托马斯·爱迪生：发明家与忙碌的团队领导者
📖 逐句对照翻译
The inventor Thomas Alva Edison had a major effect on the lives of people around the world.
发明家托马斯·阿尔瓦·爱迪生对全世界人们的生活产生了重大影响。
Thomas Edison is remembered most for the electric light, his phonograph, and his work with motion pictures.
托马斯·爱迪生最为人所铭记的是电灯、留声机以及他在电影方面的工作。
Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio.
爱迪生于1847年2月11日出生在俄亥俄州的米兰。
He was mostly self-taught.
他主要是自学成才的。
His mother taught him reading, writing, and mathematics.
他的母亲教他阅读、写作和数学。
He learned from books, and he experimented.
他既从书本中学习，又动手实验。
At the age of 10, he experimented with chemicals and electricity.
10岁时，他就尝试摆弄化学药品和电。
He built a telegraph machine and, at the age of 16, he went to work as a telegraph operator.
他制造了一台电报机，并在16岁时成为一名电报员。
He continued his work with electricity, making improved telegraph machines, and he invented an electrical voting machine.
他继续从事电学研究，改良了电报机，还发明了一台电动投票机。
Edison earned enough money from his early inventions to start his own company in 1871.
爱迪生从早期的发明中赚到了足够的钱，于1871年创办了自己的公司。
Instead of working alone, he worked with a group of employees on many different projects at one time.
他没有独自工作，而是同时与一群员工合作开展许多不同的项目。
They asked the United States government for patents to protect more than one hundred devices or inventions each year.
他们每年向美国政府申请专利，以保护超过一百种设备或发明。
He was an extremely busy man.
他是个极其忙碌的人。
In 1913, a popular magazine at the time called Thomas Edison the most useful man in America.
1913年，当时一本流行的杂志称托马斯·爱迪生为美国最有用的人。
He almost never slept more than four or five hours a night.
他几乎每晚的睡眠时间都不超过四五个小时。
He usually worked 18 hours each day because he enjoyed what he was doing.
他通常每天工作18个小时，因为他热爱自己所做的事情。
A reporter asked Edison in 1917 which of his many inventions he enjoyed the most.
1917年，一名记者问爱迪生，在他众多的发明中，他最喜欢哪一项。
He answered, the phonograph was really the most interesting.
他回答说，留声机确实是最有趣的。
The hardest invention to develop, he said, was the electric light.
他说，最难发明的就是电灯。
He said that it was the most difficult and the most important.
他说这是最困难也是最重要的。
He also invented the modern motion picture film.
他还发明了现代电影胶片。
In 1928, he received a special medal of honor from the Congress of the United States.
1928年，他获得了美国国会颁发的一枚特别荣誉勋章。
Thomas Edison died on January 6, 1931.
托马斯·爱迪生于1931年1月6日去世。
People worldwide have had easier and more enjoyable lives because of his inventions.
全世界的人们因为他的发明而过上了更轻松、更愉快的生活。
I’m John Russell.
我是约翰·拉塞尔。
Paul Thompson reported this story for VOA’s People in America program.
保罗·汤普森为VOA的《美国人物》节目报道了这个故事。
Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English.
吉尔·罗宾斯为《学习英语》改编了它。
