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.

注釋

1. barn n. 谷倉

2. addled adj. 昏亂的，糊涂的

3. hunt vi. ~for 尋找

4. basement n. （全部或部分在地 面以下的）地下室

5. telegraph n. 電報機，電報

6. employee n. 受雇者，雇員

7. filament n. 燈絲

8. flip vt. 轉動

9. switch n. 開關

10. phonograph n. 留聲機，唱機

托馬斯·阿爾瓦·愛迪生又名阿爾瓦，或被家人親切地稱為阿爾。他是一個好奇心很強的孩子， 經(jīng)常問問題。甚至連他那個曾經(jīng)在學校作過老師的媽媽都不能完全回答出他的問題。他會做實驗試著找到答案。一次，他坐在雞蛋上孵雞蛋。還有一次，他意外地把家里的谷倉燒為平地。

愛迪生的老師告訴別人她覺得阿爾瓦不正常，思想糊涂混亂。愛迪生把這些告訴了他的媽媽，并且退了學。他一生中只上過3個月的學，之后，他都是在家受教育的。

他想要做實驗。為了掙錢做實驗，12歲時，他便在火車上賣報紙，賣糖果。一旦有點空閑時間，他就會在行李車廂做實驗。16歲那年，他找到了一份在電報局發(fā)電報的工作。

22歲那年，他前往紐約。那時他的口袋里只有一美元。他白天找工作，晚上則睡在一家金店的地下室里。他對身邊發(fā)生的一切觀察得十分仔細。有的設備出了故障，他可以修復，就是因為每天晚上睡覺前他都在觀察它們的工作原理。金店的老板給了他一份工作。由于大大改進了設備，公司支付了他4萬美元的發(fā)明創(chuàng)造費。于是，在新澤西州，愛迪生開了美國電報廠。

愛迪生在新澤西州的門洛帕克創(chuàng)建了一個實驗室。在那里，他和他的雇員們做出了許多發(fā)明。他經(jīng)常通宵達旦地工作，有時竟在自己的工作臺上睡著。他的妻子有時也幾天見不著他一面。

他和他的工作組研制了一種能長時間發(fā)光而不燒壞燈絲的電燈泡。他們試用了 1500種材料，可是沒有一種合適。最后愛迪生試用了一種新的燈絲材料，它能持續(xù)發(fā)光近 200小時。

發(fā)明了電燈泡以后，愛迪生開始致力于研究能使人們用上電燈泡的動力系統(tǒng)。1882年，就在他合上電閘的那一刻，紐約城的85戶人家第一次用上了電燈。

托馬斯·愛迪生大概是世界上最偉大的發(fā)明家。他擁有1093項專利發(fā)明。除了電燈以外，他還發(fā)明了留聲機、攝影機、水泥攪拌機、自動電報機，他還對亞歷山大·格雷厄姆·貝爾的發(fā)明的電話做了改進。