Shortly before Christmas last year, Brazilian piano player Joao Carlos Martins invited his friends to a bar near his home in Sao Paolo. He wanted to show them the best gift he had received in many years: a new pair of gloves.

去年圣诞节前不久，巴西钢琴演奏家若昂·卡洛斯·马丁斯邀请朋友去他在圣保罗的家附近的一处酒吧。 他想向他们展示他多年来收到的最好的礼物：一副新手套。

They are not just any gloves, however. The specially made bionic devices are letting the 79-year-old play with both hands for the first time in more than 20 years.

然而，这不仅仅是手套。 这款特制的仿生设备让这位79岁的老人时隔20多年可以再次双手弹奏钢琴。

The artist is considered one of the greatest players of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

这位艺术家被认为是约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫音乐最伟大的演奏者之一。

Martins retired last March. By then, he had undergone 24 medical procedures to try to reduce pain caused by a progressive disease and from a series of accidents. His limitations had forced him to work mostly as a musical conductor since the early 2000s.

马丁斯去年三月退休。 到那时，他已经接受了24次手术，以缓解退化性疾病和一系列事故引起的疼痛。 自21世纪00年代初以来，这些身体上的限制迫使他主要从事音乐指挥的工作。

But in the final days of 2019, friends returned to his home. They listened to him once again bring his favorite classical music back to life on his piano.

但是在2019年的最后几天，他的朋友们回到他的家中。 再次听马丁斯演奏他最爱的古典音乐，精妙绝伦。

Before the gloves, which were especially developed for him, Martins could only play songs slowly with his thumbs and, sometimes, his pointer fingers.

在得到这副专门为他开发的手套之前，马丁斯只能用拇指缓慢地弹奏乐曲，有时，也会用食指弹奏。

He told the Associated Press,"After I lost my tools, my hands, and couldn't play the piano, it was if there was a corpse inside my chest."

他告诉美联社：“失去我的工具，我的双手，无法再弹钢琴之后，我仿佛‘行尸走肉’。”

Martins' health problems date back to 1965. He became known for coming back from every struggle he faced. For example, he suffered nerve damage in his arm from a soccer injury. While he was on tour, a robber hit him over the head with a metal pipe in Bulgaria.

马丁斯的健康问题可以追溯到1965年。他也因一次次地战胜疾病折磨而闻名。 例如，他曾因足球致使手臂神经受损。巡演期间，在保加利亚一个强盗曾用金属管击中他的头部。

But even his close friends believed that the latest surgery, on his left hand, would mark the end of his days as a pianist.

连马丁斯的密友也觉得，马丁斯最近这次左手上的手术将标志他钢琴家生涯的终结。

However, one designer believed Martins' retirement had come too early. That designer, Ubirata Bizarro Costa, created special bionic gloves for Martins' hands. The gloves help move his fingers up after they press on the piano keys.

但是，一位设计师认为马丁斯退休还为时过早。 设计师尤比拉塔·比扎罗·科斯塔为马丁斯制造了特殊的仿生手套。 在他按下琴键后，手套可以帮助手指向上回弹。

Costa said he created early models based on images of Martins' hands. But he said those models were "far from ideal." He then decided to tell Martins about his efforts.

科斯塔称，早期模型是根据马丁斯双手的图片制作的。 但他表示，那些模型“远非理想”。然后，他决定告诉马丁斯他的努力。

Costa and Martins then spent several months testing different models. The perfect match came in December, and cost only $125 to build.

之后，科斯塔和马丁斯花了几个月的时间测试各种模型。 终于在12月制成了最适合他的手套，制作成本仅为125美元。

These days, Martins never takes off his new gloves -- even when he goes to sleep.

这些天来，马丁斯从未摘下新手套，即便是睡觉也要戴着。

He said, "I might not recover the speed of the past. I don't know what result I will get. I'm starting over as though I were an 8-year-old learning."

他说：“我可能恢复不到过去的速度了。我不知道会得到什么结果。 我在从头开始学习，就好像我是个八岁孩子那样。”

Martins said he has received more than 100 devices in the last 50 years as possible solutions to his hand problems. None worked well or long enough.

马丁斯称，在过去的50年里，他收到了超过100种设备，作为解决他手部问题的可能方法。 但是，没有一个好用或耐用的。

"But these gloves do," he said.

他说：“但是这副手套就可以。”

The new gloves have given Martins a new goal. He hopes to play the piano at New York's Carnegie Hall in October. He is already set to conduct a concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of his first appearance there.

这副新手套赋予了马丁斯新的目标。 他希望十月可以在纽约卡内基音乐厅弹奏钢琴。 马丁斯已经安排好在那里指挥一场音乐会，纪念他在卡内基音乐厅首次亮相60周年。

I'm Jonathan Evans.

乔纳森·埃文斯报道。