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ThomasThwaites_2010S-_我怎样从头开始做烤面包机_
If we look around us, much of what surrounds us started life as various rocks and sludge buried in the ground in various places in the world. 如果我们环顾四周 很多我们身边的东西 都是从石块泥污里开始它们的生命的 它们被埋在世界上各个角落的地下
sludge:n.烂泥;泥泞;泥状雪;沉淀物;(海上)小浮冰;
But, of course, they don't look like rocks and sludge now. 当然,现在你已经看不出他跟石头和泥污有什么相似的
They look like TV cameras, monitors, annoying radio mics . 它们看上去就是摄像机、电脑屏幕 让人讨厌的无线话筒
annoying:adj.烦人的;使生气的;使烦恼的;v.使生气;打扰;骚扰;(annoy的现在分词) mics:abbr.医疗植入通信服务;多指标类集调查;
And so this magical transformation is what I was trying to get at with my project, which became known as the Toaster Project. 而我的这个项目想尝试着要接触的 就是这个神奇的转变 这就是大家都知道的烤面包机项目
transformation:n.转变;(用于南非)民主改革; Toaster:n.烤面包器,烤箱;祝酒人;烤面包的人;
And it was also inspired by this quote from Douglas Adams, and the situation is from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ." 它也是受Douglas Adams的 这句名言的启发 故事发生在“银河系漫游指南”中
inspired:adj.受到启发的; v.鼓舞; (inspire的过去分词和过去式) quote:v.引用;报价;举例说明;开价;为(企业的股份)上市;n.引用; Galaxy:n.银河;[天]星系;银河系;一群显赫的人;
And the situation it describes is the hero of the book -- he's a 20th-century man -- finds himself alone on a strange planet populated only by a technologically primitive people. 这个故事所讲述的 是一个活在20世纪的人 发现自己活在一个奇怪的星球上 这个星球上人都只会最原始的技术活
describes:v.描述;形容;把…称为;画出…图形;(describe的第三人称单数) populated:v.生活于; technologically:adv.科技地;技术上地; primitive:adj.原始的,远古的;简单的,粗糙的;n.原始人;
And he kind of assumes that, yes, he'll become -- these villagers -- he'll become their emperor and transform their society with his wonderful command of technology and science and the elements , but, of course, realizes that without the rest of human society, he can barely make a sandwich , let alone a toaster. 于是他就想,是的, 他将成为 -- 这些村民的-- 他将成为他们的国王 并且帮他们完成社会转型 凭借他极好的对技术 科学和原理的掌握, 但是,他也认识到 在没有其他社会资源的条件下, 他很难做出一个三明治, 更不用说一台烤面包机了。
assumes:v.假定;采用;承担;呈;(assumes是assume的第三人称单数) technology:n.技术;工艺;术语; elements:n.要素;基本部分;少量;一群;(element的复数) barely:adv.仅仅,勉强;几乎不;公开地;贫乏地; sandwich:n.三明治;夹心面包片; let alone:更不必说;听任;不打扰;
But he didn't have Wikipedia . 因为这个人不能查阅维基百科。
Wikipedia:维基百科;
So I thought, okay, 所以我就想,那好,
I'll try and make an electric toaster from scratch . 我要试着从头开始做出一台能通电的烤面包机。
electric:n.供电;adj.电的;用电的;电动的;发电的; from scratch:白手起家;从头做起;
And, working on the idea that the cheapest electric toaster would also be the simplest to reverse-engineer, 而且,因为我认为 最便宜的电烤面包机 也应该是最容易让我逆向制造的,
I went and bought the cheapest toaster I could find, took it home and was kind of dismayed to discover that, inside this object, which I'd bought for just 3.49 pounds, there were 400 different bits made out of a hundred-plus different materials. 所以我去买了台我能找到的最便宜的烤面包机, 把它带回家 但是我还是失望的发现 这个东西 这个我只花了3.94磅买的东西 居然有400个不同的部件 而且这些部件是由100个以上不同材料构成的。
dismayed:adj.吃惊,惊愕; v.使…灰心;
I didn't have the rest of my life to do this project. 我不想把我余下的生命全部花在这个项目上;
I had maybe nine months. 我只有大概9个月的时间。
So I thought, okay, I'll start with five. 所以我就想,那好,我就从5个东西开始入手。
And these were steel, mica , plastic, copper and nickel . 这5个东西分别是钢,云母 塑料,铜和镍
mica:n.[矿物]云母; copper:n.铜;铜币;警察;adj.铜(制)的;(紫)铜色的;v.用铜板[铜皮]盖[包]; nickel:n.镍;镍币;五分镍币;vt.镀镍于;
