他注意到，长度相同的木竿上的灯来回摆动的时间相同。那些较短的木竿的灯比那些较长木竿的灯摇晃速度要快。伽利略观察来回摇摆的灯，非常入迷。数百万人曾看到过灯的摇摆，却没有一个人想到要找出重要、实用的发现与现象之间的关系。

伽利略回到自己的房间，便开始了试验工作。他找出一些不同长度的绳子，挂在天花板上，并在每个绳子的末端挂了一个砝码。接着他晃动所有的绳子，让它们像教堂里的灯一样来回摇摆。每根绳子就就像竹竿一样成了钟摆。

经过长期的观察，他发现：如果是一根长39■英寸的绳子，一分钟正好晃动60次。而绳子是前面绳子的四分之一长的话，晃动速度正好是前面速度的2倍；反之亦然。要使它的晃动快两倍，或是原来速度的三分之一，绳子的长度必须是39■的1/9。伽利略使用了各种方式进行试验，最后他终于发现，怎样把摆装在时钟上，也就是今天我们看到的时钟的样子。

因此，世界的一个最普通却最实用的发明——钟摆，因为教堂摇摆的灯和伽利略勤于思考、敢于探索而诞生了。

你也可以自己用绳子和任何的重物制作一个钟摆。假如愿意的话，你还能用它来做试验。也许你就会算出每两秒钟摆动一次的钟摆的摆长应该是多少。

Galileo and the Lamps

IN Italy about three hundred years ago there lived a young man whose name was Galileo. Like Archimedes he was always thinking and always asking the reasons for things. He invented the thermometer and simple forms of the telescope and the microscope. He made many important discoveries in science.

One evening when he was only eighteen years old he was in the cathedral at Pisa at about the time the lamps were lighted. The lamps—which burned only oil in those days—were hung by long rods from the ceiling. When the lamplighter knocked against them, or the wind blew through the cathedral, they would swing back and forth like pendulums. Galileo noticed this. Then he began to study them more closely.

He saw that those which were hung on rods of the same length swung back and forth, or vibrated, in the same length of time. Those that were on the shorter rods vibrated much faster than those on the longer rods. As Galileo watched them swinging to and fro he became much interested. Millions of people had seen lamps moving in this same way, but not one had ever thought of discovering any useful fact connected with the phenomenon.

When Galileo went to his room he began to experiment. He took a number of cords of different lengths and hung them from the ceiling. To the free end of each cord he fastened a weight. Then he set all to swinging back and forth, like the lamps in the cathedral. Each cord was a pendulum, just as each rod had been.

He found after long study that when a cord was 39■ inches long, it vibrated just sixty times in a minute. A cord one fourth as long vibrated just twice as fast, or once every half second. To vibrate three times as fast, or once in every third part of a second, the cord had to be only one ninth of 39■ inches in length. By experimenting in various ways Galileo at last discovered how to attach pendulums to timepieces as we hāve them now.

Thus, to the swinging lamps in the cathedral, and to Galileo’s habit of thinking and inquiring, the world owes one of the commonest and most useful of inventions—the pendulum clock.

You can make a pendulum for yourself with a cord and a weight of any kind. You can experiment with it if you wish; and perhaps you can find out how long a pendulum must be to vibrate once in two seconds.

艾萨克·牛顿爵士和苹果（1）

艾萨克·牛顿爵士是一位伟大的思想家。他懂得如此多的自然规律，透彻地了解万物的逻辑推理，同时代的人无人能及。他的成就来源于细致的观察和艰苦的研究。他总在一刻不停地思考问题。

尽管他是那个时代最聪明、最睿智的人，但他仍然感到所知甚少。他学得越多，就越清楚地知道学海无涯。

当他年老之后，有一天他说：“我好像只是海滩上一个玩耍的小孩，因拾到了几枚光滑的鹅卵石或漂亮的贝壳而兴奋不已，但是真理的大海永远横在我前面，我仍然不了解，也探索不完。”

只有浅薄、无知的人才会认为自己很聪明。

秋日的一天，艾萨克爵士正坐在苹果树下的草地上沉思冥想。突然，一个成熟的苹果落下来，掉在他的旁边。

“为什么苹果会落地呢？”他自言自语。

“它落下来，因为它的蒂不能再支撑它在树枝上。”这是他的第一个想法。

但是艾萨克爵士并不就此满足。“为什么它会落在地面？为什么它不朝其它方向落下去？”他问。

“一切重物都落向地面，为什么呢？因为它们有重量。那不是最好的理由。那为什么任何东西都有重量呢?为什么一件东西比另一件东西重呢?”

