The Story of Inventor Elias Howe
伊萊亞斯·豪
Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep.
一百多年前的一天清晨，一位名叫伊萊亞斯·豪的美國發明家終于睡着了。
He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into（遇到） a very difficult problem:
他一整晚都在設計一台縫紉機，但他遇到了一個非常棘手的問題：
It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.
要讓線平穩地繞着針走似乎不可能。
Though he was tired, Howe slept badly.
豪雖然很累，但他睡得很不好。
He turned and turned. Then he had a dream.
他輾轉反側。後來他做了一個夢。
He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages（野蠻人） whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine.
他夢見自己被可怕的野蠻人抓住了，他們的國王想殺死他，吃掉他，除非他能造出一台完美的縫紉機。
When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problem as before.
在嘗試造縫紉機的時候，豪遇到了和以前一樣的問題。
The thread kept getting caught around the needle.
線老是纏在針上。
The king flew into a rage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe.
國王勃然大怒，指令士兵們殺死豪。
They came up towards him with their spears raised.
他們舉着長矛向他走來。
But suddenly the inventor noticed something.
但是突然，這個發明家注意到了什麼。
There was a hole in the tip of each spear.
每個矛的尖端都有一個洞。
The inventor awoke from the dream, realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem.
發明家從夢中醒來，意識到他剛剛已經找到了問題的答案。
Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle, he should make it run through a small hole in the center of the needle.
他應該讓線穿過針中心的一個小孔，而不是試圖讓線繞過針。
This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practical sewing machine.
這個簡單的想法最終使豪設計并制造了第一台真正實用的縫紉機。
Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answer to his problem in this way.
伊萊亞斯·豪并不是唯一一個以這種方式找到問題答案的人。
Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light, said his best ideas came into him in dreams.
電燈的發明者托馬斯·愛迪生說他最好的主意都是在夢中想到的。
Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing Jane Eyre.
夏洛蒂·勃朗特在寫《簡·愛》時也把她的夢境寫了進去。
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