The Soul of the City: Prague

By Leo Luo

Traveling is not a list of must-see attractions, but a blank diary to record the memories which remind us that learning is a lifelong journey. These memoirs are meant to open a window to reveal the everyday details that encapsulate1. encapsulate: 壓縮。the souls of the cities that I have visited.

Prague is never a quiet city. Some may attribute it to the endless throngs of tourists that swarm the city, who clad themselves in sweatdrenched T-shirts emblazoned with American brands and clutch cell phone cameras that have now become an extension of the human body.2. 有些人將其歸因于源源不斷、擠滿整個(gè)城市的游客。汗水浸透了他們印有美國商標(biāo)的T恤衫，而他們緊握著手機(jī)拍照，仿佛手機(jī)已經(jīng)成為他們身體的一部分。attribute to: 歸因于；throng: 人群；swarm: 擠滿；clad: 穿衣；sweat-drenched: 汗水打濕的；emblazon: 紋章修飾。(Granted, my parents and I were also guilty of the camera worship,but we were certainly better dressed. I had learned from our European travels last year, but that’s a story for another time.) Others may say that the merchants who envelop every street corner and wall with both their shops and shouts, not unlike those in the alleyways of Venice, are the source of Prague’s constant commotion.3. envelop: 包圍；alleyway:小巷；commotion: 騷動(dòng)。Both explanations have their merits, but after spending three days in this city of poets and performers, I believe that there is something else that drives Prague’s palpable4. palpable: 易察覺的。heartbeat. That very thing is the presence of music: the gatekeeper to the soul of the city.

旅行的目的不在于終點(diǎn)，而在于沿途的風(fēng)景。置身布拉格的旅行之中，你所能感受到的不僅是該座城市的特色美景，更多的還是其動(dòng)聽的旋律。音樂是這座城市的靈魂所在。街頭藝人的表演、商人的叫賣聲、教堂的鐘樓聲等等，帶領(lǐng)人們走進(jìn)了別樣的音樂世界。

When my parents and I first stepped into the Old Town Square, a cobblestone plaza enveloped by magnificent churches and red brick buildings, we were greeted by the shrill bleat of a cornet.5. cobblestone: 鵝卵石，圓石；plaza: 廣場(chǎng)；magnificent: 壯麗的，華麗的；bleat:咩咩聲； cornet: 短號(hào)。Alongside drums and a guitar, all the instruments harmonized to the warbling chants of the lead singer, who adorned himself in thick black robes despite the beating sun.6. warbling: 顫聲的；chant: 歌，歌聲；adorn: 打扮；robe: 長袍，禮服。As beads of sweat dripped down his beard,he faced the gathered crowd and began to bellow7. bellow: 大聲歌唱。. The instruments struck up a Gaelic melody as the singer’s voice sent echoes throughout the square.8. strike up: 開始演奏；Gaelic melody: 蓋爾樂曲；echo: 回聲?！癟he Bohemian Bards” read the sign placed on the ground in front of them,9. Bohemian: 波西米亞的，波西米亞是古中歐地名，占據(jù)了古捷克地區(qū)西部三分之二的區(qū)域，現(xiàn)在位于包括布拉格在內(nèi)的捷克共和國中西部地區(qū)；bard: 吟游詩人。right beside a rack of their CDs and an overturned hat for donations. While the other gathered tourists rifled through their pockets for spare crow ns, the Czech currency,10. rifle through: 翻遍；spare: 多余的；Czech currency: 捷克貨幣。to spare,I used the pause to drink in the atmosphere of the square.

All kinds of activities were in full swing beneath the tolling bells of the churches, whose chimes fought with the bustle of the crowds to be heard.11. 伴隨著教堂的鐘聲，各類活動(dòng)紛紛展開，鐘聲與人們的喧鬧聲此起彼伏。in full swing: 活躍展開；chime: 鐘聲。While the thundering clangs called the faithful to open their hearts to God, performers and peddlers also called them to open their wallets to their merchandise. A man sporting a clown nose and parachute pants held two rods connected by loops of string at one end.12. sport: 故意顯示，夸示；parachute: 降落傘；rod: 桿，棒；loop: 環(huán)。He would dip the loops of string in soapy water before an expectant crowd, all the while gesturing to the overturned hat on the ground with a “please“ and a smile.13. 在滿懷期待的人群前，他把線環(huán)放在肥皂水中，同時(shí)不停地指向地上翻過來的帽子，做出“請(qǐng)給點(diǎn)錢”的微笑。expectant: 期待的；all the while:一直，始終；gesture: 打手勢(shì)。After he had deemed that the crowd’s“donations” were sufficient, he lifted the rods from the water and spread the string. To shrieks of delight from toddlers and excitable teenage girls,enormous bubbles oozed into the air, their iridescent surfaces distorting the sunlight into a thousand colours.14. shriek: 尖叫；toddler: 初學(xué)走路的孩子；ooze into: 滲入；iridescent: 彩虹色的；distort: 扭曲，變形。Other performers ranged from bird imitators, whose chirps and whistles from their pursed lips fooled me an embarrassing amount of times, to merchants selling puppets that shrieked at the tap of a button.15. 其他表演者有模仿鳥叫的人們，他們撅起嘴唇發(fā)出啾啾的哨子聲，讓我好幾次都尷尬地以為是鳥兒在啼叫，還有一些小攤商販，出售一按按鈕就會(huì)叫的木偶玩具。pursed: 撅起的；puppet: 木偶。A woman cranked16. crank: 用曲柄轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)。a music box, and a man played famous classical pieces upon a keyboard of wine glasses filled with water. All the appearances of the performers were certainly disheveled17. dishevelled: 不整潔的，凌亂的。. But the magic in their hands or voices transformed their unkempt hair and tattered clothes into the romantic dress of strolling players,18. unkempt: 蓬亂的；tattered: 破爛的，衣衫襤褸的；strolling players: 巡回演出的演員。and the square back into the old marketplace of ages past. This transformation was my first glimpse into both Prague’s past and its soul. The music of the church bells and merchant calls appeared to turn back the gears of time. Or perhaps the gears are independent from the rest of the world, only creaking forward when the music of the market echoes through the square, bringing visitors back into Prague’s gilded past. A time machine, if you will.