当开始思考这个问题时，他无法停止，除非把道理搞明白为止。

无数人都曾见过苹果落地，但是只有艾萨克?牛顿爵士才问苹果为什么落地。他是这样解释的——

“每一个物体都对其他的物体有一种吸引力。

“物体所含的物质越多，它对另一物体的吸引力就越大。

“物体间距离越近，它对另一物体的吸引力就越大。

“物体间的吸引力越大，我们说它重量越大。

“地球的重量是苹果的千百万倍，所以它对苹果的吸引力，远远大于苹果对它的吸引力。

“地球的重量比任何在它表层或靠近它的物体的重量大千百万倍，所以地球吸引这种物体，使物体落向它。

“这就是万物为什么下落，也就是我们常说的落在地上。

“我们知道每个物体都对其它物体有作用力，但不知他们之间为什么有作用力，我只能给这种作用力起个名字。

“我们把这种作用力称为万有引力。

“是万有引力使苹果落地的。

“是万有引力使物体拥有重量的。

“是万有引力使物体间保持适当的距离的。”

假如没有像万有引力这样的作用力，苹果还会落到地面上吗？假如万有引力没有吸引物体落向地面，世界会是怎样的呢？

假如你也像艾萨克?牛顿爵士那样，经常问“为什么”和“怎么样”，以上这些问题也能让你思考一些事情。

Sir Isaac Newton and the Apple

SIR Isaac Newton was a great thinker. No other man of his time knew so much about the laws of nature; no other man understood the reasons of things so well as he. He learned by looking closely at things and by hard study. He was always thinking, thinking.

Although he was one of the wisest men that ever lived, yet he felt that he knew but very little. The more he learned, the better he saw how much there was still to be learned.

When he was a very old man he one day said:“I seem to hāve been only like a boy playing on the seashore. I hāve amused myself by now and then finding a smooth pebble or a pretty shell, but the great ocean of truth still lies before me unknown and unexplored.”

It is only the very ignorant who think themselves very wise.

One day in autumn Sir Isaac was lying on the grass under an apple tree and thinking, thinking, thinking. Suddenly an apple that had grown ripe on its branch fell to the ground by his side.

艾萨克·牛顿爵士和苹果（2）

“What made that apple fall?” he asked himself.

“It fell because its stem would no longer hold it to its branch,” was his first thought.

But Sir Isaac was not satisfied with this answer. “Why did it fall toward the ground? Why should it not fall some other way just as well?” he asked.

“All heāvy things fall to the ground—but why do they? Because they are heāvy. That is not a good reason. For then we may ask why is anything heāvy? Why is one thing heāvier than another?”

When he had once begun to think about this he did not stop until he had reasoned it all out.

Millions and millions of people had seen apples fall, but it was left for Sir Isaac Newton to ask why they fall. He explained it in this way:

“Every object draws every other object toward it.

“The more matter an object contains the harder it draws.

“The nearer an object is to another the harder it draws.

“The harder an object draws other objects, the heāvier it is said to be.

“The earth is many millions of times heāvier than an apple; so it draws the apple toward it millions and millions of times harder than the apple can draw the other way.

“The earth is millions of times heāvier than any object near to or upon its surface; so it draws every such object toward it.

“This is why things fall, as we say, toward the earth.

“While we know that every object draws every other object, we cannot know why it does so. We can only give a name to the force that causes this.

“We call that force Grāvitation.

“It is grāvitation that causes the apple to fall.

“It is grāvitation that makes things hāve weight.

“It is grāvitation that keeps all things in their proper places.”

Suppose there was no such force as grāvitation, would an apple fall to the ground? Suppose that grāvitation did not draw objects toward the earth, what would happen?

To you who, like Sir Isaac Newton, are always asking “Why?” and “How?” these questions will give something to think about.

