为纪念越剧百年而举办的杭州越剧十大名票大赛中，杭州崇文实验小学的青年教师金素文在众多强手中脱颖而出，以高票当选2006年杭州越剧十大名票第一名。从海选到120强，再到60强、20强、10强，无论是唱腔还是扮相，金素文都被专家评委一致看好；从《白蛇传》中的白娘子到《法场祭夫》中的王千金，金素文的戚派唱腔字正腔圆、声情并茂，但由于这次参赛的强手特别多，因此金素文的夺冠之路可以说也和她的人生道路一样，充满悬念，拼搏得相当艰苦。
　　
　　渔村里的“橡皮猫”
　　1974年金素文出生在浙江玉环县的一个偏僻海岛上，大概她的嗓音特别好，村里人就给她取了个小名叫“橡皮猫”。这只生长在渔岛上的“小猫”小时候总是跟随着母亲织补渔网，她的母亲除了成天织补渔网，最大的爱好便是唱越剧，母亲将她背在身上一边织网一边唱，金素文听得多了，两岁的她已经可以把一段《黛玉进府》完整地唱下来。
　　金素文稍稍长大之后，也跟妈妈一样成了不折不扣的越剧迷，在她几次三番的软磨硬泡下，妈妈咬咬牙终于给她买了一台当时在海岛算得上属于奢侈品的红灯牌收录机。不过有了收录机还不行，海岛上根本买不到越剧磁带，因此每次有人出岛，金素文第一重要的事情就是托买越剧磁带。自从有了众多的“磁带老师”，金素文很快就能熟练地演唱各个经典剧目的唱段，成了当地有名的越剧小票友。
　　
　　最受欢迎的同学
　　自从金素文成了越剧小票友后，那年她突然听到了关于越剧团要招收越剧小学员的消息，这对酷爱越剧的小素文来说，去当越剧演员是必然选择，于是她想都没想就报了名，凭着一曲傅派的《西湖山水还依旧》，她走进了玉环县越剧团的大门……
　　剧团两年，金素文比任何一个学员都要努力。练功时，人家走十圈台步，她走三十圈；练唱腔，同伴一般都选适合自己的流派学习，她“生、旦、净、丑”各种流派都学。功夫不负有心人，金素文终于成为学员中最出色的一个。可是由于金素文当时的个子总是长不高，最后还是回海岛读书，并且考取了温岭师范学校。
　　金素文在读书时期，有次学校的一场文艺表演又让金素文重新对越剧恢复了自信，她上台演唱的一段范派越剧《山伯临终》，让同学们顿时对这位海岛来的女孩子刮目相看。从此，不管是在宿舍还是出去游玩，同学们总会要求金素文唱越剧，她成了同学中最受欢迎的人。后来在金素文的带动下，不少同学亦都爱了上越剧，成了越剧之友。
　　金素文在学校不仅是文艺积极分子，她的每门课程也非常优秀，校长总在人前夸她，说她是学校里的“宝贝”。就在她师范学校即将毕业之时，杭州市的重点小学来温岭师范挑选老师，校长向他们重点推荐了金素文。
　　几个月后，金素文来到了杭州，成为了天长小学的一名语文教师。
　　
　　越剧之家乐融融
　　金素文当了教师之后，对于越剧的热情始终如一，她除了自己唱，还在学校里组织戏曲社团教学生们唱。为了让孩子们喜欢越剧，金素文上书店买了许多有关戏曲的碟片，还四处向专家请教如何向孩子们教授越剧，为了广开戏路，金素文还利用假期自学了很多其他的地方戏。
　　由于金素文的越剧缘，她由此而组成了一个幸福温暖的越剧之家，金素文的先生章大权，是杭州市时代小学校长助理、音乐老师，来自越剧的故乡嵊州。少年时他也在剧团里待过，学的是二胡。缘于相同的境遇和对越剧的共同爱好，这对帅哥美女终于走在了一起。章大权吹拉弹唱样样精通，闲暇时两人常在一起切磋戏艺，这时一个拉二胡、一个唱越剧，家庭中时时洋溢出融融暖意。他们八岁的儿子在这样的环境熏陶下，也学会用笛子为妈妈伴奏。为参加这次越剧名票大赛，她的先生也为她花了不少工夫，他除了陪同她参赛和给她提意见外，还辗转找到了黄龙剧团戚派传人、梅花奖获得者王杭娟。在名师的指点下，金素文的唱腔艺术有了飞快的进步。金素文十分感谢这位老师，她说：“我因为有了老师们的爱护和指点，才得了十大名票第一名！”
　　
　　
　　Happiness Lies in Singing Yue Opera Arias
　　By Liu Wen
　　Jin Suwen won the first place award in a competition of top 10 amateur Yue Opera singers in Hangzhou, held in 2006 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Yue Opera. The citywide contest attracted aficionados from all walks of life. From the very beginning of the free-for-all preliminaries to top 120, top 60, top 20, and finally to top 10, the young teacher with Hangzhou Chongwen Experimental Primary School was favored by jurors for her singing and performing.
