Character

My fingers itch recently. I translated an article about Benjamin Franklin. The article is not long, but I put it off again. It took me six days to finish the translation intermittently. Don't say anything, let me find a wall first ...

Sadly, I completely lost sleep that night. In fact, I went to bed before ten o'clock, and I didn't fall asleep at one o'clock in the middle of the night. Well, it's my uncle Franklin's fault All I can think of all night is his story, because his life is shining and he has his own flash, which really surprises me.

Without further ado, let's talk about my male god Franklin. Well, yes, after a night of struggle, I decided to change my No.1 male god from Song Joong Ki to my uncle Franklin! Ha ha ha ...)

Well, ahem, get down to business, get down to business.

Franklin is known as "the first man in America" and "the last generalist", which is really no exaggeration. In his 84-year life, he can be said to be a journalist, scientist, educator, politician, writer, management expert and philosopher, who can do almost anything.

Literature:/kloc-started to run a newspaper at the age of 0/7, gradually got his own printing house and newspaper, bought the Pennsylvania newspaper, and often published his own articles in the newspaper, which soon became the favorite newspaper of the American people during the colonial period.

He wrote Poor Richard's Yearbook and Franklin's Autobiography, in which the Yearbook was published for 25 years. In addition to recording some major events, I also compiled some aphorisms of various periods and countries, which are humorous and full of wisdom.

For people like me who often do things in an anticlimactic way, I have to worship something for more than 20 years. ...

Thirteen methods of virtue cultivation mentioned in autobiography provide the world with methods of self-improvement.

I will never tell you that I tried to improve myself when I read his autobiography in junior high school, but I didn't stick to it. Then I read the original English autobiography in college, but I persisted for a semester. Always give up halfway like this, well, let me review for another ten minutes, hahaha ~

Politically, he led the American War of Independence, participated in drafting the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and went to France at the age of 70 to lobby the European people to support the North American War of Independence.

This is really a healthy old age. This is absolutely elegant and graceful. ...

Language: I was able to sort out aphorisms from various countries and send them to France because I taught myself French, Spanish, Italian, German and Latin.

This is really great. As an English major, I can only speak English as a foreign language now. I'd better find a place to cry for a while …

Also, it is said that learning a language will exercise people's thinking. Franklin died at the age of 84, which was a long life. Does it have anything to do with this? Well, it is always good to learn more foreign languages. I want to see my big cousin for a few more years. ...

In the field of science:

Physics: This should be his most famous aspect. There is also a passage in the primary school textbook about him flying a kite in a thunderstorm, which proves that electricity and lightning in nature are the same thing, and he also invented the lightning rod.

In addition, the most commonly used terms about electricity today are all invented by Franklin: battery, brush, armature, charge, capacitor, conductor, positive charge, negative charge, positive electrode and negative electrode, which put forward the view that charge can neither be created nor destroyed, and later generations discovered the law of charge conservation on this basis.

Well, I'm so touched. ...

Geography: Franklin discovered the law of ocean current moving from west to east, and drew the storm map for the first time. Today's weather forecast is based on this.

In addition, he first studied the Gulf Stream.

These are all the contents of junior high school geography study, although I have returned them to the teacher now. ...

Mathematics: In mathematics, he created eight magic squares and 16 magic squares. These two Rubik's Rubik's Cube have special properties and complicated changes, and they are still praised by scholars.

It's a bit like Sudoku, but it's incomprehensible. ...

Heat: He invented the open stove, which can save three quarters of fuel and provide more heat than the original fireplace.

Optics: He invented bifocal glasses for the elderly, which can see things clearly no matter how far away.

Of course, his contribution is not limited to this, and there are many things that cannot be classified:

He also invented the rocking chair,

Improved street lamps,

A law on the dissemination of news was promulgated,

Find out the harm of people's exhaled gas,

Explain the northern lights first,

Known as the father of modern dentistry,

First, the fire brigade and the fire insurance company were organized.

Established a modern postal system,

Formulated a modern parliamentary election law,

Found the cause of the cold,

Invent granular fertilizer,

Design white linen clothes for summer wear,

Designed the earliest swimming glasses and flippers,

Founded the American Philosophical Association,

Founded the University of Pennsylvania,

Invented a musical instrument, the glass piano. ...

The glass piano is said to be like this. ...

(To be honest, with so many inventions, I suddenly feel that Franklin's image is more formidable, hahahaha ...)

Franklin is a living person, always curious and always changing his life.

Well, it's time to tell me why I can't sleep. That night, I have been thinking about why Franklin's life can be so wonderful. Many seemingly small changes have really made the world different, and my life has left a deep impression on the world.

Of course, you and I are ordinary people, and we don't pray to go down in history in the future, but Franklin's life is like a kaleidoscope, which is amazing. Life can be so wonderful.

Thinking is very tangled, but I still got these elements:

1, the economic base determines the superstructure.

