Yo Yo Ma

Yo -Yo Ma. Written by Mike Vago. Illustrated by Brock Nickel. Focus Question. How is the Silk Road Ensemble a reflection of Yo -Yo Ma's background in music?

马友友。 作者：迈克·瓦戈 绘者：布罗克·尼克尔 思考问题： 丝绸之路乐团如何体现马友友的音乐背景呢？

An Early Start Yo -Yo Ma was born in 1955 in Paris, France into a musical family. His mother was a singer and his father played the violin and taught music. His older sister, Yu Chang, had also played the violin since she was a small child. Yo -Yo's parents were both born in China. They moved to France so his father could teach at a music school there. When Yo -Yo was seven, the family moved to New York City. Once there, Yo -Yo's father founded the Children's Orchestra Society to teach classical music to kids.

早涉音乐 马友友1955年出生在法国巴黎的一个音乐世家。 他的妈妈是歌手，爸爸会拉小提琴还教授音乐。 他的姐姐马友庆从小也学习拉小提琴。 马友友的父母都出生在中国。 他们搬到法国，方便爸爸在当地的音乐学校任教。 马友友七岁的时候，全家搬到了纽约市。 到了纽约之后，马友友的爸爸创办了儿童管弦乐协会，给孩子们教授古典音乐。

Yo -Yo's parents gave him a violin when he was only three. Ma says he sounded terrible and thought he wasn't any good. Yu Chang says he smashed more than one violin in frustration. He quickly quit playing.

马友友才三岁的时候，爸爸妈妈就送了他一把小提琴。 马友友说那时候拉出来的声音难听极了，他觉得自己根本不适合拉琴。 马友庆说，他气呼呼摔碎了不止一把小提琴。 很快他就放弃拉小提琴了。

Yo -Yo didn't stay away from music for long. A year later, his parents took him to a concert in Paris. Yo -Yo saw a double bass and decided he wanted to play it. A double bass is about six feet, 1 .8 meters tall. Yo -Yo's parents thought it was much too large for a four -year -old. Instead, they got him the second biggest stringed instrument, the cello.

马友友并没有离开音乐太久。 一年后，爸爸妈妈带他去巴黎听了一场音乐会。 马友友见到了低音提琴，就决定自己要拉它。 低音提琴差不多有六英尺高，也就是1.8米。 马友友的爸爸妈妈觉得，对四岁的孩子来说它实在太大了。 于是他们给马友友买了第二大的弦乐器，也就是大提琴。

The maws pushed both of their children to play difficult music. Their father said that any task could be broken up into smaller, easier parts. Their mother taught them to learn the notes so well that they wouldn't have to think about them. That way, they could think about the feelings behind the music instead.

马友友的父母要求两个孩子练习高难度的乐曲。 爸爸说，任何任务都可以拆分成更小、更简单的部分来完成。 妈妈教他们把音符练得熟透，熟到不用刻意思考就能拉对。 这样一来，他们就可以专心体会乐曲背后蕴藏的情感了。

young star. In 1962, seven -year -old Yo -Yo performed for President John F. Kennedy. The following year, Yo -Yo and Yu Chang played together on TV for millions of people. Most children that age are playing their first notes on the recorder. Ma was already one of the most famous musicians in the world.

年少成名 1962年，七岁的马友友给约翰·肯尼迪总统演奏了乐曲。 第二年，马友友和姐姐一起上电视，给数百万观众演奏。 同龄的大多数学龄儿童才刚刚开始学吹竖笛认音符。 马友友就已经是全世界最有名的音乐家之一了。