(单词翻译:单击)
slavery becomes critical to the Southern economy.
奴隶制变得对南方经济极其重要。
Each slave is now 50 times more profitable. A slave who sold for $300 before the cotton gin goes for nearly 2,000 by 1860.
现在每个奴隶可以创造比以前多50倍的利润，在轧棉机问世前只卖300美元的奴隶到1860年可以卖到近2000美元。
People don't really realize this, but slavery was actually on the decline in the South prior to the invention of the cotton gin,
人们没有真正意识到这一点，在轧棉机发明之前奴隶制在南方实际是在逐渐衰退的。
but then once the cotton gin made it so practical to grow cotton,
然而，轧棉机使得棉花种植如此有利可图。
all of a sudden, every farmer in the South wanted to plant as much cotton as possible. But overproduction is destroying the land.
突然间，所有南方农场主都想尽可能地多种棉花，然而过度种植导致了土地贫瘠。
Cotton heads west in search of fertile soil, bringing slavery with it. But antislavery forces in the North want to keep the frontier free.
棉花种植向西部肥沃的土地进发并带去了奴隶制，而北方的废奴势力则要维护边远地区的自由。
The stage is set for the first battles in the war over slavery. Cotton is changing the way Americans live. In time, it will blow the nation apart.
废奴战争的第一枪即将打响，棉花改变了美国人的生活方式，不久以后它还会带来国家的分裂。
For the South, cotton is a gold mine. Now the North wants a piece of the action. It's a partnership that makes everyone rich, based on a new machine, the power loom.
对南方来说棉花就是金矿，而现在北方也想来分一杯羹，这种互利共赢的合作关系建立在一种新型机器的基础上--动力织布机。
Raw cotton comes in, finished cloth goes out. All under one roof.
运进来的是粗制棉绒送出去的是精美的布料，一切都在一个车间内完成。
The modern factory is born. Lowell,Massachusetts, is called the city of spindles, a textiles boomtown.
现代工厂诞生了，马萨诸塞州的洛威尔，这个纺织业发达的城市有着"纺锤之城"的美称，
Population explodes from 200 in 1820 to nearly 20,000 in just 15 years.
人口在短短15年内由1820年的200人骤增至近20000，
More than a third of the town works in the mills. 85% are single women between 15 and 25.
城里超过三分之一的人在工厂里工作，其中85%是15岁至25岁的单身女性。
Harriet Robinson is ten. When her father dies, she goes to work at the mill.
哈丽特·罗宾逊只有10岁，父亲死后她就进了工厂。
I can see myself now, racing down the alley, between the spinning frames, carrying in front of me a bobbin box bigger than I was.
那情景历历在目，我在走廊里来回穿梭，奔走于纺机之间，搬着个比自己还大的线筒箱。