So, starting with steel: how do you make steel? 于是,从钢铁开始:我们是怎么炼出钢铁的？
I went and knocked on the door of the Rio Tinto Chair of Advanced Mineral Extraction at the Royal School of Mines and said, "How do you make steel?" 我去皇家矿业学院访问了 力拓集团 高级矿物提炼部门的主席, 并问道,“你们是怎么做钢铁的？”
Tinto:n.音色色调;葡萄红; Advanced:adj.先进的; v.前进; (advance的过去式和过去分词形式) Mineral:n.矿物;矿物质;汽水;adj.矿物(性)的;含矿物的;无机的; Extraction:n.取出;抽出;拔出;抽出物;出身; Royal:adj.国王的;女王的;皇家的;n.王室成员;
And Professor Cilliers was very kind and talked me through it. 那个Cilliers教授人很好, 他向我介绍了整个提炼过程
And my vague rememberings from GCSE science -- well, steel comes from iron, so I phoned up an iron mine. 加上对中学科学的模糊记忆-- 钢铁应该是由铁炼出来的, 所以我就打电话给了一个铁矿厂。
vague:adj.模糊的;含糊的;不明确的;暧昧的;
And said, "Hi, I'm trying to make a toaster. 我说:“你好,我想要做一个烤面包机,
Can I come up and get some iron?" 我能到你们那里拿点铁吗?
Unfortunately , when I got there -- emerges Ray. 很不幸的是,当我到那里-- 见到了Ray。
Unfortunately:adv.不幸地; emerges:vi.浮现;摆脱;暴露;
He had misheard me and thought I was coming up because I was trying to make a poster , and so wasn't prepared to take me into the mines. 他在电话里听错了我的意思, 他认为我来他那里只是为了做一个画报, 所以就没有准备让我下矿井。
misheard:听错;误听(mishear的过去式和过去分词); poster:n.海报;巨幅装饰画;发布消息的人;
But after some nagging , I got him to do that. 但对他唠叨一会之后,他还是带我去了。
nagging:adj.纠缠不休的; v.唠叨; (nag的现在分词)
(Video) Ray: It was Crease Limestone , and that was produced by sea creatures 350 million years ago in a nice, warm, sunny atmosphere . （视频）Ray: 它以前是石炭石灰岩, 是由 海洋生物 在3亿5千万年前 在温暖, 阳光充足的环境下形成的。
Crease:n.折痕;折缝;v.起皱;弄皱;使起折痕; Limestone:n.[岩]石灰岩; creatures:n.生物;动物;(具有某种特征的)人(creature的复数) atmosphere:n.大气;气氛;气压;风格;
When you study geology , you can see what's happened in the past, and there were terrific changes in the earth. 当你学地质学的时候, 你就能知道这里过去都发生过什么。 这里都发生过巨大的变化。
geology:n.地质学;地质情况; terrific:adj.极好的;极其的,非常的;可怕的;
Thomas Thwaites: As you can see , they had the Christmas decorations up. 正如你看到的,他们已把这里装扮好准备过圣诞节了。
As you can see:正如你所看到的;你是知道的; decorations:n.装饰品;装饰图案;装饰风格;(decoration的复数)
And of course, it wasn't actually a working mine anymore, because, though Ray was a miner there, the mine had closed and had been reopened as a kind of tourist attraction, because, of course, it can't compete on the scale of operations which are happening in South America , Australia, wherever. 当然,事实上这个矿井已经不工作了, 因为,虽然Ray曾是这里的矿工 但是这矿井已经被关闭了 而且后来又作为一个旅游景点重新开放, 因为,很明显 它在运营规模上比不上 南美洲,澳大利亚,或其他什么地方。
reopened:adj.问题未解决的;v.重新开放(reopen的过去分词);重新开始; compete:v.竞争;对抗;参加比赛(或竞赛); scale:n.规模;比例;鳞;刻度;天平;数值范围;v.衡量;攀登;剥落;生水垢; South America:n.南美洲;
But anyway, I got my suitcase of iron ore and dragged it back to London on the train, and then was faced with the problem: 但是不管怎样,我还是把铁矿石装到了到我旅行箱里 并坐火车把它带了伦敦, 之后我又面临一个问题:
suitcase:n.[轻]手提箱;衣箱; ore:n.矿;矿石;矿砂;
Okay, how do you make this rock into components for a toaster? 那好,我要怎样把这个石头 变成烤面包机的部件呢？
components:n.部件;组件;成份(component复数);
So I went back to Professor Cilliers, and he said, "Go to the library." 所以我就回去找了Cilliers教授, 他告诉我,“去图书馆吧。”
So I did and was looking through the undergraduate textbooks on metallurgy -- completely useless for what I was trying to do. 然后我就去了 我在那翻阅了本科生冶金学教材-- 但这根本没用
undergraduate:n.本科生; metallurgy:n.冶金;冶金学;冶金术;
Because, of course, they don't actually tell you how to do it if you want to do it yourself and you don't have a smelting plant. 因为,当然,书里面实际上并没有提到 在没有冶炼厂的情况下该如何炼铁。
