內(nèi)外交困搞發(fā)明

Internal and external difficulties in making inventions

路燈發(fā)出昏黃而惺忪的光影。

The lamp cast a yellow and drowsy light.

周興和疲憊地從車間出來，拖著沉重的腿爬上幾級石階，準備回到家里去。可走到家門口，他想了想，又折了回去，在車間的一條長條椅子上，他用一塊試驗用的廢料當枕頭，裹了裹衣裳，準備就在這里過夜了。

Zhou Xinghe came out of the workshop tiredly, dragged his heavy legs up several stone steps, and prepared to go home. But when he reached the door, he thought about it, turned back again, and on a long chair in the workshop, he used a scrap of experimental waste as a pillow, wrapped himself in his clothes, and prepared to spend the night here.

不知怎么的，最近他越來越不想回家。在車間里，他很勞累但很充實；回到家，他原本可以稍微歇息一下，但他感到難受，感到壓抑，甚至有些窒息。是的，妻子先前的嘮叨完全可以理解，她操心著整個家庭的油鹽柴米，她擔心丈夫不知天高地厚又做出賠本的買賣，更擔心丈夫腦袋發(fā)昏又上當受騙，所以她發(fā)些牢騷甚至怨氣原本無可厚非。何況妻子只是個沒見過多少世面的家庭婦女，你不能指望她能有多高的境界和遠見卓識，周興和體諒妻子的困難，也知道她活得很累，所以他對妻子的牢騷和抱怨采取了聽之任之的態(tài)度，多次原諒了她的指責和喝斥。

For some reason, he had recently become more and more reluctant to go home. In the workshop he was tired but full; when he got home, he could have rested a little, but he felt sick, oppressed, even suffocated. Well, the wife's previous nagging was quite understandable. She was worried about the family's food and fuel, worried that her husband was ignorant and made a business at a loss, and even worried that he was confused and deceived, so it was not unreasonable for her to grumble or even complain. Besides, his wife was just a housewife who had never seen much of the world, and he didn't expect her to have a high realm and foresight. Zhou Xinghe understood his wife's difficulties and knew that she was very tired. So he took a passive attitude to his wife's complaints and forgave her accusations and scoldings many times.

就這樣，倆夫婦在建房建廠階段，雖然說不上那么美滿，但也就得過且過了。

In this way, the couple, in the factory construction stage, although not so happy, but also muddled along.

但，自從劉鳳瓊知道周興和想用秸稈做建材，并不惜一切代價開始他的研究實驗后，他們夫妻的矛盾就開始白熱化了。特別是周興和把廠里并不多的經(jīng)濟收入，幾乎全都投到他的發(fā)明試驗里，而且在他試驗經(jīng)費困難時，還把家里值錢的東西拿來變賣后，劉鳳瓊終于忍無可忍，對周興和徹底絕望了，她開始不顧一切阻擾起周興和的試驗和研究來！

But once Liu Fengqiong learned that Zhou Xinghe wanted to use the straw as the building material and started his research experiment at any cost, the conflict between the couple began to heat up. In particular, Zhou Xinghe invested almost all the meager income from the factory in his experiment of invention. Moreover, when he was in difficulty in funding the experiment, he sold off the valuable things in their family. Finally, Liu Fengqiong couldn't bear it any more and gave up all hope for Zhou Xinghe. She began to obstruct Zhou Xinghe's experiment and research at all costs.

“你這是不務正業(yè)，盲目投資！用麥草谷草做建材，這簡直是異想天開！”劉鳳瓊這時已不想再聽丈夫的什么解釋了。

"You are doing nothing and investing blindly! Using the straw as building materials is completely imaginary!" Liu Fengqiong did not want to listen to her husband's explanation any more.

“異想天開？異想天開有什么不好？沒有異想，那就永遠不會有天開的日子?！敝芘d和不急不緩地回答妻子。

"Imaginary? What's wrong with being imaginary? It will never be practical there is no imagination." Zhou Xinghe took his time in answering his wife.

“你這是胡攪蠻纏！”劉鳳瓊對丈夫的行徑太失望了，她不再和他講道理了，“你聽聽人家是怎么說你的，說你是瘋子、是狂人，不知天高地厚！”

"You're unreasonable!" Liu Fengqiong felt disappointed to her husband's behavior, and she no longer made reason with him, "Listen to what people say about you, they say you are a lunatic, a madman, conceited and ignorant!"

