托馬斯·愛迪生軼事

張祖平

The time period of 1879 to 1900 is known as the Edison age as those were the years when Edison made most of his important inventions.

1879年到1900年被認為是“愛迪生時代”，因為那是愛迪生完成大部分重要發(fā)明的年代。

Wonders by a Mother母親的奇跡

Edison had only 3 months of formal public education. Thereafter he was homeschooled by his mother who also taught him reading， arithmetic1 and writing. She often read to him the great works of writers such as， Shakespeare， Edward Gibbon and Charles Dickens.

愛迪生只受過三個月的正規(guī)公立教育，之后他都是在家里接受教育，他的母親教他閱讀、算數和寫作。他的母親經常給他讀諸如莎士比亞、愛德華·吉本和查爾斯·狄更斯等作家的名著。

A Smart Child聰明的孩子

Even though the teachers at Edisons school believed that he was addled2， yet he was smart enough to build his own lab at the age of 10 through an inspiration from a science book given to him by his mother. He spent all of his money in buying chemicals other than candy and was smart enough to label all the bottles as poison3 so that no one fiddled with4 them.

盡管愛迪生的老師認為愛迪生是糊涂蛋，但是在他的母親給他的一本科學書的啟迪下，愛迪生10歲就聰明到能夠建造自己的實驗室。他把所有的錢都花在購買化學藥品上，而不是買糖果。他還聰明到能把所有有毒藥瓶貼上標簽，因此沒人來亂動這些藥品。

A Deaf Ear耳聾

Edison was partially deaf due to an attack of scarlet fever5 in his childhood， which he considered as a boon6 specifically when he wanted to concentrate7 on his experiments. However， he didnt hear a bird sing after the age of 12.

愛迪生有點耳聾，源于童年時期的一場猩紅熱高燒發(fā)作，這在愛迪生看來是一件好事，尤其是當他想專注實驗的時候。可惜，在他12歲后，再也沒有聽到鳥叫。

A Good Deed一件好事

Edison once saved a 3-year-old boy from being killed by a runaway train. The boy was the son of the stationmaster. In return the stationmaster taught Edison how to use the telegraph. Edison spent the next four years traveling thousands of miles as a telegrapher.

愛迪生曾經從一列失控的火車邊救了一個三歲的男孩。那個男孩是站長的兒子。作為回報，站長教愛迪生如何使用電報。接下來的四年，愛迪生作為一名電報員行程數千英里。

The Flop8 Invention失敗的發(fā)明

Edisons first ever patented9 invention was a telegraphic vote-recording machine for the legislature10， which was a big flop because of its slow pace. It was then that Edison made his decision to invent something only if there was a market for it.

愛迪生的第一項發(fā)明專利是為立法機關所用的電傳表決機。這項發(fā)明很失敗，因為速度慢。也就是在那時，愛迪生決定只發(fā)明有市場前景的東西。

Tattoo11 Man紋身男

Edison is known to have a tattoo on his left forearm of five dots. The meaning of it was not known to anyone. Edison is also known to have invented the first stencil12 machine， so it wont be much of a surprise if we come to know that he used his own machine to give himself a tattoo.

愛迪生左前臂上有五點的紋身。這個紋身的含義無人知道。眾人皆知，愛迪生發(fā)明了第一臺蠟紙印刷機，因此，他用自己的機器來紋身，也不足為奇。

1. arithmetic [] n. 算術，算法 2. addled [] adj. 頭腦混亂的

3. poison [] n. 毒藥，毒物 4. fiddle [] v. 瞎搞；fiddle with 擺弄；亂動

5. scarlet [] n. 猩紅色；scarlet fever 猩紅熱

6. boon [] n. 恩惠；利益 7. concentrate [] v. 集中；全神貫注

8. flop [] n. 失敗

9. patent [] v. 授予專利；取得……的專利權

10. legislature [] n. 立法機關；立法機構

11. tattoo [] n. 紋身

12. stencil [] n. 蠟紙；模板