Who was/is咕噠鎮
- Who Was/Is 系列 -
No.01
書名：Who Was Ben Franklin?
作者：Dennis Brindell Fradin
翻譯：Catrina Chiang
Who was Ben Franklin?
誰是班傑明·富蘭克林
Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents.
班傑明·富蘭克林是一個才華橫溢的人。
He was a statesman. Perhaps only George Washington did more than Ben Franklin did to free the United States from England.
他是一位政治家，在美國從英國手中獨立解放的進程中，或許只有喬治·華盛頓的功勞能與之匹敵。
He was a scientist. For one thing, Ben discovered the nature of lighting.
他是一位科學家，本（譯者註：本是班傑明的暱稱）是第一個發現「閃電」本質的人。
He was an inventor. Thanks to him, we have lighting rods and bifocal glasses.
他是一位發明家，得益於他，我們現在有了避雷針和雙焦距眼鏡。
He was an author. He wrote a famous book about his experiences. And people still use the phrase "Haste make waste,"and other sayings that Ben made popular.
他是一位作家，他將自己的人生經歷撰寫成一本書，他的自傳聞於世。現在人們還會用到他寫的「欲速則不達」，以及他的其它流傳廣泛的諺語。
Ben did much more in his long life. He began America's first general hospital. He started one of America's first libraries. He helped create the United States Postal Service.
班傑明在漫長的一生中建樹良多。他建立了美國第一家綜合性醫院，開辦了美國最早的圖書館之一，他還幫助創辦了美國郵政管理局。
Ben did so much that some people claimed he had magical powers. But he was a flesh and blood person. As a youth he ran away from home because he was beaten. Later, he lived far away from his wife. And a fight over politics came between Ben and his son.
班傑明做了很多偉大的事情，以至於人們都宣稱他擁有魔法。但是，班傑明只不過是一個有血有肉的普通人。年輕時，他因被毆打而背井離鄉。後來，他和妻子分居兩地。還因為和兒子政見不一而爭鬥不止。
Chapter1
Catching Lighting a Bottle
第一章
將閃電裝進瓶子裡
On a June day in 1772, a storm approached Philadelphia. The sky grew dark. As thunder rattled the widows, people ran inside. But in a house at the corner of Race and Second streets, two people were getting ready to gooutside. One was forty-six-year-old Benjamin Franklin. The other was Ben's twenty-one-year-old son William.
1772年六月的一天，一場暴風雨降臨費城，天色漸暗；窗外雷聲滾滾，人們紛紛躲進屋子裡。但在雷斯街道和第二街道交叉角落的一個房子裡，卻有兩個人正準備著要出門。他們一個是四十六歲的班傑明·富蘭克林，另一個是他二十一歲的兒子威廉·富蘭克林（譯者註：比利是他的小名）。
Billy picked up a strange-looking kite. His father had made it for just such a stormy day as this. A metal wire stuck out of the top of the kite. A metal house key was tied to the end of the kite string. Ben grabbed a jar and put it under his coat. The pair dashed through the rain with the kite and the bottle. They stopped when they came to a field.
比利拿起一個形狀奇怪的風箏，這是他的父親特意為今天這樣的暴風雨天做的。風箏頂部伸出一根金屬線，風箏線末端栓著一把金屬鑰匙。本拿著一個玻璃瓶，塞進外套裡。父子倆帶著風箏和瓶子衝進雨中，跑到一片野外空地才停下來。
Billy ran across the field three times trying to fly the kite. Finally, they wind did its work.
比利在空地裡來回跑了三次，嘗試放飛風箏。最後，他們成功了。
Up soared the kite, higher and higher. Soon it was just a speck in the clouds. Ben took the kite string from his son. Then they went into a nearby shed and waited.
風箏直衝雲霄,越飛越高，很快就變成來雲中的一個小黑點。本從兒子手中拿過風箏線，隨後他們走進附近一個小棚屋等待。
As Ben held the kite string, they both felt excited and scared. With his son's help, Ben was trying to answer an old question. Were lighting and electricity the same thing? Ben suspected that they were. He hoped that flying the kite in the storm would prove it.
本拽著風箏線的時候，他們倆人既興奮又害怕。本想在兒子的幫助下嘗試回答一個古老的問題——閃電和電流是同一個東西嗎？本認為它們是一樣的，並希望通過在暴風雨中放風箏來證明這一點。
The wire on their kite would draw electricity from a cloud, Ben jamin hoped. The electricity would run down the kite string to the key. There it would make a spark that he would feel. But the experiment was dangerous. What if a giant lighting bolt struck the kite? The current might kill Ben and perhaps Billy as well.
