十大改變世界的意外發明(下)

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5.冰棍兒

The concept of a Popsicle — a frozen, sugary treat on a stick — seems so simple that a kid could have invented it. In fact, that's exactly what happened. Back in the winter of 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a glass of fruit-flavored powdered soda mixed with water out on his porch overnight with a stirring stick in it. The next morning, out popped the world's first Popsicle.

冰棍兒就是：凍在小棍上的糖品。冰棍的製作看起來十分簡單，看似是個小孩的發明。實際上真就如此。讓我們回到1905年的冬夜，11歲的小男孩弗蘭克·艾伯森把一杯水果味的蘇打粉與水混合在一起，他把杯子忘在了走廊，攪拌棒還直直立在杯中。經過一晚上，飲料凍成了固體，世界上第一根冰棍就這樣橫空出世。

Epperson didn't start selling his accidental invention until 18 years later when he prepared his frozen treat for a fireman's ball in his hometown of San Francisco. The crowd loved it, and Epperson quit his day job as a real estate agent to patent and sell his world-famous Epsicles. Yes, that was the original name, until his children — who always called them "pop's 'sicles" — convinced him to change it. Good work, kids.

艾伯森並沒有馬上售賣自己粗心大意得來的發明，直到18年後，他爲家鄉舊金山的一場消防員舞會準備了這種自創的冰品。人們非常喜歡，於是他辭掉了房地產經紀人的工作，爲自己的發明申請了專利，從此開始賣享譽世界的埃珀森牌冰棍兒。是的，這就是冰棍兒最開始的名字，他的孩子們經常把冰棍兒稱作“流行的新玩意”，並說服艾伯森改成了“冰棍兒”，孩子們改得好啊！

4.X-ray Images

4.X射線

Over the course of one short year at the turn of the 20th century, one man's accidental discover revolutionized the practice of medicine.

在19世紀和20世紀之交，一個偶然的發現徹底改變了實用醫學。

In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen was a little-known German physicist researching the behavior of cathode rays. In those days, no one knew anything about electrons or radiation. Roentgen was running high-voltage current through vacuum tubes to study the escaping cathode rays. He was surprised to find, though, when he covered the tube with black cardboard, that some invisible rays were still able to illuminate a screen coated with platinobarium 9 feet (2.7 meters) away. He called the unknown phenomena "X-rays." In short time, Roentgen discovered that X-rays could also be captured on photographic plates. Using his wife's hand as a test subject — what a gentleman! — he was floored by the resulting image. X-rays passed easily through skin and muscle, but were blocked by bone and metal. For the first time, we could see inside the human body without raising a scalpel. The medical community leaped on the invention, which Roentgen generously refused to patent. Within a year, the first diagnoses of broken bones and swallowed coins were being made by X-ray. Soon the mysterious rays were being used to treat cancerous tumors and skin diseases. The dangerous effects of X-ray exposure weren't known initially, but now doctors and technicians take special precautions to avoid the side effects of radiation. Roentgen received the very first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901.

1895年的威爾姆·康拉德·倫琴，雖名不見經傳，但是個從事研究陰極射線的德國物理學家。那時候還沒有人知道電子或輻射到底是什麼東西，然而，倫琴讓高壓電流通過真空管，對陰極射線進行研究時，卻注意到放在射線管附近的氰亞鉑酸鋇小屏上發出微光。當他用一本厚書,2-3釐米的黑木板或幾釐米厚的硬橡膠插在放電管和熒光屏之間時,他驚訝地發現仍能看到熒光。因爲當時對於這種射線的本質和屬性還了解得很少，所以他稱它爲X射線，表示未知的意思。很快，倫琴發現X射線能在相片底板上顯現出來，於就用這種射線拍攝了他夫人的手的照片，手骨結構能夠清晰顯示，他被這一結果震驚。倫琴用X射線爲妻子的手拍照的做法十分紳士——有了新事物，不忘結髮妻！X射線能夠穿透人類皮膚和肌肉組織，但不能穿透人骨和金屬。有了X射線，我們可以不用手術刀，便能透視人體內部構造。倫琴發現了X射線之後，醫學界人士立即着手研究這種新射線，但倫琴遲遲未申請專利，他淡然一笑婉拒道：“我的發現屬於所有人。”X射線發現一年內，人們便利用X射線協助處理了骨裂和誤吞硬幣的情況。不久之後，X射線被用於治療惡性腫瘤和皮膚病。最初人們並不知道X射線曝光的副作用，但現在醫生和技術人員採取特別的預防措施，以避免輻射的副作用。1901年諾貝爾獎首次頒發，倫琴因爲發現X射線而獲得此年度的諾貝爾物理學獎。

