雙語+MP3|美國學(xué)生世界歷史83 另一種革命

83
A Different Kind of Revolution
另一種革命

     JAMES Watt's steam engine and Robert Fulton's steam powered ship were part of a revolution-a different kind of revolution. Usually we think of a revolution as being like the American Revolution or the French Revolution when people fought a war against a government. But this revolution took place slowly and without any armies. Yet it certainly did change the world. It is called the Industrial Revolution.
     In the last chapter, I told you about some of the wonderful inventions like cars, airplanes, radios, and televisions that we have because of the Industrial Revolution. That's the fun part. But a lot of other things happened, too. This peaceful revolution changed the world every bit as much as the big wars- maybe more! Here's how.
     All those wonderful new things were made in factories. The first factories were built in England. They made cloth and then clothing. Later they made railroad cars and tracks. Soon English factories were making all sorts of good things, and England began to grow very rich and powerful.
     In some ways countries are just like boys and girls. You know that sometimes, when one student in a class brings in a new toy or wears a new jacket, everybody else wants one, too. Well, soon other countries wanted to be like England and they began building factories so they would be rich and powerful, too. A lot of European countries like France, Germany, and Italy did this. So did the United States and Japan. Soon all these places were making lots of things in their factories. They made clothes and furniture. They made cars and even candy. This was called the Industrial Revolution.
     We all know that now we can go to the store and buy these things that are made in factories. But would that be enough of a change to call it a REVOLUTION? Well, maybe yes, maybe no. But there were other things that began happening as soon as the factories were built. All of these things together really were a revolution.
     One big change happened like this. A lot of people came to work in the new factories. You wouldn't have much of a factory if nobody worked there, would you? It took a lot of men and women to work in the factories. Families left the countryside. They stopped farming and became factory workers. The men who built the factories wanted so many workers that they even paid children to work there. This wasn't very good for the children, though, because they didn't get to go to school. It also wasn't very good because those early factories had a lot of unsafe machines and sometimes the children and the grownups, too, got hurt. Despite all that, lots of men, women, and children came to work. So one big change is that many people stopped farming and became factory workers. Which would you rather do? Why?
     Some people had been making things at home-like candles or soap or sweaters to sell. When a family does this, it's called a cottage industry because they work in their cottage. After the Industrial Revolution, factories made many of the same things. Since a factory made so many sweaters, for example, so fast, it could sell them for less money than an individual could. Because of this, many people who had worked at home had to go to work in factories.
     Most of the factories were built in cities. Coming to work in the factory meant coming to live in a city. Soon the cities got very crowded. In those early days people had to live close together, because they had to live near their jobs so they could walk to work.
     How far would you be willing to walk to work or school? People often walked a mile or two each way. After trolley cars were invented, people could live farther away from work. At first, trolleys were pulled along tracks on city streets by horses, and they were slow. By the end of the nineteenth century, electric trolleys became common, and people could live even farther away. So the cities grew larger. Here's a second big change then. Cities grew big like the ones we know today.
     Way around the world, even in countries where there weren't any factories yet, people's lives changed, too. You have to stop and think about this for a minute. It may seem hard to believe that the life of a child in Africa, India, Korea, or Hawaii could change just because men in England, America, or Japan built factories. But that's what happened. Here's how.
     You know that when you make anything, you have to make it out of something. So the factories that made clothes and furniture, cars and candy had to make these out of something. Some factories made clothes out of cotton that grew in India. Other factories made furniture out of the wood from trees that grew in forests in Africa, Asia, and the countries around the Caribbean Sea. Cars have to have tires, and they are made out of rubber that comes from rubber trees that grow in forests in Africa, Asia, and South America. To make candy, you use sugar that comes from plants that grow in places like Hawaii and Cuba. Now you can begin to see why the Industrial Revolution was felt around the world.