smelting:n.[冶]熔炼;v.精炼(smelt现在分词);
So I ended up going to the History of Science Library and looking at this book. 所以我最后去了科学史图书馆 阅读了这本书
This is the first textbook on metallurgy written in the West, at least. 这是冶金学的第一本教材 至少在西方是第一本。
And there you can see that woodcut is basically what I ended up doing. 在这里你们看见的木雕 就是我最终做到的
woodcut:n.木刻;木刻印版;木版画; basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
But instead of a bellows , I had a leaf blower . 但是我没有风箱,只有一个叶风机。
bellows:n.波纹管;风箱;皮老虎; blower:n.鼓风机,吹风机;吹制工;<俚>爱吹牛的人;
(Laughter) （笑声）
And that was something that reoccurred throughout the project, was, the smaller the scale you want to work on, the further back in time you have to go. 在整个项目过程中,我一直有一个感叹, 那就是,你越想从小的地方做起, 你就得追溯到越远的过去。
reoccurred:v.再次(或多次)发生;反复出现(reoccurred是reoccur的过去式) throughout:adv.自始至终,到处;全部;prep.贯穿,遍及;
And so this is after a day and about half a night smelting this iron. 所以这就是我花了 一个白天加一半个晚上 提炼这个铁矿之后。
I dragged out this stuff , and it wasn't iron. 我得到了这个东西, 这并不是铁。
stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
But luckily, 但幸运的是,
I found a patent online for industrial furnaces that use microwaves , and at 30 minutes at full power, and I was able to finish off the process . 我在网上找了一个专利 就是说可以用微波炉代替工业熔炉。 所以在30分钟全功率运作之后, 我终于能够完成这个工序。
patent:vt.授予专利; adj.专利的; n.专利权; industrial:adj.工业的,产业的; n.工业股票; furnaces:n.炉子,[炉窑]熔炉(furnace复数形式); microwaves:n.[物]微波; v.用微波炉烹调(microwave的单三形式); process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
So, my next -- 之后,我接下来的--
(Applause) （掌声）
The next thing I was trying to get was copper. 接下来我要试着得到的就是铜。
Again, this mine was once the largest copper mine in the world. 同样,这里 曾经是世界上最大的铜矿山。
It's not anymore, but I found a retired geology professor to take me down, and he said, "Okay, I'll let you have some water from the mine." 现在已经不是了。 但是我找到了一位退休的地质学教授 把我带了下去。 他说,“那好,我会让你从矿井里取些水走。”
And the reason I was interested in getting water is because water which goes through mines becomes kind of acidic and will start picking up, dissolving the minerals from the mine. 至于我想得到一些水的原因 就是因为流过矿井的水 会含有酸性物质 矿中的矿物质会渗透 并溶解在水里
acidic:adj.酸的,酸性的;产生酸的; dissolving:adj.消溶的;毁灭性的;v.使溶解(dissolve的现在分词); minerals:n.矿物;矿产,矿产品(mineral的复数);矿物质;
And a good example of this is the Rio Tinto, which is in Portugal. 一个很好的例子就是力拓 这是他在葡萄牙的一个分厂。
As you can see, it's got lots and lots of minerals dissolved in it. 正如你所见的,有许多的矿物都溶在了这水里。
dissolved:v.溶;使(固体)溶解;解除;终止;(dissolve的过去式和过去分词)
So many such that it's now just a home for bacteria who really like acidic, toxic conditions. 这东西太多了, 以至于现在都成了那些 喜欢在酸性,有毒的环境下生活的细菌的家。
bacteria:n.[微]细菌; toxic:adj.有毒的;中毒的;
But anyway, the water I dragged back from the Isle of Anglesey where the mine was -- there was enough copper in it such that I could cast the pins of my metal electric plug . 但是不管怎样,那些我从 Anglesey岛上,就是铜矿所在地,带回的水-- 里面有足够的铜矿 这足以让我浇铸出 我要的金属插头。
Isle:n.岛;小岛; pins:n.插脚,针;精确的综合导航系统; plug:n.插头;塞子;栓;v.塞住;用插头将与电源接通;
So my next thing: I was off to Scotland to get mica. 然后接下来:我去了苏格兰 去找云母。
And mica is a mineral which is a very good insulator and very good at insulating electricity . 云母也是一种矿物, 是一种很好的绝缘体 能很好的阻隔电流.
