英语小达人 62 Shining a light on Edison

 　　Shining a light on Edison

　　 爱迪生的灵光一现

　　To make a good idea work, you need to be persistence¹. I learned² this lesson through someone else, Thomas Edison. In 1878, the public became very excited when Edison announced he was going to have a small electric light working in just a few weeks. His reputation for success led everyone to be very hopeful.

　　要实现好点子，你必须要能持之以恒，这点是我向一个人学到的，那就是爱迪生。一八七一年，当爱迪生宣布几个星期后他将点亮电灯泡时，民众都很兴奋，它成功的名声让所有人充满希望。

　　A month passed and he still couldn't make a light work for more than a few seconds. He hired physics expert named Francis Upton to help him. Months and months passed and thousands of different materials were tested, but nothing worked.

　　可是一个月过去了，他还是没办法让灯泡持续点亮几秒。他雇用了一个物理学家法兰西斯·尤佩顿来协助他。又过了好多个月，他们测试了各种材料，可是没有一样成功。

　　A year later, one of the men working on the projest began researching carbon. This was breakthrough they had been waiting for. The carbon thread stayed lit for forty hours and gave Ediaon and his team the confidence they needed.

　　一年后，参加研究的其中一人开始研究碳，这是他们等待已久的突破，碳芯可以持续点燃四十小时，让爱迪生和他的研究小组重拾信心。

　　When I think of Edison and the trials he went through inventing one of the most important forms of technology we have today, I remember that no one succeeds without failure and the ability to push on.

　　当我想到爱迪生以及今天最重要的科技发明背后的磨练，我就会记住没有失败和努力不懈，就没有成功。

1 persistence   

n.坚持，持续，存留

参考例句：

• The persistence of a cough in his daughter puzzled him.他女儿持续的咳嗽把他难住了。
• He achieved success through dogged persistence.他靠着坚持不懈取得了成功。

2 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。