第一个印刷家（1）

一

大概500年前仲夏的一个傍晚，一个陌生人闯进了诡异的荷兰古镇哈勒姆。当地的人们好奇地看着他走过主大街，纷纷猜测他是谁。在那个时代，很少有人在哈勒姆旅行——因此人们会关注并津津乐道。毫无疑问，这是一个无足重轻的旅行者，他衣衫褴褛，既无随从左右，也无宝马相伴。他的肩上扛着背包，身上满是灰尘，像是经过长途跋涉似的。

他在市场附近的一个小客栈前停了下来，想要投宿。店主非常喜欢他的相貌。他是一个青年人，目光炯炯有神，身手敏捷。他应该住店里最好的房间。

“我叫约翰?古腾堡，老家在德国的美因兹。”他说。

“啊，美因兹，是吗？”店主惊呼，“那你为什么离开美因兹，来到我们哈勒姆这个好地方呢？”

“我是一个旅行者，”古腾堡说。

“旅行者？你为什么旅行呢？”店主穷追不舍，继续发问。

“我在旅行中学习，”古腾堡说，“我想看看外面的世界，获得书本上没有的知识。我已经去过热那亚、威尼斯和罗马了。”

“哦，你去过这么多地方了吗？那么，你肯定见过大世面了？”店主说。

“是啊，”古腾堡说，“我走过了瑞士和德国，现在要到法国去。”

“太了不起了！”店主赞叹道，“现在你的晚餐正在准备着，请给我讲讲你在路上见到的最奇异的事情吧！”

“最奇异的事？哦，我见过高山和大海；见过野兽和名人，但是我从没见过比平民的无知更奇怪的事了。为什么这么说呢，因为他们仅仅比家里的牲口知道的多一点，他们几乎不了解自己生活的国家，很少听说其它国家的事情。事实上，他们对这个世界发生的事一无所知。”

“我想你是对的，”房东说，“但是，了解得透彻，或者知之甚少，又有什么区别呢？”

“区别太大了，”古腾堡说，“只要平民这样无知，他们就会被有学问的富人欺骗或利用。他们让穷人贫穷、卑微，以此来确保他们的君主和主人生活得富贵和优越。现在，如果有方法让书变得丰富而廉价，即使是最穷的人也会买来阅读，然后他们就会获得知识，就会改善他们的现状。但是，现在的问题是，只有富人才买得起书，每卷书都是手工­精­心抄写的，结果书的成本远远高于平民的一生所得。”

“啊，”店主说，“哈勒姆有一个做书的人，我不知道他是怎样做的，但是人们都说他卖的书非常便宜。我曾听说，他能在相同的时间里做出10本书来，却只需要一个手快的人抄一本书的时间。他把这叫做印刷，我想。”

“这个人是谁？告诉我在哪里能找到他。”古腾堡异常激动地大声喊着。

“他的名字是劳伦斯——劳伦斯?约翰逊，”店主回答，“40年来，他一直是我们教堂里的司事，因为这个原因，我们称他为劳伦斯司事。”

“他在哪里住？我能见见他吗？”

“为什么不行呢？穿过市场，你就会看见一所大房子，那就是他的家。任何时候你都可以在家找到他。因为他把­精­力投到奇怪的印刷上后，他就很少离开家到外面了。”

二

年轻的旅行家马上就认识了劳伦斯司事。那位老人也很高兴认识一位对他的工作有兴趣的年轻人。他带着古腾堡看他印刷出来的书，还展示他以前用过的活字和简陋的印刷机。这些活字是用小木块制成的，是司事用小刀刻在上面的。

“我花了很长时间才刻上去的，”司事说，“但是你看，用它印刷却相当快！”

他拿起一小张纸，放在排列好的一些活字上。然后，他小心地调准他们在印刷机上面的位置。接着，他把整个身体都压在印刷机的杆上，­操­作着粗陋的印刷机长杆。

“现在可以看看印好的这一页了，”司事说着，小心地把印刷好的纸拿出来。“用手写的话，就会用上几个小时，我用印刷机只用几分钟。”书包 网 想看书来

第一个印刷家（2）

古腾堡异常兴奋。

“我是在一个偶然的机会才发现的。”年迈的司事说，“一天下午，我和几个孙子到树林里去，那有许多山毛榉树。小家伙们要在光滑的树皮刻上他们的名字，我答应了，因为我一直随身带着小刀。他们在树林里快乐地四处玩耍，我就劈下一些山毛榉树的树皮，在上面刻上字母，一个字母占一块。我想，这些树皮能让这些小家伙这么高兴，也许还能帮助他们记住字母呢。于是我用软纸包住，带回了家。我回家打开这些纸包时，我惊呆了，一些字母清楚地印在了白纸上面。这促使我思考，最后我想到，用这种方法印刷整套书的计划。”

