009 托马斯·爱迪生：门洛帕克的奇才

旁白 neutral

Do you ever wonder who invented the light bulb, the movie camera, and the record player?

你是否曾好奇谁发明了电灯泡、电影摄影机和留声机？

旁白 neutral

Can you imagine your life without any of these items today?

你能想象今天的生活没有这些物品吗？

旁白 neutral

The person we have to thank for all of them is Thomas Edison

这一切都要感谢托马斯·爱迪生。

旁白 neutral

He created hundreds of inventions in his lifetime that we continue to use today

他一生创造了数百项发明，其中许多至今仍在使用。

旁白 neutral

Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847

托马斯·爱迪生于1847年出生在俄亥俄州的米兰。

旁白 neutral

He was the youngest in a household of seven children

他是家里七个孩子中最小的一个。

旁白 neutral

When he was young, Thomas was a very curious boy

小时候，托马斯是个非常好奇的男孩。

旁白 neutral

He always asked questions about everything around him

他总是对身边的一切提出问题。

旁白 neutral

He wanted to know where things came from

他想知道事物的来源。

旁白 neutral

His curiosity often got him in trouble

他的好奇心常常给他惹来麻烦。

旁白 neutral

One day he asked his mother why the hen sat on her eggs, and she told him it was because the hen was hatching her eggs

一天，他问母亲为什么母鸡坐在鸡蛋上，她告诉他是为了孵小鸡。

旁白 neutral

Without thinking, Thomas sat on a pile of eggs to try to hatch them too and broke them all

托马斯不假思索地坐上一堆鸡蛋，也想孵小鸡，结果把鸡蛋全压碎了。

旁白 neutral

Another time he was curious about how fire worked, so he set his father's barn on fire to see what would happen

还有一次，他对火的工作原理感到好奇，于是点燃了父亲的谷仓，想看看会发生什么。

旁白 neutral

The barn burned down. His father was very angry with him and punished him by giving him a thrashing in the town square

谷仓烧毁了。父亲非常生气，惩罚了他，在小镇的广场上打了他一顿。

旁白 neutral

When young Thomas started school, he was so curious that he disturbed his classmates by constantly interrupting the teacher with questions

托马斯刚开始上学时，好奇心太强，不停地打断老师提问，干扰了同学。

旁白 neutral

For this reason Thomas was sent home to be taught by his mother

因此，托马斯被送回家，由母亲来教导。

旁白 neutral

Thomas' mother understood her son's curiosity and patiently let his imagination grow

托马斯的母亲理解儿子的好奇心，耐心地让他的想象力自由发展。

旁白 neutral

Thomas loved to conduct experiments. He set up a laboratory in his parents' attic and filled it with different chemicals

托马斯喜欢做实验。他在父母的阁楼上建了个实验室，摆满了各种化学药品。

旁白 neutral

Strange smells, sounds, and even small explosions would often come out of the attic

阁楼里经常传出奇怪的气味、声音，甚至小型爆炸声。

旁白 neutral

Thomas wasn't homeschooled for very long. When he turned 16, he got a job as a train boy on the local train

托马斯在家上学的时间并不长。16岁时，他在当地火车上找了份列车男孩的工作。

旁白 neutral

He sold candy, newspapers, fruit, and sandwiches to the passengers

他向乘客兜售糖果、报纸、水果和三明治。

旁白 neutral

He loved his job because he got to set up a small laboratory in the baggage compartment, where he was able to experiment during the long train rides

他热爱这份工作，因为能在行李车厢里搭建一个小实验室，在漫长的旅途做实验。

旁白 neutral

The conductor was not very happy about this, and after Thomas lit a small fire in the compartment, he was let go from his job

列车员对此很不高兴，托马斯在车厢里点了一小堆火后，就被解雇了。

旁白 neutral

This did not faze the young inventor; he soon found a new passion — the telegraph machine

这并没有让年轻的发明家灰心；他很快发现了新的爱好——电报机。

旁白 neutral

In the 1860s there was a great need for telegraph operators throughout the United States

19世纪60年代，全美国都需要大量电报员。

旁白 neutral

Thomas learned the telegraph code and was quickly hired, and worked as a telegraph operator for six years

托马斯学会了电报编码，很快被录用，当了六年电报员。

旁白 neutral

But he was not content with the telegraph machine of the day

但他并不满足于当时的电报机。

旁白 neutral

He wanted to improve it so that one machine could be used to both send and receive messages

他想改进它，让一台机器既能发送也能接收信息。

旁白 neutral

He worked hard on his invention at night, often falling asleep at his desk

他晚上刻苦研究发明，经常趴在桌上睡着了。

旁白 neutral

Finally he was able to improve the telegraph and sold the patent for his new machine to the Western Union company

