美国印象：爱迪生（2015）

"The American invents
就像希腊雕​​塑和意大利油画“
as the Greek sculpted and the Italian painted,"
'伦敦泰晤士'报道
the Times of London reported.
“这就是天才”
"It is genius."
但1876年春天展示的所有神奇
But of all the wonders in evidence that spring of 1876,
没有一个
none was more astonishing
比亚历山大·贝尔的电♥话♥更惊人
than Alexander Graham Bell's telephone,
一个革命性的设备
a revolutionary device
把声波转换成电♥信♥♥号♥♥
that converted sound waves into an electrical signal
并承诺以语♥音♥取代电报的点和线
and promised to replace the telegrapher's dots and dashes with the sound of the human voice.
贝尔公布他的发明时
When Bell unveils his invention,
西联转向爱迪生说:
Western Union turns to Edison and says,
“这个很重要
"This is important.
我们想请你看看这个“
We'd like you to look into this."
对于爱迪生 没有比竞争更强大的催化剂
For Edison,there were few more powerful catalysts than competition.
“我不在乎太多财富” 他曾说过
"I don't care too much for a fortune," he once said,
“只要我走在其他人前面”
"as I do for getting ahead of the other fellows."
受过大学教育的贝尔
Bell,college educated
由未来岳父母提供资金
and bankrolled by his future father-in-law,
是理想的对手
was the ideal adversary.
托马斯·爱迪生对亚历山大·贝尔
Thomas Edison had no real deep abiding collegial respect
没有真正深刻持久的同行尊重
for Alexander Graham Bell.
亚历山大·贝尔只是作为需要去竞争
Alexander Graham Bell existed as someone to be competed with
去克服和超越的对象而存在
and overcome and transcended and bettered.
爱迪生把竞争看成是
Edison saw competition as sort of a crucial spur
这个发明企业的关键鞭策
to the inventive enterprise.
他说发明家需要一个敌人
He said an inventor needs an enemy.
他认为 他有当时最有创意的头脑
You know,he thought he was the best inventive brain around.
他还有实验室 可以胜过其他任何人
And also,he had his laboratory,which could outdo anybody else.
爱迪生和团队花了数月
It would take Edison and his team mere months
设计出超过贝尔的设备
to design a device that trumped Bell's--
所谓“碳键发射器”
a so-called "carbon button transmitter"
能把声音传播到远得多的距离
that carried sound over much longer distances
并把电♥话♥变成一个可行的商业设备
and turned the telephone into a commercially viable device.
这个过程中 爱迪生偶然的发明
In the process,Edison stumbled upon the invention
将永远改变他的生活
that would change his life forever.
1877年夏天 门洛帕克团队
It was the summer of 1877,and the Menlo Park team
在测试声学特性的各种材料
was testing various materials for their acoustic properties.
爱迪生虽然无法听到外面鸟叫
Edison,though unable to hear the birds outside,
但还是执着于声音
was nevertheless obsessed with sound,
声音传输不断回荡在他
its transmission constantly cycling through
一位同事描述的“万花筒般的心灵”
what one colleague described as his "kaleidoscopic mind."
万花筒以许多不同方向折射光线
The kaleidoscope refracts the light in many different ways,
但始终在同一框架内
but you're always within the same framework.
这和他如何想象完全一样
That's exactly how his imagination worked.
你可以看到这类模式
You can see these sort of patterns.
不只是在思考
It wasn't just thinking
完成一件事情的不同方法
about different ways of doing one thing;
还有思考一种技术如何可能
it was also about thinking about how one technology
有助其他技术的设计
might contribute to his design of another technology.
他曾研究电报留下书面记号♥的技术
Edison had worked on a telegraph technology that made marks on a paper,
所以爱迪生试图想法在电♥话♥上办到
so Edison was trying to figure out a way to do that for the telephone.
“我怎么记录下这个东西?”
"How can I record this thing?"
他有个电♥话♥振动膜的基本思路
He had the basic idea of the vibrating diaphragm from the telephone
他认为 “我在中间放一根针
and he thought,"Oh,I'll put a needle in the middle of that,
“然后我拿一个纸条
"and then I will take a strip of paper
“把它放在针下面
"and I will pull that under this needle.
“你说话的时候 它会在纸上留下印记
"And as you speak,it will make impressions in this paper.
你可以把它拉回来并听到它“
And then you can pull it back through later and listen to it."
初期实验很快产生原始机器的草图
Initial experiments quickly gave rise to sketches
爱迪生叫它“留声机”
for a crude machine Edison called a phonograph,
古希腊语“作家的声音”的意思
from the ancient Greek,meaning "writer of sound."