“一个伟大的想法！”古腾堡赞叹道，“自从我在小学的时候，我就一直梦想发明这样的东西。”

他又问了劳伦斯司事许多问题，劳伦斯司事很和蔼地把他所知道的都告诉了古腾堡。

“哦，知识很快就可以传播到世界的各个角落了！”兴奋的旅行者兴冲冲地回到旅店时说，他迫不及待想要启程。

次日清晨，他就前往斯特拉斯堡了。

在斯特拉斯堡，年轻的古腾堡把自己关在租来的小屋里，开始制造各种形式的、司事展示给他看的活字。他把它们按照词语和句子的形式组合在一起，还不断进行试验，直到比劳伦斯司事的方法的印刷速度还快。

后来，他又试着用一些软金属做模子，结果发现比用木制模子还要好。他研究了油墨的调制方法，这样印刷时墨就不会溅开了。他还制作了毛刷和滚筒，使得印刷更加平整、光滑。他的努力提高了印刷水平。最后，他实现了长期以来强烈的愿望——用自制的印刷机印制便宜书。他的书生产速度快，价格低廉，连穷人都买得起。

印刷术就是这样诞生的。

The First Printer

Ⅰ

ONE evening in midsummer, nearly five hundred years ago, a stranger arrived in the quaint old town of Haarlem, in the Netherlands. The people eyed him curiously as he trudged down the main street, and there were many guesses as to who he might be. A trāveler in those days was a rarity in Haarlem—a thing to be looked at and talked about. This trāveler was certainly a man of no great consequence. He was dressed poorly, and had neither servant nor horse. He carried his knapsack on his shoulder, and was covered with dust, as though he had walked far.

He stopped at a little inn close by the market place, and asked for lodging. The landlord was pleased with his looks. He was a young man, bright of eye and quick of movement. He might hāve the best room in the house.

“My name,” he said, “is John Gutenberg, and my home is in Mayence.”

“Ah, in Mayence, is it?” exclaimed the landlord，“and pray why do you leāve that place and come to our good Haarlem?”

“I am a trāveler,” answered Gutenberg.

“A trāveler! And why do you trāvel?” inquired the landlord.

“I am trāveling to learn,” was the answer.“I am trying to gain knowledge by seeing the world. I hāve been to Genoa and Venice and Rome.”

“Ah, hāve you been so far? Surely, you must hāve seen great things,” said the landlord.

“Yes,” said Gutenberg，“I hāve walked through Switzerland and Germany, and now I am on my way to France.”

“How wonderful!” exclaimed the landlord. “And now, while your supper is being cooked, pray tell me what is the strangest thing you hāve seen while trāveling.”

第一个印刷家（3）

“The strangest thing? Well, I hāve seen towering mountains and the great sea; I hāve seen sāvage beasts and famous men; but nowhere hāve I seen anything stranger than the ignorance of the common people. Why, they know but little more than their cattle. They know nothing about the country in which they live; and they hāve scarcely heard of other lands. Indeed, they are ignorant of everything that has happened in the world.”

“I guess you are right,” said the landlord，“but what difference does it make whether they know much or little?”

“It makes a great difference,” answ-ered Gutenberg. “So long as the common people are thus ignorant they are made the dupes of the rich and powerful who know more. They are kept poor and degraded in order that their lords and masters may live in wealth and splendor. Now, if there were only some way to make books plentiful and cheap, the poorest man might learn to read and thus gain such knowledge as would help him to better his condition. But, as things are, it is only the rich who can buy books. Every volume must be written carefully by hand, and the cost of making it is greater than the earnings of any common man for a lifetime.”

“Well,” said the landlord, “we hāve a man here in Haarlem who makes books. I don’t know how he makes them, but people say that he sells them very cheap. I’ve heard that he can make as many as ten in the time it would take a rapid scribe to write one. He calls it printing, I think.”

“Who is this man? Tell me where I can find him,” cried Gutenberg, now much excited.

“His name is Laurence—Laurence Jaonssen,” answered the landlord.“He has been the coster, or sexton, of our church for these forty years, and for that reason everybody calls him Laurence Coster.”

“Where does he live? Can I see him?”

“Why, the big house that you see just across the market place is his. You can find him at home at any time; for, since he got into this queer business of making books, he never goes out.”

