By Ward Hazell

It is a sad fact that most people live their lives unremarked by history. Though we hope to be remembered by our family and friends， our achievements are often of small note and soon forgotten.

There are， of course， a few people whose names will live long after them. And then there are those anonymous1 pioneers whose achievements， good and bad， changed the course of history but whose names are， for the most part， unknown to us. Whether by design， by accident， or by malicious afterthought，2 there are some people whose contribution to the history of the world has gone largely unrecognized.

Until now.

Nils Bohlin

Nils Bohlin was working for Volvo3 in 1958 when he came up with a revolutionary design that has saved millions of lives—the seat belt. Simple lap seat belts had been around for a long time， but the three-point safety belt4 was a major technological advancement with a simple design. Bohlin received a patent5 for the design the next year.

After some initial resistance from drivers who resented being told what to do， even for their own good， the three-point seat belt has become a standard feature in new cars around the world.6 There is no way of knowing exactly how many lives the seat belt has saved， but the number is estimated to be in the millions.

Buckle up7！

Philo Farnsworth

In 1927， Philo Farnsworth managed to transmit8 an image of a straight line through the air. By 1929， he had improved his design and managed to transmit a picture of his wife—much more exciting， even if the picture was a little blurry9. Though he called it an “image dissector10，” Philo had， in fact， just invented television.

So， why did John Logie Baird11 get the credit？ Well， Baird was one of the pioneers of television and also much more business-minded. He demonstrated the first color television in 1928.

Philo turned down offers to buy out his patents and started his own business but couldnt compete with the large companies that were getting in on the act， and his business folded12. Philo remained an inventor until the end of his life in 1971 but never again invented anything as wonderful as TV.

And all because his daughter got the mumps.

1. anonymous： 匿名的，不知姓名的。

2. malicious： 懷有惡意的，惡毒的；afterthought： 事后的想法，后加的東西。

3. Volvo： 沃爾沃，瑞典汽車品牌，于1927年在瑞典哥德堡創(chuàng)建。

4. three-point safety belt： 三點式安全帶，即腿帶、肩帶兼用的一種安全帶，是如今汽車上最常見的款式，能防止乘客向前撞和左右移動位置，是汽車中最重要的獨立安全裝置。

5. patent： 專利權(quán)，專利品。

6. 起初，一些司機對全新的安全帶形式表示抗拒，他們對別人出于好意的安全提醒頗為反感。在那之后，三點式安全帶逐漸遍布全世界，成為汽車內(nèi)的一項標準配置。resistance： （對新觀念或改變的）反對，抗拒；resent： 怨恨，憤恨。

7. buckle up： 系上安全帶，把……扣緊。

8. transmit： 傳輸，發(fā)送（電子信號、信息等）。

9. blurry： 模糊不清的。

10. image dissector： 圖像分析儀，析像管。

11. John Logie Baird： 約翰·羅杰·貝爾德（1888—1946），英國工程師、發(fā)明家，電動機械電視系統(tǒng)的發(fā)明者。

12. fold： 停止，失敗。

13. antibody： 抗體；fatal： 致命的，毀滅性的；Rhesus disease： 恒河猴癥，一種溶血性疾病。

14. Guinness world record： 吉尼斯世界紀錄。

15. donor： 捐獻者。

16. banish： 驅(qū)除，趕走。

17. draftsman： 起草者；Alexander Graham Bell： 亞歷山大·格拉漢姆·貝爾（1847—1922），美國發(fā)明家和企業(yè)家，他獲得了世界上第一臺可用的電話機的專利權(quán)（發(fā)明者有爭議）；file： v. 提出申請。

18. carbon filament： 碳燈絲；incandescent light bulb： 白熾燈泡。

19. Thomas Edison： 托馬斯·愛迪生（1847—1931），美國科學家、發(fā)明家、企業(yè)家，擁有眾多重要的發(fā)明專利。

20. charter member：（俱樂部或組織的）元老，創(chuàng)始人員。

21. 他接著發(fā)明了許多實用的小機械，例如火車的廁所設(shè)備，以及一個能夠為醫(yī)院病房降溫消毒的裝置，這一裝置降低了人們在醫(yī)院內(nèi)受到病菌感染的幾率。gadget： 小機械，小裝置；disinfect： 為……殺菌，給……消毒。

22. vaccine： 疫苗。

23. mumps： 流行性腮腺炎；contract：感染（疾病等）。

24. swab： （醫(yī)用）拭子，藥棉棒。

25. measles： // 麻疹；hepatitis：// 肝炎；chickenpox：水痘；meningitis： // 腦膜炎；pneumonia： // 肺炎；Haemophilus influenzae：流感嗜血桿菌。

26. MMR： 即measles， mumps， and rubella，麻腮風三聯(lián)疫苗（預防麻疹、腮腺炎和風疹的疫苗）。