　　For Jin Suwen, taking part in the Yue Opera singing contest was joy, but winning against all the competitors was more than joy.
　　Born in 1974 on an island in Yuhuan County in southern Zhejiang Province, Jin was gifted with a pleasant and resonant singing voice even as a baby girl, who inherited the voice and passion for Yue Opera from her mother. A super fan of Yue opera, her mother sang Yue opera arias even when she was darning fishing nets. Influenced by her mother, the two-year-old Jin Suwen was able to sing Daiyu Comes to Stay at the Splendid Home, an aria in the Dream of Red Mansion, from start to finish. As the baby girl grew, she became a devoted fan who nagged her mother to buy a VCR, a luxury few people on the island could afford at that time, so that she could learn from tapes of Yue Opera arias, which she asked people to buy from outside the island. By learning from the tapes, Jin Suwen built up her singing repertoire and became a skillful singer.
　　
　　One day she learned that the county’s Yue Opera troupe was recruiting youngsters. She signed up and she was enrolled. In two years, she mastered all there was to be learned and became the best graduate from the two-year training course. But she was not qualified as a young actress at the troupe simply because she did not grow tall enough during the two years. She came back to the island to continue her normal education. Then she went to Wenling Teachers School.
　　In the school she became a star overnight by singing a Yue Opera aria at a students’ gathering. Amazed by the beauty of the Yue opera and the way she sang, many of her classmates fell in love with the opera. From then forward, her singing an aria was part of the repertoire at school’s celebrations. The school principal was so proud of Jin that she regarded Jin as a star student.
　　When Jin Suwen graduated as a top student, a primary school in Hangzhou came to recruit promising young teachers. She was recruited. A few months later, she came to Hangzhou and became a Chinese language teacher.
　　Her passion for Yue Opera found a good stage in a more convenient cultural environment both at the school and in the city. The young teacher organized an amateur troupe at the school and taught pupils to learn Yue Opera. She bought video discs of Yue Opera performances and organized young enthusiasts to watch. To better teach the opera, she learned from experts about how to teach youngsters to learn the opera. To broaden her experience in local operas in Zhejiang, she even learned some other folk operas.
　　
　　Jin Suwen met her Mr. Right through Yue Opera activities in the city. Her husband Zhang Daquan is an assistant to the principal and music teacher in another primary school in the city. He came from Shengzhou, where Yue Opera originated 100 years ago. As a youngster he even played the Erhu* as an accompanist in a local Yue Opera troupe. The husband and wife can hold a family concert to stage Yue Opera singings. Their eight-year-old son now plays the flute to accompany his mother’s singing.
　　Jin Suwen also owes her success at the contest to Wang Hangjuan, a national-award winner with the Yellow Dragon Yue Opera Troupe who gave her tips for better performances.
　　* a two-stringed bowed Chinese musical instrument
　　(Translated by David)