The Soul of the City: Prague

By Leo Luo

Traveling is not a list of must-see attractions, but a blank diary to record the memories which remind us that learning is a lifelong journey. These memoirs are meant to open a window to reveal the everyday details that encapsulate1. encapsulate: 压缩。the souls of the cities that I have visited.

Prague is never a quiet city. Some may attribute it to the endless throngs of tourists that swarm the city, who clad themselves in sweatdrenched T-shirts emblazoned with American brands and clutch cell phone cameras that have now become an extension of the human body.2. 有些人将其归因于源源不断、挤满整个城市的游客。汗水浸透了他们印有美国商标的T恤衫，而他们紧握着手机拍照，仿佛手机已经成为他们身体的一部分。attribute to: 归因于；throng: 人群；swarm: 挤满；clad: 穿衣；sweat-drenched: 汗水打湿的；emblazon: 纹章修饰。(Granted, my parents and I were also guilty of the camera worship,but we were certainly better dressed. I had learned from our European travels last year, but that’s a story for another time.) Others may say that the merchants who envelop every street corner and wall with both their shops and shouts, not unlike those in the alleyways of Venice, are the source of Prague’s constant commotion.3. envelop: 包围；alleyway:小巷；commotion: 骚动。Both explanations have their merits, but after spending three days in this city of poets and performers, I believe that there is something else that drives Prague’s palpable4. palpable: 易察觉的。heartbeat. That very thing is the presence of music: the gatekeeper to the soul of the city.

旅行的目的不在于终点，而在于沿途的风景。置身布拉格的旅行之中，你所能感受到的不仅是该座城市的特色美景，更多的还是其动听的旋律。音乐是这座城市的灵魂所在。街头艺人的表演、商人的叫卖声、教堂的钟楼声等等，带领人们走进了别样的音乐世界。

When my parents and I first stepped into the Old Town Square, a cobblestone plaza enveloped by magnificent churches and red brick buildings, we were greeted by the shrill bleat of a cornet.5. cobblestone: 鹅卵石，圆石；plaza: 广场；magnificent: 壮丽的，华丽的；bleat:咩咩声； cornet: 短号。Alongside drums and a guitar, all the instruments harmonized to the warbling chants of the lead singer, who adorned himself in thick black robes despite the beating sun.6. warbling: 颤声的；chant: 歌，歌声；adorn: 打扮；robe: 长袍，礼服。As beads of sweat dripped down his beard,he faced the gathered crowd and began to bellow7. bellow: 大声歌唱。. The instruments struck up a Gaelic melody as the singer’s voice sent echoes throughout the square.8. strike up: 开始演奏；Gaelic melody: 盖尔乐曲；echo: 回声。“The Bohemian Bards” read the sign placed on the ground in front of them,9. Bohemian: 波西米亚的，波西米亚是古中欧地名，占据了古捷克地区西部三分之二的区域，现在位于包括布拉格在内的捷克共和国中西部地区；bard: 吟游诗人。right beside a rack of their CDs and an overturned hat for donations. While the other gathered tourists rifled through their pockets for spare crow ns, the Czech currency,10. rifle through: 翻遍；spare: 多余的；Czech currency: 捷克货币。to spare,I used the pause to drink in the atmosphere of the square.

All kinds of activities were in full swing beneath the tolling bells of the churches, whose chimes fought with the bustle of the crowds to be heard.11. 伴随着教堂的钟声，各类活动纷纷展开，钟声与人们的喧闹声此起彼伏。in full swing: 活跃展开；chime: 钟声。While the thundering clangs called the faithful to open their hearts to God, performers and peddlers also called them to open their wallets to their merchandise. A man sporting a clown nose and parachute pants held two rods connected by loops of string at one end.12. sport: 故意显示，夸示；parachute: 降落伞；rod: 杆，棒；loop: 环。He would dip the loops of string in soapy water before an expectant crowd, all the while gesturing to the overturned hat on the ground with a “please“ and a smile.13. 在满怀期待的人群前，他把线环放在肥皂水中，同时不停地指向地上翻过来的帽子，做出“请给点钱”的微笑。expectant: 期待的；all the while:一直，始终；gesture: 打手势。After he had deemed that the crowd’s“donations” were sufficient, he lifted the rods from the water and spread the string. To shrieks of delight from toddlers and excitable teenage girls,enormous bubbles oozed into the air, their iridescent surfaces distorting the sunlight into a thousand colours.14. shriek: 尖叫；toddler: 初学走路的孩子；ooze into: 渗入；iridescent: 彩虹色的；distort: 扭曲，变形。Other performers ranged from bird imitators, whose chirps and whistles from their pursed lips fooled me an embarrassing amount of times, to merchants selling puppets that shrieked at the tap of a button.15. 其他表演者有模仿鸟叫的人们，他们撅起嘴唇发出啾啾的哨子声，让我好几次都尴尬地以为是鸟儿在啼叫，还有一些小摊商贩，出售一按按钮就会叫的木偶玩具。pursed: 撅起的；puppet: 木偶。A woman cranked16. crank: 用曲柄转动。a music box, and a man played famous classical pieces upon a keyboard of wine glasses filled with water. All the appearances of the performers were certainly disheveled17. dishevelled: 不整洁的，凌乱的。. But the magic in their hands or voices transformed their unkempt hair and tattered clothes into the romantic dress of strolling players,18. unkempt: 蓬乱的；tattered: 破烂的，衣衫褴褛的；strolling players: 巡回演出的演员。and the square back into the old marketplace of ages past. This transformation was my first glimpse into both Prague’s past and its soul. The music of the church bells and merchant calls appeared to turn back the gears of time. Or perhaps the gears are independent from the rest of the world, only creaking forward when the music of the market echoes through the square, bringing visitors back into Prague’s gilded past. A time machine, if you will.

