学进去

   Delia was a young pianist. Her husband Joe was a talented young painter. They lived in a small flat in New York.

Each of them was taking lessons-Joe with a famous art teacher, and Delia with a great pianist from Germany. They were the best teachers, so lessons were expensive, more than they could really afford, but…when you love your art, nothing’s too much.

But soon, the money began to run out and they couldn’t afford the lessons any more.

Then one day Delia came home and told Joe that she had met a man. The man’s daughter, Sally, wanted to learn the piano-and he was going to pay her 50 an hour. “Delia,” Joe said “I’d be much happier if you kept up your lessons.” Delia said that it didn’t matter. She said, “When I’ve made some money, I’ll start again. When you love your art, nothing’s too much.” A few days later, Joe came home and proudly took 200 from his pocket. “I met a man from Vermont,” he said, “who bought one of my paintings. And he wants to buy more!”

Then, one day, Joe came home and saw that Delia’s hand was burned. He asked her what had happened. “Oh,” said Delia. “My student, Sally, asked me to pour some coffee for her. So I did—and I dropped the coffee and burned my hand.”

Joe sat down and told Delia to sit down too. “Delia, what have you been doing the last two weeks?” he asked. She took a deep breath and started to cry. “Oh Joe — I couldn’t get any students, so I got a job in a coffee shop. And today I burned my hand with hot water. So I can’t work any more. I’m sorry, Joe — but we’ll still have money from the man in Vermont, won’t we?”

Joe looked at her. “There’s no man in Vermont,” he said. “I haven’t sold any paintings. I’ve been working in a drugstore （药店）, and today someone came from the coffee shop to buy cream for a woman who’d burned her hand. So when I saw you — well, I guessed.”

They both laughed. “So we’ve told each other lies,” said Joe. “But when you love your art..,” Delia put her fingers to his lips （嘴唇）. “No, Joe,” she said, “just ‘When you love…’ ”