     The countries that built the factories needed supplies from all around the world. Those countries were strong and had the advantage of modern ships and weapons built in their factories, so the industrialized countries soon moved in and took over a lot of places that had the supplies they wanted-the places where cotton grew, where trees like mahogany and rubber grew, where sugar cane grew. England, France, Germany, and other European countries made colonies of most of Africa and a lot of Asia as well. Japan conquered Korea and some other places nearby. Even the United States came to own places like Hawaii and the Philippines although we didn't call these our colonies.
     Now the people who lived in all these places weren't very happy to have foreigners coming in and taking over. They felt the same way about them that you might feel about a bully at school. They didn't like that big guy who wanted to push all the little guys around. Sometimes the conquerors brought good things, like modern medical care. But, still, nobody really wants to be bossed around by somebody else. So, less than a hundred years later, the colonies around the world rose up, just as we did during the American Revolution, and fought to become independent. You'll read more about this later.

Urban factories spewing smoke （噴著煙的城市工廠）
     You know that sometimes changes aren't always all good. One bad thing that happened because of the Industrial Revolution was the taking of colonies by the rich industrialized countries. Another bad result of the Industrial Revolution is still troubling us today. That is pollution. Also, many natural resources are being used up or destroyed. Pollution and the loss of natural resources are called environmental problems.
     We know that factories that make wonderful things sometimes discharge poisons into the air that we breathe and the water we drink. That is pollution. People can get sick from breathing polluted air and drinking polluted water.
