A man sat at a metro station in Washington D.C. and started to play the violin； it was a cold January morning. During the time he played， since it was rush hour， it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station. Three minutes went by and a middle-aged man noticed there was music playing. He slowed his pace， stopped for a few seconds， and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later， the violinist received his first dollar tip： a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later， someone leaned against the wall to listen to him， but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3-year-old boy. His mother dragged him along， hurriedly， but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents， without exception， forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played， only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected$32. When he finished playing and silence took over， no one noticed it. No one applauded， nor was there any recognition. No one knew the violinist was Joshua Bell， one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway， Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston and the seats averaged$100.
Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by The Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception， taste and priorities of people. One of the possible conclusions from this experiment could be： If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written， how many other things are we missing？ My additional thoughts would only be that so many people do things because they are “fashionable” that they forget to look at things with their own eyes， listen with their own ears， and appreciate anything with their own hearts.
有个人在华盛顿特区的一个地铁站里拉起了小提琴，那是在1月的寒冷的清晨。在他演奏的那段时间，由于是上班高峰期，有数千人经过那个地铁站。3分钟后，一个中年男子注意到有人在演奏音乐，他放慢了脚步，停了几秒钟，而后又急匆匆地忙自己的事去了。又过了1分钟，小提琴家收到了第一份赏金：一位女士把钱扔到了琴盒里，没有停留就继续赶路了。几分钟后，有个人在倚墙听他的演奏，不过那个人看看手表，又开始赶路了。
注意小提琴家最多的是一个3岁男孩。他的母亲一路拽着他匆忙地往前赶，他却停下来，看着小提琴家。最终，那位母亲使劲儿推着男孩往前走，小男孩同时一直回望着。其他几个孩子也有同样的表现，而所有的父母，无一例外地，逼着他们继续前行。
那位音乐家演奏的45分钟里，仅有6人停下脚步并稍作停留。大约20人给了钱，但仍然以正常的步伐继续赶路，他一共获得了32美元。当他结束演奏，安静地离开时，没有人注意他，没有人喝彩，也没有一个人认出他。没有人知道那位小提琴家就是乔舒亚・贝尔，世界上最杰出的音乐家之一。他用一把价值350万美元的小提琴演奏了史上难度最高的曲目之一。在地铁站演奏的两天前，乔舒亚・贝尔在波士顿一家剧院的演奏会门票全部售罄，平均每张票价100美元。
乔舒亚・贝尔匿名在地铁站演奏，这是《华盛顿邮报》策划的，是关于人的感知、品位和优先选择习性的社会实验的一部分。也许从这个实验可以得出这样一个结论：如果我们没有时间停下来聆听世界上最棒的音乐家演奏的最棒的曲目，我们还会错过多少事情呢？我另外的想法是，太多人做一些事情只是因为“潮流”使然，他们忘了用自己的双眼去观察，用自己的双耳去聆听，以及用自己的心去感受。