英国卫报:小冰块下的大生意(3)

In 1626, the English philosopher Sir Francis Bacon was one of the first westerners to discover a new use for ice, after packing a dead chicken in snow in the hope of preserving its flesh.

1626年，英国哲学家弗朗西斯·培根爵士将一只死鸡裹在雪里来保存肉质，最后他成功了（他是这么说的：“真是好极了！”），

He succeeded (in his own words, "excellently well"), but in so doing unfortunately caught a chill that would, several days later, be the death of him.

由此成为了最早发现冰的新用途的西方人之一。不幸的是，用这种方法尝试几次后他染上了风寒，并于几天后去世。

It was not until 1785 that Bacon's insight found widespread acceptance – and even then, it was only thanks to a chance encounter between one Alexander Dalrymple,

培根保存肉质的方法直到1785年才被大众普遍接受——即便在那个时候，也要感谢

an official of the East India Company, and George Dempster, its former director.

东印度公司的官员亚历山大·达尔林普尔和其前董事乔治·登普斯特的一次偶遇。

Dalrymple mentioned in passing that the Chinese fishermen who operated in the waters around the company's trading post in Canton

达尔林普尔还顺带提及，在该公司位于广州的贸易站附近水域作业的中国渔民

were in the habit of taking ice on their fishing trips in order to preserve their catch at sea, and then to transport it over long distances once on shore.

习惯在捕鱼时带上冰块以保存在海上的渔获，上岸之后再进行长距离运输。

Dempster was sufficiently¹ intrigued² to write to his salmon³ supplier in Scotland, who sent a consignment⁴ of fish on ice, by sea, to London – it arrived, six days later, perfectly⁵ fresh.

邓普斯特对此很感兴趣，他写信给他在苏格兰的三文鱼供应商，供应商将一批带冰的鱼通过海路寄到伦敦，六天后鱼到了，非常新鲜。

This chance conversation set in motion a booming trade in what had been a hitherto overlooked commodity.

这次偶然的谈话引发了一场迄今为止一直被忽视的大宗商品交易的蓬勃发展。

When Joseph Marr, The Ice Co's founding father, decided⁶ to expand his fish-curing business in Hull⁷ into a fish-catching one, ice was an absolute necessity.

当The Ice Co的创始人约瑟夫·马尔决定把他在赫尔的养鱼业务扩大到捕鱼业务，冰成了必需品。

When the company moved to Fleetwood on the other side of the country in 1896, in pursuit of hake (then abundant off the UK's west coast),

1896年，该公司搬到了英国另一边的弗利特伍德，为了追寻鳕鱼(当时英国西海岸盛产鳕鱼)，

ice was what his son, James Herbert, imported from Norway, and subsequently stored in a giant cork-lined ice-house.

他的儿子詹姆斯·赫伯特从挪威进口了冰块，随后将之储存在一个巨大的软木贴面冰库里。

And ice, again, was what the company started to manufacture for itself in 1908, as a third generation of Marrs

等到了马尔家族第三代，每天来来往往的渔船已经形成了一种固定的模式：

settled into the daily rhythm of fishing boats coming and going – leaving stocked with ice, returning stocked with slightly less ice, and fish.

离开时带着冰块，回来时带着稍少的冰块和鱼。自此The Ice Co公司开始自己生产冰块。

To Joseph Marr, the idea that people might one day manufacture ice from water would doubtless have seemed fanciful, if not outright⁸ sacrilegious.

将来的某一天人们可能能够用水造冰，这个想法对于约瑟夫·马尔来说不仅有些亵渎神灵，而且无疑是天方夜谭。

As recently as 1844, when the American inventor John Gorrie took to the pages of the Commercial Advertiser to argue

直到1844年，当美国发明家约翰·戈里在商业广告中声称

"we know of no want of mankind more urgent than a cheap means of producing an abundance of artificial cold", he did so under a pseudonym⁹, for fear of reprisals¹⁰.

“我们知道，人类最急需的就是一种能够以低成本制造大量人工冷气的方法”。为了避免被报复，他使用了假名。

Gorrie, a doctor who specialised in treating malaria¹¹, had already produced a prototype of the modern air conditioner that blew air across a block of ice hanging above a feverish¹² patient.

格里是一位主治疟疾的医生，他制造出了一种现代空调的原型，可以把空气吹过挂在发烧病人上方的冰块。

In 1851 he received a US patent for one of the world's first ice-making machines, which harnessed the cooling properties of pressurised gases as they expanded.

1851年，他获得了世界上第一台制冰机的美国专利，这种制冰机利用了受压气体膨胀时的冷却特性。

He was right to have worried about being deemed heretical: after a successful demonstration¹³ of his machine in 1850 at a dinner party at The Mansion¹⁴ hotel in Florida

他担心自己会被视为异类，事实也确实如此：1850年，他在佛罗里达的大厦酒店的一次晚宴上成功展示了自己的机器

(an event Smithsonian magazine subsequently dubbed¹⁵ "the chilly¹⁶ reception"), the New York Globe derisively¹⁷ reported that

（《史密森尼杂志》随后称这次活动为“冷宴”），之后，《纽约环球报》曾嘲笑地报道说：

"There is a Dr Gorrie, a crank down in Apalachicola, Florida, that thinks he can make ice by his machine as good as God Almighty¹⁸".

“佛罗里达州的阿帕拉奇科拉市有一位格里博士，他说自己的机器能像万能的神一样制造冰块。”

But Gorrie did not live to enjoy his vindication¹⁹: he failed to find financial backers for his product, and died, impoverished²⁰, five years later.

然而，格里在自己得到辩护之前就去世了：他没能为自己的产品找到资助人，五年后穷困潦倒地去世了。

1 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

2 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

3 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

4 consignment   

n.寄售；发货；委托；交运货物

参考例句：

• This last consignment of hosiery is quite up to standard.这批新到的针织品完全符合规格。
• We have to ask you to dispatch the consignment immediately.我们得要求你立即发送该批货物。

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

8 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

9 pseudonym   

n.假名，笔名

参考例句：

• Eric Blair wrote under the pseudonym of George Orwell.埃里克·布莱尔用乔治·奧威尔这个笔名写作。
• Both plays were published under the pseudonym of Philip Dayre.两个剧本都是以菲利普·戴尔的笔名出版的。

10 reprisals   

n.报复（行为）( reprisal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They did not want to give evidence for fear of reprisals. 他们因为害怕报复而不想作证。
• They took bloody reprisals against the leaders. 他们对领导进行了血腥的报复。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

12 feverish   

adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的

参考例句：

• He is too feverish to rest.他兴奋得安静不下来。
• They worked with feverish haste to finish the job.为了完成此事他们以狂热的速度工作着。

13 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

14 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

15 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

17 derisively   

adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地

参考例句：

• This answer came derisively from several places at the same instant. 好几个人都不约而同地以讥讽的口吻作出回答。
• The others laughed derisively. 其余的人不以为然地笑了起来。

18 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

19 vindication   

n.洗冤，证实

参考例句：

• There is much to be said in vindication of his claim.有很多理由可以提出来为他的要求作辩护。
• The result was a vindication of all our efforts.这一结果表明我们的一切努力是必要的。

20 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》