世界大戰爲世界帶來的最成功的十大產品(下)

t'n'Low

5.低脂糖

This sugar substitute was discovered in 1879 by a chemist named Ira Remsen who couldn't be bothered to wash his hands before eating. At that time, the national obsession with weight-loss schemes hadn't started, and folks were happy to eat plain old sugar. Saccharin didn't come into mainstream use until World War I imposed rations on consumer staples like sugar, and people began buying up alternatives in droves.

這種糖的替代品是一個不喜歡飯前洗手的化學家雷姆森在1879年發明的。那時很多人還沒開始癡迷於減肥，而且他們還很樂意吃普通的糖。直到第一次世界大戰時，物資緊缺，對食糖之類的消費必需品實行定量配給，糖精的使用才逐漸變成一種主流，人們也纔開始成羣結隊地去購買這種替代品。

The same thing happened again in World War II, and when a father and son team combined saccharine with dextrose at their diner in the 1950s, their product was rebranded as Sweet'n'Low. Turning the leftovers from wartime rationing into a new weight-loss gimmick, saccharin survived the return of natural sugar and kept its place on restaurant tables across America.

同樣的事情在二戰期間再一次出現。那是20世紀50年代，一位父親和兒子們在用餐時把糖精和葡萄糖混合在一起，並把這個產品重新命名爲"低脂糖"。這把戰爭時期殘羹剩飯的限量供給變成了一種瘦身的新花招。糖精被當做是一種天然糖的迴歸，在美國大多數飯店的餐桌上都可以見到它的身影。

owave Ovens

4.微波爐

Before Hot Pockets and TV dinners made the nuclear option a staple of the American kitchen, microwaves were simply a side-effect of World War II radar emitters. Self-taught engineer Percy Spencer was conducting research on magnetrons — a key component of radar systems — when he noticed that a candy bar in his pocket had melted. He theorized that microwaves emitting from the magnetrons generated the heat responsible for ruining his snack. Naturally, he tested his theory by proceeding to blow eggs and popcorn up using microwave emissions.

當今社會，爆米花與電視餐盛行，微波爐已然成爲美國家庭廚房的霸主。但在二戰期間，微波只不過是雷達輻射源產生的一種電磁波。珀西·斯賓塞是當時一名自學成才的工程師，他在研究雷達系統的關鍵部件——磁控管時發現，口袋裏的巧克力棒竟然化了。他認爲，寶貝巧克力棒之所以會化，是因爲磁控管發出的微波產生了熱效應。之後，他成功利用微波烹調雞蛋、製作爆米花，在證實自己推斷的同時還能享用美食，贊！

He finally managed to pull himself away from his new toy long enough to let his employers know what he had found. His discovery was soon put to work, and the first commercial microwave ovens were produced in 1955.

很長一段時間，他都在潛心研究微波"新寵"，僱主們這才瞭解到他發現了微波的熱效應。很快，他的新發現就投入了生產，第一臺家用微波爐也於1955年面世。

Tape

3.布基膠帶

Quibbles over whether "duct" or "duck" came first aside, this ubiquitous, multi-functional tape first emerged during the Second World War. GIs needed a flexible, water-proof material they could use to repair everything from canteens to ammunition cases. When Johnson and Johnson came up with a combination medical tape and self-adhesive strip they could deliver in rolls to the troops, duct tape was born.

布基膠帶在我們的生活中隨處可見，它最初是指管道膠帶還是防水膠帶早已不得而知，但有一點毋庸置疑——這款多功能膠帶是在二戰時期推廣開來的。戰爭時期，美國士兵需要修補的東西很多，他們希望有一款多功能的防水材料，既能用於水壺等生活用品，又能用於各種軍事裝備。於是，強生公司結合了醫用膠帶與自粘膠帶的特性，推出了一款便於運輸的軍用產品，布基膠帶由此應運而生。

The versatility of the tape made it popular among troops long after the war ended. Consumer demand quickly turned the military tool into a household name — which is only fitting, considering it was a Navy mother who first conceived of the idea out of concern for her enlisted family.

