译文
In Britain one of the most dramatic changes of the Industrial Revolution was the harnessing of power. 在英国,与工业革命而来最显著的变化之一就是动力的运用。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Until the reign of George III (1760-1820), available sources of power for work and travel had not increased since the Middle Ages. 自中世纪以来,在乔治三世(1760-1820年)统治之前,可用的工作和旅行动力来源一直没有增加。 取消收藏 收藏句子 There were three sources of power: animal or human muscles; the wind, operating on sail or windmill; and running water. 那时有三种动力的来源:动物或人的肌肉能量; 风能,作用在让风帆或风车上运转上; 和流动的水能。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Only the last of these was suited at all to the continuous operating of machines, and although waterpower abounded in Lancashire and Scotland and ran grain mills as well as textile mills, it had one great disadvantage: streams flowed where nature intended them to, and water-driven factories had to be located on their banks, whether or not the location was desirable for other reasons. 这些机器中只有水能完全适合机器的连续运行,尽管兰开夏郡和苏格兰以及谷物工厂和纺织厂的水力资源丰富,但它有一个很大的缺点:溪流流向自然需要它们的地方,水力驱动的工厂必须设在河岸旁边,无论这里在其他条件上是否理想。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Furthermore, even the most reliable waterpower varied with the seasons and disappeared in a drought. 此外,即使最可靠的水力也随季节而变化,并在干旱中消失。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The new age of machinery, in short, could not have been born without a new source of both movable and constant power. 简而言之,如果没有新的可动和恒定动力来源,就不可能诞生新的机械时代。 取消收藏 收藏句子 在英国,与工业革命而来最显著的变化之一就是动力的运用。自中世纪以来,在乔治三世(1760-1820年)统治之前,可用的工作和旅行动力来源一直没有增加。那时有三种动力的来源:动物或人的肌肉能量; 风能,作用在让风帆或风车上运转上; 和流动的水能。这些机器中只有水能完全适合机器的连续运行,尽管兰开夏郡和苏格兰以及谷物工厂和纺织厂的水力资源丰富,但它有一个很大的缺点:溪流流向自然需要它们的地方,水力驱动的工厂必须设在河岸旁边,无论这里在其他条件上是否理想。此外,即使最可靠的水力也随季节而变化,并在干旱中消失。简而言之,如果没有新的可动和恒定动力来源,就不可能诞生新的机械时代。
The source had long been known but not exploited. 这种能源早已为人所知,但未被利用。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Early in the century, a pump had come into use in which expanding steam raised a piston in a cylinder, and atmospheric pressure brought it down again when the steam condensed inside the cylinder to form a vacuum. 在本世纪初,一种泵被使用起来了,泵中膨胀的蒸汽使汽缸中的活塞升起,当蒸汽在汽缸内凝结以形成真空时,大气压又使其下降。 取消收藏 收藏句子 This “atmospheric engine,” invented by Thomas Savery and vastly improved by his partner, Thomas Newcomen, embodied revolutionary principles, but it was so slow and wasteful of fuel that it could not be employed outside the coal mines for which it had been designed. 这种“大气发动机”由托马斯·萨弗里(Thomas Savery)发明,并由他的搭档托马斯·纽科门(Thomas Newcomen)进行了很大改进,体现了革命性的原理,但是它是如此效率低下且浪费燃料,以致只能用于所设计的煤矿上,煤矿之外则无用武之地。 取消收藏 收藏句子 In the 1760s, James Watt perfected a separate condenser for the steam, so that the cylinder did not have to be cooled at every stroke; then he devised a way to make the piston turn a wheel and thus convert reciprocating (back and forth) motion into rotary motion. 在1760年代,詹姆斯·瓦特(James Watt)完善了一个单独的蒸汽冷凝器,这样就不必在每个冲程都对气缸进行冷却。 然后他设计了一种方法,使活塞转动车轮,从而将往复运动(来回运动)转换为旋转运动。 取消收藏 收藏句子 He thereby transformed an inefficient pump of limited use into a steam engine of a thousand uses. 因此,他将有限使用效率低下的泵转变为千次以上经常使用的蒸汽机。 取消收藏 收藏句子 The final step came when steam was introduced into the cylinder to drive the piston backward as well as forward, thereby increasing the speed of the engine and cutting its fuel consumption. 最后一步是将蒸汽引入汽缸以向后和向前驱动活塞,从而提高了发动机的速度并降低了其燃油消耗。 取消收藏 收藏句子 这种能源早已为人所知,但未被利用。在本世纪初,一种泵被使用起来了,泵中膨胀的蒸汽使汽缸中的活塞升起,当蒸汽在汽缸内凝结以形成真空时,大气压又使其下降。这种“大气发动机”由托马斯·萨弗里(Thomas Savery)发明,并由他的搭档托马斯·纽科门(Thomas Newcomen)进行了很大改进,体现了革命性的原理,但是它是如此效率低下且浪费燃料,以致只能用于所设计的煤矿上,煤矿之外则无用武之地。在1760年代,詹姆斯·瓦特(James Watt)完善了一个单独的蒸汽冷凝器,这样就不必在每个冲程都对气缸进行冷却。 然后他设计了一种方法,使活塞转动车轮,从而将往复运动(来回运动)转换为旋转运动。因此,他将有限使用效率低下的泵转变为千次以上经常使用的蒸汽机。最后一步是将蒸汽引入汽缸以向后和向前驱动活塞,从而提高了发动机的速度并降低了其燃油消耗。
