对话:唱中文歌的女孩

Rena & Sophia 采访

October 3, 2020, McCabe Park

Prince:      早上好 Rena,Sophia。感谢你们周日一大早来到这里进行采访!今天想让大家了解的第一个问题是你们是谁?请简单地介绍一下你们自己。

Prince:      Good morning Rena and Sophia! Thank you for coming here so early in the morning to do this interview. The first question is who are you? Please introduce yourself.

Rena:        我是石睿娜。我的英文名字是 Rena。我现在上11 年级 在 Hume Fogg    High School 上学。我兴趣爱好有弹钢琴还有读书。我很早就开始喜欢唱歌,不过我11 岁才开始真正地唱中文歌。

Rena:          I’m Rena. I’m a junior at Hume Fogg High School. My hobbies are playing piano and reading. I’ve always loved singing but didn’t start singing Chinese songs until I was 11.

Prince:      谢谢。

Prince:        Thank you.

Sophia:     我叫石睿琦。我的英文名字是Sophia。我今年上八年级在Meigs Middle Magnet。我的兴趣爱好是唱歌和跳舞。我九岁的时候开始唱歌但是我十岁左右才开始唱中文歌。

Sophia:       I’m Sophia. I’m an eighth grader at Meigs Middle Magnet. My hobbies include singing and dancing. I started singing when I was 9 but only started singing Chinese songs when I was around 10.

Prince:      好。再次感谢这个简短的自我介绍。那么第二个问题想毕镜头前面的观众特别想了解的是, 今年你们参加了一个歌手大赛,介绍一下这个歌手大赛。你们是如何知道它的?而且你们是为什么要参入到其中?

Prince:        Thank you for this simple introduction. The second question I’m sure the audience wants to know is, this year you guys entered in a singing competition. Could you introduce this competition? How did you guys know about it? Why did you decide to participate?

Rena:        几年前我们在看中国好声音。那期有一个选手从马拉西亚来的。我们觉得她唱得很好,所以我们查了一下发现她参加过一个叫水立方杯的比赛, 所以我们才是这样知道的。

Rena:          A few years ago, we were watching The Voice of China. That season there was a contestant from Malaysia. We thought she was really good, so we looked her up and found that she had entered a competition called the Water Cube Chinese Song Singing Competition. That’s how we found out about the competition.

Sophia:     我去年参加了水立方杯比赛。我在华盛顿赛区得到了第四名,所以我就想要努力…

Sophia:       Last year I entered in the Water Cube Chinese Song Singing Competition. I placed 4th in the Washington D.C district competition, so I wanted to keep on like…

Prince:        就是想要继续努力取得更好的成绩今年,所以今年参加了这个比赛。

Prince:        Like keep on working hard to earn a better placement this year, so you decided to participate this year too.

Sophia:     是的。

Sophia:       Yeah.

Prince :     好。谢谢。知道你们参加这个比赛非常不容易。两姐妹可不可以分享一下你们比赛中艰辛的一个时刻是什么?

Prince:        Ok, thank you. I know it can’t have been easy to compete in this competition. Could you share a particular hardship you faced during this whole thing?

Rena:        去年Sophia 参加了华盛顿比赛。我也就开始想要参加这个比赛。不过今年因为疫情的原因,我们还不知道他们到底要不要举办。后来知道他们要举办,通过线上的方式。因为去不了北京,我们很犹豫到底要不要报名。最后还是决定要报名。然后我们就开始准备,每天练。我跟老师一起练,然后突破了我高音的限制。

Rena:          Last year Sophia competed in the Washington D.C district competition, and so I also started to want to compete in this competition. But because of the pandemic this year, we didn’t whether or not they would have the competition. When we learned that they were going to hold it virtually, we were a bit hesitant to sign up since we couldn’t go to Beijing. Ultimately, we decided we were going to sign up, and we started to prepare. We would practice every day. For me, I worked with my teacher and really overcame some of the difficulties I was having with the high notes.

Prince:      这个很棒。

Prince:        Wow, that’s really awesome!

Sophia:     我们要早上比。我们要六点钟连线,所以我们每天三点钟到四点钟醒。我们要吃饭,出去走一下路,然后回来练声。每天都是像这样,两个星期之前像这样准备。

Sophia:       We had to compete in the morning and had to connect online at 6 in the morning. So, we would get up every day at around 3 or 4. We would eat breakfast, and go out to warm up our bodies, and then come back to warm up our voice. We did this every day for two weeks up until the competition.