     We know that over the years, many of the earth's forests have been cut down so the wood from the trees could be used for building houses and furniture and for making paper. When a forest is destroyed or an ocean is polluted, then the animals that live there have no place to live any more, and so they die out. When there are no more animals of any given kind, we say that they are extinct. Today, a number of animals are in danger of becoming extinct, either because they are being killed or because their homes are being destroyed. Can you name any of these animals?
     These are some of the problems caused by the Industrial Revolution that we have not yet solved. Do you have any ideas how they could be solved? There's something for you to talk about.
     There are four big things to remember about the Industrial Revolution. A lot of people worked in factories instead of on farms. The towns grew into the large cities that we know today. The industrialized nations became so rich and powerful that they could control most of the rest of the world. And we still have to solve environmental problems that were caused by the Industrial Revolution.

     詹姆斯?瓦特的蒸汽機(jī)和羅伯特?富爾頓的汽船是革命的一部分--與以往不同的另一種革命。通常我們把革命看做像美國革命或法國革命那樣，當(dāng)時(shí)人們發(fā)動(dòng)戰(zhàn)爭反對(duì)政府。但是這場(chǎng)革命卻是慢慢發(fā)生的，而且沒有任何軍隊(duì)參與其中。然而它確實(shí)改變了世界。這場(chǎng)革命叫做"工業(yè)革命"。
     在上一章里，我介紹了一些奇妙的發(fā)明，比如汽車、飛機(jī)、收音機(jī)和電視，正因?yàn)榘l(fā)生了工業(yè)革命，我們才有了這些東西。那是有趣的一面。但是也發(fā)生了很多其他事情。這場(chǎng)和平的革命和大規(guī)模戰(zhàn)爭一樣徹底改變了世界--可能帶來的變化更大！我們來看看它是怎樣改變世界的。
     所有這些奇妙的新事物都是在工廠制造的。最早一批工廠是在英國建起的。這些工廠生產(chǎn)布料，接著生產(chǎn)服裝。后來工廠制造火車車廂和鐵軌。不久英國的工廠 就生產(chǎn)各種好東西了，由此英國開始變得非常富有強(qiáng)大。
     在有些方面，一個(gè)個(gè)國家就像是一個(gè)個(gè)男孩和女孩。你知道有時(shí)候，班里有個(gè)學(xué)生帶來一個(gè)新玩具或者穿了一件新夾克，其他人見了也都想要。好了，不久其他國家就希望自己也能像英國那樣，于是這些國家開始建工廠，好讓自己也變得富有、強(qiáng)大起來。很多歐洲國家，比如法國、德國和意大利都這樣做了。美國和日本也這樣做了。不久所有這些地方的工廠里都制造出大量產(chǎn)品。產(chǎn)品包括服裝和家具，還有汽車，甚至糖果。這被稱為工業(yè)革命。
     我們都知道現(xiàn)在我們可以去商店購買工廠生產(chǎn)出來的這些產(chǎn)品。但這樣的變化就足以讓人稱為"革命"嗎？好吧，也許可以，也許不可以。但是工廠一建起來，其他事情就開始發(fā)生了。所有這些變化合在一起就真是一場(chǎng)革命了。
     一個(gè)重大的變化是這樣發(fā)生的。大量的人來到在新工廠工作。如果沒有人在工廠工作，你就不可能有一家像樣的工廠，是不是？工廠需要大量的男工人和女工人。一個(gè)個(gè)家庭離開了農(nóng)村。他們不再務(wù)農(nóng)，而是去工廠當(dāng)工人。那些建了工廠的廠主需要許許多多的工人，他們甚至雇傭孩子當(dāng)童工。不過這樣做對(duì)孩子沒有好處，因?yàn)樗麄兙筒荒苋ド蠈W(xué)了。還有一個(gè)不大好的方面，是因?yàn)檫@些早期工廠的機(jī)器有大量的安全隱患，有時(shí)無論孩子還是成人都會(huì)受傷。盡管如此，許許多多男人、女人和孩子還是去工廠上班了。所以一個(gè)重大的變化是許多人不再耕作，成了工廠的工人。如果是你，你愿意務(wù)農(nóng)還是當(dāng)工人？為什么？
