爱华网火花,打火石:火如何改变生活
2. The control of fire was the first and perhaps greatest ofhumanity's steps towards a life-enhancing technology.
控制火是人类最早，或许是最伟大的提升生活技能的一步。
3. To early man, fire was a divine gift randomly delivered in theform of lightning,forest fire or burning lava.
对于先人，火是个神圣的礼物不定期的以闪电，森林大火或是燃烧熔岩的形式传递。
4. Unable to make flame for themselves, the earliest peoplesprobably stored fire by keeping slow burning logs alight or bycarrying charcoal in pots.
不能自己制造火焰，最早的人们存储火可能通过保持缓慢燃烧点着的原木火石或是装在罐子里的木炭。
5. How and where man learnt how to produce flame at will isunknown.
人类是如何并且从哪儿学到怎样去生产火焰当将来是未知的。
6. It was probably a secondary invention, accidentally made duringtool-making operations with wood or stone.
那可能是个其次的发明，在用木头和石头生产工具的操作中偶然制造出来的。
7. Studies of primitive societies suggest that the earliest methodof making fire was through friction.
远古社会的研究提出最早的制作火的方法是通过摩擦。
8. European peasants would insert a wooden drill in a round holeand rotate it briskly between their palms.
欧洲的农夫将一个木钻子放入一个圆孔并用手掌不停旋转它。
9. This process could be speeded up by wrapping a cord around thedrill and pulling on each end.
这个过程可以通过系一条绳索在钻子上并在两端不停的拉来加速。
10. The Ancient Greeks used lenses or concave mirrors toconcentrate the sun's rays and burning glasses were also used byMexican Aztecs and the Chinese.
古希腊人使用透镜或凹面镜聚集太阳光线并且这种方法也被墨西哥阿芝台克和中国人使用。
11. Percussion methods of fire-lighting date back to Paleolithictimes,when some Stone Age tool-makers discovered that chippingflints produced sparks.
打击生火方法的日期要返回到旧石器时代，当一些石器时代工具生产者发现打火石碎片产生火花。
12. The technique became more efficient after the discovery ofiron,about 5000 years ago.
当铁被发现后，技术变得非常有效率，大约5000年前。
13. In Arctic North America, the Eskimos produced a slow-burningspark by striking quartz against iron pyrites, a compound thatcontains sulphur.
在北美北极圈地区，爱斯基摩人生产火星通过黄铁矿和石英对撞，产生一种化合物包含硫磺。
14. The Chinese lit their fires by striking porcelain withbamboo.
中国人点火靠竹子打击瓷器。
15. In Europe, the combination of steel, flint and tinder remainedthe main method of fire-lighting until the mid 19th century.
在欧洲，保持钢、打火石和火绒的化合物作为点火的主要方法一直持续到19世纪中期。
16. Fire-lighting was revolutionised by the discovery ofphosphorus,isolated in 1669 by a German alchemist trying totransmute silver into gold.
1669年德国化学家在试图将银改变成金时分离出的磷的发现，根本的改变了火的点燃。
17. Impressed by the element's combustibility, several 17th centurychemists used it to manufacture fire-lighting devices,but theresults were dangerously inflammable.
元素的可燃性留下了深刻的印象，几个17世纪的化学家使用它制造了点火设备，但是结果是危险的易燃。
18. With phosphorus costing the equivalent of several hundredpounds per ounce, the matches were expensive.
由于磷几百磅一盎司，所以火柴非常昂贵。
19. The quest for a practical match really began after 1781 when agroup of French chemists came up with the Phosphoric Candle orEthereal Match,a sealed glass tube containing a twist of papertipped with phosphorus.
实用的火柴的寻求真正开始于1978年，当一个法国化学家组织提出含磷的蜡烛或是乙醚火柴，一种密封的玻璃管里放置了一张螺旋状的纸在它的末端有一些磷。
20. When the tube was broken, air rushed in, causing the phosphorusto self-combust.
当管体破裂，空气涌进，导致磷的自燃。
21. An even more hazardous device,popular in America,was theInstantaneous Light Box－a bottle filled with sulphuric acid intowhich splints treated with chemicals were dipped.