这个机器不时地改善
The device was then refined in fits and starts,
爱迪生做出图纸
with Edison turning out drawings
机械师约翰·克罗西建造测试模型
and his machinist John Kreusi creating models to test.
他们最终形成这种设计
Finally,they settled on a design
一张箔片安装在手摇圆筒上
in which a sheet of foil was mounted on a hand-cranked cylinder.
他们在做这件事 他们在试验
They're working on this thing and they were fooling around.
“这太有意思了
"This is damn interesting.
“让我们看看用它能做些啥
"Let's see if we can do something with it.
“我不知道是否有人会用它
"I don't know if anybody will ever use it,
但看看我们能做些啥“
but let's see what we can do."
机器完成时
When the machine was finished,
工场里的人们围拢来
the men in the shop gathered round,
不敢出声 爱迪生吟诵经典儿歌♥
breathless as Edison recited into the diaphragm
“玛丽有只小羊羔”到薄膜上
the classic nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
'玛丽有只小羊羔 羊毛白如雪...'
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow..
然后他把针移到开始
Then he moved the needle to the beginning
看是否能重放
to see if the rhyme would play back.
'玛丽有只小羊羔 羊毛白如雪...'
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.
'玛丽去哪里 羊就跟到哪'
And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.
以往没人录下过任何声音
Nobody had ever recorded anything before.
如果能回放一些东西
And it just changes the way you think about the world,
这会改变你看世界的方式
if you can play something back again.
这是个奇迹
There was a miracle to it
我认为超越了现在经历的大部分东西
that I think goes beyond most of the things that we would currently experience.
声音是最短暂的事情
Sound was the most ephemeral thing we had,
爱迪生把它从瞬息
and Edison took it from being ephemeral
变成实实在在和可以久存的东西
to being concrete and something that would exist for the ages.
“我一生中从没如此吃惊” 爱迪生说
"I was never so taken aback in all my life," Edison said.
“任何东西第一次工作时 我总有点担心”
"I always was afraid of anything that worked the first time."
'我来介绍我见过最奇妙的事情
I introduce the most wonderful thingthat I have ever experienced,
为这个奇妙发现 我衷心祝贺你
and I congratulate you with all my heart on this wonderful discovery.
国家主要技术周刊'科学美国人'
The nation's leading technical weekly, Scientific American,
首先公开宣传留声机
was the first to publicize the phonograph,
随后1877年12月7日 爱迪生
following Edison's demonstration of the device
在该杂♥志♥纽约办事处 示范这个装置
in the journal's New York offices on December 7,1877.
通过媒体留声机介质...
Through the medium of the phonograph...
“这是一片金属”
"Here is a piece of metal,"
该报编辑惊讶地写道
the paper's editor wrote in wonder,
“以这种方式的发声毫无疑问
"that talks in such a way that there can be no doubt
是人声的变调“
but that the inflections are those of the human voice."
'科学美国人'里
All the new technologies are talked about,
谈到写到的新技术
written about in Scientific American.
这些领域里重要人物
And everybody who is important in these fields,
无论是发明家 工程师或专利律师
whether you're an inventor,an engineer or patent attorney,
你都要读'科学美国人'
you're going to read Scientific American.
做声音研究的物理学家和科学家
Those physicists and scientists who were working on sound,
和每个关心此事的人
and everybody who was following that
知道声音如何复杂
and knew how complex sound was,
这里来了个家伙 用一小张金属振膜
here comes a joker with a little metal diaphragm
中间用一根针
with a needle in the middle of it,
记录下人声
and he records the human voice.
亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔
Alexander Graham Bell
和研究声音的人
and the people who had been working on sound,you know,
一旦看到如此简单会拍打额头
would smack themselves in the forehead once they saw how simple it was.
“对我这是最惊讶的事”
"It is a most astonishing thing to me,"
贝尔向岳父承认
Bell confessed to his father-in-law,
“这个发明可能从我手指间溜走的"
"that I could possibly have let this invention slip through my fingers."
'科学美国人'的简短通知掀起热潮
The brief notice in Scientific American set off a stampede.
记者争先恐后来到门洛帕克
Reporters beat a path to Menlo Park
去聆听这个惊人的东西
to hear this astounding thing.
对今晚实验的结果
I am astonished and somewhat terrified
我很吃惊甚至有点吓坏
at the result of this evening's experiment.
留声机让爱迪生突然间举世著名
The phonograph made Edison world-famous really kind of suddenly.
他做示范
He did demonstrations,
留声机让人们心醉神迷
and the phonograph just blew people's minds.
但我认为更多的是爱迪生确信
But more,I think,Edison made sure
他是个有趣的人
that he was a colorful character.
他是个根深蒂固的自我推销者
He was an inveterate self-promoter.
他从没有在那里迎接你