Yu may think the Agef Miracles was in Biblical days.
But if a man wh lived at that time shuld cme back t earth nw he wuld think this the Agef Miracles.
If he heard yu talkn a telephne t a persn thusandsf miles away，r even a hundred feet away， he wuld think yu a magician.
If yu shwed him peple mving and talkingn a mvie screenr a televisin screen， he wuld think yu a witch.
If he heard yu start a band playing by turningn a tape playerr a radi， he wuld think yu a devil.
If he saw yu fly thrugh the air in an airplane， he wuld think yu a gd.
We are s used t the telephne， televisin， and tape recrders， t autmbiles and huge trucks and jet planes， t electric lights and mving pictures and radis and marvelus cameras that it is hard t imagine a wrld in which nnef these things existed-abslutely nnef these things. Yet in the year 1800， nt a singlenef these inventins was knwn.
Neither Gerge Washingtn nr Naplen ever saw an airplaner an autmbile. They never used a telephner a radir even a bicycle. They never heardf a gasline enginer a diesel enginer an electric light. They never even imagined men walkingn the mn，r clse-up phtgraphsf Mars，r televisin sets，r even typewriters. And as fr cmputers and radar and X-rays-well！
Mre wnders have been made in the last hundred years than in all the previus centuriesf the wrld put tgether.
A Sctsman named James Watt wasnef the firstf these magicians whm we call inventrs. Watt had watched a biling kettlen the stve and nticed that the steam lifted the lid. This gave him an idea that steam might liftther things as well as the lidf a teakettle. S he made a machine in which steam lifted a lid called a pistn in such a way as t turn a wheel. This was the first steam engine.
Watt"s steam engine mved wheels andther things， but it didn"t mve itself. An Englishman named Stephensn put Watt"s enginen wheels and madethe engine mve itswn wheels. This was the first lcmtive. Sn funny- lking carriages drawn by funny-lking engines were made t runn tracks in America. At first these trains rannly a few milesut， frm such cities as Baltimre and Philadelphia.
Then a yung fellw named Rbert Fultn thught he culd make a bat g by putting Watt"s enginen bard and making it turn paddle wheels. Peple laughed at him and called the bat he was building Fultn"s Flly， which means Fultn"s flishness. But the bat wrked， and Fultn had the laughn thse wh had laughed at him. He called his bat the Clermnt， and it made regular trips up and dwn the Hudsn River.
Nne had ever befre been able t talk t anther farff until the telegraph was invented. The telegraph makes a clicking sund. Electricity flws thrugh a wire frmne place t anther place which may be a lng distanceff. If yu press a buttn atne endf the wire， yu stp the electricity flwing thrugh the wire， and the instrument at thether end makes a click. A shrt click is called a dt， and a lng click is called a dash. These dts and dashes stand fr lettersf the alphabet s yu can spellut a message by dts and dashes.
Riverbat with steam-driven paddle wheel ( 由蒸汽驱动桨轮的内河船 )A is -dt-dashB is-dash-dt-dt-dtE isdtH isdt-dt-dt-dtT is-dash
An American painter named Mrse invented this wnderful little instrument. He built the first telegraph line in America between Baltimre and Washingtn， and this was the first message he clicked acrss it： "What hath Gd wrught！"A schlteacher named Bell was trying t find sme wayf making deafchildren hear， and in ding s he invented the telephne. The telephne carries wrds as the telegraph carries clicks. Yu d nt have t knw a special alphabetr spellut wrds by dts and dashes as yu dn the telegraph. With the telephne， anyne can talk frmne sidef the wrld t thether， and with ships at sea and planes in the air.
Many inventins nw in everyday use have been partly invented by several peple， s that it is hard t say just whichne thughtf the inventin first. Several peple thughtf a way t run a machine by feeding it electricity. This was the electric mtr. Thenthers thughtf a way t run a machine by explding gas. This was the mtr used in autmbiles.
Autmbiles， as yu knw， became very ppular. At first， peple didn"t need a license t drive and there were n traffic cntrls-like stp signsr traffic signals-n the streets. Yu can imagine smef the prblems this caused. An African American named Garrett Mrgan invented the three-clr traffic signal and patented it in 1923. This helped make the streets safer fr cars and fr peple walking t.
