5.Popsicles
5.冰棍儿
The concept of a Popsicle — a frozen, sugary treat on a stick — seems so simple that a kid could have invented it. In fact, that's exactly what happened. Back in the winter of 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a glass of fruit-flavored powdered soda mixed with water out on his porch overnight with a stirring stick in it. The next morning, out popped the world's first Popsicle.
冰棍儿就是：冻在小棍上的糖品。冰棍的制作看起来十分简单，看似是个小孩的发明。实际上真就如此。让我们回到1905年的冬夜，11岁的小男孩弗兰克·艾伯森把一杯水果味的苏打粉与水混合在一起，他把杯子忘在了走廊，搅拌棒还直直立在杯中。经过一晚上，饮料冻成了固体，世界上第一根冰棍就这样横空出世。

Epperson didn't start selling his accidental invention until 18 years later when he prepared his frozen treat for a fireman's ball in his hometown of San Francisco. The crowd loved it, and Epperson quit his day job as a real estate agent to patent and sell his world-famous Epsicles. Yes, that was the original name, until his children — who always called them "pop's 'sicles" — convinced him to change it. Good work, kids.
艾伯森并没有马上售卖自己粗心大意得来的发明，直到18年后，他为家乡旧金山的一场消防员舞会准备了这种自创的冰品。人们非常喜欢，于是他辞掉了房地产经纪人的工作，为自己的发明申请了专利，从此开始卖享誉世界的埃珀森牌冰棍儿。是的，这就是冰棍儿最开始的名字，他的孩子们经常把冰棍儿称作“流行的新玩意”，并说服艾伯森改成了“冰棍儿”，孩子们改得好啊！

4.X-ray Images
4.X射线

Over the course of one short year at the turn of the 20th century, one man's accidental discover revolutionized the practice of medicine.
在19世纪和20世纪之交，一个偶然的发现彻底改变了实用医学。
In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen was a little-known German physicist researching the behavior of cathode rays. In those days, no one knew anything about electrons or radiation. Roentgen was running high-voltage current through vacuum tubes to study the escaping cathode rays. He was surprised to find, though, when he covered the tube with black cardboard, that some invisible rays were still able to illuminate a screen coated with platinobarium 9 feet (2.7 meters) away. He called the unknown phenomena "X-rays." In short time, Roentgen discovered that X-rays could also be captured on photographic plates. Using his wife's hand as a test subject — what a gentleman! — he was floored by the resulting image. X-rays passed easily through skin and muscle, but were blocked by bone and metal. For the first time, we could see inside the human body without raising a scalpel. The medical community leaped on the invention, which Roentgen generously refused to patent. Within a year, the first diagnoses of broken bones and swallowed coins were being made by X-ray. Soon the mysterious rays were being used to treat cancerous tumors and skin diseases. The dangerous effects of X-ray exposure weren't known initially, but now doctors and technicians take special precautions to avoid the side effects of radiation. Roentgen received the very first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901.
1895年的威尔姆·康拉德·伦琴，虽名不见经传，但是个从事研究阴极射线的德国物理学家。那时候还没有人知道电子或辐射到底是什么东西，然而，伦琴让高压电流通过真空管，对阴极射线进行研究时，却注意到放在射线管附近的氰亚铂酸钡小屏上发出微光。当他用一本厚书,2-3厘米的黑木板或几厘米厚的硬橡胶插在放电管和荧光屏之间时,他惊讶地发现仍能看到荧光。因为当时对于这种射线的本质和属性还了解得很少，所以他称它为X射线，表示未知的意思。很快，伦琴发现X射线能在相片底板上显现出来，于就用这种射线拍摄了他夫人的手的照片，手骨结构能够清晰显示，他被这一结果震惊。伦琴用X射线为妻子的手拍照的做法十分绅士——有了新事物，不忘结发妻！X射线能够穿透人类皮肤和肌肉组织，但不能穿透人骨和金属。有了X射线，我们可以不用手术刀，便能透视人体内部构造。伦琴发现了X射线之后，医学界人士立即着手研究这种新射线，但伦琴迟迟未申请专利，他淡然一笑婉拒道：“我的发现属于所有人。”X射线发现一年内，人们便利用X射线协助处理了骨裂和误吞硬币的情况。不久之后，X射线被用于治疗恶性肿瘤和皮肤病。最初人们并不知道X射线曝光的副作用，但现在医生和技术人员采取特别的预防措施，以避免辐射的副作用。1901年诺贝尔奖首次颁发，伦琴因为发现X射线而获得此年度的诺贝尔物理学奖。

