美国印象：爱迪生（2015）

今晚...
Tonight...
爱迪生认为 他有当时最有创意的头脑
Edison thought he was the best inventive brain around.
他自学成才 非常好胜 痴迷专注...
He was self-taught,very competitive,maniacally focused.
他是个颇有争议的人物...
But he was a colorful character.
脚踏实地 有幽默感...
Down to earth,he had a sense of humor...
爱迪生一手创造了发明家的形象
Edison single-handedly created the image of an inventor.
爱迪生 今晚的美国印象节目
"Edison," tonight on American Experience.
起飞 计时开始
Lift-off,the clock is running.
我们在这里有大量伤亡
We have mass casualties up here.
我们去过的地方 我们在哪里 我们要去哪里
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is provided by:
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And by contributions to your PBS station from:
对于你的喜爱
谢谢你
(发动机喷射)
(engine sputtering)
爱迪生
1922年10月中旬一个摄制组来到
In mid-October,1922,a film crew arrived
新泽西州小镇西橙
in the small town of West Orange,New Jersey,
拍摄世界上最负盛名的一个人
to spend some time with one of the most famous men in the world:
惊人多产的美国发明家爱迪生
the phenomenally prolific American inventor Thomas Edison.
数天时间里
Over the course of a few days,
摄影机捕获镜头 伟人在工作
the cameras captured the great man at work,
与员工聊天
chatting with employees
在实验室进行实验
and conducting experiments in his lab,
监督工厂包装材料测试
overseeing tests of packing materials in his factories
并赶超他最知名设备上的最新进展
and catching up on the latest advances in the device for which he was best known.
爱迪生发明的东西
The things that Edison invented
在我们社会中无所不在
are so omnipresent in our society.
触及数以百万计的人们
They've touched the lives of millions and millions of people
并完全改变了他们
and totally changed them.
我们生活在一个爱迪生发明的世界
We live in a world that Edison invented.
电灯 录音 电影
Incandescent light,sound recording,motion pictures.
这些和其它大量发明
For these and scores of other inventions,
使爱迪生恰当地赢得“时代发明家”的声誉
Edison had justly earned acclaim as the "Inventor of the Age."
这是第一盏电灯的复♥制♥品
This is a replica of the first lamp.
但机器无法解释他从发明家到偶像的转变
But no mere machine could account for his metamorphosis from inventor to icon.
(汽笛)
(whistling loudly)
(隆隆声)
(chugging)
我们认为今天变化非常非常快
We think we are moving very,very fast today.
我告诉你 爱迪生时代曼哈顿那些人
Let me tell you,all those folks in Manhattan as Thomas Edison is walking the streets
认为身体承受不了当时快速变化的震荡
thought their bodies couldn't stand the shock of how fast they were moving.
处在美国快速进入现代世界的起点
Poised at the starting line of America's rush into the modern world,
爱迪生成为旗手
Edison became its standard bearer.
喂 喂
Hello,hello,hello!
他的时代 他自我推销的精明诀窍
The impact of his native genius made infinitely more powerful
他的极度求胜欲
by his timing,his canny knack for self-promotion
让他的天才无限强大
and his compulsive need to win.
爱迪生非常好胜
Edison was very competitive.
越多的人在寻找答案
The more people who tried to find the answer,
他就越会被它诱惑
the more tempting it was for him to take it on.
他极度关注维持控制
He was maniacally focused on maintaining control.
爱迪生的驱动力最终
In the end,the intensity of Edison's drive
证明既是祝福又是诅咒
proved both blessing and curse,
赔了终身朋友的忠诚
costing him the allegiance of a lifelong friend
赔了他创建企业的控制权
and control of the industry to which he'd given life,
即使它也保证了他的不朽
even as it guaranteed him a kind of immortality.
有其他伟大的发明家
There were other great inventors.
还有爱迪生
Then there was Edison.
他知道发明不只是有个想法
He understood that inventing is not just having an idea,
他使“爱迪生”成为不可忽视的名字
and so he made "Edison" a name to be reckoned with.
(鸟鸣)
(birds cawing)
1876年晚冬
In the late winter of 1876,
新泽西州门洛帕克市散居的市民
the scattered residents of Menlo Park,New Jersey,
看着一个奇怪的新建筑
eyed a curious new building
从火车站边山丘修起来
just up the hill from the train station.
很容易被误认是所学校
It could easily have been mistaken for a school
或贵格会会堂
or a Quaker meeting house.
