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1、Unit3InventorsandinventionsTherearemanypeoplewhosayThomasEdisonsingle-handedlyinventedthetwentiethcentury.Althoughtherearethosewhomaydisagree,onethingcannotbedenied:Edisonwasagenius,andhisinventionsgreatlyaffectedthedevelopmentofmodernsociety.Bornin1847inOhio,ThomasEdisonattended
2、schoolforonlythreemonths.Afterhisteacherclaimedthathecouldnotlearn,Edison’smotherdecidedtoteachhimathome.Therehewasallowedtoexplorethesubjectsthatmostinterestedhim.Byageten,Edisonhadbuiltasciencelaboratoryinthebasementofhisfamily’shomeandhadbecomeanavidexperimenter.Edisongothisfi
3、rstjobatagetwelveontherailwaysellingcandyandnewspapers.Threeyearslater,hesufferedanearinjuryfromatrainaccidentandlostmuchofhishearing.Hecouldhavehadanoperation,butherefused.Heinsistedthatbeingdeafhelpedhimconcentrateonhisexperiments.ThomasEdison’sfirstinventionwastheautomatictele
4、graphrepeater.Hewasalreadyanexpertonthetelegraphbeforehecameupwithagadgetthatsenttelegraphsignalsbetweenunmannedstations.ThankstoEdison,peoplewerethenabletosendseveraltelegraphmessagessimultaneously.Nextcametheelectricvoterecorder.Itmadevotingquickerandmoreaccurate,yetnoonewanted
5、tobuyit.Edisonthenmovedontotacklethestockmarketticker,themachinethatgaveinformationaboutstockmarketprices.Edisonimprovedit,andsoldthepatentforUS＄40,000.Inhislatetwenties,Edisonbuiltan“inventionfactory”whereheandhisbusinesspartnerscoulddedicatealltheirtimetoinventing.Afterimprovin
6、guponthetelephone,Edisoncreatedthephonograph,hisfavoriteandmostlucrativeinvention.AlthoughEdisondidnotactuallyinventthelightbulb,hedidcreateanelectriclightingsystemwhichledtoitswidespreaduse.有许多人认为是爱迪生一手创造了二十世纪。虽然有不少人可能有不同的看法，但有一件事是无法否认的，爱迪生是个天才，以及他的发明深刻地影响了现代社会的发展。1847年爱迪生出生于俄亥俄
7、州。他仅仅只上了三个月的学。在爱迪生的老师声称他有学习障碍之后，他的母亲决定在家教他。在家里，爱迪生可以随心所欲地探索最使他感兴趣的事物。十岁那年，爱迪生在家里的地下室建了一间科学实验室。从此，爱迪生就成了一位孜孜不倦的实验者。十二岁时，爱迪生找到了他的第一份工作──在火车上卖糖果和报纸。三年后，一场火车事故导致他耳朵受伤，几乎完全失聪。他本可以接受手术治疗，但他拒绝了，因为他坚信听觉的丧失可以让他更专心地做实验。电报自动转发器是托马斯·爱迪生的第一个发明。他发明的这种装置，用于在无人看管的两站之间传输电报信号，在此项发明前，爱迪生就已经是位电报专家了。
8、幸亏有爱迪生，我们才能在同一时间传送好几封电报讯息。接下来的电子记票器让统计票数