3.The Rolling Stones
3.滚石乐队

Life-saving medical breakthrough and frozen desserts aren't the only accidental discoveries that have made the world a happier place. How about the Rolling Stones? Rock historians claim that the world would never have enjoyed chart-topping hits like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Brown Sugar" or "Honky Tonk Woman" if Mick Jagger and Keith Richards hadn't showed up for the same train at Dartford Station in Kent on the morning of Oct. 17, 1961. On his way to art college, Richards, electric guitar case over his shoulder, struck up a conversation on platform two with Jagger (on his way to the London School of Economics) about the blues records Jagger was carrying. Richards recognized him as they'd attended the same primary school, and they talked about music all through the one-hour commute into London. The connection was so strong that Jagger invited Richards to join his band, Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys.
除了上文所提到的挽救生命的医学突破（X射线）和冷冻的甜点（冰棍儿），还有其他让世界更幸福的意外惊喜，如滚石乐队。摇滚历史学家称，如果在1961年10月17日的清晨，米克·贾格尔和基思·理查兹两人没有从肯特的达福德站踏上同一列火车，那么世界歌迷就永远无法听到蝉联榜首的歌曲，如来自专辑《满足》的 《我不能一无所有》,《红糖》或 《酒吧女郎》。理查兹背着电吉他箱，在去艺术学院的路上，遇到了贾格尔，而贾格尔（正在去伦敦经济学院的路上）手里拿着一张查克·贝里的唱片，引起了理查兹的注意。理查兹认出了他，因为他们曾是小学同学，他们在去伦敦的这短短一个小时途中都在谈论音乐。组乐队的感觉是如此强烈，于是贾格尔邀请理查兹加入他的乐队（Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys）。
Jagger and Richards went on to form the Rolling Stones — originally the Rollin' Stones — with Brian Jones and Ian Stewart in 1962, less than a year after that fateful meeting. Their instant friendship became one of the most fruitful songwriting partnerships in rock history. Today, Rolling Stones fans still make pilgrimages to Dartford Station's platform two and in 2013, council leaders announced that a plaque would be installed there to commemorate the meeting.
接下来贾格尔和理查兹慢慢形成了滚石乐队——原名为罗林的石头——这次会面之后不到一年的时间，即1962年，布赖恩·琼斯和伊恩·斯图尔特正式加入了滚石乐队。他们的友谊也让他们成为了摇滚音乐历史上最富有成果的乐队之一。现在，滚石歌迷仍然在达福德站的2号月台朝圣。2013年，议员领导宣布，纪念滚石乐队成员历史性会面的牌匾将挂在2号月台，以示纪念。

