閱讀解析譯文逐段對應(yīng)tpo-34reading

1、The Development of Steam Power蒸汽機的發(fā)展By the eighteenth century, Britain was experiencing a severe shortage of energy. Because of the growth of population, most of the great forests of medieval Britain had long ago been replaced by fields of grain and hay. Wood was in ever-shorter supply, yet it remai

2、ned tremendously important. It served as the primary source of heat for all homes and industries and as a basic raw material. Processed wood (charcoal) was the fuel that was mixed with iron ore in the blast furnace to produce pig iron (raw iron). The iron industrys appetite for wood was enormous, an

3、d by 1740 the British iron industry was stagnating. Vast forests enabled Russia to become the worlds leading producer of iron, much of which was exported to Britain. But Russias potential for growth was limited too, and in a few decades Russia would reach the barrier of inadequate energy that was al

4、ready holding England back.在18世紀(jì)之前，英國正在經(jīng)歷一次嚴(yán)重的能源短缺。因為人口增長，英國在中世紀(jì)時大部分森林已經(jīng)被農(nóng)田和牧草代替，因此木材更加缺乏，但是它卻一直都很重要。木材不僅是家庭和工業(yè)取暖的主要來源并且還是基本的原材料。加工過的木材（木炭）作為燃料和鐵礦混合，經(jīng)過高爐加溫形成生鐵。煉鐵業(yè)對木材的需求是巨大的，到1740年之前，英國的煉鐵業(yè)處于停滯狀態(tài)。相比之下，得益于廣闊的森林，俄國成為世界上主要的鐵制造商，其大部分鐵出口到英國。但是俄國的增長潛力也受到了限制，在接下來的幾十年里俄國和英國一樣，也遇到了能源短缺的障礙。As this early energ

5、y crisis grew worse, Britain looked toward its abundant and widely scattered reserves of coal as an alternative to its vanishing wood. Coal was first used in Britain in the late Middle Ages as a source of heat. By 1640 most homes in London were heated with it, and it also provided heat for making be

6、er, glass, soap, and other products. Coal was not used, however, to produce mechanical energy or to power machinery. It was there that coals potential was enormous.隨著這種早期能源危機愈演愈烈，英國轉(zhuǎn)而使用數(shù)量豐富且分布廣泛的煤炭作為即將消失的木材的替代品。英國在中世紀(jì)晚期首次使用煤炭來供熱。到了1640年之前，倫敦的大部分家庭開始使用煤炭取暖，并且還把它作為制造啤酒，玻璃，肥皂和其他產(chǎn)品的熱量來源。然而，這個時候，煤還未被用來生產(chǎn)

7、機械能或驅(qū)動機器。而這正是煤的無窮潛力。As more coal was produced, mines were dug deeper and deeper and were constantly filling with water. Mechanical pumps, usually powered by hundreds of horses waling in circles at the surface, had to be installed. Such power was expensive and bothersome. In an attempt to overcome th

8、ese disadvantages, Thomas Savery in 1698 and Thomas Newcomen in 1705 invented the first primitive steam engines. Both engines were extremely inefficient. Both burned coal to produce steam, which was then used to operate a pump. However, by the early 1770s, many of the Savery engines and hundreds of

9、the Newcomen engines were operating successfully, though inefficiently, in English and Scottish mines.隨著產(chǎn)煤量的增加，煤礦被挖的越來越深。然而煤礦深處，不斷有水灌注進來。人們通常在地表安裝由成千上百只馬轉(zhuǎn)圈拉動的機械水泵。但是這種動力不僅造價昂貴，而且費時費力。為了克服這些弊端，托馬斯薩瓦瑞在 1698 湯姆斯紐克門 在1705分別發(fā)明了第一批最早的蒸汽機。早期的蒸汽機效率極其低下，它們?nèi)济簛懋a(chǎn)生蒸汽，被用于驅(qū)動水泵。然而，到了18世紀(jì)70年代早期，薩瓦瑞和紐克門發(fā)明的成千上百的蒸汽機已經(jīng)成

10、功運行在英國和蘇格蘭的煤礦中，盡管效率還有待于提高。In the early 1760s, a gifted young Scot named James Watt was drawn to a critical study of the steam engine. Watt was employed at the time by the University of Glasgow as a skilled crafts worker making scientific instruments. In 1763, Watt was called on to repair a Newcomen

11、engine being used in a physics course. After a series of observations, Watt saw that the Newcomens waste of energy could be reduced by adding a separate condenser. This splendid invention, patented in 1769, greatly increased the efficiency of the steam engine. The steam engine of Watt and his follow

12、ers was the technological advance that gave people, at least for a while, unlimited power and allowed the invention and use of all kinds of power equipment. 在18世紀(jì)60年代早期，一個滿腹才華的年輕蘇格蘭人詹姆斯瓦特開始認(rèn)真研究蒸汽機。瓦特當(dāng)時受雇于格拉斯哥大學(xué)，是學(xué)校制作科學(xué)工具的熟練技工。1763年，學(xué)校要求瓦特去修理物理課上使用的一臺紐科門蒸汽機。在觀察之后，瓦特發(fā)現(xiàn)增加一個分離的冷凝器可以提高紐科門蒸汽機的效率。這項杰出的發(fā)明，在

13、1769年取得專利權(quán)，大大提高了蒸汽機的效率。瓦特和其同事的蒸汽機是巨大的技術(shù)進步，給于人們，至少在一段時間內(nèi)，無限的動力，并且催生了各種發(fā)明和動力設(shè)備。The steam engine was quickly put to use in several industries in Britain. It drained mines and made possible the production of ever more coal to feed steam engines elsewhere. The steam power plant began to replace waterpowe

14、r in the cotton-spinning mills as well as other industries during the 1780s, contributing to a phenomenal rise in industrialization. The British iron industry was radically transformed. The use of powerful, steam-driven bellows in blast furnaces helped iron makers switch over rapidly from limited ch

15、arcoal to unlimited coke (which is made from coal) in the smelting of pig iron (the process of refining impure iron) after 1770 in the 1780s, Henry Cort developed the puddling furnace, which allowed pig iron to be refined in turn with coke. Cort also developed heavy-duty, steam-powered rolling mills

16、, which were capable of producing finished iron in every shape and form.蒸汽機很快被用于英國的各行各業(yè)。它幫助人們抽干煤礦的水，從而挖掘更多的煤炭來帶動其他地方的蒸汽機。在18世80年代，蒸汽動力取代水力用于棉花紡織工業(yè)和其他工業(yè)，這促進了工業(yè)化現(xiàn)象的崛起。英國的煉鐵業(yè)從根本上發(fā)生了變革。1770年之后，因為高爐中使用動力十足、蒸汽驅(qū)動的風(fēng)箱，鐵制造商們在鑄造生鐵（提煉鐵的過程）時，很快不再使用數(shù)量有限的木炭，轉(zhuǎn)而使用無限的焦炭（由煤制作而成）。在18世紀(jì)80年代，亨利科特發(fā)明了攪鐵爐，這一發(fā)明可輪流提煉生鐵和焦炭?？铺匾?/p>

17、發(fā)明了蒸汽驅(qū)動的重型軋鋼廠，能把煉過的鐵軋成各種形狀。The economic consequence of these technical innovations in steam power was a great boom in the British iron industry. In 1740 annual British iron production was only 17,000 tons, but by 1844, with the spread of coke smelting and the impact of Corts inventions, it had increased to 3,000,000 tons.