The Weaving Machine

纺织机器

Mr. Joseph Franklin invented a machine that could weave cloth. It wove faster and straighter than anyone could weave by hand. He decided to take it to two cities on a peninsula, Netherton and Wilton. In these cities, a large proportion of the people worked in weaving. Joseph felt sure he could sell his machine there.

约瑟夫·富兰克林先生发明了一种可以织布的机器。它织得又快又直，比任何人用手织的都要快。他决定把它带到半岛上的两个城市，尼日顿和威尔顿。在这两个城市里，很大一部分人从事纺织工作。约瑟夫确信他能在那里卖掉他的机器。

Joseph first took his machine to the mayor of Netherton. "Think of the money you will earn from this machine!" Joseph said to him.

约瑟夫首先把他的机器带给尼日顿市长。“想想你从这台机器上能赚多少钱!”约瑟夫对他说。

But the mayor was a benevolent man. He knew about the people's dependence on weaving for their livelihood. If he bought the machine, the people would lose their jobs. So he refused to buy it.

但是市长是个仁慈的人。他知道人们依靠织布为生，如果他买了这台机器，人们就会失业。所以他拒绝购买。

Joseph said, "We are no longer in the medieval age! Soon everything will be made by machines. Cloth made by hand will soon be obsolete. If you don't change your archaic ways, your town's income will diminish!"

约瑟夫说:“我们不再是在中世纪了!不久，一切都将由机器制造。手工织布很快就会过时。如果你不改变你陈旧的生活方式，你的城镇收入将会减少!”

But the mayor said, "I don't like capitalism. Don't impose your radical ideas on my town. Go away!"

但是市长说:“我不喜欢资本主义。不要把你的激进思想强加于我的城市。走开!”

So Joseph took his machine to the mayor at Wilton. This mayor thought Joseph's machine was spectacular and spent a long time looking at its different components made of brass. The mayor couldn't refute the fact that the machine had drawbacks that would affect the people's jobs. But he realized the machine could bring money and prestige. So he ordered Joseph to build twenty of them.

于是约瑟夫把他的机器带到威尔顿的市长那里。这位市长认为约瑟夫的机器很壮观，他花了很长时间研究不同的黄铜部件。市长无法反驳一个事实，即这台机器会影响人们的工作机会。但他意识到这台机器可以带来金钱和声望。他就吩咐约瑟建造二十个。

Within a year, Wilton was a wealthy city, famous for its wonderful cloth. People no longer wove but worked in managerial jobs at cloth factories instead. Nobody bought the cloth from Netherton anymore. The people of Netherton became poor and hungry.

不到一年，威尔顿就变成了一个富有的城市，以其精美的布料而闻名。人们不再织布，而是在布厂从事管理工作。再也没有人从尼日顿买这种布了。尼日顿的居民变得又穷又饿。

Finally, the mayor of Netherton called Joseph and said, "Now I realize that your machine is not just a passing fad. To succeed in business, we must be willing to change." He then ordered twenty weaving machines.

最后，尼日顿市长打电话给约瑟夫说:“现在我意识到，你们的机器不只是昙花一现。为了在商业上取得成功，我们必须得做出改变。”然后他订购了20台织布机。

After that, both Netherton and Wilton became rich cities, famous throughout the land for their wonderful cloth.

从那以后，尼日斐顿和威尔顿都变成了富裕的城市，以其精美的布料闻名于世。

核心单词表

archaic adj. 古代的

benevolent adj. 仁慈的

brass n. 黄铜

capitalism n. 资本主义

component n. 成分

dependence n. 依赖

diminish v. 减少

drawback n. 缺点

fad n. 时尚

impose v. 强加

managerial adj. 管理的

medieval adj. 中世纪的

obsolete adj. 废弃的

peninsula n. 半岛

prestige n. 威望

proportion n. 比例

radical adj. 激进的

refute v. 反驳

spectacular adj. 壮观的

weave v. 纺织

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