5 Lightning Rod Ben

5 LIGHTNING ROD BEN Benjamin Franklin leaned against the back door of the state house. His hand trembled as he pulled out his handkerchief. "Are you all right, sir?" Annie asked. "Fine…I'm fine," said Ben, wiping his face. "But I cannot be seen with you. It would be a disaster. We must move away from here." Jack and Annie started walking with Ben toward the front of the building. "But, sir, why would it be a disaster?" asked Annie. "All the delegates have sworn an oath of secrecy!" said Ben. "I'm sorry to say they've already caught me saying a few things outside of our meetings."

本·本杰明·富兰克林倚在州议会大厦的后门上。 他掏出手帕时手在颤抖。 “你没事吧，先生？”安妮问。 “很好……我很好，”本擦着脸说。 “但是我不能让别人看见我和你在一起。 这将是一场灾难。我们必须离开这里。” 杰克和安妮开始和本一起朝大楼的前面走去。 “但是，先生，为什么会是一场灾难呢？”安妮问。 “所有的代表都发誓要保密！”本说。 “我很抱歉地说，他们已经发现我在会议之外说了一些话。”

"An oath of secrecy?" said Jack. "Yes! We believe in freedom of the press," said Ben. "But we need to make a plan first. Not a word of our plan should be printed in the Gazette—not until we agree on a plan…. Oh, dear…" "The Gazette?" said Jack. "Yes! The Pennsylvania Gazette. The very paper I once owned!" said Ben. "Oh…oh, wait," said Annie. "We don't work for the Pennsylvania Gazette." "No?" said Ben. "But you said you were from the press." "I know. But we were talking about the Frog Creek News," Annie said. "It's our own little paper. Mine and Jack's. We're the only ones who—who read it." "She's right," Jack said. "It's just a game we play. We pretend to be reporters from the Frog Creek News whenever we meet new people." Ben Franklin stopped walking. He looked

“发誓保密?”杰克说。 “是啊!我们相信新闻自由。” “但我们首先需要制定一个计划。 我们的计划一个字也不应该刊登在宪报上——除非我们就计划达成一致.... “《公报》？”杰克说。 “是啊!宾夕法尼亚公报。 我曾经拥有的那张报纸！”本说。 “哦……哦，等等，”安妮说。 “我们不为《宾夕法尼亚公报》工作。” “没有？”本说。“但你说你是媒体人。” “我知道。但我们说的是《蛙溪新闻》，”安妮说。 “这是我们自己的小报纸。 我和杰克的。我们是唯一读过它的人。” “她说得对，”杰克说。“这只是我们玩的一个游戏。 每当我们遇到新朋友，我们就假装是青蛙溪新闻的记者。” 本·富兰克林停止了行走。 他看起来

hard at Jack and Annie. His expression changed from worry to relief. Then he laughed. "I believe you!" he said. "My goodness, your little game nearly gave me a heart attack!" "I'm sorry," said Annie. At least we got his attention, thought Jack. "So, where do you live?" Ben asked. "Frog Creek," said Jack. "It's miles away." "We're tourists," said Annie. "Our parents want us to study history." "Tourists? I'm afraid I do not know that word," said Ben. "Oh. Well, you can also think of us as 'visiting scholars,'" said Jack. Emperor Marcus Aurelius of Rome had called them "visiting scholars" on their last adventure. Jack liked the sound of that. Ben seemed to like it, too. His face brightened. "Ah! Visiting scholars! And so young!

