美国小学英语教材6:第215课 电灯的五十周年纪念(4)

Later, when his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan, there were the railway yards and machine shops of the Grand Trunk Railway.

后来，当爱迪生一家搬到密歇根州休伦港时，那里有大铁路干线的铁路场站和机械车间。

There were the same rough voices and dirty faces, the same “Out of the way, boy.”

那里同样有喧闹的声音和肮脏的面孔，同样是“男孩，走开”。

All about him were the smell of steam and soot¹ and fire, the noise, of box-cars, engines, boilers³, the mysterious workings of pistons⁴, valves, levers, gears.

他周围有蒸汽、煤烟和火的气味，车厢、引擎和锅炉的噪音，活塞、阀门、杠杆和齿轮神秘的工作原理。

Again the questions of young Edison poured forth⁵, faster than men could answer.

年轻的爱迪生再次提出了很多问题，多得让人们无法及时回答。

The boy collected all the bits of nowledge that the train-men let drop.

这个男孩一点一滴地吸收了车站人员的知识。

He loved the steam locomotive, and whenever he got a chance, rode in the cab with the engineer of the train.

他喜欢蒸汽机车，只要有机会，他就和火车的工程师一起乘坐机车。

Once the engineer slept and allowed the boy to run the engine himself.

有一次工程师睡着后，让爱迪生自己控制引擎。

What a thrill and adventure the boy had that day!

爱迪生那天是多么的兴奋和刺激啊！

The boiler² was too full of water, and black sooty mud soon covered the whole engine and the young engineer.

由于锅炉里的水装得太满，黑色的煤泥很快就覆盖了发动机和年轻的工程师。

When Edison reached the yards, he was greeted with shouts of laughter.

当爱迪生到达场站时，人们大笑起来。

But those who laughed did not guess that the plucky⁶ boy was to have a great deal to do with the development of the future train.

但那些嘲笑的人并没有想到，这个勇敢的孩子将与未来的火车发展有很大关系。

Someday he was to make an engine that would run by electricity and never have any boiler trouble.

总有一天，他将要制造一种可以利用电力运行并且不会出现锅炉故障的引擎。

So Edison reached the time when he decided⁷ to go into business for himself.

因此，爱迪生到了他决定自己创业的时间。

He was eleven years old when he became newsboy and candy boy on the trains of the Grand Trunk Railroad between Port Huron and Detroit.

11岁时，他成为休伦港和底特律之间大干线铁路列车上的报童和售货男孩。

At this time he was a well built boy with a head of thick brown hair.

这时他是一个身材健壮的男孩，头顶浓密的棕色头发。

He was sturdy like his Dutch ancestors and had the good health that belonged to the Edisons.

他像他的荷兰祖先一样强壮，也像其家族的人一样身体健康。

His grandfather had lived until he was one hundred three years old.

他的祖父一直活到103岁。

The boy’s family were well-to-do, and there was no reason for him to earn his own living. But he was tired of staying at home.

这个男孩家庭富裕，没有靠自己谋生的理由。但是他厌倦了呆在家里。

Most of his education had been received from his mother, who had taught school before her marriage.

爱迪生的大部分教育都是从母亲那里获得的，他母亲在结婚前是一位老师。

There was nothing to do at home to occupy his busy young mind.

家里没有什么可占据爱迪生忙碌的年轻头脑。

1 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

2 boiler   

n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等)

参考例句：

• That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
• This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。

3 boilers   

锅炉，烧水器，水壶( boiler的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Even then the boilers often burst or came apart at the seams. 甚至那时的锅炉也经常从焊接处爆炸或裂开。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• The clean coal is sent to a crusher and the boilers. 干净的煤送入破碎机和锅炉。

4 pistons   

活塞( piston的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some pistons have seating rings of metal or leather. 有些活塞上有金属或皮革的密封环。
• A pump uses valves and pistons. 泵使用阀和活塞。

5 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

6 plucky   

adj.勇敢的

参考例句：

• The plucky schoolgirl amazed doctors by hanging on to life for nearly two months.这名勇敢的女生坚持不放弃生命近两个月的精神令医生感到震惊。
• This story featured a plucky heroine.这个故事描述了一个勇敢的女英雄。

7 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。