A Soul Singer and a Shoeshiner

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  This week we hear from Earl Reynolds, who recorded an interview with his daughter Ashley. He told her about his childhood in Roanoke, Virginia, where his father had a barbershop called The Virginia Sanitary Barber Shop.
  Earl grew up shining shoes in that barbershop. And one day, while Earl was working, a tour bus rolled up to a theater nearby. The doors opened and out stepped James Brown.
  Earl Reynolds: He immediately walked over to my dad’s barbershop, and he just started shaking hands and talking to people. And he looked down at me, and he said, “You must be the 1)bootblack.” In barbershop 2)vernacular, that is, “you shine shoes.”And he said, “Well, come on back here and shine my shoes.” Of course, his shoes were already shined; he was 3)immaculate, from head to toe.
  So I went through the process of re-shining his shoes, and he got off the shoeshine stand, and he handed me a $5 bill. And he told me that back in his hometown, he started out shining shoes. And he said, “It’s an honorable profession. It’s good work. You just need to think about, now, what else you want to do with your life.”
  That was my first step along to my education.
  I know that your granddaddy was counting on me to take over the barbershop. You know, I’m his son—his only son—and he was 4)grooming me for that. But one day, I had this big announcement to make to your granddaddy, that I want to go to college, and not take over the barbershop.
  So I finally got the nerve to talk to him about it. And for months, your granddaddy did not speak to me. That’s how big his disappointment was. I applied to colleges and universities on my own; I had to learn how to fill out forms on my own. And I got a letter from Fayetteville State Teachers College in Fayetteville, North Carolina, saying that we’d like for you to come.
  I remember piling into your Uncle James’ 5)station wagon, and they took me down there and dropped me off, and I watched them drive away. And I said, OK, now what are you gonna do?
  I was fortunate to graduate at the top of my class, and Granddaddy came to graduation. Well, as you know, one of his famous sayings was, life is a process of adjustment. So when your late grandma told me he was coming, I knew that we had 6)reconciled. We had finally bridged that gap.
  (Earl Reynolds went on to become the Director of Community Development in Danville, Va.)
  


  当擦鞋童遇上灵魂歌王
  语言是有力量的。有时候,一句话能改变一个人的一生。作为无可争议的美国灵魂乐教父,詹姆斯·布朗或许不曾想到,他的一句话改变了一个擦鞋童的人生走向。
  这个星期,我们来听听厄尔·雷诺兹的故事。他录下了一段对女儿阿什莉说的话。他跟她说起了自己在弗吉尼亚州罗亚诺克时的童年。在那里,他的父亲开了一家理发店,名为“弗吉尼亚卫生理发店”。
  厄尔从小就在理发店里为客人擦皮鞋。有一天,厄尔正在工作,一辆观光客车在附近的一家剧院停了下来。车门一打开,詹姆斯·布朗走了出来。
  厄尔·雷诺兹:他立刻走进我爸爸的理发店,开始和人们握手、交谈。他低头看着我,说道:“你一定是擦鞋童了。”在理发业的行话里,意思是,“你是给人家擦鞋上光的”。他又说:“噢,到我这边来,给我擦一擦鞋子吧。”当然了,他的鞋子是已经擦过的了;他从头到脚都修饰得无懈可击。
  于是,我又再为他擦了一遍鞋子。他从鞋摊子上下来,递给我一张五美元的钞票。他跟我说,他还在家乡那时就是从擦皮鞋开始自己的人生的。他说:“这是项光荣的职业,是份不错的工作;只是如今你要想想,你的人生还有什么其他的事情是你想做的。”
  那就是我走向接受教育道路的第一步。
  我知道你祖父一直指望我能接手他的理发店。你知道,我是他的独子,他一直训练我向那方面发展。但有一天,我对你祖父宣布了这个重大的决定:我想上大学,而不是接手理发店。
  因此,我最后鼓起勇气跟他说了我的决定。有好几个月,你祖父都不跟我说话。可想而知他有多失望。我自己申请大学,自己学着填写申请表格。后来我收到一封来自位于北卡罗莱纳州费耶特维尔的费耶特维尔州立师范学院的来信,说欢迎我就读。
  我记得那个情景:我挤进了你詹姆斯叔叔的旅行车,他们把我送到了那里就把我放下了。我看着他们把车开走。我对自己说,好了,现在要干什么呢?
  我很幸运,能够以班内名列前茅的成绩毕业,而你祖父也来参加了我的毕业礼。噢,你知道,他的名言之一就是:人生就是一个不断适应的过程。所以,当你的先祖母告诉我你祖父会来的时候,我就知道我们已经和好了。我们最终冰释前嫌。
  (厄尔·雷诺兹后来当上了弗吉尼亚州丹维尔市社区发展局局长。)翻译:风筝
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