Thomas Edison: Inventor and Busy Team Leader

The inventor Thomas Alva Edison had a major effect on the lives of people around the world.

发明家托马斯·阿尔瓦·爱迪生对全世界人们的生活产生了重大影响。

Thomas Edison is remembered most for the electric light, his phonograph, and his work with motion pictures.

人们记住托马斯·爱迪生，主要是因为电灯、留声机以及他在电影方面的工作。

Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio.

爱迪生于1847年2月11日出生在俄亥俄州的米兰。

His mother taught him reading, writing, and mathematics.

他的母亲教他阅读、写作和数学。

He learned from books, and he experimented.

他从书本中学习，还动手做实验。

At the age of 10, he experimented with chemicals and electricity.

10岁时，他就用化学药品和电做实验。

He built a telegraph machine and, at the age of 16, he went to work as a telegraph operator.

他制作了一台电报机，16岁时去当了电报员。

He continued his work with electricity, making improved telegraph machines, and he invented an electrical voting machine.

他继续研究电，制造出改进的电报机，还发明了一种电动投票机。

Edison earned enough money from his early inventions to start his own company in 1871.

爱迪生靠早期的发明赚到了足够的钱，于1871年创办了自己的公司。

Instead of working alone, he worked with a group of employees on many different projects at one time.

他不是单打独斗，而是同时与一群员工进行许多不同的项目。

They asked the United States government for patents to protect more than one hundred devices or inventions each year.

他们每年都向美国政府申请专利，以保护一百多种装置或发明。

He was an extremely busy man.

他是个极其忙碌的人。

In 1913, a popular magazine at the time called Thomas Edison the most useful man in America.

1913年，当时一家很受欢迎的杂志称托马斯·爱迪生为美国最有用的人。

He almost never slept more than four or five hours a night.

他每晚几乎从不睡超过四五个小时。

He usually worked 18 hours each day because he enjoyed what he was doing.

他通常每天工作18个小时，因为他热爱自己的工作。

A reporter asked Edison in 1917 which of his many inventions he enjoyed the most.

1917年，一名记者问爱迪生，在他众多的发明中最喜欢哪一个。

He answered, the phonograph was really the most interesting.

他回答说，留声机才是真正最有意思的。

The hardest invention to develop, he said, was the electric light.

他说，最难研制的发明是电灯。

He said that it was the most difficult and the most important.

他说，那是最困难也是最重要的发明。

He also invented the modern motion picture film.

他还发明了现代电影胶片。

In 1928, he received a special medal of honor from the Congress of the United States.

1928年，他获得了美国国会颁发的特别荣誉勋章。

Thomas Edison died on January 6, 1931.

托马斯·爱迪生于1931年1月6日去世。

People worldwide have had easier and more enjoyable lives because of his inventions.

由于他的发明，世界各地的人们过上了更便利、更愉快的生活。