insulator:n.[物]绝缘体;从事绝缘工作的工人; insulating:adj.起隔热(或隔音、绝缘)作用的; v.使免除; (insulate的现在分词) electricity:n.电力;电流;强烈的紧张情绪;
That's me getting mica. 这是我得到了云母的照片。
And the last material I'm going to talk about today is plastic, and, of course, my toaster had to have a plastic case. 我今天最后要说的原材料就是塑料。 当然, 我的面包机需要一个塑料的外包装。
Plastic is the defining feature of cheap electrical goods. 塑料包装是 便宜电子产品的共同特点。
defining:v.解释(词语)的含义;给(词语)下定义;阐明;界定;(define的现在分词) electrical:adj.有关电的;电气科学的;
And so plastic comes from oil, so I phoned up BP and spent a good half an hour trying to convince the PR office at BP that it would be fantastic for them if they flew me to an oil rig and let me have a jug of oil. 塑料是由石油炼来的,所以我给BP公司打了电话 花了大半个小时 试图说服他们的公关部门 说如果他们能带我去钻油塔, 并给我一壶油 那简直就太好了。
convince:v.使确信;使相信;说服,劝说; fantastic:奇异的,空想的 oil rig:n.石油钻塔;钻油平台; jug:n.[轻]水壶;监牢;vt.关押;放入壶中;vi.模仿夜莺叫;
BP obviously has a bit more on their mind now. 若现在找他们,估计没人理我,因为他们现在有很多事缠身。
But even then they weren't convinced and said, "Okay, we'll phone you back" -- never did. 但是就是当时, 他们也没有答应我 他们说,“好的,我们会给你回电话。”-- 从来没回过。
convinced:adj.坚信; v.使确信; (convince的过去分词和过去式)
So I looked at other ways of making plastic. 所以我就看了其他做塑料的方法。
And you can actually make plastic from obviously oils which come from plants, but also from starches . 后来发现,我们除了 用由植物演变的石油可以提炼之外,用淀粉也行。
starches:n.淀粉质食品;v.给…上浆;使浆硬(starch的单三形式);
So this is attempting to make potato starch plastic. 这就是我尝试着做 土豆淀粉塑料。
attempting:v.努力;尝试;试图;(attempt的现在分词)
And for a while that was looking really good. 刚做好时,它看上去很棒。
for a while:adv.片刻;暂时;一会儿;一时;
I poured it into the mold , which you can see there, which I've made from a tree trunk. 正如你们所见,我把它倒进了模子 这模子是用我树干做的
poured:v.使(液体)连续流出;倾倒;倒出;喷发;(pour的过去分词和过去式) mold:n.模具;模型;霉菌;类型;v.用可塑材料塑成;浇铸;发霉;
And it was looking good for a while, but I left it outside, because you had to leave it outside to dry, and unfortunately I came back and there were snails eating the unhydrolyzed bits of potato. 这东西刚出来时,看上去很好, 因为需要晒干,所以我把它放在了外面, 但不幸的是,我再出来看的时候 我发现有蜗牛正在吃那些未水解的土豆。
snails:n.[无脊椎]蜗牛; v.使成蜗纹;
So kind of out of desperation, 失望之余
I decided that I could think laterally . 我决定来点创新。
laterally:adv.旁边地;
And geologists have actually christened -- well, they're debating whether to christen -- the age that we're living in -- they're debating whether to make it a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene, the age of Man. 地质学家已经将这个时代命名为-- 事实上,他们正在争论 是否要命名-- 是否需要取一个新的地质纪元名称 叫做“人类世”, 一个属于人类的时代。
geologists:n.[地质]地质学家(geologist的复数形式); christened:vt.给…命名(christen过去式); debating:v.讨论,辩论;仔细考虑;思考;盘算;(debate的现在分词) geological:adj.地质的,地质学的; epoch:n.[地质]世;新纪元;新时代;时间上的一点;
And that's because geologists of the future would kind of see a sharp shift in the strata of rock that is being laid down now. 这样做是因为未来的地质学家 可能会在由我们现在埋下的岩层中 发现明显的转变。