Rolling Stones

3.滾石樂隊

Life-saving medical breakthrough and frozen desserts aren't the only accidental discoveries that have made the world a happier place. How about the Rolling Stones? Rock historians claim that the world would never have enjoyed chart-topping hits like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Brown Sugar" or "Honky Tonk Woman" if Mick Jagger and Keith Richards hadn't showed up for the same train at Dartford Station in Kent on the morning of Oct. 17, 1961. On his way to art college, Richards, electric guitar case over his shoulder, struck up a conversation on platform two with Jagger (on his way to the London School of Economics) about the blues records Jagger was carrying. Richards recognized him as they'd attended the same primary school, and they talked about music all through the one-hour commute into London. The connection was so strong that Jagger invited Richards to join his band, Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys.

除了上文所提到的挽救生命的醫學突破（X射線）和冷凍的甜點（冰棍兒），還有其他讓世界更幸福的意外驚喜，如滾石樂隊。搖滾歷史學家稱，如果在1961年10月17日的清晨，米克·賈格爾和基思·理查茲兩人沒有從肯特的達福德站踏上同一列火車，那麼世界歌迷就永遠無法聽到蟬聯榜首的歌曲，如來自專輯《滿足》的 《我不能一無所有》,《紅糖》或 《酒吧女郎》。理查茲揹着電吉他箱，在去藝術學院的路上，遇到了賈格爾，而賈格爾（正在去倫敦經濟學院的路上）手裏拿着一張查克·貝里的唱片，引起了理查茲的注意。理查茲認出了他，因爲他們曾是小學同學，他們在去倫敦的這短短一個小時途中都在談論音樂。組樂隊的感覺是如此強烈，於是賈格爾邀請理查茲加入他的樂隊（Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys）。

Jagger and Richards went on to form the Rolling Stones — originally the Rollin' Stones — with Brian Jones and Ian Stewart in 1962, less than a year after that fateful meeting. Their instant friendship became one of the most fruitful songwriting partnerships in rock history. Today, Rolling Stones fans still make pilgrimages to Dartford Station's platform two and in 2013, council leaders announced that a plaque would be installed there to commemorate the meeting.

接下來賈格爾和理查茲慢慢形成了滾石樂隊——原名爲羅林的石頭——這次會面之後不到一年的時間，即1962年，布賴恩·瓊斯和伊恩·斯圖爾特正式加入了滾石樂隊。他們的友誼也讓他們成爲了搖滾音樂歷史上最富有成果的樂隊之一。現在，滾石歌迷仍然在達福德站的2號月臺朝聖。2013年，議員領導宣佈，紀念滾石樂隊成員歷史性會面的牌匾將掛在2號月臺，以示紀念。

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2.龐貝古城

About 2.5 million people visit the ruins of Pompeii, Italy, each year, fascinated by the lives of a first century people so similar to our own. Excavators have uncovered streets, homes, public baths and detailed frescoes as well as jewelry and household objects from this city buried by a volcano, which preserved everything so well. But the entire site was discovered by accident – twice.

