浮华背后篇12：洞洞球的诞生
时间：2018-12-18 作者：英语课 分类：2018年NPR美国国家公共电台8月
Davey wanted to play baseball. But fifty years ago, in his small town, he couldn’t find enough players for two full teams or an empty lot big enough for a field. And when he played ball in his back yard, he just broke windows and got into trouble. So Davey began playing with a plastic golf ball and a broom handle for a bat.
When his dad, David Mullaney, a former semi-pro baseball pitcher 1, realized his son was hurting his arm trying to throw curves with the little plastic ball, he decided 2 to find a better solution. Mullaney got a bunch of hollow plastic spheres from a local factory, sat down at his kitchen table and began cutting different size holes in the balls with a razor knife. He thought maybe the holes would alter the ball’s flight and help his son throw curves and sliders without hurting his arm. All the balls failed—except the one with the eight oblong holes cut into one of the hemispheres. This ball curved naturally and sharply without a violent snap of the wrist. In fact, Davey was now striking out so many batters 3; he called his new ball a “wiffle ball”. A year later, Mullaney borrowed $20,000 from family and friends and started producing Wiffle Balls in his little suburban 4 town of Shelton, Connecticut.
“I didn’t want investors 5.” He said, “I wanted to control my own company.” This was the beginning of one of the hottest fads 6 of the fifties and a perennial 7 best seller well known all around the world. Since then millions of boys and girls have enjoyed countless 8 hours of safe, wholesome 9 fun playing with a Wiffle ball and bat. Esquire Magazine has even called the Wiffle Ball “a national treasure”. By producing a high quality product at an affordable 10 price, three generations of Mullany’s have enjoyed the satisfaction and benefits of running a successful and profitable family business.
Over the years, they’ve had plenty of offers to buy them out, but they’re still working out of a small factory in Shelto on, making a new Wiffle Ball every couple of seconds. Creativity and persistence 11 are two of the important sources for wealth. If he gave up his attempts at trying new things, Mullany would not have invented the wiffle ball, nor would he have made such a big fortune.
- He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
- Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
- The pitcher has beaned as many as three batters in this game. 在这？热？投手投球竟打中了三个击手的头。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
- A storm batters the ship. 一场风暴袭击了这条船。 来自辞典例句
- Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
- There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。
- a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
- a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会
- It was one of the many fads that sweep through mathematics regularly. 它是常见的贯穿在数学中的许多流行一时的风尚之一。 来自辞典例句
- Lady Busshe is nothing without her flights, fads, and fancies. 除浮躁、时髦和幻想外，巴歇夫人一无所有。 来自辞典例句
- I wonder at her perennial youthfulness.我对她青春常驻感到惊讶。
- There's a perennial shortage of teachers with science qualifications.有理科教学资格的老师一直都很短缺。
- In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
- I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。
- In actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.实际上我喜欢做的事大都是有助于增进身体健康的。
- It is not wholesome to eat without washing your hands.不洗手吃饭是不卫生的。
- The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
- There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。
- The persistence of a cough in his daughter puzzled him.他女儿持续的咳嗽把他难住了。
- He achieved success through dogged persistence.他靠着坚持不懈取得了成功。