布基膠帶應用廣泛，在二戰結束後依然深受士兵們青睞。隨着市場需求的與日俱增，這款軍用產品很快就家喻戶曉了。人們認爲布基膠帶的創意源自一名海軍的母親，而她會有這樣的奇思妙想只是出於對兒子的關心。

osable Syringes

2.一次性針筒

As anyone who lived through the '80s most homophobic health scare can tell you, sharing needles is a quick way to spread diseases. But before America became obsessed with HIV/AIDs, the military was trying to balance the need for frontline painkillers with the risk of overdoses and morphine addiction.

80年代是最嚴重的同性戀健康恐慌期，任何一個經歷過這個時期的人都可以告訴你，共用針頭是快速傳播疾病的一種方式。但在美國受到HIV/AIDs困擾之前，軍隊還冒着用藥過度和對嗎啡上癮的風險來滿足前線對止痛藥的需求。

During the American Civil War, as well as the First World War, wounded soldiers pretty much had to play through the pain until they were carted off to ad hoc medical tents and treated with morphine there. By World War II, the old glass and metal syringes were abandoned in favor of a new product, called the Syrette, which was compact (limiting the dosage it could administer), and expendable. Syrettes were distributed to troops pre-filled with single doses of morphine. This set the stage for later inventors who moved beyond distributing morphine to troops and reworked the product into a mass-produced medical device, now typically made of plastic.

在美國內戰和第一次世界大戰期間，受傷的戰士在被送到臨時救護帳篷並在那裏注射嗎啡進行麻醉前，都要和疼痛作鬥爭。到了第二次世界大戰，舊的玻璃管和金屬注射器都被棄置，這催生了新產品：西雷特皮下注射器。它外型小巧且不能二次使用，在裝入一次劑量的嗎啡後才分發到軍隊。這就爲後來的發明家們在用這種注射器分發軍用嗎啡的基礎之上，將它改良爲可批量生產的醫療用品奠定了基礎。現在這種注射器通常用塑料製成。

ey

1.迪士尼

No, Walt Disney didn't start his namesake entertainment company in the midst of World War II. As the screaming voices of those within the Disney vault will tell you, his animation studio had been enjoying years of success with a string of animated shorts in the 1920s, as well as feature-length efforts like Snow White.

雖然華特·迪士尼在二戰中期還沒有創立他的同名公司，但在20世紀20年代，他的工作室已經成功推出了一系列動畫短片和像《白雪公主》一樣的長片。

Walt proceeded to drive all that success straight into the ground, releasing a string of feature-length failures (we now call them "classics") and then fumbling management of his striking animators who wanted Disney to unionize. By the time he capitulated, the company was facing bankruptcy. Then the U.S. government, out of concern over fascist influence in South America, offered Disney an all-expenses paid trip down through Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The plan was for Disney to do a series of animated propaganda pieces celebrating Latin American culture, softening international relations and allowing the U.S. to focus on storming European beaches. Disney's deal with the military grew to include a series of propaganda cartoons, and resuscitated his collapsing brand so it could grow into the international entertainment superpower we all know and fear today. Without WWII, Disney would have gone whistling while he worked into the margins of history.

取得成功後，華特開始走下坡路。他製作了一系列失敗的長片作品（我們現稱之爲"經典"），此外，他還得研究對一些動畫設計師進行管理——他們要求成立工會，否則就罷工。但到他最終決定讓步的時候，他的公司已經面臨着破產的局面了。之後，考慮到法西斯在南美洲的影響，美國政府承擔了迪士尼在巴西、阿根廷和智利的所有推廣費用。該計劃要求迪士尼做出一系列動畫宣傳片來讚美拉美文化，爲的是緩和美國和南美洲各國之間的關係，使美國集中精力對付歐洲沿海地區。軍事形勢成就了迪士尼，他製作了一系列宣傳動畫片，恢復了他沒落的品牌。自此，迪士尼成爲了當今世上首屈一指的國際娛樂王國。如果沒有二戰，迪士尼恐怕早就被淹沒在歷史的洪流之中了。

審校：梅子九 編輯：旭旭 來源：前十網