Jarvis Cocker
musician and broadcaster
音乐人兼主持人
That’s a very good question. I wish I knew the answer (just joking!) Yes, it’s true that if music disappeared from the world no one would die. It’s not like air or water – we can live without it – but just think how boring life would be if it did disappear. Discos would go out of business, concerts would just be one big crowd of people staring at another, much smaller, crowd of people standing on a stage. In silence.
这是个好问题。我多希望我知道答案啊（开个玩笑！）有件事很确定，如果音乐从这个世界上消失，没有人会死。音乐既不是空气也不是水，我们离了就活不下去。但你想想，如果音乐真的消失，我们的生活得多无聊啊。迪厅都歇业了，演唱会变成一大群人瞪着舞台上的一小撮人，安静地大眼瞪小眼。
But seriously, every society on Earth has music so there must be some point to it. In fact, some scientists think that humans were singing & making music long before they learned how to speak.
话说回来，地球上的每个角落都有音乐，这很能说明问题吧。事实上，有些科学家坚信人类的老祖宗是先会唱歌、做音乐，后来才学会说话的。
Perhaps it was our very first form of communication. & it can still be a way of communicating without words today: think about ‘happy’ songs & ‘sad’ songs. They both use the same musicalnotes(there are only twelve, you know) & yet are so different in mood. ‘Ah, that’s because of the words,’ you might say. But no. Try listening to the radio in a country where you don’t speak the language. You’ll still be able to tell the happy songs from the sad ones. It’s the SOUND of the music that tells you. How does it work? I don’t know – but it does. It’s kind of magic & I think that’s why we have it.
或许音乐才是人类使用的第一种沟通方式。即使在今天，音乐也是一种无需文字就能沟通你我的方式，比如快乐的歌和伤心的歌。不管是快乐的歌还是伤心的歌，ta们都是用12个notes组成的（地球人都知道吧），但ta们可以表现出差别这么大的情绪。你可能会说：“那是因为歌词的关系。”但事实并非如此。不信你就找一个听不懂的外语电台，你还是能够听出哪首是快乐的歌、哪首是伤心的歌。这说明是音乐的关系。那音乐是怎么做到的？虽然我也不知道其原理，但我就是知道这是音乐的关系。听着有点魔幻，我想这就是我们需要音乐的原因吧。
It’s magic & we can have it whenever we want it. When you put one of your favourite songs on & get a sort of shivery feeling behind your ears & down the back of your neck (even goosebumps sometimes) that’s one of the best feelings there is.
音乐是有魔力的，只要你愿意随时都能体验得到。当你最喜欢的音乐响起，你的耳后、背上可能会不自觉的抖动，甚至连鸡皮疙瘩都起来了，这是世上最美妙的感觉之一。
I like films & books & plays & paintings but they don’t give me that same magical feeling. Only music does that.
我也喜欢电影、书、话剧和画，但这些都不能给我音乐带来的魔力。只有音乐有那种魔力。
that’s why we have it.
这就是我们需要音乐的原因吧。
