Mandy Harvey: Feeling the Music with Your Feet曼迪·哈維：用腳感受音樂

⊙ By Stacy Nick

翻譯：BillyBudd

曼迪·哈維的聽力天生就有問題，但這個問題一開始并未剝奪她傾聽這個世界的機會，而是在她以為這并不足以成為她音樂夢想之路上的阻礙時，才一點點地將她殘留的聽力腐蝕殆盡。在夢想即將起航的大學一年級，曼迪便被剝奪了全部聲音，她成為指揮家的夢想從此成為泡影。但天無絕人之路，她竟然學會了用腳找回聲音，成為一名歌手，不僅發了專輯，還成功闖進《美國達人秀》的總決賽。失去聽力后，曼迪從另一條路回到了音樂的懷抱。

When you see and hear Mandy Harvey perform, you notice her voice. But if you look down, you might notice she’s not wearing shoes.

Mandy: So you can feel things better. When you’re standing on the stage, you can feel the drums, and you can feel the1)bass. So being able to feel the music through the floor—it makes me feel like I’m a part of the band, and not just the only person in the room who doesn’t really understand what’s going on.

Harvey was born with near-perfect2)pitch, but she was also born with a3)deformity in her ears that made hearing difficult but not impossible with the use of lip reading and4)hearing aids. But eventually,the hearing aids stopped working.

Mandy: I didn’t wake up one day and just couldn’t hear. I woke up one day and realized I was having difficulty and that I’d5)overcompensated by lip reading, so that I didn’t really understand how bad it was.

That was a decade ago. Harvey had just started her6)freshman year as a music7)major at Colorado State University. By the end of the school year, all of her8)residual hearing was gone along with her dreams of becoming a choral9)director. She dropped out of school and10)fell into a11)depression.

When her father, Joe, suggested they play a song together on the guitar like they used to, she was12)game. Then he suggested they learn a new song and that she sing.

Mandy: I expected it to be13)utter14)crap,and I ended up being accurate with my15)notes, still. And that kind of was a door open for me.

One that unexpectedly led her to the stage.

Mandy: I used to hate performing—such anxiety, would16)throw up or17)black out. It was horrible.

Losing her hearing actually helped her get over that fear. Now she has hundreds of shows18)to her name and four albums,including a new one out later this year. She’s gotten so good at performing that sometimes the audience wonders if she’s really deaf.

Mandy: We’ve created an idea of how people are supposed to look when they’re19)broken. And so when you don’t fit that imaginary20)mold, then it’s a trick. Or you’re a21)liar, or you’re not really broken, so you shouldn’t be doing certain things.

Like sing or hold a conversation.

1) bass [be?s] n. 貝斯，即低音吉他

2) pitch [p?t?] n. 音高

3) deformity [d??f?rm?t?] n. 畸形，殘疾

4) hearing aid 助聽器

5) overcompensate [???v?r?k?mpense?t] v. 過度補償

6) freshman [?fre?m?n] n.（大學）一年級新生

7) major [?me?d??] n. 主修學生，主修生

8) residual [r??z?d???l] adj. 殘留的，剩余的

9) director [d??rekt?] n. 指揮家

10) fall into 進入，陷入（某種狀態）

11) depression [d??pre??n] n. 沮喪，抑郁，動詞形式為depress。

12) game [ge?m] adj. 愿意嘗試的，心甘情愿的

13) utter [??t?] adj. 完全的，徹底的

14) crap [kr?p] n. 垃圾

15) note [n??t] n. 調子，聲調

16) throw up 嘔吐

17) black out 昏厥，暫時失去知覺

18) to one’s name 在某人名下，屬某人所有

19) broken [?br??k?n] adj. 患病的；（精神）頹喪的，消沉的

20) mold [m??ld] n. 模子，模型

21) liar [?la??] n. 騙子Wayne Connell (22)Invisible Disabilities Association): We oftentimes look at people,and we make a decision based on what we can see.

That’s Wayne Connell. He founded the Denver23)nonprofit Invisible Disabilities after dealing with a similar situation with his wife,Sherri. She has24)multiple sclerosis.

Connell says because of the wide range,it’s impossible to know exactly how many people are dealing with invisible disabilities.Harvey’s been a voice for the program for years and says, dealing with her disability every day can sometimes feel like a battle.

Mandy: And there are days when I lose and I’m depressed and I can’t get out of bed.But Mandy Harvey is now on her biggest stage ever—national television. And she wants to be judged on her voice and her songs, not her back story.

Mandy: Not that I’m hiding my disability or…or whatever you would call it. I don’t find it to be really a disability. It’s just, uh, I do things differently. And I want people to appreciate music for what it is and not because of a story,you know? I’m not a story. I’m a person. And my25)passion is music, and I want your passion to be my music. So judge me on my music.