sharp:锋利的,尖的 shift:n.移动;变化;手段;轮班;v.移动;转变;转换; strata:n.层;[地质]地层;阶层;
So suddenly, it will become kind of radioactive from Chernobyl and the 2,000 or so nuclear bombs that have been set off since 1945. 突然间,它会有像切尔诺贝利核电那样的放射污染 或者是从1945年开始到现在 引爆的2000个左右的核炸弹那样的危害。
radioactive:adj.[核]放射性的;有辐射的; Chernobyl:n.切尔诺贝利(乌克兰的一座城市); nuclear:adj.原子能的;[细胞]细胞核的;中心的;原子核的;
And there'd also be an extinction event -- like fossils would suddenly disappear . 这可能会是一个毁灭性的灾难--- 就像化石可能突然消失一样。
extinction:n.绝种; fossils:n.[古生]化石(fossil复数形式); disappear:v.消失;失踪;不复存在;
And also, I thought that there would be synthetic polymers , plastics, embedded in the rock. 所以,我认为 应该会有 人造聚合体和 塑料元素夹杂在岩层中。
synthetic:adj.综合的;合成的,人造的;n.合成物; polymers:n.[高分子]聚合物;[高分子]高分子(polymer的复数); embedded:adj.嵌入式的;植入的;内含的;v.嵌入(embed的过去式和过去分词形式);
So I looked up a plastic -- so I decided that I could mine some of this modern-day rock. 所以我查阅了一种塑料-- 我决定去开采一下 一些现代岩石。
modern-day:adj.当代的;今日的;
And I went up to Manchester to visit a place called Axion Recycling . 我去了曼彻斯特 造访了一个叫Axion Recycling的地方
Recycling:n.(资源,垃圾的)回收利用;v.回收;再循环利用(recycle的现在分词);
And they're at the sharp end of what's called the WEEE, which is this European electrical and electronic waste directive . 那儿的人正处在一个叫WEEE项目中的最艰难的阶段, WEEE是“欧洲电子电器垃圾”官方指南。
electronic:adj.电子的;电子器件的;电子设备的; directive:n.指示;指令;adj.指导的;管理的;
And that was brought into force to try and deal with the mountain of stuff that is just being made and then living for a while in our homes and then going to landfill . 这个项目正在实施 目的是处理堆积如山的电子垃圾 这些东西一般是刚做出来 被我们买回家用一段时间 但他们很快就被人送去了垃圾填埋场
landfill:n.垃圾填埋地;垃圾堆;
But this is it. 事实就是这样
(Music) 音乐响起
(Laughter) 笑声一片
So there's a picture of my toaster. 这儿有一副图片 是我的烤面包机
(Applause) （鼓掌）
That's it without the case on. 它没有壳子
And there it is on the shelves. 这儿,它被安放在架子上
Thanks. 谢谢
(Applause) （鼓掌）
Bruno Giussani: I'm told you did plug it in once. Bruno Giussani: 我听说你有一次没有接入电源插进去？
TT: Yeah, I did plug it in. 呃,是的,我没有把它接入进去
I don't know if you could see, but I was never able to make insulation for the wires. 我不知道这样你是否能看得见 不过我一向不会做电线外的绝缘材料
insulation:n.绝缘;隔离,孤立;
Kew Gardens were insistent that I couldn't come and hack into their rubber tree. Kew 庄园的人很顽固 所以我不能去砍他们家的橡胶树来弄点绝缘材料
insistent:adj.坚持的;迫切的;显著的;引人注目的;紧急的; hack:n.砍; v.砍; adj.出租的; rubber:n.橡胶;橡皮;v.涂橡胶于…;
So the wires were uninsulated. 所以,这些电线都是不绝缘的
So there was 240 volts going through these homemade copper wires, homemade plug. 这儿有240伏的电压 将要通过这些自制的铜电线 通过自制的插座
volts:n.伏特(volt的复数形式);电压;
And for about five seconds, the toaster toasted , but then, unfortunately, the element kind of melted itself. 大约五秒过后 烤面包机运作起来了, 但是,不幸的是 这些电器元件自熔了
toasted:v.为…举杯敬酒; (toast的过去分词和过去式) melted:v.(使)熔化,融化;(使)软化,变得温柔;(melt的过去分词和过去式)
But I considered it a partial success, to be honest. 不过,说实话,我仍当作这是部分成功
partial:adj.部分的;不完整的;片面的;有偏见的;
BG: Thomas Thwaites. TT: Thanks. ?谢谢