(单词翻译:单击)
The tools that Son McCormick and his neighbors used in harvesting their crops were the same as those used by Great-grandfather McCormick on his farm back in Pennsylvania. After using such tools for many years, Son McCormick bought a scythe he had seen the farmers along the coast using to harvest their grain. They called the new kind of scythe a cradle scythe because it had long wooden fingers on the handle just above the knife. These fingers cradled, or held the grain until the knife had finished its work, then laid it in neat rows at one side. The picture on page 279 shows men using cradle scythes.
儿子麦考密克和他的邻居用来收割庄稼的工具和曾祖父麦考密克在他宾夕法尼亚州的农场里使用的工具是一样的。在使用这些工具多年后，儿子麦考密克买了一把镰刀，他曾看到沿海的农民用它收割谷物。他们把这种新型的镰刀叫做“摇篮镰刀”，因为它的刀柄上有长长的木制的手指。这些手指夹着麦粒，直到刀子完成工作，然后把麦粒整齐地放在一边。第279页的图片显示人们使用摇篮镰刀。
Fifty years went by, and the sons and grandsons of the first McCormick who had settled in the Shenandoah Valley were still harvesting their grain with the cradle scythe. One of the McCormick sons spent every moment of his time in his workshop. There he had discovered several new ways of making many of the old farm tools into new tools which did a great deal more work than any of the old ones had ever been able to do. But try as he would, he could not find any better or quicker way of cutting the ripe grain.
五十年过去了，第一个定居在谢南多亚山谷的麦考密克的子孙们还在用摇篮镰刀收割他们的粮食。麦考密克的一个儿子把他所有的时间都花在他的工作室里。在那里，他发现了几种新方法，可以把许多旧农具变成新农具，这些农具比任何旧农具能做的工作都多。但是，尽管他试了试，却找不到更好更快的割熟谷粒的方法。