Ⅱ

The young trāveler lost no time in making the acquaintance of Laurence Coster. The old man was delighted to meet with one who was interested in his work. He showed him the books he had printed. He showed him the types and the rude little press that he used. The types were made of pieces of wood that Coster had whittled out with his penknife.

“It took a long time to make them,” he said, “but see how quickly I can print a page with them.”

He placed a small sheet of paper upon some types which had been properly arranged. With great care he adjusted them all in his press. Then he threw the weight of his body upon a long lever that operated the crude machine.

“See now the printed page,” he cried, as he carefully drew the sheet out.“It would hāve taken hours to write it with a pen. I hāve printed it in as many minutes.”

第一个印刷家（4）

Gutenberg was delighted.

“It was by accident that I discovered it,” said old Laurence. “I went out into the woods one afternoon with my grandchildren. There were some beech trees there, and the little fellows wanted me to carve their names on the smooth bark. I did so, for I was always handy with a penknife. Then, while they were running around, I split off some fine pieces of bark and cut the letters of the alphabet upon them—one letter on each piece. I thought they would amuse the baby of the family, and perhaps help him to remember his letters. So I wrapped them in a piece of soft paper and carried them home. When I came to undo the package I was surprised to see the forms of some of the letters distinctly printed on the white paper. It set me to thinking, and at last I thought out this whole plan of printing books.”

“And a great plan it is!” cried Gutenberg. “Ever since I was a boy at school I hāve been trying to invent some such thing.”

He asked Laurence Coster a thousand questions, and the old man kindly told him all that he knew.

“Now, indeed, knowledge will fly to the ends of the earth,” said the delighted young trāveler as he hastened back to his inn. He could scarcely wait to be gone.

The next morning he was off for Strasburg.

At Strasburg young Gutenberg shut himself up in a hired room and began to make sets of type like those which Laurence Coster had shown him. He arranged them in words and sentences. He experimented with them until he was able to print much faster than old Laurence had done.

Finally, he tried types of soft metal and found them better than those of wood. He learned to mix ink so it would not spread when pressed by the type. He made brushes and rollers for applying it evenly and smoothly. He improved this thing and that until, at last, he was able to do that which he had so long desired—make a book so quickly and cheaply that even a poor man could afford to buy it.

And thus the art of printing was discovered.

约翰·古腾堡和声音（1）

一天晚上，约翰·古腾堡在他的印刷机上工作到很晚。最近，他一直在印刷大开本的拉丁文《圣经》。几周以来，他全身心地投入到工作中，现在他正在完成最后几页。虽然他筋疲力尽，但是依然对完成的工作颇为自豪。他把头靠在印刷机的框架上，沉思了起来。

突然，他从铅字那里听到了两个人的声音。他们用低低的声音交谈着，语气真挚，内容似乎是古腾堡及其发明。

“他是个快乐、幸福的人！”一个人说，轻柔而甜美，充满了赞许和鼓励。“让他继续完成他已开始的工作吧。现在的书又多又便宜，即使最穷的人都买得起，每个儿童都能学习了。睿智、优秀和意志的语言印在成百上千张纸上，并传播到世界各地。千家万户都将阅读到，无知时代已经走到了末日。人们将学会思考、了解外面的世界，并知道怎样为人处世。他们将不再是国王的奴隶，而约翰?古腾堡——印刷术的发明家，这个名字将被世人永远铭记。”

接着，另一个声音响起，它严厉、坚强，却并不惹人厌恶，充满了警告的意味。这个声音说：“让约翰?古腾堡对自己所做的事多加警惕吧。他的发明将被历史证明，是诅咒而非福祉。的确，他印刷的书丰富而便宜，但是，并非所有的书都是好书。粗俗、下流、恶劣的书也被印刷了。他们也被传到千家万户，毒害孩子的思想，引起人们的思想混乱，男人、女人都会怀疑真理，鄙弃美好的品质。约翰?古腾堡应该警惕，否则，人们将记住，约翰?古腾堡是危害世界的魔鬼，而非造福人类的天使。”

两个声音还在讨论、争辩，一个声称，印刷术将造福整个人类，另一个坚决反对，说这将是一个诅咒。约翰?古腾堡感到非常灰心，他不知道应该怎么做。他想到，如果印刷不健康的书将会造成巨大的损害——它会腐蚀一个纯洁的灵魂，还会激起一个人心灵的邪念。