Electric lights were invented by Thmas Alva Edisn. Edisn was called a wizard， because in the Middle Ages， wizards were suppsed t be able t d and t make all srtsf wnderful and impssible things， t turn lead int gld， t make peple invisible， and that srtf thing. But Edisn has dne things that n wizardf a fairy tale had ever even thughtf. Edisn was a pr by wh sld newspapers and magazinesn a train. He was interested in all srtsf experiments and fitted up a place in the baggage car where he culd make experiments. But he made s muchf a mess in the car that at last the baggageman kicked Edisn"s whleutfitff the train. Edisn invented many things cnnected with the phngraph and the mvies， and he has prbably made mre useful and imprtant inventins than anyther man wh has ever lived， s that he is much greater than thse mere kings wh have dne nthing but quarrel and destry-withut whm the wrld wuld have been much betterff if they had never lived！
Thusandsf peple wh lived in the past ages tried t fly and failed. Millinsf peple have said it was impssible t fly and flish t try. Sme have even said it was wicked t try， that Gd meant thatnly birds and angels shuld fly. At last， after lng yearsf wrk and thusandsf trials， tw American brthers named Wright did the impssible. They invented the airplane and， in 1905， the plane flew 24.2 miles in 38 minutes 3 secnds！
An Italian named Marcni invented the radi， andthers every day are still making wnderful inventins， but yu will have t read abut these yurself， fr this bk isn"t big enugh fr me t tell yu all abut them.
Here is a gd subject fr an argumentr debate： Are we any happier with all these inventins than peple were a thusand years ag withut them？
Life is faster and mre exciting； but it is mre difficult and mre dangerus. Insteadf singingr playing the vilin，r pian， we turnn the sterer the radi and miss the chief jy in music， the jyf making iturselves. Insteadf the jgging drive in anld buggy behind a hrse that ges alng thrugh the cuntryside almst by himself， we speedn in dangerus auts， t which we must pay cnstant， undivided attentinr be wrecked. Insteadf pure air， weften have pllutin.
【中文阅读】
你也许认为产生奇迹的时代是圣经里所写的时代。 但是如果生活在那个时期的人重返"现在的"地球，他一定会认为现在这个时代才是产生奇迹的时代。 如果他听到你用电话和几千英里以外或者哪怕是几百英尺以外的人说话，他会认为你是个魔法师。 如果你让他看到人们在电影里或电视屏幕上活动和说话，他会认为你是个巫师。 如果你打开磁带放送机或收音机，让他听到乐队开始演奏，他会认为你是个魔鬼。