“人家愿怎么說就怎么說，我干我的，又沒有妨礙到誰，關他們屁事！”周興和還想再給妻子作些解釋，可妻子根本就不聽他那些遙不可及、畫餅充饑的宏偉設想了，她只知道眼前一家人要吃飯穿衣，要盡快還清別人的欠款，要盡快擺脫家庭的貧困。

"People can say what they like, and I'm not in anyone's way, it's none of their business!" Zhou Xinghe tried to explain some more to his wife, but she did not listen to his grand far-away and windy imagine. All she knew was that the whole family needed to eat and dress, pay off debts as soon as possible, and get rid of poverty as soon as possible.

人哪，只要一鉆進牛角尖，就容易執(zhí)迷不悟，難以轉(zhuǎn)過身來?，F(xiàn)在，這對夫妻都鉆進了牛角尖：一個為了他事業(yè)的發(fā)展，為了實現(xiàn)自我的人生價值，鐵了心地要搞他的發(fā)明創(chuàng)造；一個為了家庭現(xiàn)實的利益，為了解決眼前的生活困難，堅決要制止他的這種無休無止的“折騰”！

When someone splits hairs, he is apt to get so perverse that he cannot turn round. Now, both of the couple split hairs: one was determined to pursue his inventions in order to advance his career and realize his life value; the other was for the practical benefit of the family, and determined to stop him from this endless "toss and turn" in order to solve the immediate difficulties of life!

公正地說，兩人各有各的道理。一個局外人，你很難給他們判定誰是誰非——因為這是兩個人在價值觀念、認識水平、性格志趣等方面深層次的問題，在當時那種情形下，一般人是很難進行調(diào)和的。

To be fair, both of them had their reasons. As an outsider, it was difficult to judge who was right and who was wrong - because this was the deep-seated problem of two people in the value concept, level of understanding, personality and interest and other aspects, in that case, it was difficult for ordinary people to reconcile.

于是，劉鳳瓊開始不遺余力地阻止起周興和“不務正業(yè)、盲目投資”的行徑來：為了能讓周興和從癡迷狀態(tài)中清醒過來，她一次又一次藏匿周興和的試驗資料，銷毀他的試驗圖紙，弄壞他的試驗模型。甚至，在周興和依然執(zhí)迷不悟的情況下，她滿肚子氣沒法出的時候，在周興和接待客戶、向客戶介紹產(chǎn)品、洽談價格的關鍵時刻，她或公開同周興和大吵大鬧，或向客人說些粗魯?shù)呐K話，或暗暗希望企業(yè)倒閉，或干脆把合格的產(chǎn)品說成不合格或弄得不合格。

Therefore, Liu Fengqiong began to spare no effort to prevent Zhou Xinghe's "irresponsible and blind investment": in order to sober Zhou Xinghe from his obsession, she hid Zhou Xinghe's experimental materials again and again, destroyed his experimental drawings and damaged his experimental models. Even in the case of Zhou Xinghe still wrong-headed, and with her full anger, when Zhou Xinghe received the client, introduced the products to clients, negotiated the price, she yelled publicly with Zhou Xinghe, or said some rude words to the clients, or hoped that the enterprise could fail, or even simply said the qualified product was not qualified or made it unqualified.

天低云黯，燕雀低廻。

With low clouds in the sky, the birds flied low.

無數(shù)次的試驗失敗，無休止的家庭扯皮，在鹽亭那一兩年的時間里，周興和是弄得是焦頭爛額內(nèi)外交困。

With numerous experiment failures and endless family disputes, in that year in Yanting, Zhou Xinghe was in a state of internal and external difficulties.

讓我們再來看他的研究發(fā)明。

Let's just look at his research and invention.

當周興和把全部精力和時間投入到秸稈做建材研究時，才知道這個項目的難度遠遠超出他的想象。用秸稈做建材，必須使用菱鎂等兩種化工原料作黏合劑。在整個產(chǎn)品生產(chǎn)中，它有四大不可逾越的技術(shù)難題：反鹵、結(jié)露、變形和裂紋。這四大技術(shù)難題是國家已用了30年、先后投入約25億人民幣進行研究，但都未能解決的技術(shù)頑疾。國家有關部門因此于1993年至1999年間，先后發(fā)了3個文件，禁止使用菱鎂作為黏合劑。

When Zhou Xinghe put all his energy and time into the straw research for building materials, he knew that the difficulty of this project was far beyond his imagination. When using the straw as building materials, it needed the magnesite and other chemical materials as adhesives. In the whole product production, it had four insurmountable technical problems: anti-halogen, condensation, deformation and crack. These four major technical problems had been researched by the state for 30 years and costed about RMB 2.5 billion, but none of them had been solved. Accordingly, from 1993 to 1999, the relevant state authorities issued three documents prohibiting the use of magnesite as adhesive.

