Level 4-Day 53.Henry Ford

词汇提示

1.barometer 气压计2.practical 实用的3.reassemble 重新组装4.frisky 灵活5.durable 耐用

原文

Henry Ford

Some inventions are based on simple ideas or principles.Barometers are based on the idea that air has weight and pushes down on objects.A barometer measures this air pressure.Evangelista Terricelli invented barometers in Italy in 1643.Other inventions have taken longer to develop.The automobile has thousands of parts, and it took a long time to make a really useful car.Henry Ford was one of the first people to make a reliable automobile.In 1765, James Watt invented the steam engine.Within a few years, a Frenchman, Nicolas Cugnot, had built a steam-powered vehicleThese steam carriages were used in England in the 1800s.But they were big and slow.They looked like a train without the tracks.Most people preferred to travel by train.In Germany during the 1870s and 1880s, Nikolaus Otto and Gottlieb Daimler developed the internal combustion engine.This ran by burning gasoline.Another German, Karl Benz, built a gasoline powered car.Around the world, there were many inventors trying to build a car that would be better than the one before.Some people thought that electric cars would become common.In the 1890s, everal inventors working in the United States developed a gasoline powered car that was practical for daily use.Henry Ford was born on a farm in Michigan in 1863.As a boy, he loved to take clocks and watches apart and reassemble them.Eventually, he went to work for the Detroit Edison Company.In his spare time, he worked on a “horseless carriage”, as the early cars were called.In 1896, he completed a car that ran smoothly.He later sold it and made another one.Since early cars were made by hand, they were usually quite expensive.Not only that, but when they broke down, there were no repair shops to take them to.One had to know how to repair a car oneself.Henry Ford tried to make cars which would be affordable and which would not break down very easily.His Ford Motor Company was formed in 1903 in Detroit, Michigan.Since many parts had to be brought together to make a car，Ford developed the assembly line.On the line, each worker would do one specific job.When the car reached the end of the assembly line, it was finished.In this way, many cars could be made in a single day.The result was that Ford was able to bring the price of cars down.Ford's “Model T” car was advertised as being as frisky as a jack rabbit and more durable than a mule.Since it cost hundreds, rather than thousands of dollars, many ordinary families were now able to buy a car.Once many people had cars, their habits began to change.People didn't have to live next to the factories or offices that they worked in.Going for Sunday drives or traveling to tourist sites became a common thing.In 1905, a car drove across the United States and back again.In 1912, a car went across Canada from coast to coast.Soon, there was public pressure for good roads so that cars could travel anywhere in North America.Henry Ford was not the only inventor of the modern car.However, he was able to make a car that everyone could use and afford.

翻译

亨利•福特

有些发明是基于简单的想法或原理。气压计的原理是空气有重量，可以压住物体。气压计测量空气压力。伊万杰利斯塔·特瑞切利于1643年在意大利发明了气压计。其他发明的发展则需要更长的时间。汽车有成千上万个零件，要制造一辆真正有用的汽车需要很长时间。亨利·福特是最早制造可靠汽车的人之一。1765年，詹姆斯·瓦特发明了蒸汽机。几年之内，法国人尼古拉斯·库诺(Nicolas Cugnot)造出了一辆蒸汽动力汽车这些蒸汽马车在19世纪的英国使用。但是他们又大又慢。他们看起来就像一列没有轨道的火车。大多数人喜欢乘火车旅行。在19世纪70年代和80年代的德国，尼古拉·奥托和戈特利布·戴姆勒发明了内燃机。这是靠燃烧汽油驱动的。另一位德国人卡尔·本茨制造了一辆汽油动力汽车。在世界各地，有许多发明家试图制造一辆比以前更好的汽车。一些人认为电动汽车将变得普遍。19世纪90年代，几个在美国工作的发明家发明了一种日常使用的汽油动力汽车。亨利·福特1863年出生于密歇根州的一个农场。小时候，他喜欢把钟表拆开再重新组装。最终，他去了底特律爱迪生公司工作。在他的业余时间，他在一辆“无马马车”上工作，早期的汽车被称为“无马马车”。1896年，他完成了一辆行驶平稳的汽车。后来他卖掉了它，又做了一个。由于早期的汽车是手工制造的，所以通常都很昂贵。不仅如此，当汽车坏了的时候，没有维修厂可以送它们去。一个人必须知道如何自己修理汽车。亨利·福特试图制造价格低廉、不易损坏的汽车。他的福特汽车公司于1903年在密歇根州的底特律成立。由于制造一辆汽车需要将许多零件组装在一起，福特发明了装配线。在这条线上，每个工人只做一项特定的工作。当汽车到达装配线的末端时，它就完工了。用这种方法，一天就能生产出许多汽车。其结果是福特能够降低汽车的价格。福特的“T型车”在广告中被宣传为像杰克兔一样活泼，比骡子更耐用。由于它的价格是数百美元，而不是数千美元，许多普通家庭现在能够买得起一辆汽车。一旦许多人拥有了汽车，他们的习惯就开始改变。人们不必住在他们工作的工厂或办公室旁边。周日自驾或去旅游景点成为了一件很常见的事情。1905年，一辆汽车横穿美国并返回。1912年，一辆汽车横跨加拿大，从东海岸到西海岸。很快，公众开始要求修建良好的道路，这样汽车就可以在北美的任何地方行驶。亨利·福特不是现代汽车的唯一发明者。然而，他能够制造一辆每个人都能使用和负担得起的汽车。