突然，他抓到一把重重的锤子，开始砸他的印刷机。“以后再也不会有谁说我推波助澜，让世界更糟了吧！”他绝望地喊着。

但当他疯狂地毁掉花费了他无数心血制成的印刷机的时候，他又听到了第三个声音。这个声音似乎来自于印刷机本身。它用甜美的音调劝说道：

“请再想一想，不要轻率行事。上帝赐予的最好的礼物可能被滥用，他们本身并没有错。印刷术给世界以启蒙，它带来的福祉是它造成损害的一千倍。住手吧，约翰?古腾堡，记住，你在使人类变得更加美好，而不是变得更糟。”

举起的锤子从他手中滑落了，锤子掉落在地板上的声音惊醒了他。他揉揉眼睛，环顾四周。他想知道，刚才自己是否在做梦。

John Gutenberg and the Voices

ONE night John Gutenberg worked until very late at his press. He was printing a large folio edition of the Bible in Latin. For weeks he had given all his thoughts to this great work, and now he was completing the last sheets. He was worn out with fatigue, but proud of that which he had accomplished. He leaned his head upon the framework of his press, and gāve himself up to thought.

Suddenly from among the types two voices were heard. They were speaking in low but earnest tones, and seemed to be talking about Gutenberg and his invention.

“Happy, happy man!” said the first voice, which was gentle and sweet and full of encouragement. “Let him go on with the work he has begun. Books will now be plentiful and cheap. The poorest man can buy them. Every child will learn to read. The words of the wise and the good will be printed on thousands of sheets and carried all over the world. They will be read in every household. The age of ignorance will be at an end. Men will learn to think and know and act for themselves. They will no longer be the slāves of kings. And the name of John Gut-enberg, inventor of printing, will be remembered to the end of time.”

约翰·古腾堡和声音（2）

Then the other voice spoke. It was a stern, strong voice, although not unplea-sant, and it spoke in tones of warning.“Let John Guten-berg beware of what he is doing. His invention will prove to be a curse rather than a blessing. It is true that books will be plentiful and cheap, but they will not all be good books. The words of the vulgar and the vile will also be printed. They will be carried into millions of households to poison the minds of children and to make men and women doubt the truth and despise virtue. Let John Gutenberg beware lest he be remembered as one who brought evil into the world rather than good.”

And so the two voices went on, one claiming that the printing press would bless all mankind, the other saying that it would surely prove to be a curse. John Gutenberg felt much distressed. He did not know what to do. He thought of the great harm that might be done through the printing of bad books—how they would corrupt the minds of the innocent, how they would stir up the passions of the wicked.

Suddenly he seized a heāvy hammer and began to break his press in pieces. “It shall not be said of me that I helped to make the world worse,” he cried.

But as he was madly destroying that which had cost him so much pains to build, he heard a third voice. It seemed to come from the press itself, and it spoke in tones of sweet persuasion.

“Think still again,” it said, “and do not act rashly. The best of God’s gifts may be abused, and yet they are all good. The art of printing will enlighten the world. Its power for blessing mankind will be a thousand times greater than its power for doing harm. Hold your hand, John Gutenberg, and remember that you are helping to make men better and not worse.”

The upraised hammer dropped from his hands. The sound of its striking the floor aroused him. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. He wondered if he had been dreaming.

詹姆士·瓦特和水壶（1）

一个苏格兰小男孩正坐在他祖母的厨房里，望着宽大的壁炉里跃动的红­色­火焰，静静地思考着事情的原因。的确，他是一个很特别的男孩，他的心里充满了疑惑，总是想问为什么。

“­奶­­奶­，”没过一会儿，他就开始问了，“什么让火焰燃烧的？”

这已经不是第一次问这样无法回答的问题来难为他的­奶­­奶­了。所以­奶­­奶­继续准备晚饭，不去理会孙儿的问题。

火炉上面是一个老式的水壶，水壶的水开始起泡，薄薄的水蒸汽从壶嘴升起。不久，水壶的盖子就开始晃动起来，发出咔哒咔哒的声音。蒸汽在热的地方变得稀薄。但是，当好奇的少年窥视盖子下面时，他却什么也看不见。

“­奶­­奶­，是什么在水壶里呢？”他问道。

“水，孩子，除了水，什么都没有。”

“但是我知道肯定还有别的什么在里边，那些东西鼓动盖子，让它发出咔哒咔哒的声音。”

­奶­­奶­慈祥地笑了，她说：“哦，那只是水蒸气，你能看到它从壶口冒出来，在壶盖底下鼓动着。”