每年約有250萬遊客到意大利，參觀龐貝古城遺址，陶醉於19世紀的生活，這個世紀的生活方式和現在很像。因爲有火山灰的覆蓋，所有東西都保存完好，挖掘人員刨開火山灰，發掘出街道、房屋、公共澡堂以及精工細作的壁畫、珠寶和傢俱。龐貝古城遺址，曾兩次被人意外發現。

Back in 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, covering the city of Pompeii in ash and killing thousands of people. During the 1590s, an Italian architect named Domenico Fontana was in charge of building a canal to divert water from the Sarno River to a count's villa. His workers found some inscriptions relating to decurio pompeis, which Fontana took to refer to the Roman general Pompey rather than the city and so covered it up and kept on going. In 1710, a peasant came across some marble pieces while digging a well and sold them to a prince. The prince ordered excavations in the area for more artifacts. In 1738, the nearby town of Herculaneum – also a victim of Mount Vesuvius – was excavated by workers on behalf of King Charles III who had heard about the prince's diggings. But the rock above Herculaneum was hard, which made excavation difficult. In 1748, project leader Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre learned that artifacts had also been found near the Sarno canal and started digging in what we now know was ancient Pompeii. This city was buried at a shallower level than Herculaneum, which made excavation much easier. Today, tourists visit both sites in order to see the priceless ruins and artifacts.

公元79年，維蘇威火山爆發，數千居民喪命，龐貝古城深埋於火山灰之下。16世紀90年代，意大利建築師多梅尼科·豐塔納曾主持修建一條水渠，從薩爾諾河引水到某伯爵的別墅。工人發現一些碑文像是龐貝遺存物件（刻有龐貝字樣），豐塔納認爲那屬於羅馬將軍龐培而非古城龐貝，遂將其草草掩埋後便繼續前行，不再理會。1710年，一個農民在挖井時意外挖得大理石製品碎片，並將其賣給一個公主。公主隨即下令在該地繼續挖掘，以期挖到更多手工藝品。1738年，國王查爾斯三世聽說公主的事蹟後，命工人挖掘同爲維蘇威火山爆發後受災地區的赫庫蘭尼姆古城。但是赫庫蘭尼姆地表的岩石太過堅硬，使得挖掘工程非常艱難。到了1748年，工程領隊阿爾卡得知Sarno 運河附近也有手工藝品出土，於是，他開始在我們現在所知的龐貝古城遺址上挖掘。龐貝古城較之赫庫蘭尼姆古城掩埋較淺，使得挖掘工作相對來說更容易。現今，遊客遊覽兩處景點都是爲了一睹無價的遺址和手工藝品。

1.啤酒

The ancient discovery of fermentation was almost certainly a happy accident – perhaps one of the happiest of all. No one knows who exactly invented the first beer. Humans first began domesticating wild grains around 10,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. The first breads were unleavened, meaning they were flat and tough. When grain gets wet, it becomes food for naturally occurring yeasts in the air, which produce alcohol as a byproduct.

古代發明發酵工藝絕對算是個意外之喜，堪稱最美好的意外之一。無人知曉到底是誰發明釀造了第一瓶啤酒。大約在一萬年前，美索不達米亞地區的人民開始種植野生穀物。起初的麪包都沒有經過發酵，也就是說，這些麪包都是堅硬扁平的。後來人們發現，穀物受潮後會在空氣中自然發酵，變成盤中餐，酒精這個副產品就是這樣被發現的。

At some point, ancient bakers must have noticed that this fermented grain rose into fluffier loaves of bread. A few adventurous/crazy folks also decided to take a sip of the stinky foam in the grain bin. And beer was born! At some point, ancient bakers must have noticed that this fermented grain rose into fluffier loaves of bread. A few adventurous/crazy folks also decided to take a sip of the stinky foam in the grain bin. And beer was born!

在某一時刻，古代麪包師肯定有注意到這些發酵過的穀物會形成蓬鬆柔軟的麪包，一些大膽的或是瘋狂的人也有品嚐過糧倉裏難聞的泡沫，所以纔有了啤酒！一些人類學家和考古學家，甚至建立學說研究證明人們從事農業活動的原始動機是啤酒，而非麪包。低濃度酒精能緩和古代部落間社會的緊張格局，就像潤滑劑，促進聯合創新。而麪包，有人認爲，它只是爲釀造更美味的啤酒而得的副產品。

審校：假微信 編輯：旭旭 來源:前十網