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From this point on he was always thinking of things to create. Often his inventions were such as to save time and labor.
从那时起，他一直在思考要创造的东西。他的发明常常可以节省时间和劳力。
Once when he was working on night duty in a telegraph office, he was ordered to signal the main office every hour so they would know he was awake.
一次，当他在电报办公室值夜班时，他被命令每小时都发信号给总办公室，以便他们知道他是醒着的。
He wished that there was something to signal for him so that he might steal a nap.
他希望有一种东西能够帮助他发信号，从而让他可以偷偷打个盹。
He thought for awhile, and finally made a small wheel with notches on the rim.
他想了一会儿，最后做了一个小轮子，边缘有缺口。
He attached it to the clock so that every hour a signal was sent automatically.
他将其连接到时钟上，每小时自动发送一个信号。
Later, when Edison invented the “repeater” for the telegraph, which took down the dots and dashes so that the operator could go back and copy them at his leisure,
后来爱迪生发明了电报“重复器”，这记下了点和短线条，让操作员可以在闲暇时去复制它们，
it was because he could not take news reports fast enough to get all of them.
这是因为他无法以足够快的速度记录新闻报道。
Edison had a strong sense of humor which led him to invent many clever tricks.爱迪生有很强的幽默感，这使他发明了许多聪明的把戏。
One day he wired up a workshop of the Cincinnati Indianapolis Railroad so that every man who went to wash his hands received an electric shock that threw his arms up over his head.
一天，在为辛辛那提印第安纳波利斯铁路的一个车间接线时，他使每个洗手的人都受到电击，将手臂举过头顶。
Once he hid a machine in a guest’s room. Just as his friend got into bed, a voice said, “Eleven o’clock, one hour more.”
有一次他把机器藏在客人的房间里。正当他的朋友上床睡觉时，一个声音说：“11点，又一个小时。”
The visitor was startled, but as nothing further happened he lay down to sleep.
客人大吃一惊，但随后没有发生任何事，于是他躺下睡觉。
When mid-night chimed, the voice came again: “Twelve o’clock, prepare to die ! ”
午夜时分，再次传来声音：“12点，准备去死！”
The scream of the visitor brought Edison to the room with a laughing explanation of what had happened. The ghost was only a phonograph.
访客的叫喊声吸引来了爱迪生，他笑着解释这一切。鬼怪只是一台留声机。
在他早期发明和实验的漫长岁月中，爱迪生大部分的时间都是贫穷的。
He lived the life of a genius — which means half-starving one day and having plenty of money the next.
他过着天才的生活——这意味着有时食不果腹，有时富得流油。
He spent every cent he made to buy materials and tools for his workshop.
他将挣来的每一分钱都用来为工作室购买材料和工具。
His life was for the most part made up of hard work and study.
他生活的大部分是由努力工作和学习组成的。
He stayed until all hours of the night at his laboratory, snatching his sleep — an hour at a time, on a chair or a pile of sawdust.
他在实验室里熬夜，偶尔在椅子上或一堆木屑上小睡一会。
His wonderful ability to get along without sleep made the number of working hours in his lifetime many more than those of most men.
他这样对付着睡觉，所以一生的工作时间比大多数人都长很多。