事实上这是实验室 一个5000平方英尺的设施
In fact,it was a laboratory,a 5,000-square-foot facility
完全致力于孕育一个人的想法
entirely dedicated to nurturing the ideas of one man,
一个崭露头角的企业家
an up-and-coming entrepreneur
名字叫托马斯·阿尔瓦·爱迪生
by the name of Thomas Alva Edison.
没有国内私人实验室设施如此精良
No private laboratory in the country was so well equipped.
从装满各种化学和有机材料的罐子
From the apothecary jars filled with all manner of chemicals and organic materials
到科学仪器和工具
to the scientific instruments and shop tools,
爱迪生拥有可能需要的一切东西
Edison had everything he could possibly need
使自然界向他的意志屈服
to make the natural world bend to his will.
他有这种需要不同资源
LISA GITELHe had this keen sense
去完成发明的敏锐感觉
that he needed different kinds of resources in order to invent,
所以门洛帕克成为一个白板
So Menlo Parker became a whiteboard,
产生的发明点子 全部出自于他
and all the invention ideas he came up with came from him
历史上成功的发明家
Successful inventors in history,
大都是试图完成一项任务
were largely people trying to accomplish a task.
他们有日常工作
They had a day job effectively,
而发明是额外途径
and invention was a way of furthering that.
爱迪生决定发明是他的日常工作​​
Edison decided that invention was his day job.
29岁时 爱迪生是个有雄心的人
At 29,Edison had the audacious ambition
白手起家并具备实力来证明
of a man who'd come from nothing and who had everything to prove.
(胶片卷轴点击)
(film reel clicking)
(音乐播放)
(music playing)
他是个典型的美国故事
His was a classic American story,
出身卑微惊人成名
a spectacular rise from humble beginnings
很快会被一遍遍地讲述
that soon would be told and retold and told again.
生于1847年 在密歇根休伦港长大
Born in 1847 and raised in Port Huron,Michigan,
那里靠近一个小国的边缘
near the edge of a small country
当时正处于成为大国的边缘
then on the verge of becoming great,
从小托马斯·爱迪生就充满勇气和激♥情♥
Thomas Edison was all pluck and initiative from the start.
照他的说法
By his own account,
他好奇到恶作剧的地步
he was curious to the point of mischief.
他曾经长时间坐在邻居家的鹅蛋上
He once spent hours sitting on a neighbor's goose eggs
试图孵化它们
in an effort to hatch them
放火焚烧谷仓 “只为看看会怎么样”
and set fire to a barn "just to see what it would do."
由于只有三个月正规教育
Given just three months of formal schooling,
少年时代无忧无虑的下午
he spent the carefree afternoons of boyhood
他在图书馆通过阅读而长进
reading his way through the library
在地窖里痴迷地进行化学实验
and obsessively conducting chemistry experiments in the cellar.
钱不多 为支持自己的涉猎
Money was tight,so to finance his dabbling,
他12岁就去打工
he went to work at the age of 12,
在休伦港与底特律之间火车上当报童
taking a job as a newsboy on the train that ran daily between Port Huron and Detroit.
在沿线的车站上上下下
Along the way,in stations up and down the line,
他迷上了电报
he became fascinated with the telegraph,
此时正开始把成长中的国家连接在一起
which was beginning to knit the growing nation together
以前用铁轨现在用铜线
as the rails were,only with lengths of copper wire.
他的世界里有比电报更前沿的么?
Is there a more leading edge thing going on in his world than telegraphy?
以光速传播真实信息
Moving real information at the speed of light,
需要非常复杂的技术做到这点
with very sophisticated technologies to make it happen.
他对它着迷
He was amazed by it.
他是那种小孩
He was that kind of kid.
迷恋引发他 努力掌握这个技术
Edison's fascination sparked a quest for mastery.
他自学摩尔斯电码
He taught himself Morse Code
实践收发电报
and practiced sending and receiving telegraph messages
每天长达18个小时
for up to 18 hours a day
最终在1862年 他落实了第一份工作 当电报员
before finally landing his first job as an operator in 1862,
当时他只有15岁
when he was just 15.
(汽笛)
(chugging loudly)
那时他意识到在失去听力
By then,he'd become aware that he was losing his hearing,
世界的喧嚣变得越来越弱
the racket of the world growing increasingly dim.
有了电报 他发现耳聋给了他优势
But with telegraphy,he found that deafness gave him an edge.
“在电报局”他后来回忆说
"When in a telegraph office," he later recalled,
“我只听得到“直接放在我桌上的仪器
"I could hear only the instrument"directly on the table at which I sat,
“不像其他电报员