2.Pompeii
2.庞贝古城

About 2.5 million people visit the ruins of Pompeii, Italy, each year, fascinated by the lives of a first century people so similar to our own. Excavators have uncovered streets, homes, public baths and detailed frescoes as well as jewelry and household objects from this city buried by a volcano, which preserved everything so well. But the entire site was discovered by accident – twice.
每年约有250万游客到意大利，参观庞贝古城遗址，陶醉于19世纪的生活，这个世纪的生活方式和现在很像。因为有火山灰的覆盖，所有东西都保存完好，挖掘人员刨开火山灰，发掘出街道、房屋、公共澡堂以及精工细作的壁画、珠宝和家具。庞贝古城遗址，曾两次被人意外发现。
Back in 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, covering the city of Pompeii in ash and killing thousands of people. During the 1590s, an Italian architect named Domenico Fontana was in charge of building a canal to divert water from the Sarno River to a count's villa. His workers found some inscriptions relating to decurio pompeis, which Fontana took to refer to the Roman general Pompey rather than the city and so covered it up and kept on going. In 1710, a peasant came across some marble pieces while digging a well and sold them to a prince. The prince ordered excavations in the area for more artifacts. In 1738, the nearby town of Herculaneum – also a victim of Mount Vesuvius – was excavated by workers on behalf of King Charles III who had heard about the prince's diggings. But the rock above Herculaneum was hard, which made excavation difficult. In 1748, project leader Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre learned that artifacts had also been found near the Sarno canal and started digging in what we now know was ancient Pompeii. This city was buried at a shallower level than Herculaneum, which made excavation much easier. Today, tourists visit both sites in order to see the priceless ruins and artifacts.
公元79年，维苏威火山爆发，数千居民丧命，庞贝古城深埋于火山灰之下。16世纪90年代，意大利建筑师多梅尼科·丰塔纳曾主持修建一条水渠，从萨尔诺河引水到某伯爵的别墅。工人发现一些碑文像是庞贝遗存物件（刻有庞贝字样），丰塔纳认为那属于罗马将军庞培而非古城庞贝，遂将其草草掩埋后便继续前行，不再理会。1710年，一个农民在挖井时意外挖得大理石制品碎片，并将其卖给一个公主。公主随即下令在该地继续挖掘，以期挖到更多手工艺品。1738年，国王查尔斯三世听说公主的事迹后，命工人挖掘同为维苏威火山爆发后受灾地区的赫库兰尼姆古城。但是赫库兰尼姆地表的岩石太过坚硬，使得挖掘工程非常艰难。到了1748年，工程领队阿尔卡得知Sarno 运河附近也有手工艺品出土，于是，他开始在我们现在所知的庞贝古城遗址上挖掘。庞贝古城较之赫库兰尼姆古城掩埋较浅，使得挖掘工作相对来说更容易。现今，游客游览两处景点都是为了一睹无价的遗址和手工艺品。

1.Beer
1.啤酒

The ancient discovery of fermentation was almost certainly a happy accident – perhaps one of the happiest of all. No one knows who exactly invented the first beer. Humans first began domesticating wild grains around 10,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. The first breads were unleavened, meaning they were flat and tough. When grain gets wet, it becomes food for naturally occurring yeasts in the air, which produce alcohol as a byproduct.
古代发明发酵工艺绝对算是个意外之喜，堪称最美好的意外之一。无人知晓到底是谁发明酿造了第一瓶啤酒。大约在一万年前，美索不达米亚地区的人民开始种植野生谷物。起初的面包都没有经过发酵，也就是说，这些面包都是坚硬扁平的。后来人们发现，谷物受潮后会在空气中自然发酵，变成盘中餐，酒精这个副产品就是这样被发现的。
At some point, ancient bakers must have noticed that this fermented grain rose into fluffier loaves of bread. A few adventurous/crazy folks also decided to take a sip of the stinky foam in the grain bin. And beer was born! At some point, ancient bakers must have noticed that this fermented grain rose into fluffier loaves of bread. A few adventurous/crazy folks also decided to take a sip of the stinky foam in the grain bin. And beer was born!
在某一时刻，古代面包师肯定有注意到这些发酵过的谷物会形成蓬松柔软的面包，一些大胆的或是疯狂的人也有品尝过粮仓里难闻的泡沫，所以才有了啤酒！一些人类学家和考古学家，甚至建立学说研究证明人们从事农业活动的原始动机是啤酒，而非面包。低浓度酒精能缓和古代部落间社会的紧张格局，就像润滑剂，促进联合创新。而面包，有人认为，它只是为酿造更美味的啤酒而得的副产品。

审校：假微信 编辑：旭旭 来源:前十网