

(D) His older brother taught him about jazz.

4.  What can we infer from the article?

(A) Even though bad things happen, good things can come of them.

(B) Into every life a little rain must fall.

(C) Don't be proud even if you are successful.

(D) When it rains, it pours.

Sometimes good can come of military force.

有时候军事力量会带来好事。

断指的爵士乐家

身体的缺陷不能阻止约翰‧布里顿追求他的梦想。

爵士乐最棒的事情之一就是当舞台上的乐手开始即兴演出。鼓手拉长节拍，贝斯手随之跟进。不久整个乐团就陶醉在演奏中，而亲眼看见这样的表演是很神奇的事。美国爵士音乐家约翰‧布里顿必须要比其他人更常即兴演出。他在母亲的子宫时，脐带缠住他的双手，结果他所有手指的第一指关节以下全被切除。

手部畸形通常会让人不想弹奏乐器，但对出生在音乐世家的布里顿却不然。他的 4 个兄弟姊妹不是弹奏乐器，就是唱歌，所以他很自然想加入他们的行列。布里顿 3 岁时开始上钢琴课。不幸的是，他的手指过短，是弹钢琴的一大弱势。不久布里顿改学小号。而他过短的手指反而是他演奏小号的一大优势。小号的初学者往往在学基本要领时很难一直把手指伸直。但布里顿没有这个问题，而且他了解到由于他的手指比一般人短很多，所以他可以更轻易更快速地演奏小号。

年纪稍长后，他追随他哥哥班的脚步开始演奏爵士乐。因为他们从小就一直一起即兴演奏，所以他们顺理成章地就一起录制了 1 张专辑。现在，布里顿兄弟住在距离彼此几小时的不同地方并在不同的乐团中演出。但是当他们一起表演而开始即兴演出时，观众就会了解『即使在最黑暗的时刻总还有一线曙光』的道理。

答案：1. (C)2. (D)3. (B)4. (A)

爵士乐是 1种起源于非洲，形成于美国的音乐形式，诞生于 19世纪末的美国密西西比河畔港埠新奥尔良，在它之前是一些更早出现的美国黑人音乐（如蓝调、福音歌曲等），而这些音乐是美国黑人根植于其非洲音乐传统的基础上，结合他们在现实中的遭遇创作出来的。

早期蓝调主要表现黑人的悲惨境遇和底层生活状态（蓝调的英文原字 Blue 除了指『蓝色』之外亦有『忧郁』之意），大多比较凄苦。福音歌曲主要是（向上帝）祈求平安，希望得到救赎。爵士乐在其发展过程中除了有黑人音乐的根源外，还吸收了如古典音乐、民族音乐等诸多音乐元素，逐渐形成了今天多门多类的爵士乐，所传递的内容也更为多样，不只是早期的『黑人风格』。（数据源：维基百科）