“但你刚才说水壶里只有水，没有其它的，蒸汽怎么在壶盖底下鼓动盖子呢？”

“哎呀，亲爱的，因为它是水变成的，热水产生了蒸汽。”­奶­­奶­开始为难了。

小家伙拿起壶盖，又一次窥视壶内。但他什么都看不到，只有沸腾的水翻腾着。水蒸气根本看不见，只有从水壶里冒出来后，才可以清楚地看到。

“真奇怪！”他说，“水蒸气肯定很强很有力，它能顶起重重的铁盖。­奶­­奶­，你往水壶加了多少水啊？”

“一夸脱吧，杰米。”

“嗯，如果这么点水就有这么大的能量，那么大量的水能量会不会非常大呢？那样的话，它不就能举起更沉的东西了？为什么不让它推动车轮呢？”

祖母无言以对。她觉得，小杰米的想法总是令人费解，而且没有实用价值。她静静地准备晚饭。杰米依然坐在外面的椅子上，研究水壶的问题。

怎样弄明白水蒸气蕴含的能量，怎样让它做更有意义的事情，而不只是在水壶里顶着壶盖发出咔哒咔哒的声音，那就是詹姆士?瓦特，这位好奇的苏格兰男孩思考、解决的问题。他日复一日地在思考着这个问题。他每天晚上都坐在祖母的火炉边，望着稀薄、|­乳­白的蒸汽从水壶里冒出来，又望着它们在黑­色­的烟筒里慢慢消失。随着他长大成|人，这个想法也变得根深蒂固。经过几年的观察研究，他渐渐推导出，水蒸气具有的一些用途和应用领域。

“水蒸气里蕴含着令人惊异的能量，”他自言自语道，“这是任何大力士都无法相比的。如果我们知道怎样利用那种力量，那它为我们做的事将不可限量。它不仅能举起重物，而且能带动各种形式的机器运转。比如，它能拉动马车，推动油轮，耕犁播种，还可以带动纺车编织。几千年来，人们在这种巨大的能量旁边劳作，居然从未梦想有一天，我们可以让它为我们服务的。但是怎样做到呢？这真是个问题。”

他开始了一个又一个的试验，经历了一次又一次的失败。但是，他都能从失败中学到新的东西。这时候，一些人开始嘲笑他。“真可笑，”他们说，“他居然妄想让水蒸气带动机器！”

但是詹姆士·瓦特一直坚持着，从未放弃。最后，他终于造成了世界上第一台成功的蒸汽机模型。所以说，从研究一个如普通的水壶那样简单的东西开始，就能研制出最实用的新发明！

James Watt and the Teakettle

A little Scotch boy was sitting in his grandmother’s kitchen. He was watching the red flames in the wide open fireplace and quietly wondering about the causes of things. Indeed, he was always wondering and always wanting to know.

“Grandma,” he presently asked, “what makes the fire burn?”txt电子书分享平台

詹姆士·瓦特和水壶（2）

This was not the first time he had puzzled his grandmother with questions that she could not answer. So she went on with her preparations for supper and paid no heed to his query.

Above the fire an old-fashioned teakettle was hanging. The water within it was beginning to bubble. A thin cloud of steam was rising from the spout. Soon the lid began to rattle and shake. The hot vapor puffed out at a furious rate. Yet when the lad peeped under the lid he could see nothing.

“Grandma, what is in the teakettle?” he asked.

“Water, my child—nothing but water.”

“But I know there is something else. There is something in there that lifts the lid and makes it rattle.”

The grandmother laughed. “Oh, that is only steam,” she said. “You can see it coming out of the spout and puffing up under the lid.”

“But you said there was nothing but water in the kettle. How did the steam get under the lid?”

“Why, my dear, it comes out of the hot water. The hot water makes it.” The grandmother was beginning to feel puzzled.

The lad lifted the lid and peeped inside again. He could see nothing but the bubbling water. The steam was not visible until after it was fairly out of the kettle.

“How queer!” he said. “The steam must be very strong to lift the heāvy iron lid. Grandma, how much water did you put into the kettle?”

“About a quart, Jamie.”

“Well, if the steam from so little water is so strong, why would not the steam from a great deal of water be a great deal stronger? Why couldn’t it be made to lift a much greater weight? Why couldn’t it be made to turn wheels?”

