读者文摘:改变历史的意外时刻(1)（在线收听）

A melted candy bar helps create the microwave oven.

一款融化的糖果促进了微波炉的发明。

Percy Spencer was so fascinated by the sinking of the Titanic that he became a scientist.

珀西·斯宾瑟对泰坦尼克号的沉没非常着迷，以至于他成为了一名科学家。

He joined the Navy, trained as a radio electrician, and ultimately became a civilian expert on radar during World War II,

他加入了海军，受训成为无线电电工，并最终在二战期间成为一名民用雷达专家，

earning the Distinguished Public Service Award for his work.

凭他的工作赢得杰出公共服务奖。

But he did it all without ever having graduated from high school.

而他这一切都是在高中没有毕业的情况下完成的。

After the war, Spencer worked for Raytheon Manufacturing, a defense contractor.

战后，斯宾塞为雷声制造公司工作，这是一家国防承包商。

As he was walking near the radar equipment one day, he absent-mindedly stuck his hand in his shirt pocket—and found a gooey mess.

一天，当他走到雷达设备附近时，他心不在焉地把手伸进衬衫口袋，发现了一团黏糊糊的东西。

Spencer often carried a Mr. Peanut candy bar to feed the squirrels at lunch.

斯宾瑟经常带一个花生糖果在午餐时喂松鼠。

He knew enough about radar to suspect that its heat-producing magnetron waves could be the culprit, but he wasn’t sure.

他对雷达有足够的了解，怀疑它产生热量的磁控管波可能是罪魁祸首，但他不确定。

So he placed a bag of popcorn kernels in front of the machine— and they popped.

于是他把一袋玉米粒放在机器前，结果玉米粒就爆了出来。

Then came a raw egg, which dutifully exploded all over a skeptical colleague’s face.

然后又拿来一个生鸡蛋，它尽职地炸了一个持怀疑态度的同事一脸。

Spencer fine-tuned his discovery with Raytheon and marketed it to airlines, railways, restaurants,

斯宾瑟和雷声公司对他的发现进行了微调，并将其作为“雷达炉”推广到航空公司、铁路、餐馆、

and cruise liners as “the Radarange”—or, as it’s known now, the microwave oven.

客轮公司-它就是我们现在所说的微波炉。

Fortunately, microwaves have come a long way since 1947,

幸运的是，微波炉自1947年以来走了很长的一段路，

when they stood nearly six feet tall, weighed 750 pounds, and cost $3,000. That’s roughly $35,000 today.

那时它们高近6英尺，重750磅，价值3000美元。那差不多相当于今天的35000美元。

A coconut saves JFK’s life. August 2, 1943, began as a cloudy, moonless night in the South Pacific for 26-year-old Navy lieutenant John F. Kennedy.

一个椰子救了肯尼迪的命。1943年8月2日，26岁的海军中尉约翰·F·肯尼迪在南太平洋开始了一个多云、没有月亮的夜晚。

As Kennedy and his crew patrolled the Solomon Islands from their boat, PT-109, a Japanese destroyer pierced through the fog and sliced the smaller ship in half.

当肯尼迪和他的船员们乘坐PT-109号船在所罗门群岛巡逻时，一艘日本驱逐舰穿过雾气，把他们的小船劈成了两半。

An enormous fireball filled the sky, and two men aboard PT-109 were killed.

一个巨大的火球充满了天空，PT-109号船上两个人身亡。

As Kennedy and ten other survivors huddled around the wreck, they realized they had no choice but to swim to a nearby island.

肯尼迪和其他十个幸存者挤在沉船周围，他们发现别无选择，只能游到附近的一个岛上。

Kennedy, a former member of the Harvard swim team, personally towed one of his wounded comrades with his teeth

肯尼迪曾是哈佛游泳队的一名成员，他用牙齿拖着一名受伤的战友，

for five hours through shark- and crocodile-infested waters to Plum Pudding Island, where they ate coconuts to survive.

游了5个小时穿过鲨鱼和鳄鱼出没的水域，来到葡萄干布丁岛，在那里他们靠吃椰子生存。

After several days, the men flagged down two Solomon Islands natives passing in a canoe, who agreed to take a message to the Allied forces.

几天后，这些人挥手示意两名乘船经过的所罗门群岛的土著，他们同意给盟军捎口信。

The dispatch was carved into a coconut shell: “NAURO ISL ... COMMANDER ... NATIVE KNOWS POS’IT ... HE CAN PILOT ... 11 ALIVE ... NEED SMALL BOAT ... KENNEDY.”

急件被刻到了椰子壳上：“诺鲁岛...长官...本地人知道在哪里...他可以领航...有11个人还活着...需要小船...肯尼迪。”

The islanders delivered the coconut, and the men were soon rescued.

岛民们把椰子送了出去，这些人很快就获救了。

Years later, Judge Ernest W. Gibson Jr., a colonel in the South Pacific during the war, surprised the newly elected President Kennedy with a gift.

几年后，法官小欧内斯特·W·吉布森送给新当选的肯尼迪总统一份礼物，令他大吃一惊。吉布森战时在南太平洋任上校。

It was the coconut he had carved his message into. Kennedy had it encased in plastic and used it as a paperweight throughout his presidency.

礼物就是他当时刻字的椰子。肯尼迪把它用塑料包裹起来，并在他的总统任期内把它用作镇纸。

Today, it is on permanent display at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston.

如今，它在波士顿的约翰·肯尼迪图书馆永久展出。