我使劲地看着杰克和安妮。他的表情由忧虑变为宽慰。 然后他笑了。“我相信你！”他说。 “我的天哪，你的小游戏差点让我心脏病发作！”“对不起，”安妮说。 至少我们引起了他的注意，杰克想。 “那么，你住在哪里？”本问。 “青蛙溪，”杰克说。“有好几英里远呢。” “我们是游客，”安妮说。 “我们的父母希望我们学习历史。” “游客?恐怕我不知道这个词，”本说。 “哦。嗯，你也可以把我们看作是‘访问学者’，”杰克说。 在他们最后一次探险时，罗马皇帝马可·奥勒留称他们为“访问学者”。 杰克喜欢听这句话。 本似乎也很喜欢。 他的脸亮了起来。“啊!访问学者!那么年轻！

That's delightful!" he said. "Come, let us walk, scholars! I'll show you Philadelphia's free library." Ben started up Chestnut Street. He still used his walking stick. But now he had a little skip in his step. People waved cheerfully at Ben from wagons and carriages, and he waved back. He seemed to know everyone. "It's important for visiting scholars to see the very first public library in the colonies," Ben told Jack and Annie. "But I do apologize for the heat." "Don't worry. You didn't cause it," said Annie. Ben laughed. "I like your wit, my dear," he said. "I like yours, too," said Annie. Ben stopped and pointed his walking stick at a brick building with high, arched windows. "That's it! Our library! I was the founder! Library members—and visiting

太好了！”他说。 “来吧，我们走吧，学者们！”我带你去看费城的免费图书馆。” 本沿着栗子街往前走。 他仍然使用手杖。 但现在他的脚步有点轻快了。 人们从马车上兴高采烈地向本挥手，他也向他们挥手。 他似乎认识每个人。 “对访问学者来说，参观殖民地的第一个公共图书馆是很重要的，”本告诉杰克和安妮。 “但我真的为炎热道歉。” “别担心。不是你造成的，”安妮说。 本笑了。“我喜欢你的机智，亲爱的，”他说。 “我也喜欢你的，”安妮说。 本停下脚步，用手杖指着一座有高高的拱形窗户的砖砌建筑。 “就是它!我们的图书馆!我是创始人！图书馆会员及访客

scholars—can borrow books anytime." "That's great," said Jack. "It looks a lot like our Frog Creek Public—" Annie began. But Jack stopped her with a quick shake of his head. He knew there were hardly any public libraries in 1787. "Hey, Lightning Rod Ben!" a boy shouted from a passing wagon. "Hot enough for you?" Ben waved at the boy. "Why did he call you that?" said Annie. "I invented lightning rods!" said Ben. "I'm surprised you didn't know that. See, there's one." He pointed to a long metal rod that rose up from the roof of the library. "The lightning hits the rod and then

学者——可以随时借书。” “太好了，”杰克说。 “它看起来很像我们的青蛙溪公共——”安妮开始说。 但是杰克迅速摇了摇头，阻止了她。 他知道在1787年几乎没有公共图书馆。 “嘿，避雷针本！”一个男孩从路过的马车上喊道。 “你觉得够热吗？”本向男孩挥了挥手。 “他为什么那样叫你？”安妮说。 “我发明了避雷针！”本说。 “我很惊讶你竟然不知道。 看，有一个。”他指着图书馆屋顶上的一根长长的金属棒。 “闪电击中了杆子，然后

passes through a wire into the earth, right?" said Jack. "Exactly!" said Ben. "It keeps the lightning from passing into the building and causing a fire," said Annie. "My word, you are both very bright!" said Ben. He seemed happy and relaxed now. "As visiting scholars, what would you most like to learn about on your visit?" "You!" Annie and Jack said together. "Oh, my." Ben chuckled. "Well, perhaps I could tell you a bit about myself while we sit in the courtyard of my house. How does that sound?" "Cool," said Jack. "Cool indeed!" said Ben. "We will be much cooler under the shade of my mulberry tree!"

通过一根电线进入地球，对吗？”杰克说。 “没错！”本说。“它可以防止闪电进入大楼引起火灾，”安妮说。 “天哪，你们俩都很聪明！”本说。 他现在似乎很高兴，很放松。 “作为访问学者，你在访问期间最想了解什么？”“你!”安妮和杰克一起说。 “哦,我的。”本笑了。“好吧，也许我们坐在我家院子里的时候，我可以给你讲讲我自己的情况。 听起来怎么样？”“酷，”杰克说。 “太酷了！”本说。“我们在我的桑树树荫下会凉快得多！”