如果他看到你坐飞机在空中飞过，他会认为你是个神。 我们习惯了电话、电视和录音机，习惯了汽车、大卡车和喷气式飞机，习惯了电灯、电影、收音机和奇妙的照相机，因此很难想象如果这些东西都不存在--没 有任何一件这样的东西，世界是个什么样的。然而在公元 1800 年，所有这些发明还 没有一样为世人所知。
无论是乔治 华盛顿还是拿破仑都从未见过飞机或汽车。他们从未用过电话、 收音机甚至自行车。他们从未听说过汽油发动机或柴油机或电灯。他们甚至从未想 象过人会在月球上行走，或者拍到火星的特写照片，还有电视机，甚至打字机这类 东西。至于电脑、雷达和 X 射线--好啦！
过去一百年所创造的奇迹比以前所有世纪创造的总和还要多。
一个名叫詹姆斯 瓦特的苏格兰人是最早创造奇迹的魔法师中的一个，这些魔 法师我们称为发明家。瓦特观察炉子上一只烧开的水壶，注意到壶里的蒸汽顶起了 壶盖。这使他产生一个灵感，蒸汽也许可以像顶起茶壶盖那样顶起其他东西。于是 他制造了台机器，机器里蒸汽顶起一个称为活塞的盖子，活塞往复运动推动轮子转 动。这是第一台蒸汽发动机。
瓦特的蒸汽机推动了轮子和其他东西，但是它无法推动自身。一个名叫斯蒂芬 森的英国人把瓦特的蒸汽机装上轮子，让蒸汽机推动自身的轮子。这就是第一台火车头。不久怪模怪样的车厢由怪模怪样的发动机拉着就在美国的铁轨上跑起来了。 最初这些火车只能从诸如巴尔的摩和费城这些城市跑出几英里远。
接着一个名叫罗伯特 富尔顿的年轻人认为把瓦特的发动机装在船上，让它推 动桨轮，这样船就可以航行了。人们嘲笑他，把他正在造的船叫做"富尔顿的蠢 物"，意指"富尔顿愚笨"。但是这条船开动了，富尔顿让那些嘲笑过他的人成了 被嘲笑对象。他给他的船起名为"克莱蒙特"，克莱蒙特号船定期沿哈得孙河来回 航行。
以前没有人能和远方的人对话，直到发明了电报机。电报机发出咔哒声。电流 通过电线从一个地方传到另一个也许很远的地方。如果你在电线的一端按下按钮， 你就阻止了电流通过电线传输，那么电线另一端的仪器就发出咔哒声。短的咔哒声 叫做"点"，长的咔哒声叫做"划"。这些点和划代表了字母表中的字母，这样你可 以通过点和划将一条信息全部拼写出来。
A 是-点 - 划
B 是-划 - 点 - 点 - 点
E 是点
H 是点 - 点 - 点 - 点
T 是-划
一个名叫莫尔斯的美国画家发明了这个奇妙的小仪器。他在巴尔的摩和华盛顿 之间建了第一条电报线，这是他咔哒咔哒通过这条电报线发送的第一条消息："上帝 的杰作！"一个名叫贝尔的教师正试图找到某种方法让耳聋儿童听见声音，在解决这个问 题的过程中，他发明了电话。电话传输语音如同电报机传输咔哒声一样。有了电话， 你不必像使用电报那样知道特别的字母表或者通过点和划来拼出单词。任何人都可 以用电话从世界的一边和世界的另一边通话，也可以和正在海上航行的船只，和在 空中飞翔的飞机通话。
现在日常用到的许多发明，有一些是由几个人共同发明的，所以很难说是哪一 个人最先想到这项发明的。有些人想出通过输入电能来开动机器的方法。这就是电 动机。然后另一些人想出通过燃烧气体燃料，使其膨胀来开动机器。这就是用于汽 车上的内燃机。
你知道的，汽车变得非常普及。最初，人们驾车不需要执照，道路上也没有任 何交通管制--比如停车标志或红绿灯。你可以想象由此引起的一些问题。一个名 叫加勒特 摩根的非洲裔美国人发明了三色交通管理灯，并于 1923 年取得这项发 明的专利权。有了交通管理灯，街道上的车辆就可以安全行驶，行人也可以安全走 路了。
电灯是托马斯 阿尔瓦 爱迪生发明的。爱迪生被称为巫师，因为在中世纪，巫 师被认为无所不能，能制造出各种奇妙的和难以置信的东西，让铅变成金子，让人隐身，以及类似的事情。但是爱迪生做的东西连童话故事里的巫师都想不到。爱迪 生小时候很穷，在火车上卖报纸和杂志。他对各种实验都感兴趣，还在行李车厢里 布置了一块他可以做实验的地方。但是他把车厢弄得一团糟，最后行李管理员把爱 迪生的全套装备都踢出了火车。爱迪生发明了许多与留声机和电影有关的东西，他 的发明既有用又重要，其数量大概超过有史以来任何一个人的发明。因此他比那些 做了国王只会争斗和破坏的人要伟大多了。如果那些人从未存在过，这个世界少了 他们只会更加美好。
在过去那些年代里许许多多人尝试要飞起来，都失败了。更多的人说飞起来是 不可能的，只有傻子才去尝试。有些人甚至说尝试飞行是邪恶的，因为上帝只打算 让鸟儿和天使飞行。最后，经过多年的努力和成百上千次的试验，两个名叫莱特的 美国兄弟创造了不可思议的奇迹。他们发明了飞机，在 1905 年这架飞机在 38 分 3秒内飞行了 24.2 英里！
一个名叫马可尼的意大利人发明了收音机，现在每天仍有一些人在构思奇特的 发明创造，但是你要自己去读这方面的书了，因为我要是把所有这些发明都给你讲 一讲，这本书就写不下了。
这里有个值得争论或辩论的题目：我们"有了"所有这些发明，真的比一千年 前"没有"这些发明的人更幸福吗？
现在的生活节奏更快也更刺激，但是也有了更多的困难和风险。我们不再去 唱歌或拉小提琴、弹钢琴，只是打开唱机或收音机，从而失去了音乐中的主要乐 趣--自己演奏音乐的乐趣。我们不再坐在一辆旧马车后面，颠簸前行，任马儿自 己拉着走过乡间小路，而是开着危险的汽车高速行驶，一路必须全神贯注，不能有 片刻分神，否则就要出车祸。我们不再有纯净的空气，而经常面临污染。
公元 1905 年