22) invisible [?n?v?z?b?l] adj. 看不見的，無形的

23) nonpro fi t [n?n?pr?f?t] n. 非營利組織

24) multiple sclerosis 多發性硬化，一種自身免疫病，常伴隨肢體無力、抑郁、暴躁等癥狀。

25) passion [?p??n] n. 熱情，酷愛

見招拆招

作文素材常積累：曼迪·哈維——If you don’t give up on something you truly believe in, you will fi nd a way. 人生從不跟人開玩笑，說關門就關門，說好給你留一扇窗就會留一扇窗。上天奪走了曼迪的聽力，卻也為她留了一扇窗。既然耳朵聽不見，那就用身體的其他部位去切實地感受音樂吧。門關了又怎樣？失去了聽力的曼迪照樣當上了歌手。假如人生讓你吃了閉門羹，允許你默哀兩分鐘，接下來就收拾收拾心情，找找那扇給你留著的窗吧！

She dropped out of school and fell into a depression.

Fall into sth. 是英語中用得比較頻繁的動詞詞組之一，它具有的含義也比較廣泛，有如例句中“（被動、無意中）陷入（某種不愉快的狀態）”的意義，還有“分成，歸入（某一類別）”，以及“（不知不覺地）開始做某事”的意思。如：

● Alone in London, without friends or money, Catherine fell into despair. （孤身在倫敦，沒有朋友，而且身無分文，凱瑟琳陷入了絕望。）

● This book falls into the class of children’s stories. （這本書歸到兒童故事類。）

● He fell into a conversation with the taxi driver. （他在不知不覺間就跟出租車司機聊了起來。）

當你觀看并聆聽曼迪·哈維表演時，你會注意到她的美妙嗓音。但如果你往下看，你可能還會注意到她光著腳。

曼迪：這樣你可以更好地感受一切。當你站在舞臺上時，你可以感受到鼓跟低音吉他的震動。能夠通過地板感受音樂，這讓我覺得我也是樂隊的一部分，而不是整個房間里唯一一個對周遭發生之事一無所知的人。

哈維生來就具有近乎完美的絕對音感，但與生俱來的還有她耳部的殘疾，這對她的聽力造成了影響。但通過讀唇術及助聽器，哈維并非完全聽不到聲音。但到最后，助聽器也失去了作用。

曼迪：我并不是某天醒來突然就聽不見了，而是在某天醒來后發現自己有聽力障礙，但因為我靠讀唇就能完全理解對方的話，所以我當時并未真正認識到情況到底有多糟。

那已經是10年前的事了。當時哈維才剛入讀科羅拉多州立大學，還是個音樂系的大一新生。到了大一學年末，哈維連殘余的聽力也失去了，與之一同消逝的還有她成為合唱指揮家的夢想。她因此輟學，一蹶不振。

當她的父親喬提議兩人像以前一樣來一曲吉他合奏時，她愿意嘗試一下。之后他又提議兩人來學首新歌，讓她來唱。

曼迪：我以為我會唱得很爛，但其實我都在調上。這件事就像為我打開了一扇門。

一扇將她帶上舞臺的意外之門。

曼迪：我以前很討厭表演——表演焦慮會讓我惡心得想吐或暈過去，那曾讓我覺得非常可怕。

聽力的喪失實際上幫助她克服了那種恐懼。如今，她已經完成了上百場演出，還出了四張專輯，其中一張即將在年末發行。她對表演已經變得非常拿手，以致觀眾有時候會懷疑她是不是真的失聰了。

曼迪：我們對受疾病困擾的人所該有的樣子形成了某種思維定式。因此，當你跟這個假想形象對不上號，人們就會覺得這是場騙局。或者你就是個騙子，覺得你其實并不是真的有病，所以有些事你是不該去做的。

例如唱歌，或是與人交談。

韋恩·康奈爾（隱性殘疾協會）：我們經常以貌取人，根據我們眼睛看到的東西下結論。

剛才說話的是韋恩·康奈爾，他的妻子謝莉患有多發性硬化癥。在跟妻子一起遭遇了類似情況后，他在丹佛成立了非營利組織“隱性殘疾”。

康奈爾稱，因為這個范圍太廣，我們很難得知究竟有多少人正在與隱匿的殘疾進行著抗爭。哈維為該組織發聲已經好幾年了。她說，自己每天都得應對自身的殘疾，這種生活有時會讓她覺得像是一場戰斗。曼迪：我也有過丟盔棄甲、沮喪消沉、不想離開被窩的時候。

但曼迪·哈維已經站上了她迄今為止所踏足過的最大的舞臺——全國電視臺。她希望人們能以她的歌聲，而非她的背景故事來評價她。

曼迪：我并不是想要隱瞞我的殘疾或……或是你們給它的什么名稱。我并不認為那真的是一種殘疾，那只是，呃……我做事的方式與眾不同。我希望觀眾欣賞我音樂的原因是出于它本身的價值，而不是因為一個故事，你知道吧？我不是一個故事，我是一個人。我熱愛音樂，我希望你熱愛的是我的音樂。所以，以音樂作為評判我的標準吧。