NPR 12-17:The Day the Show Didn't Go On 一次令我难忘的调

Piano tuner Ron Kroenke inadvertently made residents of a nursing home unhappy. But one of them understood

This is Dave Isay, creator of StoryCorps, the project that records the stories of everyday Americans. StoryCorps airs each Friday on NPR's morning edition. Support for StoryCorps comes from AT&T, proudly bringing StoryCorps listeners America's past, present and future. The new AT&T, your world delivered.

Welcome to the StoryCorps podcast, I'm Michael Garofalo, producer here at StoryCorps. In this episode², story from Ron Kroenke. He is a professional piano tuner in Omaha Nebraska, and here Kroenke remembers one December day when he was called to tune¹ a piano at a nearby nursing home.

A group gathered around in chairs and they were all wearing their nice Christmas clothing. I thought, well, how nice. You know, they have no idea that I'm going to bore them to sleep with my tuning³. And I’m kind of working alone happily and I’m smiling at people. A few of them were looking at me like, what in the world is he doing? One lady was just glaring⁴ at me. Another lady was given me sympathetic looks, her name turned out to be Rose. And then the activity director comes in and says“Ok, everybody, Ms Jennifer was here and she thought that the piano man was tuning the piano, so she’ll be back in January”. I didn’t realize they had a concert schedule that day, About a third of the people looked highly disappointed, and they were murmuring to each other, trying to tell each other what had happened.

There is an angry lady barked at me and said: "Haven't you ever heard if isn't broke, don't fix it?" and she stormed off. I had scooted it over on my seat out of the view of Rose because she looked so hurt, and suddenly, she touched my arm, and it startled⁵ me. And I looked. And she was very close to me and she told me very sincerely, I've been sitting here the whole time and I've been watching what you do and I can tell that you're the kind of person who would never walk away from this piano until everything was just so. That was a moment where someone did just the right thing, just out of the blue and it did mean something to me.

Ron Kroenke, at StoryCorps in Omaha Nebraska. You can find more stories like this one in the new StoryCorps book, “Listening Is an Act of Love”, available now at your local bookstore, also look for the companion CD, featuring stories recorded all across the country.

Major support for StoryCorps is provided by AT&T, and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The StoryCorps archive is housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Tune in the StoryCorps broadcasts Tuesdays on NPR's news and notes and Fridays on NPR's morning edition. I'm Michael Garofalo, thanks for listening.

1 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

2 episode   

n.（作品的一段）情节，插曲，系列事件中之一

参考例句：

• The episode was a huge embarrassment for all concerned.这段小插曲令所有有关人员都感到非常尴尬。
• This episode remains sharply engraved on my mind.这段经历至今仍深深地铭刻在我的心中。

3 tuning   

n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• They are tuning up a plane on the flight line. 他们正在机场的飞机跑道上调试一架飞机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The orchestra are tuning up. 管弦乐队在定弦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 glaring   

a.耀眼的，极度光亮的；显眼的，显著的

参考例句：

• At the examination he made several glaring blunders,and that did for him. 他在考试中出了几个大错，这下就完了。
• The report contained some glaring errors. 报告中有些大错误。

5 startled   

adj.受惊吓的v.使惊跳，使大吃一惊( startle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of 2000 was startled near the end of the concert. 2000名观众在音乐会将近结束时大吃一惊。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Startled by the sudden whistle of the train, the horse broke away. 火车突然鸣笛，那匹马受惊脱逃。 来自《简明英汉词典》