The grandmother made no reply. These questions of Jamie’s were more puzzling than profitable, she thought. She went about her work silently, and Jamie sat still in his place and studied the teakettle.

How to understand the power that is in steam, and how to make it do other things than rattle the lids of teakettles—that was the problem which James Watt, the inquisitive Scotch boy, set himself to solve. Day after day he thought about it, and evening after evening he sat by his grandmother’s fireside and watched the thin, white vapor come out of the teakettle and lose itself in the yawning black throat of the chimney. The idea grew with him as he grew into manhood, and by long study he began to reason upon it to some purpose.

“There is a wonderful power in steam,” he said to himself. “There was never a giant who had so much strength. If we only knew how to harness that power, there is no end to the things it might do for us. It would not only lift weights, but it would turn all kinds of machinery. It would draw our wagons, it would push our ships, it would plow and sow, it would spin and weāve. For thousands of years men hāve been working alongside of this power, never dreaming that it might be made their servant. But how can this be done? That is the question.”

He tried one experiment after another. He failed again and again, but from each failure he learned something new. Men la-ughed at him. “How ridiculous,” they said, “to think that steam can be made to run machinery!”

But James Watt persevered, and in the end was able to give to the world the first successful form of the steam engine. Thus, from the study of so simple a thing as a common teakettle, the most useful of all modern inve-ntions was finally produced.

约翰逊博士和他的父亲（1）

一

在英国利奇菲尔德市的一家小书店里，屋内的地板刚刚被清扫过，小窗户上的百叶窗也被拉了下来。时间还早，所以还没有顾客上门。屋外的雨一直下个不停。

挨着门的一张小桌子旁，一个满头白发的老人正在给一些书打包，他的身体看起来很虚弱。正当他要把这些书放进一个大篮子的时候，他好像被痛苦侵扰着，时不时地停下来。他把手放在一侧，很痛苦地咳嗽了起来，然后他坐了下来，把胳膊肘支在桌子上休息。

“塞缪尔！”他大声喊道。

在房间远处的一个角落里，一个年轻男子正在阅读放在他面前的一本大书。这个家伙长相古怪，大概18岁，但是看起来却很成熟。他身材高大，看起来有些笨拙，一张大圆脸，某种奇怪的疾病在他的脸上留下了伤疤。他的视力一定很差，因为他读书的时候弯着身子，脸距离书本非常近。

“塞缪尔！”这个老人又喊道。

然而，塞缪尔没有答应。他看得非常入迷，根本没有听见别人在叫他。这次，老人歇了更长的时间，停下手中打包的活。他提起那个笨重的大篮子，放在桌子上。由于用力，他的咳嗽又发作了一阵。等不咳嗽了，他第三次叫道：“塞缪尔！”

“什么事，父亲？”这次他听到了父亲的叫声。

“你知道的，塞缪尔，”他说，“明天尤托克西特有集市，我们必须得摆一个货摊。我们店里的一些朋友要去那里，他们希望我带一些新书给他们。今天上午，我们两个人中的一个必须去集市，把一切都准备好。但是，我感觉自己的身体没办法跑这一趟。我的咳嗽病给我制造了一些麻烦，而且，你也看到了，外面雨下得很大。”

“是的，父亲，我为你感到难过。”塞缪尔答道，然后他把脸又转向书本。

“我想，或许你可以去市场，我留在书店里。”他的父亲说。但是，塞缪尔没听见他说的话，他正在潜心研究拉丁名著。

老人走到门口，朝外面看了看。雨依然下着。他颤抖了起来，接着他把外套穿上。

到尤托克西特有20英里的路程。还有不到五分钟的时间，一辆驿车就将从门前经过。

“塞缪尔，这次你是不是不会替我去市场？”

老人穿上了一件大外套。他正在伸手拿帽子。篮子挎在了胳膊上。

他用恳求的目光看了看儿子，希望他在最后时刻能够萌生怜悯。

“驿车来了，塞缪尔。”老人又是一阵咳嗽，几乎要窒息了。

我并不清楚塞缪尔是否听到了。他仍然在读书，没有任何反应，动也没动。

驿车顺着街道卡嗒卡嗒地驶过来了。

老人挎着一篮子书，蹒跚地走出门去。当他爬进车内的时候，马车停了一小会儿。然后，车夫挥舞着鞭子，扬长而去。

塞缪尔仍旧在书店里，伏身看书。

屋外依然下着雨。

二

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