The WackyWorld of Inventions

　　There’s no doubt about it. Some people have crazy ideas for inventions.

　　Is it your job to clear the table of dirty dishes after dinner? Then you need a “dishwashing dinner table” There’s no need to clear away the mess —just flip the table over and wash the dishes right there.

　　Believe it or not, someone really did come up with this mad invention! And there are many more ideas just as crazy as this one.

　　奇妙的发明世界

　　毫无疑问，许多人都有发明的奇思妙想。

　　晚饭后是不是由你来收拾餐桌？那么你需要一张“能洗盘子的餐桌”。

　　你不必去收拾狼籍一片的餐桌——只要把桌子翻过来，盘子就能自动洗干净。

　　不论你相信与否，的确有人想出了这种奇异的发明，而且还有更多诸如此类的奇思妙想。

　　clear away: remove sth. from a place. 移走

　　mess: dirty condition. 脏乱

　　flip: turn over or around. 翻转

　　come up with: find or produce (a solution，etc.). 提出，想出

　　Back to the Drawing Board

　　Most inventors apply for a patent when they think they have a good idea. A patent is a legal document that proves who owns an invention. It stops other people from stealing an idea for twenty years. After that, anyone can use the idea. But the idea is only the beginning. Some ideas look good on paper... and that’s just where they stay. Would you want to use these three ideas that didn’t make it?

　　返回画板

　　大多数发明者在有了一个好的创想后会申请专利。专利是证明某项发明为发明者所拥有的法律文件。它能防止别人窃取发明者的发明创造，并保护发明专利达20年。20年后，任何人都可以使用这项发明。但创想仅仅是个开始，有些创想在理论上看起来很好，但仅仅是纸上谈兵。以下三种创想你会采用吗？

　　patent: official document giving the holder the sole right to make, use or sell an invention for a set period of time. 专利

　　propel: cause to move forward. 推进

　　Ahead of Their Time

　　Sometimes ideas for inventions sound crazy because they are ahead of their time. One communication idea that people thought was crazy when it first appeared is now used all over the world. The idea was the basis of the first fax machine, and it was invented way back in 1856.

　　发明者的超前性

　　有时，一些发明创想听起来很离奇，因为它们超越了自己的时代。有一项通讯发明，在它刚出现时许多人认为太离奇了，但现在却在全世界普遍应用。这个创想就是发明第一台传真机的基础，它的发明可追溯到1856年。

　　communication: the technology used in transmitting messages通讯技术

　　way back: a long time ago. 很久以前

　　pendulum: a body suspended so that it swings. 摆

　　electrical circuit: the path through which electricity flows. 电流回路

　　Giovanni Caselli, an Italian priest, invented a large, heavy machine that could send and receive an actual copy of written notes or pictures. His neighbours called him crazy. Some people thought he was using an evil form of magic. The French government did use the machine for a few years, but then it disappeared. Maybe it cost too much money. Or maybe it was just a good idea ahead of its time.

　　乔瓦尼·卡塞利是一位意大利牧师，他发明了一台笨重的机器来发送和接收文字记录或图片。他的邻居认为他疯了，有些人认为他在使用某种邪恶的魔法。法国政府在使用了这台机器几年后，也不再使用了。也许是因为它太昂贵了，或者它仅仅是一个超越那个时代的好创想而已。

　　priest: person performing religious duties in the Christian Church. 牧师； 神父

　　impulse: an impelling force. 动力

　　discolour: change the colour of sth. 使变色

　　Bright Lights

　　Patents can be granted on almost anything, from a flower to a rocket. And there’s no limit on how many patents one person can hold. One very busy inventor was Thomas Edison. With his team of workers, he invented an electric light bulb, the phonograph and movie cameras. In all, he took out 1,093 patents ?the world record!

　　Edison also liked a good joke. He was very famous and everything he did and said was news. He liked to give reporters interesting things to write about. In 1920 he told a reporter that he was working on a machine that could talk to the dead. Newspapers all over the world reported the story. A few years later, Edison admitted he had made it up!

　　明亮的灯光

　　从一朵花到一支火箭，几乎所有的东西都可以被申请专利，而且一个人拥有专利的数目是不受限制的。有一位非常忙碌的发明家叫托马斯·爱迪生，他带领自己的工作队发明了电灯泡、留声机和电影摄影机。他拥有的专利达1093项，是世界上最多的。

　　爱迪生还喜欢开玩笑。他太出名了，因而他的一言一行都是新闻。他喜欢把有趣的事告诉记者来让他们写。1920年，他告诉一位记者他正在研制一台可以同死人交谈的机器。很快，全世界的报纸都报道了这件事。几年以后，爱迪生承认那只不过是他编造出来的。

　　light bulb: an electric light. 白炽灯

　　phonograph: the early name for record player. 留声机(早期的录音机)

　　make up: invent a story or a piece of information. 虚构；编造