Mirroring the transformation at the square, when the sun draws its oceanic blankets at twilight, another metamorphosis19. metamorphosis: 變化。occurs. As the crimson light bathes the earth in its rosy glow, the juxtaposition of the sun’s ruby rays and the night’s sapphire shades entices all inner beauty to step into the dying light.20. 當(dāng)深紅色日光的玫瑰色光芒普照大地，太陽紅寶石色的光線與夜晚藍(lán)寶石色的光輝相互照應(yīng)，所有的內(nèi)在美都籠罩在這即將消失的光芒下。crimson: 深紅色的； glow: 光芒；juxtaposition: 并列；ruby: 紅寶石色的；sapphir: 藍(lán)寶石色的；entice: 誘惑。Eyes begin to sparkle,skin begins to shine and grow supple21. supple: 柔軟的。, and each word carries a tinkle of romance, no matter what is said. At this time the true splendour22. splendour: 光彩壯麗。of Prague emerged as a jewel in the night. Underneath the famous Charles Bridge23. Charles Bridge: 查理大橋，建于1357年，是一座極具藝術(shù)價(jià)值的石橋。, hidden by both the shade and the ragtag24. ragtag: 衣衫襤褸的。clothes, stood a violinist and pianist. At first glance, I almost walked past them, thinking that the pair was just some more buskers25. busker: 街頭藝人。in a city full of them. Then I noticed the circle of onlookers with their phones out, video at the ready. I halted26. halt: 停止，立定。in your tracks,wondering what would make people, especially in this day and age of instant gratification, wait so expectantly.

The moment the violinist touched his bow to the strings and when the pianist brushed his fingers against the first keys,27. bow: 弓；brush: 撥弄。the scene changed. In my mind’s eye, the bridge morphed into a grand opera theatre, the circle of bystanders became rows upon rows of audience members, and the buskers were tuxedoed virtuosos.28. 在我的腦海中，這座橋變身成為盛大的歌劇院，周圍的旁觀者成為一排又一排的觀眾，街頭藝人化身為穿著無尾禮服的演奏家。morphe: 變化；tuxedoed: 穿無尾小禮服的；virtuoso: 演奏家。Now I don’t know much about music, so I could not judge whether their performance was actually noteworthy or not. But in the evening shadow, under the twinkle of the stars, their melodies snatched my breath away, and breathed it back infused with the romantic charm of this enchanted city.29. snatch: 搶走；infuse: 注入；enchanted: 狂喜的，極樂的。

A woman finely dressed in a silk white blouse and black slacks glided towards the pianist and gave him a full kiss. His missed note jarred30. jar: 使人感到不快。the crowd and made the violinist turn around and raise his eyebrow, though he smiled when he saw who had joined them. The woman and the pianist exchanged words, and then she straightened up. With a grin, she drew her breath from our own breaths, and breathed out opera. Her voice reverberated31. reverberate: 使回響。across the stone, once again transporting us into that concert hall under the bridge, mesmerizing32. mesmerize: 迷住。us with the touch of her song. The audience fell silent and just let her voice wash over us. When she hit those final notes, applause was not just given, but it was pressed into the hands of the musicians as they bowed. I went up to the pianist to shake his hand. It turned out he had trained formally at a music school, and this performance was something he did with his friends during his spare time.

Prague lived up to33. live up to: 沒有辜負(fù)。its reputation as a city of music. Perhaps the finest example would be the music shop whose speakers warbled classical music into the alleyway. The notes worked a charm upon any bystanders,prompting them to pause and enjoy the delicate melodies, myself included.34. 這些音符吸引了包括我在內(nèi)的所有旁觀者，讓人們停下腳步享受這美妙的旋律。Of course, that pause led to people noticing the music shop, and entering just to get a little more of those graceful notes. Those melodies emerging from thin air in the streets of Prague’s Old Town lent a magic to the city, as if the low bass notes were the sighs of the walls as they bore the weight of centuries, and the trills and staccatos were the smiles of the stones as the city heard its praises sung by tourists.35. bass: 男低音; trill: 顫音；staccato: 斷音。Yet once I turned the corner and passed under a nearby archway, the music vanished, as if the sounds of the life of the city were only reserved for those who took the time to appreciate it. Perhaps it is a sign to slow down while exploring a new city. The must-see sights will always be there. But those moments during which you see the world through a particular perspective, such as when I caught that glimpse of the city’s soul,will fly away like the fleeting36. fleeting: 飛逝的，轉(zhuǎn)瞬的。notes of music.