當周興和投入經(jīng)費開始該項目研究時，得知它的技術(shù)難度后，他確實也猶豫過動搖過。但在研究過程中，他同時又發(fā)現(xiàn)了該材料巨大的優(yōu)越性和使用潛力：當時，氯化鎂產(chǎn)地價1頓才50元，輕燒鎂出廠價1噸才120元；而這些材料的強度，比架橋用的300號專用混泥土還強1倍以上。而農(nóng)作物秸稈，成本則更低廉了，幾乎可以忽略不計。他設想，如果通過自己的研究，能夠攻克這四大技術(shù)難題，使它成為社會亟需的合格建材產(chǎn)品，那它的社會效益和經(jīng)濟效益將是無可估量的！還有，正因為它是高難度的科技項目，那么它更具有研究價值——周興和所言不謬，僅2011年9月，他的1項專利技術(shù)轉(zhuǎn)讓給美國一家公司，僅技術(shù)轉(zhuǎn)讓費就高達150萬美元。

When Zhou Xinghe put the money into the project and learned of its technical difficulties, he did waver. But in the process of research, he also found the great advantages and application potential of the material: at that time, the origin price of magnesium chloride was only 50 yuan per ton, and the factory price of caustic calcined magnesite was only 120 yuan per ton; the strength of these materials is more than one time stronger than that of No. 300 concrete used for the bridge. And the crop straw, on the other hand, were even cheaper in the cost, almost negligible. He imagined that if through his own research, he can overcome these four technical problems, so that it becomes the qualified building materials products that the society badly needs, then its social and economic benefits will be inestimable! What's more, because it's such a difficult technology project, it's worth researching - Zhou Xinghe was right to say that, in September of 2011, one of his patented technologies was transferred to an American company for US$1.5 million in technology transfer fee alone.

白日有光，夜晚有燈。

There is light in the day, and a lamp in the night.

經(jīng)過痛苦的思索，周興和決心親自做試驗。那幾年，他確實像瘋了一樣，忘了白天和黑夜，忘了春夏與秋冬，更忘了吃飯和換衣。無論白天晚上，他都呆在實驗室里，平均每天要工作十幾個小時。在這場馬拉松似地研究中，他給自己作了個規(guī)定：每天試驗5個小件，每個小件用5種不同的配方進行對比，然后對這些試驗品進行破壞性的試驗，對每次試驗都做好文字記錄。幾年下來，他試驗的記錄資料，堆積起來竟有兩米多高！

After painful reflection, Zhou Xinghe decided to do the experiment himself. In those years, he had indeed seemed mad, forgetting the day and night, forgetting the spring, summer, autumn and winter, and even more forgetting to eat meals and change clothes. He stayed in the lab day and night, working an average of more than ten hours a day. In this marathon study, he made a rule for himself: test five small pieces a day, compare them with five different formulations, and then run the destructive tests on them, keeping a written record of each experiment. Over the years, the records of his experiments piled up to more than two meters high!

在利用秸稈制作各種房屋裝飾品的發(fā)明過程中，他遇到連自己都難以想象的困難。這期間，他因資金拮據(jù)，出差只睡車站，啃面包；這期間，他為研究發(fā)明產(chǎn)品常常被弄得昏乎乎的，連走路也在思考分析問題，別人喊他他聽不見，有幾次竟然連頭撞在了墻上也不知道——難怪有人說他是瘋子、是狂人、是神經(jīng)出了問題。

In the process of inventing various house decorations by straw, he encountered difficulties that even he could not imagine. In the meantime, he slept at the station and ate bread on business trips for lack of money. During this period, he was often dazed for the invention research, even thought and analyzed problems while walking, so that people shouted at him but he did not hear, and several times he even hit his head on the wall - no wonder some people said that he was a lunatic or madman, with nerve problem.

試驗、試驗、再試驗！然而，失敗、失敗、再失??！

Test, test, and test! However, fail, fail, and fail again!

