The inventor Thomas Alva Edison had a major effect on the lives of people around the world. Thomas Edison is remembered most for the electric light, his phonograph , and his work with motion pictures.
发明家托马斯·阿尔瓦·爱迪生对世界各地人们的生活产生了重大影响。托马斯·爱迪生最为人们所铭记的是电灯、他的留声机和他的电影作品。
Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio. He was mostly self-taught. His mother taught him reading, writing, and mathematics. He learned from books, and he experimented.
爱迪生于 1847 年 2 月 11 日出生于俄亥俄州米兰。他主要是自学成才。他的母亲教他阅读、写作和数学。他从书本中学习，并进行实验。
At the age of 10, he experimented with chemicals and electricity. He built a telegraph machine and, at the age of 16, he went to work as a telegraph operator.
10岁时，他开始尝试化学和电力。他建造了一台电报机，16 岁时，他开始担任电报员。
He continued his work with electricity, making improved telegraph machines, and he invented an electrical voting machine.
他继续从事电力研究，制造改进的电报机，并发明了电动投票机。
Edison earned enough money from his early inventions to start his own company in 1871. Instead of working alone, he worked with a group of employees on many different projects at one time. They asked the United States government for patents to protect more than one hundred devices or inventions each year. He was an extremely busy man.
爱迪生从他的早期发明中赚到了足够的钱，于 1871 年创办了自己的公司。他不是单独工作，而是与一群员工同时合作完成许多不同的项目。他们每年向美国政府申请专利来保护一百多个设备或发明。他是一个非常忙碌的人。
In 1913, a popular magazine at the time called Thomas Edison the most useful man in America.
1913年，当时的一本流行杂志称托马斯·爱迪生为美国最有用的人。
He almost never slept more than four or five hours a night. He usually worked 18 hours each day because he enjoyed what he was doing.
他每晚的睡眠时间几乎不超过四五个小时。他通常每天工作 18 个小时，因为他喜欢自己所做的事情。
A reporter asked Edison in 1917 which of his many inventions he enjoyed the most. He answered, the phonograph was really the most interesting. The hardest invention to develop, he said, was the electric light. He said that it was the most difficult and the most important. He also invented the modern motion picture film.
1917 年，一位记者问爱迪生，在他的众多发明中，他最喜欢哪一项。他回答说，留声机确实是最有趣的。他说，最难开发的发明是电灯。他说，这是最困难的，也是最重要的。他还发明了现代电影胶片。
In 1928, he received a special medal of honor from the Congress of the United States. Thomas Edison died on January 6, 1931. People worldwide have had easier and more enjoyable lives because of his inventions.
1928年，他获得美国国会颁发的特别荣誉勋章。托马斯·爱迪生于 1931 年 1 月 6 日去世。全世界的人们因为他的发明而过上了更轻松、更愉快的生活。