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每当爸爸拉起小提琴，世界就变成一颗闪亮的星星。对爸爸来说，小提琴是一种能带来信念、希望和善意的乐器。“即使世界下一秒就要灰飞湮灭，你爸爸还是会拉他的小提琴。”这样的话，妈妈曾说过不下一千次。 When Dad played his fiddle, the world became a bright star. To him violin was an instrument of faith, hope and charity. At least a thousand times, my mother said, "Your papa would play his fiddle if the world was about to blow up." And once Dad came about as close to that as could ever be possible. Everything on Nubbin Ridge—and on a majority of the small farms in Texas—was built around cotton as the money crop. But in the early years of the century, the boll weevil began devastating the cotton farms in the south. And in May of 1910 folks all over the nation were in a space-age state of turmoil over Halley's Comet. There were all sorts of frightening stories about the comet, the main one being that the world would pass through its tail, said to be millions of miles long. Between the threats of comet and weevils, the farmers were running low on optimism. One night, the farmers gathered at our farm to discuss what to do. When everyone had found seats, Will Bowen suggested, "Charley, how about getting down your fiddle and bow and giving us a little music?" "Aw, I don't think anybody'd want to hear me saw the gourd tonight,"Dad replied. | 
