A piece of carbonized cardboard burns for 300 hours.

一片烧成炭的纸板可以燃烧300小时

It's going to change the way people live forever.

这项发明将彻底改变人们的生活

What Edison does is nothing less than to banish the darkness.

爱迪生所做的不啻于永远驱逐了黑暗

Now think of the meaning of that.

想想这意味着什么

Think of what that means to daily life.

这对我们日常生活意味着什么

New Year's Eve 1879. Edison shows off his new invention.

1879年，元旦前夜，爱迪生向人们展示他的新发明

Thousands of people flock to his lab to see the future take shape.

成千上万的人竞相来到他的实验室想亲眼目睹未来生活的模样

The Pennsylvania Railroad arranges special trains to accommodate the crowds.

宾夕法尼亚铁路当局适时安排了专列以满足参观者的需求

When Thomas Edison invented that light bulb, that electric light bulb,what a-- how magical that must have been.

托马斯·爱迪生发明了灯泡白炽电灯炮，那是一种多么壮观的景象啊

You know, to sit there and just all of a sudden, without a match, without kerosene or gas ... and just flip a switch and... light.

人们突然发现，不用点火柴，也不用煤油或汽油了，只要打开一个开关，就会出现灯光

In just two years, Edison builds more than 5,000 power plants, generating electricity for cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and New Orleans.

短短两年时间爱迪生就建造了5000座发电厂，电力源源不断地输送到纽约、波士顿、芝加哥、底特律、圣路易斯和新奥尔良等城市

Over the next five years, he builds over 127,000 more.

接下来的5年间，又建了十二万七千多座发电厂

By 1902, 18 million light bulbs are in use.

到1902年，全美使用中的白炽灯泡达到1800万只

The impact is massive.

这一变革影响深远

Sports, entertainment, factories, stores all can now operate at night.

体育场、娱乐场所、工厂和商店，全都能在晚上照常运营

And as electricity comes to the cities,more and more people arrive with it.

随着输送至城市的电能的增加，越来越多的人随之涌入城市

By 1900,nearly 4 million women are working in US cities.

到1900年，美国城市有将近400万女性劳动者

In just 40 years, that figure has more than quadrupled.

在短短40年时间里，这个数字增加到比之前4倍还多

Urban factories are pounding out 75% of all consumer products in the US.

城市工厂生产的消费产品，占到整个美国市场的75%

Places like this,modern steel-frame buildings equipped with all the latest technology, Otis electric elevators, Bell telephones, Singer sewing machines.

这是一间典型的工厂，现代化的钢结构建筑，配备最新科技成果，奥的斯电梯，贝尔电话，胜家缝纫机

But packing so many people into tall buildings is a disaster waiting to happen.

不过，这么多人挤在这些高楼里，发生事故几乎是必然的

The United States is hurtling into the modern age.

美国正在飞速进入现代化

Symbolized by megacities rising up all across the continent.

从东到西拔地而起的现代大都市是这个时期最显眼的标志

By 1909, Americans are spending nearly 23 billion dollars a year on ready-made clothes.

截至1909年，美国人每年在成衣上的开支达到230亿美元

This factory is producing 12,000 garments a week. Known as shirtwaists,

这间服装厂每周生产一万两千件成衣，均为女式衬衫

they're the latest fashion for the working woman.

在当时参加工作的女性中十分流行