     有些人以前是在家里生產(chǎn)東西出售--像蠟燭啦肥皂啦毛衣等。當(dāng)一個(gè)家庭這樣做時(shí)，就稱為"家庭小工業(yè)"，因?yàn)樗麄兪窃谧约旱男∥堇锩婀ぷ鳌９I(yè)革命之后，工廠生產(chǎn)同一種商品的效率大大提高。比如既然一家工廠生產(chǎn)毛衣又多又快，它就能賣得比個(gè)人織的毛衣要便宜一些。因此，許多以前在家工作的人不得不去工廠上班了。
     大多數(shù)工廠建在城市里。到工廠上班就意味著要到城市里居住。不久這些城市就變得非常擁擠。在初期，人們不得不住得很密集，因?yàn)樗麄儽仨氉〉秒x工廠近一點(diǎn)，這樣才能步行去上班。
     你愿意走多遠(yuǎn)去上班或上學(xué)？人們通常單程走一兩英里。有軌電車發(fā)明以后，人們可以住得離工廠遠(yuǎn)一些了。起初，車子是用馬拉著在城市的街道上沿軌道行駛，速度很慢。到19世紀(jì)末期，有軌電車變得很普及，人們甚至可以住得離工廠更遠(yuǎn)了。于是城市規(guī)模變得越來越大了。這就是第二個(gè)重大的變化。城市變大了，就像我們?nèi)缃裰赖哪切┏鞘幸粯恿恕?br />      在世界每個(gè)地方，甚至在還沒有工廠的國家里，人們的生活也發(fā)生變化了。你得停下對(duì)這個(gè)問題思考片刻。似乎很難相信在非洲、印度、韓國或夏威夷的一個(gè)孩子的生活會(huì)因?yàn)槿藗冊(cè)谟?、美國或日本建工廠而發(fā)生變化。但是這正是實(shí)際發(fā)生的情況。我們來看看這是怎樣發(fā)生的。
     你知道當(dāng)你做什么東西時(shí)，你必須用"某個(gè)東西"做材料。所以生產(chǎn)服裝、家具、汽車和糖果的工廠必須用其他東西做材料才能生產(chǎn)這些產(chǎn)品。有些工廠用印度產(chǎn)的棉花做服裝。另一些工廠用產(chǎn)自非洲、亞洲和加勒比海周圍國家森林里的木材 做家具。汽車必須有輪胎，輪胎是用橡膠做的，橡膠來自于橡膠樹，橡膠樹生長在非洲、亞洲和南美洲的森林里。你做糖果要用食糖，食糖來自糖料作物，而糖料作物生長在像夏威夷和古巴那樣的地方?，F(xiàn)在你就可以明白了為什么全世界都感受到了工業(yè)革命。
     興建工廠的那些國家需要來自世界各地的原料供應(yīng)。那些國家都很強(qiáng)大，它們的優(yōu)勢(shì)是擁有自己工廠生產(chǎn)出來的堅(jiān)船利炮，所以"工業(yè)化"國家不久就強(qiáng)行插手并接管了許多地方，這些地方都有它們需要的原料供應(yīng)--例如，盛產(chǎn)棉花、紅木、橡膠、甘蔗的地方。英國、法國、德國和其他歐洲國家將大部分非洲國家和許多亞洲國家變成了殖民地。日本占領(lǐng)了朝鮮和其他鄰近國家。甚至美國也占據(jù)了像夏威夷和菲律賓這樣的地方盡管并沒有稱這些地方為美國的殖民地。
     生活在這些地方的人民對(duì)外國人的侵占非常不滿。他們對(duì)這些外國人的不滿情緒和你對(duì)學(xué)校里的恃強(qiáng)凌弱者的不滿情緒是一樣的。他們不喜歡那個(gè)任意擺布弱小者的家伙。有時(shí)占領(lǐng)者給當(dāng)?shù)貛砹艘恍┖锰帲热绗F(xiàn)代醫(yī)療保健。但是，畢竟沒有人真的愿意被別人差來遣去。所以，在不到一百年之后，世界各地的殖民地紛紛起義，就像我們?cè)诿绹?dú)立戰(zhàn)爭中做的那樣，為爭取獨(dú)立而戰(zhàn)斗。關(guān)于這方面的故事你將在后面了解到更多的。
     你知道有時(shí)轉(zhuǎn)變并不總是好的。由于工業(yè)革命而產(chǎn)生的弊端之一就是那些富有的工業(yè)化國家奪取殖民地。工業(yè)革命的另一個(gè)惡果至今依然困擾著我們。那就是污染。另外，許多自然資源正在耗盡或被破壞。污染和自然資源的損耗統(tǒng)稱為環(huán)境問題。
     我們知道制造一些美妙產(chǎn)品的工廠有時(shí)把有害物質(zhì)直接排放到我們呼吸的空氣中和我們飲用的水源中。那就是污染。人們呼吸了受污染的空氣、喝了受污染的水，就會(huì)生病。
     我們知道，多年以來，地球上的許多森林被砍伐，為的是獲取木材蓋房子、做家具和造紙。當(dāng)一片森林被破壞或者一片海域被污染，那么生活在那里的動(dòng)物就再也沒有地方生存，于是就逐漸消失了。當(dāng)世界上再也沒有某種動(dòng)物時(shí)，我們說這種動(dòng)物"滅絕"了。如今，有些動(dòng)物處于瀕臨滅絕的危險(xiǎn)中，要么因?yàn)檎徊粩喃C殺，要么因?yàn)樗鼈兊募覉@正被毀滅。你能說出其中某種動(dòng)物嗎？
     以上就是由工業(yè)革命造成的一些問題，我們至今還沒有解決。你有什么解決這些問題的主意嗎？有些問題很值得你們討論。
     關(guān)于工業(yè)革命要記住四件事情。許多人放棄在農(nóng)場(chǎng)耕作，去工廠上班。城鎮(zhèn)發(fā)展成我們現(xiàn)在知道的大城市。工業(yè)化國家變得富強(qiáng)起來，這樣它們就能控制世界上大多數(shù)國家。我們至今仍然不得不解決由工業(yè)革命造成的環(huán)境問題。