一种更冒险的设备在美国流行，那是个瞬间点燃的盒子-一个盒子里充满了硫磺酸化学药品浸泡处理过的夹板。
22. The first matches resembling those used today were made in 1827by John Walker,an English pharmacist who borrowed the formula froma military rocket-maker called Congreve.
第一批象我们现在使用的这种火柴是1927年JohnWalker制造的，他是一个英国的药剂师借用了Congreve军用火箭制造人的公式。
23. Costing a shilling a box,Congreves were splints coated withsulphur and tipped with potassium chlorate.
花费一先令一个盒子，Congreve用夹板涂上一层硫磺并且在末端涂上了氯酸钾。
24. To light them, the user drew them quickly through folded glasspaper.
为了点燃它们，使用者快速的把它们从玻璃制包装里抽出来。
25. Walker never patented his invention, and three years later itwas copied by Samuel Jones, who marketed his product asLucifers.
Walker从没申请他的专利，在三年后SamuelJones抄袭了这项发明将它作为自己的产品命名为Lucifers在市场上销售。
26. About the same time, a French chemistry student called CharlesSauria produced the first "strike-anywhere" match by substitutingwhite phosphorus for the potassium chlorate in the Walkerformula.
在同时，一个叫CharlesSauria的法国学化学的学生生产可以以白磷取代了在Walker公式中的氯化钾的第一个根"在哪里都可以点燃"的火柴
27. However, since white phosphorus is a deadly poison, from 1845match-makers exposed to its fumes succumbed to necrosis, a diseasethat eats away jaw-bones.
然而，因为白磷致命的毒性，从1845年火柴制造者暴露它的烟雾会导致下颌骨坏死的疾病。
28. It wasn't until 1906 that the substance was eventuallybanned.
直到1906年，这个物质最终被取缔。
29. That was 62 years after a Swedish chemist called Pasch haddiscovered non-toxic red or amorphous phosphorus,a developmentexploited commercially by Pasch's compatriot J.E.Lundstrom in1885.
一个瑞典的名叫Pasch的化学家发现了无毒的红色的火石非结晶的磷在一个Pasch的同胞J.E.Lundstrom在1885开发的商业发展62年后。
30. Lundstrom's safety matches were safe because the red phosphoruswas non-toxic;it was painted on to the striking surface instead ofthe match tip, which contained potassium chlorate with a relativelyhigh ignition temperature of 182 degrees centigrade.
Lundstrom安全火柴很安全是因为红磷是无毒的；它被涂在摩擦的表面取代了那种顶端包含氯化钾的火柴由于它的高达182度的燃点。
31. America lagged behind Europe in match technology and safetystandards.
美国在火柴技术和安全标准上是落后于欧洲的。
32. It wasn't until 1900 that the Diamond Match Company bought aFrench patent for safety matches but the formula did not workproperly in the different climatic conditions prevailing in Americaand it was another 11 years before scientists finally adapted theFrench patent for the US.
直到1900年钻石火柴公司为安全火柴买了法国专利，但公式因为气候原因不能完全在美国流行，经过另外11年科学家最终是法国专利适合于美国。
33. The Americans, however, can claim several "firsts" in matchtechnology and marketing.
美国人仍然声称在火柴技术和市场上的一些领先。
34. In 1892 the Diamond Match Company pioneered book matches.
在1892年钻石火柴公司开发了盒式火柴。
35. The innovation didn't catch on until after 1896, when a breweryhad the novel idea of advertising its product in match books.
这个创新直到1896年才开始流行，当一个酿酒厂有了一个新颖的广告创意是将他们的产品放在火柴盒上。
36. Today book matches are the most widely used type in the US,with 90 percent handed out free by hotels, restaurants andothers.
今天盒式火柴在美国有广泛的使用种类，90%丰富的用于酒店，饭馆或是其他地方。
37. Other American innovations include an anti-afterglow solutionto prevent the match from smouldering after it has been blownout;and the waterproof match,which lights after eight hours inwater.
其他的美国改革包括防止火柴在烧尽后的闷烧现象，还有防水火柴可以在水中点燃八小时。
