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Cyrus Hall McCormick saw that there was great need of a machine to harvest wheat. Before men could getthe golden grain into the barns, much of it was wasted or spoiled. So the young man thought and worked and tried things until he made a successful reaper.Someone watched the slow weaving of yarn into cloth by hand. He said, “Ibelieve we can make a machine to do that work. Then we shall be able to do it faster and make more cloth in less time.”
赛勒斯·霍尔·麦考密克看到了收获小麦的机器的巨大需求。人们还没来得及把这些金黄色的谷物放进谷仓，它们中的大部分就被浪费掉了。于是这个年轻人思考、工作、尝试，直到他成功地制作出了收割机。有人看着纱线慢慢地用手织成布。他说:“我相信我们可以制造一台机器来完成这项工作。这样我们就能做得更快，用更少的时间做更多的布。”
When men have needed amachine badly enough, they have put their brains and their hands to work at thejob of making one. So today we live in a world of machines. There is hardly athing we eat or wear that has not at some stage been put through a machine. And that machine has come from the long and careful work of some person.
当人们迫切需要一台机器时，他们就会用自己的头脑和双手去制造一台机器。所以今天我们生活在一个机器的世界。我们吃的、穿的东西，几乎没有一样不是在某个阶段经过机器加工的。这台机器是由某个人长期精心制作而成的。
Can you make a list of all the machines you have yourself used? Can you tell how they make life easier? Itwould be fun to imagine what you would have to do if all machines were takenaway for twenty-four hours. You would surely have to carry water. What other things would you have to do?
你能把你自己用过的所有机器列个清单吗？你能说出它们是如何让生活变得更容易的吗？想象一下，如果所有的机器被拿走24小时，你将不得不做些什么，这将是一件有趣的事情。你肯定得带水。你还需要做什么？
Do you know of any other great inventions besides the reaper? In your history and geography books you have surely read of some. Could you name at least one great inventor today?What things has he invented?
除了收割机，你还知道其他伟大的发明吗？在你们的历史和地理书中，你们一定读过一些。你能说出当今至少一位伟大发明家的名字吗？他发明了什么东西？
To read stories ofmachines—how men have made them and how they use them—is fascinating. There areonly four such stories in this book, but many books have been written that tellhow machines make life easier for us. You will find some of these books in thelist on page 434.
阅读关于机器的故事——人们如何制造机器以及如何使用机器——是很有趣的。这本书中只有四个这样的故事，但许多书都讲述了机器如何让我们的生活变得更容易。你可以在434页的书单中找到一些这样的书。
