中國古代的十大發明(2)

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7.麪食

Anybody who loves a good bowl of pasta e fagioli or linguine and clams may want to tip his hat to the ancient Chinese for coming up with pasta -- not the Italians, as you may have suspected.

對任何喜歡來一碗意大利麪豆湯或者蛤蜊扁意麪的人來說，也許都需要對發明麪條的古代中國人致敬——而不是意大利人，正如你所懷疑的一樣。

The jury is still out on this one, but it looks like the Chinese beat either the Italians or the Arabs (it's unclear which) by around 2,000 years. In 2006, archaeologists excavating a 4,000 year-old settlement at Lajia in the Qinghai Province near the Tibetian border uncovered an overturned bowl of stringy noodles buried beneath ten feet of earth.

專家組仍在商討到底是誰率先發明麪條這件事，但看起來似乎是中國人憑藉着近2000年的優勢力壓意大利人和阿拉伯人（還不清楚是哪一個），成爲最終的贏家。2006年，考古學家在發掘喇家遺址時發現了一隻倒扣的碗，深埋於十英尺厚的土中，碗內有細長而乾枯的麪條。該遺址位於青海省境內，靠近西藏，距今已有4000年的歷史 。

The newly discovered pasta may be the world's oldest. It's made from two types of millet grain, both of which have been cultivated in China for about 7,000 years. What's more, the Chinese still use these grains to make pasta to this day.

這一新發現的麪條可能是世界上最古老的，由兩種在中國均已有7000年栽培史的穀物製成。並且，時至今日，中國人仍在用這些穀物來製作麪條。

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6.獨輪手推車

The Chinese are also responsible for easing the burden of humans around the world and across time with the wheelbarrow. A general named Jugo Liang, who lived during the Han Dynasty, is widely credited with coming up with the concept of a one-wheeled cart used to carry heavy objects in the second century. Jugo's conception missed the mark just a bit; he didn't add the barrow (handles) that came later as his invention was refined. Still, Jugo beat the Europeans by about 1,000 years with his wheelbarrow.

千百年來，中國人發明的獨輪手推車爲減輕人類負擔做出了巨大的貢獻。人們普遍認爲，公元2世紀時，蜀相諸葛亮提出了發明獨輪手推車用來運載重物的構想。諸葛亮構思的獨輪手推車僅有一點點瑕疵，因爲他沒有爲其加上把手，不過這一問題被後人改進完善。儘管如此，諸葛亮的發明還是領先了歐洲人1000多年。

Originally, the vehicle was intended for military purposes. Recognizing the physical advantages the wheelbarrow gave its armies over any enemies -- they were used as mobile barricades as well as for transportation -- the Chinese kept their invention secret for centuries.

最初，獨輪車被用於軍事目的。正因認識到了獨輪車爲我方軍隊戰勝敵軍帶來的先天優勢——獨輪車即既可被用來充當移動的路障，也能被當作運輸工具——古代中國人將這項發明保密了長達幾個世紀之久。

An old folktale also gives the credit for inventing the wheelbarrow to a farmer from the first century B.C. named Ko Yu. Although his existence is questionable, there is a common thread between Jugo and Ko: Like the general, the farmer is said to have kept the wheelbarrow secret by describing it in code.

而民間的另一種傳說則認爲早在公元前1世紀，一個叫柯宇（KoYu）的農民就發明了獨輪手推車。儘管歷史上是否真的存在這個人還是個疑問，但諸葛亮和柯宇倒是有個共同點：和丞相一樣，據說這位農民也對獨輪車的製作流程守口如瓶。

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5.地動儀

Although the Chinese couldn't tell anyone exactly what an earthquake measured on the Richter scale (since the Richter scale wasn't created until 1935), they did manage to invent the world's first earthquake detector -- a seismograph. Not only did imperial astronomer Chang Heng create a seismograph during the Han Dynasty in the early second century, he created a magnificently beautiful one.

儘管古代中國人並不能準確地告知世人一場地震是里氏幾級（因爲直到1935年裏氏震級才被髮明出來），但他們卻設法發明了世界上第一個地震測量儀——地動儀。早在公元2世紀前葉，漢代天文學家張衡就創造出了地動儀，他發明的地動儀還巧奪天工、壯觀宏偉。

Heng's creation was a heavy bronze vessel with nine dragons facing downward embedded into its outside. The dragons were spaced equidistant from one another on the vessel, and below each dragon, a detached frog looked upward as each frog held its mouth open.

張衡發明的地動儀以青銅鑄成，四周鑲嵌以八條龍，龍頭朝下。這八條龍等距離間隔，每條龍的正下方，都有一隻昂頭張嘴的銅蟾蜍。

Inside the vessel, a pendulum hung motionless until a tremor moved it. At this point, the pendulum's swing set the seismograph's internal levers in motion. This would trigger the release of a ball held in the mouth of the dragon facing the direction of the earthquake's epicenter. The ball would then fall into the mouth of the frog directly below it. This first seismograph seems a bit basic, but it would be another 1,500 years before Western nations developed their own versions.

地動儀的內部正中，有一支“懸擺錘”靜止不動。當某個地方發生地震，“懸擺錘”受到震動時，就會隨之運動。此時，“懸擺錘”來回擺動引發地動儀內部的槓桿活動，從而觸動機關，使得地震源方向的龍頭張開嘴，吐出銅球，落到銅蟾蜍嘴中。這一最初的地動儀雖然有點簡陋，但比起西方發明的地震儀仍然早了1500多年。

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4.酒精

You can thank the Chinese for ethanol and isopropyl alcohol -- not to mention beer, wine and liquor. When you think of it, few of man's ingenuities have delivered as much joy and sorrow as alcohol.

你得感謝中國人創造出了乙醇和異丙醇，這裏說的並不是啤酒、葡萄酒跟烈酒噢！當你想到酒時，也就明白只有極少數人類智慧的結晶能像酒那樣讓人歡喜讓人憂。

For many years, it was assumed that alcohol fermentation grew out of other, similar processes. By the early third century B.C., the Chinese had figured out how to refine food products like vinegar and soy sauce using the techniques of fermentation and distillation. Alcoholic spirits would soon follow.

一直以來，人們都認爲酒精發酵技術脫胎於其他相似的工藝。公元前3世紀前期，中國人就掌握了釀造醋和醬油的技術，而這都是通過發酵和蒸餾來實現的。因而這些技術也很快就被運用到釀酒中。

Recent archaeological discoveries have pushed the date for Chinese fermentation and the creation of alcohol much further back. Nine-thousand-year-old pottery shards uncovered in Henan province show traces of alcohol. This discovery proves that the Chinese were the first to make alcohol, since the previous title holders, the ancient Arabs, didn't come up with alcoholic drinks until 1,000 years later.

最近的考古發現又使中國人利用發酵工藝制酒的時間向前推移。考古學家在河南省發現了9000年前的陶器碎片，並在其中覓到了酒的蹤跡。這一發現證實了中國人才是釀酒的鼻祖，因爲曾經的釀酒先驅——古阿拉伯人直到1000年後才製造出含酒精的飲品。

審校:落月 編輯:listen