2022年11月03日 VOA慢速英语：属于托马斯爱迪生的钢琴显示出不寻常的痕迹

 

Thomas Edison may have found an unusual way to enjoy piano music. As someone played, the famous inventor, who had hearing problems, would move close to the instrument and bite it.
托马斯爱迪生可能已经找到了一种不同寻常的方式来欣赏钢琴音乐。当有人演奏时，这位有听力问题的著名发明家会靠近乐器并咬它。
 
Pressing his teeth into the wood of phonographs and pianos helped Edison experience the music in his skull. Or in his own words, it allowed him to "hear through my teeth."
用牙齿咬住留声机和钢琴的木头，帮助爱迪生体验了他头骨中的音乐。或者用他自己的话来说，这让他“听得见”。
 
Robert Friedman recently showed off marks on a Steinway piano that was once owned by Edison. The piano has groups of small marks above the keyboard. Keys are what the piano player strikes to make sounds.
罗伯特弗里德曼最近展示了爱迪生曾经拥有的施坦威钢琴上的标记。钢琴在键盘上方有一组小标记。琴键是钢琴演奏者用来发出声音的东西。
 
Friedman, who buys and sells Steinways, purchased the piano last year, and said he was surprised by the tooth marks left by the inventor of the phonograph, a music playing device. Friedman is now looking for the right home for the instrument.
买卖施坦威的弗里德曼去年购买了这架钢琴，他说他对留声机（一种音乐播放设备）的发明者留下的牙印感到惊讶。弗里德曼现在正在为该仪器寻找合适的归宿。
 
"I believe that it belongs somewhere where many, many, many people can see it," Friedman said.
“我相信它属于很多、很多、很多人可以看到它的地方，”弗里德曼说。
 
Edison bought the Model "B" Ebony from Steinway & Sons in 1890 for $725.
爱迪生于 1890 年以 725 美元的价格从施坦威公司购买了 Model "B" Ebony。
 
Paperwork with the sale includes the words "office furniture," suggesting it was sent to his laboratory in New Jersey. The piano "for some reason unknown to me ... gives better results than any so far tried," Edison wrote the company. "Please send bill with lowest price."
出售的文件包括“办公家具”字样，表明它被送到了他在新泽西州的实验室。这架钢琴“出于某种我不知道的原因......提供了比迄今为止任何尝试过的更好的效果，”爱迪生在公司写道。“请以最低价格寄出账单。”
 
Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. When he bought the piano 13 years later, he was experimenting with sound recording. Edison owned the instrument for many years, so it is possible it was used in early recordings.
爱迪生于 1877 年发明了留声机。13 年后他买了这架钢琴时，正在试验录音。爱迪生拥有该乐器多年，因此它有可能用于早期录音。
 
There is no known photograph of Edison biting this piano. But he was known to bite into phonographs and pianos to help him experience music as his hearing worsened. His daughter once remembered that a guest cried at the sight of Edison biting on to a piano as someone played it.
没有已知的爱迪生咬这架钢琴的照片。但众所周知，当他的听力恶化时，他会咬着留声机和钢琴来帮助他体验音乐。他的女儿曾经记得，一位客人看到爱迪生在有人弹钢琴时咬着钢琴哭了。
 
Edmund Morris wrote a 2019 biography of Edison's life. In it, he wrote that Edison said: "I hear through my teeth, and through my skull." The inventor added: "I bite my teeth into the wood and then I get it good and strong."
埃德蒙·莫里斯（Edmund Morris）在 2019 年写了爱迪生生平传记。在其中，他写道爱迪生说：“我通过牙齿和头骨听到。” 发明者补充说：“我把牙齿咬进木头里，然后我就让它变得又好又结实。”
 
Friedman said he has seen thousands of Steinway pianos over 50 years. "I've never seen that anywhere," he said about the possible tooth marks.
弗里德曼说，50 多年来，他已经看过数千架施坦威钢琴。“我从来没有在任何地方看到过这种情况，”他谈到可能的牙印时说。
 
Friedman bought the piano for about $45,000 in early January 2021. He did not notice the marks at first.
弗里德曼在 2021 年 1 月上旬以约 45,000 美元的价格买下了这架钢琴。起初他并没有注意到这些痕迹。
 
His friend Charles Frommer is a musician and recording history lover. He came to Friedman's house in New York's Hudson Valley to tune the piano. Frommer noticed the marks and told him "those are Edison's bite marks."
他的朋友 Charles Frommer 是一位音乐家和唱片历史爱好者。他来到纽约哈德逊河谷的弗里德曼家为钢琴调音。Frommer 注意到这些痕迹并告诉他“那些是爱迪生的咬痕。”
 
Friedman calls himself the Steinway hunter. He finds and buys the famous pianos from people and then sells them, usually to dealers or rebuilders. But this piano is more complex.
弗里德曼称自己为施坦威猎人。他从人们那里找到并购买著名的钢琴，然后将它们出售给经销商或翻新商。但这架钢琴更复杂。
 
Friedman does not want it to go back into private hands because of its connection to Edison. He has yet to find a historical group that would buy the piano, which he is offering to sell for what it cost him.
弗里德曼不希望它回到私人手中，因为它与爱迪生有联系。他还没有找到愿意购买这架钢琴的历史集团，他愿意以他的价格出售。
 
The Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, New Jersey, passed up a chance to buy the piano from its earlier owner in 2020 for several reasons. These included limited space, cost and the fact that some original parts were replaced since Edison owned it, museum curator Jerry Fabris said in an email.
新泽西州西奥兰治的托马斯爱迪生国家历史公园因几个原因放弃了在 2020 年从其前任所有者那里购买钢琴的机会。博物馆馆长杰里·法布里斯（Jerry Fabris）在一封电子邮件中说，其中包括有限的空间、成本以及自爱迪生拥有它以来更换了一些原始零件的事实。
 
Friedman is still looking for a home for the piano. A film also is possible, as is having the piano recorded for a special instrument recording library.
弗里德曼仍在寻找钢琴的归宿。电影也是可能的，就像为特殊乐器录音库录制的钢琴一样。
 
Edison's listening method has been tested on the piano. Not wanting to mark the instrument any further, Frommer said he and others tried biting the instrument when small wooden pieces were placed on the piano to protect it.
爱迪生的听力方法已经在钢琴上进行了测试。Frommer 不想再在乐器上做任何标记，他说他和其他人试图在钢琴上放置小木片以保护乐器时咬住乐器。
 
"We were able to replicate the effect," Frommer said. "And yeah, you do hear it in your skull."
“我们能够复制这种效果，”Frommer 说。“是的，你确实在你的头骨里听到了它。”