Whenever it was possible, I touched the machinery while it was in motion, so as to get a clearer idea how the stones were weighed, cut, and polished. I searched in the washings for a diamond and found it myself—the only true diamond, they said, that was ever found in the United States.
只要有可能，我都会摸一摸正在运转的机器，这样我就能更清晰地感受到矿石有多重，它们又是如何被切割被抛光的。我还亲自摸索到了一块正在清洗之中的钻石——人们告诉我说，这是在美国发现的唯一一颗真正的钻石。
Dr.
Bell
went
everywhere
with
us
and
in
his
own
delightful
way
described
to
me
the
objects
of
greatest
interest.
In
the
electrical
building
we
examined
the
telephones,
autophones,
phonographs,
and
other
inventions,
and
he
made
me
understand
how
it
is
possible
to
send
a
message
on
wires
that
mock
space
and
outrun
time,
and,
like
Prometheus,
to
draw
fire
from
the
sky.
We
also
visited
the
anthropological
department,
and
I
was
much
interested
in
the
relics
of
ancient
Mexico,
in
the
rude
stone
implements
that
are
so
often
the
only
record
of
an
age—
the
simple
monuments
of
nature's
unlettered
children
(
so
I
thought
as
I
fingered
them)
that
seem
bound
to
last
while
the
memorials
of
kings
and
sages
crumble
in
dust
away—
and
in
the
Egyptian
mummies,
which
I
shrank
from
touching.
From
these
relics
I
learned
more
about
the
progress
of
man
than
I
have
heard
or
read
since.
贝尔博士陪我们参观了所有的地方，他以令人愉快的方式向我描述了最有趣的展品。在电子大厦，我们试用了电话机、对讲机、留声机和其他发明。贝尔博士让我明白了信息是如何突破了空间和时间的羁绊而在电线上传播的，这就像普罗米修斯将火种带到了人间一样伟大。我们还参观了人类学展区，我对古代墨西哥文物产生了浓厚兴趣。粗糙的石器是那个时代仅有的记录，也是未开化的人类童年时期的简陋遗物（这是我用手指触摸后的感想）。一代代君王和圣贤的功劳簿在历史的尘埃中分崩离析，在埃及的木乃伊中被死亡尘封，但有些遗迹仍有幸留存到现在。通过对这些遗物的触摸，我更多地了解了人类文明的进化过程，而依靠别人的讲解和阅读是无法领会其中的深意的。
All
these
experiences
added
a
great
many
new
terms
to
my
vocabulary,
and
in
the
three
weeks
I
spent
at
the
Fair
I
took
a
long
leap
from
the
little
child's
interest
in
fairy
tales
and
toys
to
the
appreciation
of
the
real
and
the
earnest
in
the
workaday
world.
所有这些经历令我的词汇量达到了一个新的水平。我在博览会耽延了整整三个星期，我从一个沉迷于童话故事和玩具的小孩子，一跃成为懂得欣赏平凡世界真善美的有心人。
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