by Wendy Mead
翻譯:寒星
Alexander Graham Bell: Five Facts on the Father of the Telephone 亞歷山大·格拉漢姆·貝爾—偉大的電話之父 Track 3
by Wendy Mead
翻譯:寒星
歡迎童鞋們來到“名人密碼”和小編一起探索名人背后的故事!往后在“名人密碼”一欄里,我們將會了解學習眾多古今中外的重要人物,并從他們的故事中得到啟發。本期小編將帶著你們走進偉大發明家貝爾的發明之路,準備好了嗎?


Alexander Graham Bell probably wouldn’t know what to make of a1)selfie, but he started the2)communication3)revolution with his telephone back in the 1870s.He was really fascinated by sound and speech as the son of a professor of4)elocution.With his father’s encouragement, he even worked with his older brother Melville on creating a talking machine that changed the way we communicate.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1847, Alexander Graham Bell was the middle child in his family.Around the time of his 11thbirthday, he decided to become Alexander Graham Bell instead of just Alexander Bell.Perhaps he was tired of being the third Alexander, sharing this first name with his father and grandfather.Whatever reason for the addition, Bell get5)inspiration from one of his father’s former students, Alexander Graham, to add “Graham” to the mix.Bell may have liked the ring of his new name, but he was still known to his family as simply “Alec” or “Aleck.”


1) selfie ['selfI] n.自拍照
2) communication [k?mju?nI'keI??n] n.通訊
3) revolution [rev?'lu???n] n.革命
4) elocution [el?'kju???n] n.演說術,演說技巧
5) inspiration [Insp?'reI??n] n.靈感
6) gifted ['gIftId] adj.有天賦的,有才華的
7) boarding school 寄宿學校
8) phonetic symbol 音標
9) physically ['fIzIk?llI] adv.身體上地
10) diction ['dIk??n] n.發音
11) hearing loss 聽覺損耗,聽覺損失
12) deaf mute 聾啞人
13) private ['praIvIt] adj.私人的,私下的
14) benefactor ['benIf?kt?] n.捐助人
15) promotion [pr?'m????n] n.提升,促進
16) patent ['peIt?nt] n.專利權
17) file [faIl] v.提出,提交
18) announcement [?'na?nsm?nt] n.公告,宣告
19) on one’s behalf 代表某人

He started as a teacher at a boys’7)boarding school when he was only 16.His father had developed “Visible Speech注1注1:可見語言(Visible Speech),即用以教聾人說話的發音部位分解圖?!保?a system of8)phonetic symbols.These symbols showed how to9)physically make the sounds needed to say any word.Bell was able to use this system to help deaf students learn to talk and improve their10)diction.Bell also had some of his own ways, too.His mother had suffered serious11)hearing loss after an illness as a child, and Bell had used different ways to communicate with her.
While working in Boston, Bell became a popular teacher of the deaf.He worked at the Boston School for12)Deaf Mutes and saw13)private students as well.One of his students, Mabel Hubbard, eventually became his wife.Her father also became one of Bell’s14)benefactors and supported his work on inventions.For another students, Bell developed special gloves with the letters on them, which allowed them to communicate through spelling words.
Bell was devoted to supporting education for the deaf throughout his life.He met with Helen Keller in 1893 and helped the young deaf mute girl with looking for a good teacher.That same year, Bell also built the Association for the15)Promotion of Teaching Speech to the Deaf.

Yes, the early bird does catch the worm, or the patent, in this case.Bell filed his patent for his version of the telephone on February 14th, 1876.Later that same day, a lawyer working for Elisha Gray sent an18)announcement for the telephone19)on his behalf.As he wrote to his parents in 1874, Bell had realized his competitor’s efforts and felt a lot of pressure to finish his own design.“It is a race between Mr.Gray and I who shall complete our invention first,” Bell said.
In March 1876, Bell received the telephone patent and he built the Bell Telephone Company the following year.Over the years, Bell20)vigorously21)defended his telephone patent in a number of other22)lawsuits.

Bell created the23)photophone, which used light to24)transmit sound.Bell considered it to be one of his greatest inventions.He also used his talent for inventing to solve problems.After the death of his baby son in 1881, Bell made a metal25)vacuum jacket to help with breathing.This idea influenced the design of the iron lung注2注2:鐵肺,一種人工呼吸器。device used to help26)polio patients in the 1950s.

He began experimenting with kites in the 1890s and even had a special building to work on these27)projects.After a lot of experimentation, Bell created a new kite design.In 1907, he formed the28)Aerial Experiment Association.The association developed flying machines,the most famous of which was the Silver29)Dart.On February 23rd, 1909, the Silver Dart became the first plane to make a30)powered flight in Canada.

