Most people want to know how things are made. They honestly admit, however, that they hardly know a thing when it comes to understanding how a piece of music is made. Where a composer begins, how he manages to keep going - in fact, how and where he learns his trade—all are covered in complete darkness. The composer, in short, is a man of mystery.
大多数人都想知道东西是如何制作的，然而，他们坦率地承认，在理解一段音乐是如何制作的问题上，他们几乎一无所知。作曲家从哪开始，如何继续——事实上，他是如何以及在哪里学习他的技艺的——完全一无所知。简而言之，作曲家很神秘。
One of the first things the common man wants to know about is the part inspiration plays in a composer’s work. He finds it difficult to believe that composers are not much interested in that question. Writing music is as natural for the composer as eating or sleeping for all.Music is something that the composer happens to have been born for.
普通人想知道的第一件事就是灵感在作曲家作品中的作用，很难相信作曲家对这个问题不感兴趣。创作音乐对作曲家来说就像吃饭或睡觉一样自然，音乐是作曲家为之而生的东西。
The composer, therefore, does not say to himself:“Do I feel inspired?” He says to himself:“Do I feel like working today?” And if he feels like working, he does. It is more or less like saying to himself:“Do I feel sleepy?” If you feel sleepy,you go to sleep. If you don’t feel sleepy, you stay up. If the composer doesn’t feel like working, he doesn’t work. It’s as simple as that.
因此，作曲家不会对自己说：“我有灵感了吗？”他会对自己说：“我今天想工作吗？”如果他想工作，他就工作。这或许就像是对自己说：“我觉得困吗？”如果你感到困倦，你就去睡觉。如果你没感到困倦，你就熬夜。如果作曲家不想工作，他就不工作。就这么简单。
