学文网Thomas Alva Edison was called Alva,or Al by his family. He was a very curious child. He was always asking questions. Even his mother,who had once been a schoolteacher could not answer all his questions. He would experiment to try to find the answers. Once he tried to hatch some eggs by sitting on them. Another time he accidently burned down the family's barn1.
The teacher told someone that she thought there was something wrong with Alva; that he was "addled2 . He told his mother and they took him out of the school. He only went to school for ３ months in his whole life. After that, he was taught at home.
He wanted to experiment.To make money for his experiments,he went to work at age 12 selling newspapers and candy on a train. When he had some spare time on the train, he would do experiments in the baggage car. When he was 16 he went to work for the telegraph3 office sending messages.
When he was 22 years old he went to New York.He only had $1 in his pocket. He hunted for4 a job during the day, and at night he slept in the basement5 of a gold company.He watched everything around him very closely. Some equipment broke down and Edison was able to fix it because he had been watching it work before he went to sleep each night. The owners gave him a job.He improved the machinesomuchthatthe company paid him $40,000 for his invention. He started the American Telegraph Works in New Jersey.
He built a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. It was here with his employees6 that he made many of his inventions. He would work night after night, and sometimeshewouldfall asleep at his workbench. His wife wouldn't see him for days at a time.
He and his team worked to make a light bulb that would burn for a long time without burning out. They tried 1,500 materials and nothing worked well. Finally he tried a new material in the filament7 that burned nearly 200 hours.
After he had made the light bulb,he worked to make a power system so that people could use the bulb. In 1882 he flipped8 a switchs9 and 85 houses in New York City had electric lights for the first time.
Thomas Edison was probably the world's greatest inventor. He had a patent on 1,093 inventions. In addition to the electric light,he also invented the phonograph10, a camera to take motion pictures, a cement mixer, the automatic telegraph, and he improved Alexander Graham Bell's telephone.
注释
1. barn n. 谷仓
2. addled adj. 昏乱的，糊涂的
3. hunt vi. ~for 寻找
4. basement n. （全部或部分在地 面以下的）地下室
5. telegraph n. 电报机，电报
6. employee n. 受雇者，雇员
7. filament n. 灯丝
8. flip vt. 转动
9. switch n. 开关
10. phonograph n. 留声机，唱机
托马斯・阿尔瓦・爱迪生又名阿尔瓦，或被家人亲切地称为阿尔。他是一个好奇心很强的孩子， 经常问问题。甚至连他那个曾经在学校作过老师的妈妈都不能完全回答出他的问题。他会做实验试着找到答案。一次，他坐在鸡蛋上孵鸡蛋。还有一次，他意外地把家里的谷仓烧为平地。
爱迪生的老师告诉别人她觉得阿尔瓦不正常，思想糊涂混乱。爱迪生把这些告诉了他的妈妈，并且退了学。他一生中只上过3个月的学，之后，他都是在家受教育的。
他想要做实验。为了挣钱做实验，12岁时，他便在火车上卖报纸，卖糖果。一旦有点空闲时间，他就会在行李车厢做实验。16岁那年，他找到了一份在电报局发电报的工作。
22岁那年，他前往纽约。那时他的口袋里只有一美元。他白天找工作，晚上则睡在一家金店的地下室里。他对身边发生的一切观察得十分仔细。有的设备出了故障，他可以修复，就是因为每天晚上睡觉前他都在观察它们的工作原理。金店的老板给了他一份工作。由于大大改进了设备，公司支付了他4万美元的发明创造费。于是，在新泽西州，爱迪生开了美国电报厂。
爱迪生在新泽西州的门洛帕克创建了一个实验室。在那里，他和他的雇员们做出了许多发明。他经常通宵达旦地工作，有时竟在自己的工作台上睡着。他的妻子有时也几天见不着他一面。
他和他的工作组研制了一种能长时间发光而不烧坏灯丝的电灯泡。他们试用了 1500种材料，可是没有一种合适。最后爱迪生试用了一种新的灯丝材料，它能持续发光近 200小时。
发明了电灯泡以后，爱迪生开始致力于研究能使人们用上电灯泡的动力系统。1882年，就在他合上电闸的那一刻，纽约城的85户人家第一次用上了电灯。
托马斯・爱迪生大概是世界上最伟大的发明家。他拥有1093项专利发明。除了电灯以外，他还发明了留声机、摄影机、水泥搅拌机、自动电报机，他还对亚历山大・格雷厄姆・贝尔的发明的电话做了改进。