20) vigorously ['vIg?r?slI]adv.精神旺盛地,大力地
21) defend [dI'fend] v.辯護,保衛
22) lawsuit ['l??sju?t] n.訴訟(尤指非刑事案件)
23) photophone ['f??t??f??n]n.光音機,光線電話機
24) transmit [tr?ns'mIt] v.傳輸,傳播
25) vacuum jacket 真空套
26) polio ['p??lI??] n.小兒麻痹癥
27) project ['pr?d?ekt] n.項目
28) aerial ['e?rI?l] adj.空中的,航空的
29) dart [dα?t] n.鏢
30) powered ['pa??d]adj.有動力裝置的,以……為動力的

亞歷山大·格拉漢姆·貝爾也許不懂得自拍照是什么,但是在19世紀70年代,他發明的電話引發了通訊革命。作為一名演說學教授的兒子,他對聲音和演說十分著迷。在父親的鼓舞下,他甚至與哥哥梅爾維爾一同創造了一臺改變人類交流方式的交談機。

亞歷山大·格拉漢姆·貝爾于1847年出生在蘇格蘭的愛丁堡,是家中的老二。臨近11歲生日時,他決定成為“亞歷山大·格拉漢姆·貝爾”,而不僅僅是“亞歷山大·貝爾”。也許他已經厭倦了當第三個“亞歷山大”—他的父親和祖父都叫“亞歷山大”。不管增加這個中間名源于何種理由,貝爾是從他父親以前一個名叫“亞歷山大·格拉漢姆”的學生身上獲得靈感,將“格拉漢姆”加入到自己的姓名當中。貝爾大概挺喜歡他這個新名字的發音,可是在家里,他依然是大家的“亞歷克”。

貝爾年僅16歲就開始在一間男生寄宿學校擔任教師一職。他的父親開發了“可見語言”音標系統。這些音標展示了如何用身體發出每一個單詞的聲音。貝爾能夠使用這一套系統幫助聾人學生去學習如何說話并提高其發音清晰度。貝爾也有自己的一套方法。他的母親因童年患病導致聽力嚴重受損,貝爾使用了各種方法與其溝通。
在波士頓工作時,貝爾成為了一名頗受歡迎的聾人教師。他在波士頓聾啞學校工作,同時也獨立輔導了一些學生。他的其中一名學生梅布爾·哈伯德后來成為了他的妻子。貝爾的岳父也成了他的捐助人之一,大力支持他的發明事業。貝爾還為其他一些學生研發了一種印有字母的特殊手套,讓他們能夠通過拼寫單詞與他人交流。
貝爾一生都在為支持聾人教育奉獻力量。1893年,他認識了海倫·凱勒,并幫助這位年輕的聾啞女孩找到了一位好老師。同年,貝爾創辦了聾人教育促進協會。

是的,早起的鳥兒有蟲吃,或者說在這個案例里,早申請的人才能獲得專利。1876年2月14日,貝爾為他發明的電話提出了專利申請。當天晚些時候,伊利沙·格雷的代表律師以伊利沙·格雷的名義也發出了一份關于電話的公告文件。1874年,貝爾在給父母的一封信中表示自己已經察覺到其競爭對手也在做著同樣的努力,而對于完成自己的設計,他倍感壓力?!霸谡l會先完成發明的這個競賽上,我和格雷先生不分上下?!必悹柸缡钦f。
1876年3月,貝爾獲得了電話專利權,并在第二年成立了貝爾電話公司。多年來,貝爾在其他多起訴訟中積極地捍衛著自己的電話發明專利。

貝爾創造了通過光來傳播聲音的光線電話機,并認為那是他最偉大的發明之一。他同時也運用自己在發明上的天賦來解決難題。1881年,貝爾那尚在襁褓中的兒子不幸夭折,隨后,他制作了一個可以幫助呼吸的金屬真空保護罩。這個創意影響了上世紀50年代的鐵肺呼吸器的設計,這種呼吸器被用于幫助小兒麻痹癥患者呼吸。

19世紀90年代,貝爾開始利用風箏進行試驗,甚至還擁有一幢特殊的樓房,為這些研究項目提供場地。經過多次試驗后,貝爾創造出了一種新型風箏。1907年,他創立了航空試驗協會。該協會專門研發飛行器,其中最著名的當屬“銀鏢”。1909年2月23日,“銀鏢”成為加拿大第一架使用動力裝置飛行的飛機。

True or False
1.Around the time of Bell’s 13thbirthday, he decided to become Alexander Graham Bell instead of just Alexander Bell.
2.Bell was able to use “Invisible Speech” to help deaf students learn to talk and improve their diction.
3.Mabel Hubbard’s father became Bell’s benefactor and supported his work on inventions.
4.In February 1876, Bell received the telephone patent.
5.The Silver Dart became the first plane to make a powered flight in Canada on February 23rd,1909.