(Franklin on American paper money)

Yes, after thinking about it for so long, the first objective condition is that the economic base determines the superstructure. Starting from Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, Franklin realized the most basic living needs by his own economic strength, and gradually began to realize higher living needs.

There are seventeen children in the Franklin family. He is the fifteenth child and the youngest son. At the age of 65,438+02, he started to help his family run a soap candle business. At the age of 65,438+07, he left Boston for Philadelphia. From the beginning when he was an apprentice in a printing factory, he was penniless, and Franklin gradually realized the freedom of wealth. The Pennsylvania newspaper was really famous at that time. Franklin's printing business continued, including the first medical monograph and novel in the United States. They were also responsible for printing local banknotes. Yeah, that's right. All the money is printed by his family.

Franklin was a real entrepreneur at first, and his strong economic strength made him carefree. At the age of 42, he decided to quit business and concentrate on science. After that, he made a famous kite experiment.

(In fact, the risk of this experiment is really high. Children should never imitate. There was also a man named Olga william ritchie Mann, so he was killed, but few people remember him. This world is really realistic, there are winners and losers, and history doesn't have so many words to record them. Let me observe a minute of silence first ...)

It is often said that Franklin entered the most important period of his life after he retired from business. This is undeniable. In addition to his scientific contributions, he also participated in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence at the age of 60, which also promoted the American War of Independence politically.

But I think the 30 years from 12 to 42 are equally important. Although he didn't do many outstanding things in the world, in these 30 years, he did try to "be immune to poverty", and then "be rich and help the world". (Although he is not poor, hahaha ~)

Without these 30 years of solid economic accumulation, there would be no follow-up research. I think Franklin himself attached great importance to the survival of the previous 30 years. When he died, there was only one simple sentence on the tombstone: Franklin, a printer.

Indeed, the small printing industry made Franklin stand in a strange city and built a magnificent house that future generations could not surpass.

2. If you are ugly, you should read more books.

If you are ugly, you should read more books! If you are ugly, you should read more books! If you are ugly, you should read more books! Say the important things three times!

Because there were many children at home, Franklin dropped out of school at the age of 12. Franklin only studied in school for two years in his life, but this did not prevent Franklin from growing into a well-educated person.

During his career as a printing factory worker for nearly ten years, he has often been in the sea of books, so it is common to save money from food expenses to study. At the same time, taking advantage of his work, he also met several apprentices in bookstores, secretly borrowed books from bookstores at night, looked at them all night, and returned them the next morning.

(You can borrow books whenever you want to read, hahaha ...)

He read a wide range, from popular books on natural science and technology to papers by famous scientists and works by famous writers. All these paved the way for his scientific contribution and research today.

Reading is indeed a way for a person to grow up, and the body and soul must be on the road! In the process of reading, he often exchanges his views with others and has been practicing writing. Between the ages of 55 and 82, he completed his autobiography in 17, which is the pioneering work of American biographical literature.

Anyway, I am often addicted to fragmented reading such as WeChat, and I haven't finished reading a complete book for a long time. Let's read a book first. ...

3. Maintain the mentality of the new century.

Franklin invented many things in his life, and his research fields covered all aspects. Among his inventions, I think the most lovely thing is the small changes to life, such as rocking chairs. Life is hard, why not let yourself sit comfortably and write? Life is much more interesting when a small idea is put into practice.

In fact, there are many small changes like this. For example, he invented bifocal glasses to solve his own practical problems.

Franklin's eyesight began to deteriorate in his sixties. When reading and writing, he must wear short-sighted glasses; When you need to see distant objects, you have to change into a distant mirror-it's simply too uncomfortable! So Franklin invented bifocal glasses by using near-focus lenses and far-focus lenses.

It is said that for modern people with deep myopia, will they encounter such embarrassment when they are old? Fortunately, Franklin solved this little problem ... ...

The discovery of the Gulf Stream also stems from his careful observation of life and work.

Franklin also served as deputy director of the US Postal Service. During his tenure, he often received some letters, complaining that letters from Europe to the United States always took several weeks longer than returning. So after consulting a whaling captain, Franklin drew the first map of the Mexican warm current, starting from the West Indies in the north and east to the Atlantic Ocean. Later, when the captains worked out the navigation route, they added the consideration of the Gulf Stream, which greatly reduced the transportation time.

At present, the work sometimes seems to be step by step, and a plate of stagnant water can see the next two or three years at a glance. Think carefully, how can you feel that you have lived in vain? ...

In fact, life could have been beautiful. My initial curiosity about life is not that I am bored at work, but that I close myself up and can't see the little things in life. ...

As Uncle Bing said, life is diverse. You can work from nine to five and travel around the world. Why should we be limited to a way of thinking and a way of life?

Well, this is the result of a day's typing. The power of example is always endless, which makes people discover another possibility of life. See xian Si Qi, walking on the road, Germany is not alone, there must be neighbors.