Rena:        还有很多线上问题。我记得第一次我们连线的时候,他们根本听不到我们的声音,所以我们很着急。

Rena:          There was also a lot of trouble connecting to the livestream. I remember the first time we tried to go live in a test run, they couldn’t hear us. So, we were super panicky.

Prince:      好。感谢你们分享这个艰辛的时刻这一瞬间。但是我在想你们付出之后一定会有收获,那么你们最难忘的瞬间分别是什么?

Prince:        Thank you for sharing some difficult moments. Of course, through your hard work, I’m sure you also achieved so much. What is the most unforgettable experience you had throughout the competition?

Rena:        今年是我第一次比赛,所以我很惊讶我在华盛顿初赛时拿到了全场第一的名次。

Rena:          This year was my first year competing, so I was very surprised when I found out that at the Washington D.C district competition, I ranked first with my performance in the first round.

Prince:      哇。

Prince:        Wow.

Sophia:     我跟第二名选手在北京的决赛唱了一样的歌,但是她先唱的。她唱完的时候得到了一个 9.97分,一个很高的分。然后我唱完的时候很惊讶因为我得到一个 9.973 分。比她的分高0.003 分。

Sophia:       In the final round at Beijing, I sang the exact same song as the 2nd place winner. She sang first, and afterwards, her score was 9.97. A super high score! After I finished singing, I was shocked that they gave me a 9.973. I scored higher than her by 0.003 points.

Prince:      哇,这真的是非常非常难忘的瞬间,包括预选赛排名第一和最终决赛高0.003分的微小差距取得了冠军。非常不容易。再次祝贺你们!

Prince:        Wow. Those are really some unforgettable moments, including Rena getting 1st in the qualifying round at Washington D.C and Sophia ultimately winning the whole competition by 0.003 points. It couldn’t have been easy. Congratulations!

Rena 和 Sophia:谢谢!

Rena & Sophia: Thank you!

Prince:      那么下一个问题我想问 Rena 和 Sophia 的是,你们的父母,你们认为在这个过程中,整个比赛的过程中,准备比赛还有最后的获奖,他们扮演的角色又是什么样子的?

Prince:        Now the next question I want to ask is Rena and Sophia is, what role do you think your parents have play throughout the whole competition experience, including preparing for it and then placing so well?

Rena:        我觉得就是在我们学唱歌的过程中,他们也学到了很多东西。像,他们也听更多音乐,还有不同风格的音乐,还有学到了一些唱歌的技巧那些东西。

Rena:          I think that throughout our singing, our parents have also learned a lot. For example, they listen to more music, and different types of music. They also learn stuff like singing technique.

Sophia:     我还记得在北京,那个裁判说我们的父母亲是很负责任的因为他们会教我们中国文化。

Sophia:       I remember at Beijing, one of the judges said that our parents were really responsible because they teach us Chinese culture.

Rena:        我也觉得是这样的。然后在这长大的很多青少年,像我们这样的,他们听的音乐跟父母听的不一样。所以我觉得通过唱中文歌,我们也跟我们的父母变得更亲密。

Rena:          Yeah. And a lot of the teenagers like us who grow up here don’t listen to the same music as their parents. So, I think that through singing Chinese songs, we’ve become closer to our parents too.

Prince:      真好。其实父母是孩子最好的老师。我也有同感,而且像你们父母这么支持一定是对你们有莫大地鼓励。谢谢。那下面的问题,Rena, Sophia,你们在比赛完了以后还要准备一些其它的什么事情呢?我知道上次说过有个ABC中文歌俱乐部,能不能大概介绍一下。

Prince:        That’s awesome. I really think that parents are kids’ best teachers, and your parents are so supportive and encouraging. Thank you. The next question then Rena, Sophia, is after the competition, what else do you have planned? I know you guys have an ABC Chinese Singing Club. Can you tell us about it?

Rena:        其实是像这样的。我记得去年 Sophia 在华盛顿比赛,然后有一个评委说了这句话。他说“多一次登台机会就会好很多”。

Rena:          Yeah. So, I remember last year when Sophia competed in the Washington D.C district competition, one of the judges said this, “You will be much better each time you step on stage”.

