英文欣赏：马克西的幸福秘诀
编者按：
我深信一个人要想在这世上留下些什么，不一定非得成为贝多芬或是伦勃朗，或是生儿育女。确切地说，这并非一则信条，也不完全是个人奋斗的目标——或许有人觉得是吧？不管怎样，倘若在我死后，我在指挥台上的浮沉得失能让我像马克西那样永远活在大家的心中，那我就不负此生了。
Maxis’s Recipe for Happiness
by Meredith Willson
I guess the creed of all human beings embraces the desire to leave their mark on the moral world, when they pass to the immortal one. Maybe this is even the strongest of all urges of the human soul. Many men feel a fervent need to leave a son to carry on their name; noncreative people envy the Shakespeares and the Beethovens, as draftsmen envy the Frank Lloyd Wrights, and as the commercial artist envies the Rembrandts and the Raphaels. Maybe it’s this kind of frustration that caused Henry Thoreau to remark, “the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.”
Well, I had a friend by the name of Max Terr. And Max taught me that genius is by no means an essential for escape from this “quiet desperation.” Max had been associated with me as choral director for the past twenty years or so. Max was interested in almost everything; and considering that he was also a perfectionist, his interest was always a very intense one – even if it was only in a pencil.
Being a composer and orchestrator, he was constantly writing at the piano and he could see no reason to live with a clumsy pencil or a bad light, so he puttered and he searched until he found a graceful, dependable, thoroughtly efficient pencil and a fine light for his work, completely comfortable and satisfactory in every respect. Now, Max very casually included his friends in this continuous research of his, and no one knew Max ever took any of his suggestions lightly.
Since Max has gone, not a day passes that isn’t a pleasanter day because of the things he left behind him. I have his particular kind of pencil in every pocket of every suit, on the desk, on the right table and on the piano. Couldn’t live without ’em. I have the light with the flexible stand Maxie insisted I buy, so I no longer strain my eyes.
We have the world’s greatest cookies at our house which Max sent one Christmas, after shopping all over town to find the best items to include in a basket for us. He found the cookies in a little shop as only he could patiently unearth such things. Now all our friends keep them around all the time. They call them “Maxie’s cookies” without ever having met Max Terr.
“Tristram Shandy”, Max told me one day, “is an old story with a tremendously inventive style. You like to write in the experimental forms. You have to read that book … it’ll give you a lot of courage in doing things your own way” – and it sure did. Another day, he said, “The colors in your music room make it difficult to have just the right kind of a picture in there, but you know, Meredith, I picked up a print in a little art store that I think will just do the trick. Here it is. Take a look at it – didn’t cost hardly anything either.”
In every room of our apartment there are memories of Max Terr. And lots of our friends swear by his patiently discovered items, passing them along to their friends … praising “Maxie’s cookies,” “Maxie’s music paper,” “Maxie’s pencils and piano light” without ever having known Max Terr. So I guess I believe pretty firmly that you don’t have to be a Beethoven or a Rembrandt, or even a father, to leave a heritage to the mortal world. This is not a creed, exactly, nor is it a complete personal objective – or is it? Anyhow, I think if I leave behind me any part of the kind of things that keep Max Terr alive in the hearts of his fellow, I will have justified my brief hour of strutting and fretting upon the stage.
马克西的幸福秘诀
梅雷迪思·威尔森
我猜想每个人在撒手尘寰之时都希望能在尘世中留下自己生命的足迹，这或许是人们心底最强烈的渴望。于是，很多人热衷于生养子嗣来传宗接代，才华平庸的人羡慕莎士比亚和贝多芬，就像建筑绘图员羡慕建筑大师弗兰克·劳埃德.赖特，商业美术家羡慕大画家伦勃朗和拉斐尔。也许正因为这类可望不可即的烦恼，梭罗才会感慨，“大多数人的生活充满隐秘的绝望”。
我有一位名叫马克西·特尔的朋友，从他身上我明白了一个道理：要想摆脱这种“隐秘的绝望”，天赋绝非必备条件。马克西当了二十多年的合唱团指挥。作为一名完美主义者，他的兴趣广泛，激情洋溢，哪怕一支小小的铅笔也让他颇费心思。
身为作曲和管弦乐编曲人，马克西经常在钢琴上边弹边写，因此他对铅笔和灯光颇为挑剔，决不将就。他四处寻觅，终于找到了一种优雅美观、性能上佳的铅笔和一盏优质的台灯，各方面都让人感到舒适称心。后来，马克西随便一召，他的朋友便会加入他的“寻宝”队伍，认识他的人都会重视他的建议。
马克西虽然走了，可他留给我们的一切让每一天都能过得更快乐。我一直在用他慧眼相中的那种铅笔，每套衣服的每个口袋里放一支，书桌、床头柜和钢琴上也都有，简直是笔不离身。马克西竭力向我们推荐的那种台灯我也一直在用，它的底座可随意调节，我的眼睛因此不再受罪。
记得有一年圣诞节，为了将一些天下最美味的饼干放在礼篮中送给我们，马克西跑遍全城，不厌其烦，终于在只有他才能发现的一家小店里找到了。现在，这种饼干成了我们朋友家中的常备食品，虽然他们从未见过马克西，也和我们一起称这种饼干为“马克西饼”。
“你得好好读读《项狄传》，”马克西有天这么对我说。“你不是喜欢尝试不同的写作风格吗？这本书内容老套，但写作风格极富创意，会让你更勇于特立独行。”果然，我从中受益颇多。还有一次他说，“你那间音乐室的色彩与整体风格不太协调。你看，梅雷迪思，这是我在一家艺术品商店挑中的版画，效果肯定好。送给你，看——价钱也不贵！”
我们那套公寓的每间屋子都有马克西.特尔留下的印迹。我们的许多朋友对马克西悉心觅得的宝贝评价很高，将它们推荐给他们的朋友，他们对“马克西饼”、“马克西乐谱纸”、“马克西铅笔”和“马克西台灯”等等赞不绝口，尽管他们与马克西素昧平生。所以我深信一个人要想在这世上留下些什么，不一定非得成为贝多芬或是伦勃朗，或是生儿育女。确切地说，这并非一则信条，也不完全是个人奋斗的目标——或许有人觉得是吧？不管怎样，倘若在我死后，我在指挥台上的浮沉得失能让我像马克西那样永远活在大家的心中，那我就不负此生了。
附注：
梅雷迪思.威尔森：是位作曲家、指挥家，后来成为纽约爱乐交响乐团里的一名长笛手。
1.creed [kri:d] n. 信条, 教义
Christians profess their faith when they say the Creed.
基督教徒在念信经时就表明了他们的宗教信仰.
2.fervent adj. 热的, 炎热的, 热心的
He’s a fervent believer in free speech.
他是言论自由的强烈信仰者。
3.orchestrate vt. 给…配管弦乐曲
The demonstration was carefully orchestrated to attract maximum publicity.
该示威经过精心策画以尽量吸引公众注意.
4.unearth vt. 发掘, 掘出，发现并披露
I unearthed the portrait from the attic.
我从阁楼上搜出这幅画像.
5.strut n. 高视阔步, 支柱 v. 趾高气扬地走, 支撑
He strutted in front of me like a peacock.
他像一只骄傲的孔雀一样在我前面趾高气扬地走着。
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