Mirroring the transformation at the square, when the sun draws its oceanic blankets at twilight, another metamorphosis19. metamorphosis: 变化。occurs. As the crimson light bathes the earth in its rosy glow, the juxtaposition of the sun’s ruby rays and the night’s sapphire shades entices all inner beauty to step into the dying light.20. 当深红色日光的玫瑰色光芒普照大地，太阳红宝石色的光线与夜晚蓝宝石色的光辉相互照应，所有的内在美都笼罩在这即将消失的光芒下。crimson: 深红色的； glow: 光芒；juxtaposition: 并列；ruby: 红宝石色的；sapphir: 蓝宝石色的；entice: 诱惑。Eyes begin to sparkle,skin begins to shine and grow supple21. supple: 柔软的。, and each word carries a tinkle of romance, no matter what is said. At this time the true splendour22. splendour: 光彩壮丽。of Prague emerged as a jewel in the night. Underneath the famous Charles Bridge23. Charles Bridge: 查理大桥，建于1357年，是一座极具艺术价值的石桥。, hidden by both the shade and the ragtag24. ragtag: 衣衫褴褛的。clothes, stood a violinist and pianist. At first glance, I almost walked past them, thinking that the pair was just some more buskers25. busker: 街头艺人。in a city full of them. Then I noticed the circle of onlookers with their phones out, video at the ready. I halted26. halt: 停止，立定。in your tracks,wondering what would make people, especially in this day and age of instant gratification, wait so expectantly.

The moment the violinist touched his bow to the strings and when the pianist brushed his fingers against the first keys,27. bow: 弓；brush: 拨弄。the scene changed. In my mind’s eye, the bridge morphed into a grand opera theatre, the circle of bystanders became rows upon rows of audience members, and the buskers were tuxedoed virtuosos.28. 在我的脑海中，这座桥变身成为盛大的歌剧院，周围的旁观者成为一排又一排的观众，街头艺人化身为穿着无尾礼服的演奏家。morphe: 变化；tuxedoed: 穿无尾小礼服的；virtuoso: 演奏家。Now I don’t know much about music, so I could not judge whether their performance was actually noteworthy or not. But in the evening shadow, under the twinkle of the stars, their melodies snatched my breath away, and breathed it back infused with the romantic charm of this enchanted city.29. snatch: 抢走；infuse: 注入；enchanted: 狂喜的，极乐的。

A woman finely dressed in a silk white blouse and black slacks glided towards the pianist and gave him a full kiss. His missed note jarred30. jar: 使人感到不快。the crowd and made the violinist turn around and raise his eyebrow, though he smiled when he saw who had joined them. The woman and the pianist exchanged words, and then she straightened up. With a grin, she drew her breath from our own breaths, and breathed out opera. Her voice reverberated31. reverberate: 使回响。across the stone, once again transporting us into that concert hall under the bridge, mesmerizing32. mesmerize: 迷住。us with the touch of her song. The audience fell silent and just let her voice wash over us. When she hit those final notes, applause was not just given, but it was pressed into the hands of the musicians as they bowed. I went up to the pianist to shake his hand. It turned out he had trained formally at a music school, and this performance was something he did with his friends during his spare time.

Prague lived up to33. live up to: 没有辜负。its reputation as a city of music. Perhaps the finest example would be the music shop whose speakers warbled classical music into the alleyway. The notes worked a charm upon any bystanders,prompting them to pause and enjoy the delicate melodies, myself included.34. 这些音符吸引了包括我在内的所有旁观者，让人们停下脚步享受这美妙的旋律。Of course, that pause led to people noticing the music shop, and entering just to get a little more of those graceful notes. Those melodies emerging from thin air in the streets of Prague’s Old Town lent a magic to the city, as if the low bass notes were the sighs of the walls as they bore the weight of centuries, and the trills and staccatos were the smiles of the stones as the city heard its praises sung by tourists.35. bass: 男低音; trill: 颤音；staccato: 断音。Yet once I turned the corner and passed under a nearby archway, the music vanished, as if the sounds of the life of the city were only reserved for those who took the time to appreciate it. Perhaps it is a sign to slow down while exploring a new city. The must-see sights will always be there. But those moments during which you see the world through a particular perspective, such as when I caught that glimpse of the city’s soul,will fly away like the fleeting36. fleeting: 飞逝的，转瞬的。notes of music.