The Balloon Factory

Hi, I am a balloon. Have you ever wondered where balloons come from? Well, today is your lucky day. I am going to give you a tour of a balloon factory. Come with me! Look at all these colors. In this factory, they make 25 different colored balloons. Do you think you can name 25 different colors?

嗨，我是一个气球。你有没有想过气球是从哪里来的？今天是你的幸运日。我要带你参观一个气球工厂。跟我来！ 看看这些颜色。在这个工厂里，他们制作了25个不同颜色的气球。你觉得你能说出25种不同的颜色吗？

Try it! It’s not easy. Where should I begin? I guess the best place to start is at the beginning. In this room, the workers prepare all the ingredients that we need to make balloons. This white goo is called latex. This is what all balloons are made of. It doesn’t have any color yet, but it soon will.

试试看！这不容易。 我应该从哪里开始？我想最好的开始是在开始。 在这个房间里，工人们准备了制作气球所需的所有材料。 这种白色粘稠物叫做乳胶。这是所有气球的材料。它还没有任何颜色，但很快就会有了。

Now let’s go to the production line. This is where the gooey mixture is turned into balloons. In this factory, they make many kinds of balloons: long balloons, round balloons, small balloons, and multicolored balloons.

现在我们去生产线。这是将粘稠的混合物变成气球的地方。 在这个工厂里，他们制造了很多种气球：长气球、圆气球、小气球和彩色气球。

Let’s look at some of the machines. This machine gives each balloon its shape. This machine heats the balloons until they are dry. Then, that machine removes the balloons and puts them into bins. This is a big factory. Can you guess how many balloons it makes each day? One thousand? One hundred thousand?

让我们看看一些机器。这台机器使每个气球都有自己的形状。 这台机器加热气球直到它们变干。然后，这台机器将气球取出并放入垃圾箱。 这是一个大工厂。你能猜出它每天做多少个气球吗？一千？十万？

This factory makes one million balloons a day! Oh no! One of the machines is broken and the production line has stopped. This is very bad. But not to worry! The repairman will fix it in just a minute.

这个工厂每天生产一百万个气球！ 哦，不！其中一台机器坏了，生产线停止了。 这很糟糕。但别担心！修理工马上就修好。

The repairman must work fast. If he doesn’t, people may not have balloons for their birthday or picnics. In this factory, all the balloons must be perfect. This woman makes sure that every balloon is good. She makes sure the color, weight, and shape of each balloon is just right.

修理工必须工作得快。如果他没有，人们可能不能在生日或野餐时带气球。 在这个工厂里，所有的气球都必须是完美的。这个女人确保每个气球都是好的。她确保每个气球的颜色、重量和形状都恰到好处。