班傑明認為，風箏上的金屬線會從雲團上導出電流，電流會沿著風箏線一路向下傳導到鑰匙上，鑰匙上產生電火花，這樣他就會有感覺。可是這個實驗十分危險。萬一一道巨大的閃電擊中了風箏，可能會威脅到本和他的兒子的生命。
As the lighting flashed nearer, Ben jamin touched the key. He felt no
electric spark. He tried again. Still he felt nothing. Finally, the storm seemed
隨著閃電越來越近，班傑明用手觸摸鑰匙，他沒有感受到電火花。他又試了一次，依舊沒有任何感覺。最後，暴風雨即將過去。
to be overhead. Ben and Billy held their breath as a black cloud swallowed the kite. Ben jamin pressed the key. Nothing.Then suddenly he felt a tingle. He had felt shocks like this before in his lab.A spark from the cloud had electrified the kite. The spark had zoomed down the wet string into the metal key, where Ben could feel it. With Billy's help, he had proved that lighting was electricity!
班傑明和比利屏住呼吸，看著一片烏雲即將吞沒風箏時，班傑明又摁了摁鑰匙，還是沒有任何感覺。但緊接著，班傑明突然感到一陣刺痛，就像他之前在實驗室裡感受到的一樣。雲上的一束電火花使風箏上帶了電，電火花順著溼漉漉的風箏線迅速傳導到金屬鑰匙上，於是本在鑰匙上感受到了電流。在比利的幫助下，班傑明證明了閃電就是電流！
But the father and son weren't done. Ben took the bottle from beneath his coat.
但是，父子倆還沒有結束實驗，本從外套裡拿出瓶子。
It was called a Leyden jar, and it stored electricity. The glass jar had a metal rod sticking out of it. Ben touched the rod of the Leyden jar with the key. The electricity flowed from the key into the bottle. When he finished putting the electricity into the jar, he reeled in the kite. Then Ben and his son went from with the kite and the bottle of electricity.
這個瓶子叫「萊頓瓶」，可以儲存電流。玻璃瓶上突出一根金屬杆，本用鑰匙碰了碰萊頓瓶上的金屬杆，電流就從鑰匙上傳導入了瓶子裡。班傑明把電流導入瓶子裡之後，把風箏收了起來。然後，本和兒子帶著風箏和裝著電流的瓶子離開了。
News of the experiment spread. Ben Franklin became famous for proving the lighting was electricity. But he wasn't satisfied. Now he wanted to make lighting less dangerous. Within a short time,he invented the lighting rod. A metal rod was fixed to the top of a building.When any lighting hit the rod, it would run into the ground through a wire. The building and the people inside would not be harmed.
關於這個實驗的消息傳開了。本·富蘭克林證實了閃電就是電流，並因此成名。但他並不滿足於此。現在他想讓閃電變得沒有那麼危險。沒過多久，班傑明就發明了避雷針——一根固定在建築頂端的金屬杆。每當閃電擊中這根金屬杆時，閃電就會通過金屬線導入大地。這樣的建築物以及建築裡面的人們，將不會受到傷害。
Ben placed a lighting rod on his house. By the end of 1752, other Philadelphia buildings including the state capitol also had them. Lighting rods were later put up around the world.
本在自己的房子上也安裝了避雷針。到1752年底，費城的其他建築上，包括州議會大廈上面都安裝了避雷針。後來避雷針在全世界得到使用。
The kite experiment made Ben a famous scientist. His lighting rod made him a famous inventor. He was showed with medals and awards. Because Ben had made lighting rod less of a danger, some people called him a magician or wizard.
風箏實驗讓班傑明成為一名著名的科學家。他的避雷針則讓他成為一名著名的發明家。他還被授予了各種獎章和獎項。因為本利用避雷針降低了閃電的危險，所以人們稱他為「魔法師」。
People who knew him laughed at such talk.To them he was the same Ben Franklin they had always known. He was brilliant,to be sure. But he was definitely a man and not a wizard.
熟知班傑明的人都會笑談這一說法。對他們來說，本·富蘭克林還是他們認識的那個人。當然，班傑明才華橫溢這一點是不可否認的，但他仍舊是一個普通人，而不是什麼魔法師。
Who Was / IS 世界名人系列插畫本，每本約一百多頁；內容淺顯易懂、風趣幽默，配有人物相關事物的小百科；適合隨身閱讀。英語語言難度：小學高年級及初中生；鎮上現已推出Inventors系列第一本：「Ben Franklin 」 。
接下來，會陸續推出：
Who Was Jane Austen?
Who Was King Tut?
Who Was Alexander Hamilton?
Who Was Che Guevara?
Who Was Neil Armstrong?
Who Was Stephen Hawking?
……