2017-01-01

【Aiden in English】

        You know, Longwood Gardens kind of feel like a tradition now. It has been, what, three straight years of seeing the park in the holiday seasons? Correct me if I’m wrong, but this place is beginning to grow on me a bit.

        Most of you may ask why Longwood Gardens haven’t gotten duller through the years. Instead of answering, may I ask you a question? Why does Christmas never get old? Really, if you think about it, it’s the same experience over and over again, so why the hype?

        Going to Longwood Gardens on New Year Day is like having Christmas, it never seems to grow old. And even when seeing the same trees does become boring, the gardeners behind the scenes always appear to offer something new. For example, this year offered a new session of the Open Air Theatre Fountain Shows, which is played at certain times to cheerful Christmas music. When mom asked for directions, the worker simply told us a path and to listen to the holiday spirit. The fountain show was a new experience for me since it isn’t usual to see non-frozen water around the Christmas season in PA.

        Other than the lively lights at night, Longwood Gardens had a pretty normal day. The other standout was a holiday sing-along, which involved an enormous organ with 10,000 pipes, plus a good few amount of people. Waltzing around, my family just so happened to catch the 4 o’clock show, and it really was a treat. Granted, I was not the festive, jolly song type, but I did enjoy great musical moments. All I could say was that during the sing-along, there was only one person with any good musical talent being broadcasted, and that was the organ player who, I may add, was phenomenal. Everyone was astonished by pianists whose hands moved so fast or fingers covered the ground so big. What they don’t understand, and what I’ve just recently seen, is how much harder the organ is. No one really thinks about it much due to its lack of public use, size, and cost-wise, so the instrument, outside of churches with money, is not very often seen.

        The organ player, I admit, is probably one of the best musicians I will see for a long, long time. Obviously, I really don’t know a thing about playing the organ, but I know it is four times as complex as a piano ( four keyboards), and uses foot pedals, and has the 5th set of keys played by the feet, and consists of bells, horn sounds, and a separate set of buttons that controls the octave, in which some notes are so low that the sound waves can’t be detected by ear, just the pulses of sound. The organists, while in the midst of the songs, would turn on and off the hundreds of buttons, levers, and switches at apparently random times. There is something I never will get to learn, and it better stays that way for now, since the organ is the one I’ll probably never play. For once in my life, sticking with piano sounds good.

【红霞译文】

        如你所知，现在杜邦花园象征着一个传统习俗，不失为逢年过节的好去处，但至于一连三年光顾此地吗？若有说错的地方欢迎指正，这个地方正不知不觉地伴我成长。

        大多数读者也许要问几年来多次参观杜邦花园难道一点不觉得腻歪，在给出答案之前让我先来提个问题好吗？为什么圣诞节从不过时？说真的，如若细想一下，我这只不过反复体验曾经体验的经历而已，有啥惊奇吗？

        元旦当天置身杜邦花园感觉像过圣诞一般，非但没有过时的感觉，相反即使看到同样的花草树木也不会心生倦意，毕竟幕后园艺师们总是千方百计营造新颖别致的氛围，就拿今年推出的“露天剧场喷泉表演”来说，每次喷水都能听到欢快优扬的圣诞音乐。记得妈妈问路时，工作人员随手一指，让我们顺着小路去感受节日气氛，而我头一回在杜邦花园观赏喷泉表演，殊不知宾州圣诞节前后要想见到不结冰的水实属稀罕事儿。

        除了晚间彩灯齐放，杜邦花园白天活动一切照旧。节日歌曲大家唱是游园活动另一个突出项目，用来伴奏的巨型管风琴由一万根音管组成，而且室内个别歌喉身手不凡。紧随滚滚人潮，我家老少恰好驻足四点钟群唱现场，夸它为一种精神享受实不为过，诚然我算不上热衷起哄的顽主，但激昂开怀的音乐旋律让我心潮澎湃。纵观整个歌唱过程，我敢说管风琴手比所有音乐才子录制的演奏还要出色，在此补充一句，其琴技已经达到炉火纯青的程度。观众往往对双手弹奏飞快指间跨度超常的钢琴家惊叹不已，可他们有所不知、而我直到最近方才初见端倪的是管风琴非常难弹，无人真正明白难度有多大，毕竟管风琴极不流行，况且体积又大花费忒高，除了资金雄厚的教堂以外，其它地方鲜少使用这种乐器。

        我承认，这位管风琴手恐怕将是未来很长一段时间内本人有幸见识的最佳音乐家之一。我对如何弹奏管风琴一窍不通，因它拥有四组键盘，所以感觉比钢琴复杂四倍之多，况且还要操作脚踏板，第五组键盘完全依靠双脚演奏，另有铃铛、喇叭以及单独一套控制八度的音栓，其中有的音调很低，耳朵根本无法辨别声波变化，仅能听出声音脉冲而已。管风琴手在弹奏中随时调节数百个音栓、轨杆机和五花八门的开关，我没本事捣鼓这种乐器，自以为时下这种状况挺好，看来管风琴跟我无缘，不过这辈子我若能坚持弹奏钢琴已然不错了。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2013: New Year's Day on Mozambique Channel(莫桑比克海峡庆元旦)

2011: 拾金不昧(Lost Money Found)

2010: 澳洲仙企鹅游行(Fairy Penguin Parade, Australia)

Crosslinks(相关博文):

New Hope a Refuge for Artists, PA(宾州新希望镇—艺人之家)

Manayunk the Young Neighborhood, PA(费城马纳杨克—年轻人寓所)

Pittsburgh, PA(宾州匹兹堡)

A Day in Philadelphia(记费城一天)

Jim Thorpe, PA(宾州吉姆索普镇)

USA(出游美国)