這個過程，他就如一個精疲力竭在茫茫沙漠上的跋涉者，頭上頂著的是干焦的烈日，腳下踩著的是滾燙的流沙，疲憊、饑餓、干渴，有時甚至是奄奄一息，但無論怎么向前走，似乎都永遠也看不到前面的綠洲，似乎漫長的行程永遠沒有盡頭。

In this process, he was like the exhausted wader on the vast desert, with burning sun over his head, and hot sands under his feet, tired, hunger, thirst, and sometimes even dying, but no matter how hard to move forward, it seemed he always couldn't see the oasis in front, and seemed to be a long journey never end.

“在科學的道路上，從來沒有平坦的大道可走，只有在崎嶇的山道不畏艱險勇于攀登的人，才有希望到達光輝的頂點?！敝芘d和一開始做實驗，就明白這個道理。在他搞發(fā)明創(chuàng)造艱難的過程中，有一個人的毅力和精神始終都在激勵著他，那就是——愛迪生。

"There is no royal road to science, and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of its steep paths have a chance of reaching its luminous summit." Zhou Xinghe knew this truth from the very beginning of his experiments. In the difficult process of his invention and creation, there was a person's perseverance and spirit that had always inspired him, that was Edison.

這個偉大的發(fā)明家，僅僅為了發(fā)明一個白熾燈，在試用了6000種材料，做了7000次試驗時，仍沒取得最后的成功。一次次的試驗，一次次的失敗，很多專家都認為發(fā)明電燈的前途黯淡，英國一些著名專家甚至譏諷愛迪生的研究“毫無意義”；一些記者也報道說：“愛迪生的理想已成泡影。”面對失敗，面對人們的冷嘲熱諷，愛迪生沒有退卻，沒有灰心。他心里明白，每一次的失敗，意味著又向成功走近了一步。最后，在愛迪生試用了6076種材料，做了7080次試驗后，終于才取得突破性的進展，成功地發(fā)明了白熾燈泡，給人類帶來了永恒的光明。

The great inventor, for the purpose of inventing an incandescent lamp, tried 6,000 kinds of materials and conducted 7,000 experiments, but still failed to achieve the final success. Experiment after experiment, failure after failure, many experts believed that the future of the invention of light bulb was bleak, and some famous experts in Britain even derided Edison's research as "meaningless"; some journalists also reported: "Edison's dream has come to naught." Faced with the failure and people's cynicism, Edison did not retreat and did not lose faith. He knew in his heart that every failure meant one step closer to the success. Finally, after Edison tried out 6,076 kinds of materials and made 7,080 experiments, he finally made a breakthrough and successfully invented the incandescent light bulb, bringing the eternal light to mankind.

是呀，自己的失敗又算得了什么呢？

So, what does it matter for one’s failure?

夜已經(jīng)很深了。然而周興和躺在長條椅子上，仍久久不能入睡。不知怎么的，今夜里他突然強烈地想起他的老家來。他想起山上那些隨風搖曳的松樹和楓樹，想起自己親手建起來的老屋，想起很久不見的兒子和女兒們——是啊，干脆明天休息一天，回老家去看看吧！

The night was already deep. However, Zhou Xinghe lay on a long chair and could not fall asleep for a long time. Tonight, somehow, he had a sudden and violent recollection of his hometown. He thought of the pine and maple trees swaying in the wind on the mountain, of the old house he had built with his own hands, of the sons and daughters he had not seen in a long time - well, why not take a day off tomorrow and go back to visit his hometown!

“避開一切喧囂，摒棄一切煩亂，忘卻一切苦痛，丟掉一切紛繁——走，到大山里去！山中或許能給我靈感，自然之神或許能把我領進圣潔而有創(chuàng)造性的殿堂。喧囂和浮躁大約只能培養(yǎng)出聲嘶力竭的這星那星，而絕對創(chuàng)造不出摘取諾貝爾桂冠上寶石的這家哪家來……”

"Get out of all noise, out of all disturbance, out of all pain, out of all complexity - back to the mountains! The mountains may give me inspiration, the God of Nature may lead me into the halls of holiness and creativity. Noise and impetuosity will probably only produce this or that, but will never create those to pick the precious stone of the Nobel Laureates..."

周興和不知是在哪本書上，讀到過哪位作家寫的這段話，想到這里，他心情似乎平靜了一些。唉，實在太疲倦了，他不由得沉沉睡去……

Zhou Xinghe did not know in which book or by which writer he had read this passage. He seemed to feel a little calmer at the thought of it. Alas, he was so tired that he fell into a deep sleep...