[■]Watt’s steam engine soon showed what it could do. 瓦特的蒸汽机很快就显示出了它独到的优势。 取消收藏 收藏句子 [■] It liberated industry from dependence on running water. 它使工业摆脱了对流动的水的依赖。 取消收藏 收藏句子 [■] The engine eliminated water in the mines by driving efficient pumps, which made possible deeper and deeper mining. 发动机通过驱动高效的泵消除了矿井中的水,这使得越来越深的采矿成为可能。 取消收藏 收藏句子 [■] The ready availability of coal inspired William Murdoch during the 1790s to develop the first new form of nighttime illumination to be discovered in a millennium and a half. 可便利使用的煤炭激发了威廉·默多克(William Murdoch)在1790年代开发出了一千五百年来首个新形式的夜间照明。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Coal gas rivaled smoky oil lamps and flickering candles, and early in the new century, well-to-do Londoners grew accustomed to gaslit houses and even streets. 煤气可以与烟熏油灯和闪烁的蜡烛相媲美,在新世纪初,富裕的伦敦人已经习惯了汽油照明的房屋甚至街道。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Iron manufacturers, which had starved for fuel while depending on charcoal, also benefited from ever-increasing supplies of coal; blast furnaces with steam-powered bellows turned out more iron and steel for the new machinery. 曾经依赖木炭而渴望燃料的钢铁制造商也受益于煤炭供应的不断增长。 带有蒸汽驱动的风箱的高炉为新机器生产了更多的钢铁。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Steam became the motive force of the Industrial Revolution, as coal and iron ore were the raw materials. 蒸汽成为工业革命的动力,因为煤和铁矿石是原材料。 取消收藏 收藏句子 瓦特的蒸汽机很快就显示出了它独到的优势。它使工业摆脱了对流动的水的依赖。发动机通过驱动高效的泵消除了矿井中的水,这使得越来越深的采矿成为可能。可便利使用的煤炭激发了威廉·默多克(William Murdoch)在1790年代开发出了一千五百年来首个新形式的夜间照明。煤气可以与烟熏油灯和闪烁的蜡烛相媲美,在新世纪初,富裕的伦敦人已经习惯了汽油照明的房屋甚至街道。曾经依赖木炭而渴望燃料的钢铁制造商也受益于煤炭供应的不断增长。 带有蒸汽驱动的风箱的高炉为新机器生产了更多的钢铁。蒸汽成为工业革命的动力,因为煤和铁矿石是原材料。
By 1800 more than a thousand steam engines were in use in the British Isles, and Britain retained a virtual monopoly on steam engine production until the 1830s. 到1800年,不列颠群岛已使用了1000多台蒸汽机,英国一直保持对蒸汽机生产的垄断地位,直到1830年代。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Steam power did not merely spin cotton and roll iron; early in the new century, it also multiplied ten times over the amount of paper that a single worker could produce in a day. 蒸汽动力不仅使棉花和铁卷旋转。 在新世纪初,这也使单名工人一天可以生产的纸张数量增加了十倍。 取消收藏 收藏句子 At the same time, operators of the first printing presses run by steam rather than by hand found it possible to produce a thousand pages in an hour rather than thirty. 同时,第一批印刷机的操作员通过蒸汽而不是手工操作,发现可以在一小时内生产一千页而不是三十页。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Steam also promised to eliminate a transportation problem not fully solved by either canal boats or turnpikes. 蒸汽还实现了消除运河船或收费公路无法完全解决的运输问题。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Boats could carry heavy weights, but canals could not cross hilly terrain; turnpikes could cross the hills, but the roadbeds could not stand up under great weights. 船可以承载沉重的重量,但是运河不能穿越丘陵地带。收费公路可以穿越山丘,但路基无法承受沉重的负担。 取消收藏 收藏句子 These problems needed still another solution, and the ingredients for it lay close at hand. 这些问题还需要另一种解决方案,而解决这些问题的要素就近在咫尺。 取消收藏 收藏句子 In some industrial regions, heavily laden wagons, with flanged wheels, were being hauled by horses along metal rails; and the stationary steam engine was puffing in the factory and mine. 在一些工业区,马车沿着铁轨拖着重载的带有法兰轮的货车。 而固定式蒸汽机正在工厂和矿井里吹气提供动力。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Another generation passed before inventors succeeded in combining these ingredients, by putting the engine on wheels and the wheels on the rails, so as to provide a machine to take the place of the horse. 又过了一代人的时间,发明家们成功地结合了这些条件,通过将发动机放在轮子上,轮子置于轨道上,从而提供了一种代替马的机器。 取消收藏 收藏句子 Thus the railroad age sprang from what had already happened in the eighteenth century. 因此,铁路时代从18世纪沉积的条件中应运而生。 取消收藏 收藏句子 到1800年,不列颠群岛已使用了1000多台蒸汽机,英国一直保持对蒸汽机生产的垄断地位,直到1830年代。蒸汽动力不仅使棉花和铁卷旋转。 在新世纪初,这也使单名工人一天可以生产的纸张数量增加了十倍。同时,第一批印刷机的操作员通过蒸汽而不是手工操作,发现可以在一小时内生产一千页而不是三十页。蒸汽还实现了消除运河船或收费公路无法完全解决的运输问题。船可以承载沉重的重量,但是运河不能穿越丘陵地带。收费公路可以穿越山丘,但路基无法承受沉重的负担。这些问题还需要另一种解决方案,而解决这些问题的要素就近在咫尺。在一些工业区,马车沿着铁轨拖着重载的带有法兰轮的货车。 而固定式蒸汽机正在工厂和矿井里吹气提供动力。又过了一代人的时间,发明家们成功地结合了这些条件,通过将发动机放在轮子上,轮子置于轨道上,从而提供了一种代替马的机器。因此,铁路时代从18世纪沉积的条件中应运而生。