学进去

On a cold January morning, a man sat at a subway station in Washington DC and started to play the violin. He played for about 45 minutes.

Three minutes went by, and a middle-aged man stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to take care of his own things.

A minute later, the violinist received his first tip: a woman threw some money without stopping, and walked away.

Only a 3-year-old boy took the music seriously, going over, sitting down and soon losing himself in the wonderful performance. His mother wished to hurry along, but the kid kept looking at the violinist.

When he finished playing, no one noticed it. No one applauded (鼓掌).

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most beautiful pieces ever written, on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Joshua Bell played the same music with the same violin and the seats each cost 100 dollars at a theatre two days before.

Joshua Bell’s playing in the subway station was a social experiment. It asks questions: in a common environment at a wrong hour, do we enjoy beauty? Do we stop to make a response (反应) ? If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music. How many other things are we ignoring (忽视)?