最终，他成功改进了电报，并将新机器的专利卖给了西联公司。

旁白 neutral

Encouraged by the sale, and now with money to support his work, Thomas began experimenting on new inventions

这次出售鼓舞了他，现在有了钱支持工作，托马斯开始进行新发明的实验。

旁白 neutral

He set up a small laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey

他在新泽西州门洛帕克建立了一个小实验室。

旁白 neutral

He was busy working on a new machine that would record sound

他正忙着研制一种能记录声音的新机器。

旁白 neutral

The telephone had recently been invented by Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas was interested in this device

电话最近由亚历山大·格拉汉姆·贝尔发明，托马斯对此很感兴趣。

旁白 neutral

He wanted to find ways to record the sounds that came out of the telephone

他想找到录制电话声音的方法。

旁白 neutral

His new invention was called a phonograph and would become the prototype for the modern record player. It was an instant success

他的新发明叫留声机，后来成为现代唱机的原型，立即取得了成功。

旁白 neutral

But Thomas did not stop there. His new passion became finding ways to use electricity

但托马斯并没有就此止步。他新的热情变成了寻找使用电力的方法。

旁白 neutral

In those days people used oil lamps to light their homes

在那个年代，人们用油灯来照亮家园。

旁白 neutral

They were smoky and dangerous, and the light was not very strong

油灯冒烟又危险，而且光线不是很强。

旁白 neutral

Thomas was convinced that by using electricity he could produce brighter, more uniform light that would be easier to use

托马斯坚信，通过使用电力，他能制造出更亮、更均匀且更易于使用的光。

旁白 neutral

He experimented long into the night. He often took short naps with his head on his desk so that he could continue to work

他实验到深夜。他经常趴在书桌上小睡片刻，以便能继续工作。

旁白 neutral

Thomas filled hundreds of books with notes, and at one time

托马斯写满了数百本书的笔记，并且曾一度，

旁白 neutral

said that he had considered over three thousand theories for creating light from electricity

声称他考虑过三千多种用电造光的理论。

旁白 neutral

Finally he had a breakthrough. He found that he could pass electricity through a cotton thread placed inside a glass bulb

终于他有了突破。他发现可以让电通过一根放在玻璃灯泡里的棉线。

旁白 neutral

While other inventors had worked on light-bulb designs

尽管其他发明家也研究过灯泡设计，

旁白 neutral

Edison was the first to create one that lasted for a long time and was cheap enough to be easily mass-produced

但爱迪生是第一个造出持续时间长、且成本低廉到易于大规模生产的人。

旁白 neutral

He installed his version of the electric light in his house in Menlo Park

他在门洛帕克的家中安装了自己的电灯。

旁白 neutral

People from all over flocked to see Edison's new invention, and Thomas became an overnight celebrity

各地的人们蜂拥前来观看爱迪生的新发明，托马斯一夜成名。

旁白 neutral

People began calling him the Wizard of Menlo Park

人们开始称他为“门洛帕克的巫师”。

旁白 neutral

Soon towns all over the world lit up their houses and streets with electric lights

很快，世界各地的城镇都用上了电灯，照亮了房屋和街道。

旁白 neutral

Even though Thomas now had enough money to retire, he continued to work on new inventions

即使托马斯现在有了足够的钱可以退休，他仍继续研发新发明。

旁白 neutral

He invented a Kinetoscope, a light box that showed moving pictures, which later became the movie camera

他发明了活动电影放映机，一个能显示动态画面的灯箱，后来演变为电影摄影机。

旁白 neutral

He also worked on developing an electric car, electric batteries, a cement mixer, and a copying machine

他还致力于开发电动汽车、电池、水泥搅拌机和复印机。

旁白 neutral

In his lifetime Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents and would have continued to invent if he had not fallen sick

托马斯·爱迪生一生中拥有1093项专利，如果不是生病，他本来会继续发明下去。

旁白 neutral

He died on October 18, 1931, at the age of 84

他于1931年10月18日去世，享年84岁。

旁白 neutral

In his honor the lights all over the United States were turned off on the night of his funeral

为了纪念他，在他葬礼的那个晚上，全美各地的灯光都被熄灭。

旁白 neutral

Thomas Edison left a great legacy. Our everyday life would not be the same if it were not for his curious mind

托马斯·爱迪生留下了伟大的遗产。若不是因为他那充满好奇的头脑，我们的日常生活将截然不同。

旁白 neutral

His inventions are still used today by many people on the planet

他的发明至今仍被地球上的许多人使用着。