托马斯·爱迪生轶事

张祖平

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年被认为是“爱迪生时代”，因为那是爱迪生完成大部分重要发明的年代。

Wonders by a Mother母亲的奇迹

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.

爱迪生只受过三个月的正规公立教育，之后他都是在家里接受教育，他的母亲教他阅读、算数和写作。他的母亲经常给他读诸如莎士比亚、爱德华·吉本和查尔斯·狄更斯等作家的名著。

A Smart Child聪明的孩子

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.

尽管爱迪生的老师认为爱迪生是糊涂蛋，但是在他的母亲给他的一本科学书的启迪下，爱迪生10岁就聪明到能够建造自己的实验室。他把所有的钱都花在购买化学药品上，而不是买糖果。他还聪明到能把所有有毒药瓶贴上标签，因此没人来乱动这些药品。

A Deaf Ear耳聋

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.

爱迪生有点耳聋，源于童年时期的一场猩红热高烧发作，这在爱迪生看来是一件好事，尤其是当他想专注实验的时候。可惜，在他12岁后，再也没有听到鸟叫。

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.

爱迪生曾经从一列失控的火车边救了一个三岁的男孩。那个男孩是站长的儿子。作为回报，站长教爱迪生如何使用电报。接下来的四年，爱迪生作为一名电报员行程数千英里。

The Flop8 Invention失败的发明

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.

爱迪生的第一项发明专利是为立法机关所用的电传表决机。这项发明很失败，因为速度慢。也就是在那时，爱迪生决定只发明有市场前景的东西。

Tattoo11 Man纹身男

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.

爱迪生左前臂上有五点的纹身。这个纹身的含义无人知道。众人皆知，爱迪生发明了第一台蜡纸印刷机，因此，他用自己的机器来纹身，也不足为奇。

1. arithmetic [] n. 算术，算法 2. addled [] adj. 头脑混乱的

3. poison [] n. 毒药，毒物 4. fiddle [] v. 瞎搞；fiddle with 摆弄；乱动

5. scarlet [] n. 猩红色；scarlet fever 猩红热

6. boon [] n. 恩惠；利益 7. concentrate [] v. 集中；全神贯注

8. flop [] n. 失败

9. patent [] v. 授予专利；取得……的专利权

10. legislature [] n. 立法机关；立法机构

11. tattoo [] n. 纹身

12. stencil [] n. 蜡纸；模板