Sophia:     我还记得我第一次表演是在 Vandy 的春节晚会。是跟 Prince,他是我的主持人。我唱了 Cool Kids,然后在后面请了一些其他的小朋友在台后面跳舞因为妈妈好像怕我搞砸了。

Sophia:       I remember my first time performing was at the Vandy Chinese New Year Celebration. It was with Prince; you were my host. I sang “Cool Kids” and we invited a bunch of other kids to dance in the back of the stage while I performed. I think my mom was scared I was going to wreck the show.

Rena:        所以我们通过华人协会还有Vanderbilt 的学生会组办的这些晚会有机会表演,不过应为它们需要通过 audition,有很多别的小孩没有机会表演。然后在学校他们也可能会有机会,不过像我们会太害羞,没有自信,上台然后也怕学生们说他们唱得不好还是嘲笑他们。所以我们想用我们的一些经验来教更多小朋友唱中文歌还有表演。然后我们现在应为疫情的原因,ABC中文歌俱乐部在 ZOOM 上面 meet。这也有些困难。这个暑假我们尝试为一些古诗编曲。这也是对我们来说是新的。还有就是我们学会了怎么edit 一些音频和视频。现在我们在为春节准备节目,然后我还希望可以跟别的华人一起合作。然后还可以给更多小朋友机会表演。这就是为什么我们办了这个ABC中文歌俱乐部。我们也欢迎更多有兴趣的小朋友来加入我们的ABC中文歌俱乐部。

Rena:          We’ve been given the opportunity to perform through the shows Greater Nashville Chinese Association and also the Vanderbilt Chinese Student Association hold, but since they require auditions a lot of times, other kids might not have the chance to perform onstage. At school, they might also have opportunities to perform, but like us are too shy or unconfident, or are scared their classmates will make fun of them. So, we wanted to use our experience performing to teach other kids to sing Chinese songs and perform. Because of the ongoing pandemic, our ABC Chinese Singing Club has been meeting through ZOOM. Obviously, this holds its own challenges. This summer, we also experimented with writing the music for ancient Chinese poems. That was something new for us. We also learned how to edit audio and video clips. Right now, we are working on preparing for the Chinese New Year performance, and I also want to collaborate with others in the Chinese community and give kids more chances to perform. That’s really why we created the ABC Chinese Song Singing Club. We also welcome other kids who are interested to join our club.

Prince:      好谢谢。我们现在进入了最后一个问题。最后一个问题我想问问是 Rena Sophia 你们感觉音乐,从唱歌的角度,音乐是如何把家庭给凝聚和团聚起来的?

Prince:        Thanks. We are going into our last question. The last question I want to ask is Rena and Sophia, from your perspective with singing, how does music bring families together?

Rena:        我们每年的,就是中秋和春节晚会表演的视频都会发给在国内的家人朋友,爷爷,奶奶,外婆他们看。他们也非常喜欢看我们的表演。

Rena:          Every year, we’ll send videos of us performing at the Mid-Autumn and Chinese New Year Festival to family and friends in China, like our grandparents. They seem to really enjoy watching us perform.

Sophia:     这次水立方杯,我们外婆把选手的得分都记下来了。

Sophia:       During this competition, our grandma on our mom’s side memorized all the contestants’ scores.

Prince:      哇这很不容易啊。总共有多少个选手?

Prince:        Wow that’s impressive. How many contestants were there in total?

Sophia:     八十个。

Sophia:       I think there were around 80.

Rena:        我们的奶奶也把八十个选手的表演都看完了。

Rena:          Our grandma on dad’s side also watched the performance of all 80 contestants.

Prince:      太了不起了。

Prince:        That is incredible.

Rena:        他们也一般不怎么听音乐,然后也不怎么听流行音乐。所以这给他们来说也是很了不起的。

Rena:          They don’t usually listen to music, especially mainstream music. So, for them, it really is amazing.

Prince:      是的。我相信你们的成绩也是家庭甚至是朋友们的一个骄傲,所以再次祝贺你们也非常感谢你们今天接受这个采访。

Prince:        Yes. I’m sure your achievements are a source of pride for your family, even for your friends. So again, I want to congratulate you, and thank you for coming to this interview today.

Rena和 Sophia:谢谢!

Rena & Sophia:    Thank you!