2 A Gift for Music

CHAPTER 2 A Gift for Music When Stevie was six years old, people in the Detroit area got to listen to a new radio station. On Sunday nights, the station played only the blues—a type of folk music created by black people in the southern part of the United States in the early 1900s. Lula often had the radio on when she was home. She liked the blues. Every week, Stevie was sure to tune in. By listening to the radio, Stevie became a big fan of musicians such as B. B. King, who became known as the "King of the Blues." Even though Stevie was blind, his siblings never considered him handicapped. Stevie went to a special school, the Fitzgerald Elementary School, but otherwise did most of the same things that his brothers did. "Some things he did better," Stevie's older brother Milton said.

史蒂夫六岁的时候，底特律地区的人们有机会收听一家新的广播电台。 周日晚上，电台只播放布鲁斯音乐——一种由美国南部黑人在20世纪初创作的民间音乐。 卢拉在家时经常开着收音机。 她喜欢蓝调。每个星期，史蒂维都会收听。 通过听收音机，史蒂夫成为了像B。 他后来被称为“蓝调之王”。 虽然史蒂夫双目失明，但他的兄弟姐妹们从不认为他是残疾人。 史蒂夫上的是一所特殊的学校，菲茨杰拉德小学，但在其他方面，他和他的兄弟们做的大部分事情是一样的。 “有些事情他做得更好，”史蒂夫的哥哥米尔顿说。

Stevie liked to run around, climb trees, and even ride bikes. He would pedal while one of his brothers handled the steering.

史蒂夫喜欢到处跑，爬树，甚至骑自行车。 他会踩踏板，而他的一个兄弟负责方向盘。

Lula taught him not to feel sorry for himself because of his blindness, and she decided early on that she wasn't going to be overprotective of him. Lula did, however, hold out hope that Stevie might one day see. She took him to different doctors. She even tried faith healers— preachers who believed that God could perform a miracle through them. They laid their hands on Stevie and prayed that God would let him see. But none of it worked. Lula worried that Stevie would be unhappy because he was blind. But Stevie was happy. Finally, he told Lula one day, "Mama, you know maybe God doesn't mean for me to see. Maybe God meant for me to do something else." It was apparent that "something else" was certainly going to include music.

卢拉教他不要因为失明而自怜，她很早就决定，她不会过度保护他。 然而，卢拉确实希望史蒂维有一天能看到。 她带他去看了不同的医生。 她甚至尝试过信仰治疗师——那些相信上帝可以通过他们创造奇迹的牧师。 他们把手放在史蒂夫身上，祈祷上帝能让他看见。 但这些都不起作用。卢拉担心史蒂维会因为失明而不开心。 但是史蒂维很高兴。最后，有一天他对卢拉说：“妈妈，你知道，也许上帝不想让我看见。 也许上帝要我做别的事。” 很明显，“别的东西”肯定会包括音乐。

Lula bought Stevie a cardboard drum set, and he quickly wore it out. A neighbor had a piano in her home and was delighted when Stevie came by to play. "Come over anytime," she told Stevie—and he did. When the woman moved away, she gave the piano to Stevie. Stevie was eight years old when he went with Lula and his brothers to an outdoor concert at a neighborhood park. He caught the attention of the leader of the band. Stevie told him he was a musician, too. So the bandleader led him onto the stage and sat him down at the drums. Stevie

卢拉给史蒂维买了一套硬纸板鼓，他很快就用坏了。 一位邻居家里有一架钢琴，当史蒂夫来弹奏时，她很高兴。 “随时都可以过来，”她对史蒂夫说——他也来了。 当那个女人离开时，她把钢琴给了史蒂夫。 当史蒂夫八岁的时候，他和卢拉和他的兄弟们一起去附近公园听户外音乐会。 他引起了乐队队长的注意。 史蒂夫告诉他他也是个音乐家。 于是乐队指挥把他领到舞台上，让他坐在鼓旁。 史蒂夫

wowed the crowd with his playing, and the bandleader gave him seventy-five cents. Stevie loved that he got paid to do something he really enjoyed! Stevie sang in the choir at Whitestone Baptist Church. Churchgoers loved to hear him sing gospel music at Sunday services. But one of the church leaders heard him singing rhythm-and- blues music in the neighborhood one day. Rhythm and blues, which was still relatively new in the late 1950s, was not considered appropriate music by traditional churches. So Stevie was asked to leave his church choir.

他的演奏博得了观众的喝彩，乐队指挥给了他七十五美分。 史蒂夫很高兴他能做他真正喜欢的事情而得到报酬！史蒂夫在白石浸信会教堂唱诗班唱歌。 去教堂做礼拜的人都喜欢听他在周日礼拜时唱福音音乐。 但是有一天，一位教会领袖听到他在附近唱节奏布鲁斯音乐。 在20世纪50年代末，节奏布鲁斯还相对较新，传统教堂认为它不适合。 所以史蒂维被要求离开他的教堂唱诗班。