85 Bounce! The Wonderful World of Rubber

CHAPTER 1 Rubber, Rubber Everywhere! LOOK AROUND YOU— HOW MANY THINGS CAN YOU SEE THAT ARE MADE WITH RUBBER? YOUR PENCIL ERASER. OF COURSE. BUT WHAT ABOUT YOUR BAG? YOUR SHOES? YOUR COMPUTER? We use rubber in so many different ways, we hardly think about what an amazing material it is. It keeps us warm and dry, and it makes our lives easier, too. It is used to manufacture protective clothing, balloons, kitchen items, sportswear and equipment, tools, and so much more! Rubber makes the games we play more fun and exciting. It gives balls— basketballs, tennis balls, even golf balls— their bounce. Rubber helps us get where we want to go, too, whether by bicycle, car, airplane, or on foot. At first, rubber only came in its natural form, but rubber quickly became so important in our lives that we found a way to make it ourselves. Rubber has a long and interesting history. Europeans first learned of it when explorers came to the New World around 1500.

第一章橡胶，到处都是橡胶！看看你的周围，你能看到多少东西是用橡胶做的？ 你的铅笔橡皮。当然可以。 但是你的包呢？你的鞋子吗? 你的电脑吗?我们在很多不同的方面使用橡胶，我们几乎没有想到它是一种多么神奇的材料。 它使我们保持温暖和干燥，也使我们的生活更容易。 它被用来制造防护服、气球、厨房用品、运动服和设备、工具等等！橡胶使我们玩的游戏更有趣和刺激。 它使球——篮球、网球、甚至高尔夫球——有弹性。 橡胶也帮助我们到达我们想去的地方，无论是骑自行车，汽车，飞机，还是步行。 起初，橡胶只有天然的形式，但橡胶很快在我们的生活中变得如此重要，以至于我们找到了自己制造它的方法。 橡胶有着悠久而有趣的历史。 1500年左右，当探险家来到新大陆时，欧洲人第一次知道了它。

These Europeans were interested in the sticky substance the native people were using to light their homes, and to make their shoes, toys, and tools. It was brought back to Europe and, over time, other uses were found. When rubbed on paper, for example, it easily erases pencil marks which is why the British still use the word "rubber" for "eraser"! For almost 400 years, the Amazon region of Brazil was the world's main producer of rubber. Then, in 1876, British businessman Henry Wickham took 70,000 rubber-tree seeds from Brazil and secretly transported them to the Royal Botanic Gardens in London. Seedlings were grown, and then rubber plantations were set up in Africa and Asia. People began calling it "Indian rubber," and soon the whole world got used to its convenience. Can you imagine life without it?

这些欧洲人对当地人用来照明房屋、制作鞋子、玩具和工具的粘性物质很感兴趣。 它被带回欧洲，随着时间的推移，人们发现了其他用途。 例如，当它在纸上摩擦时，它很容易擦掉铅笔的痕迹，这就是为什么英国人仍然用“rubber”来代替“eraser”！近400年来，巴西的亚马逊地区一直是世界上主要的橡胶产地。 1876年，英国商人亨利·威克姆（Henry Wickham）从巴西带了7万颗橡胶树种子，秘密运到伦敦的皇家植物园（Royal Botanic Gardens）。 树苗被种了出来，然后在非洲和亚洲建立了橡胶种植园。 人们开始称它为“印度橡胶”，很快全世界都习惯了它的方便。 你能想象没有它的生活吗？

CHAPTER 2 Tapping into Rubber's Special Qualities RUBBER DOES NOT COME FROM NATURE IN THE FORM OF BOUNCY BALLS OR BIG BLACK TIRES. Just as blood circulates in the bodies of people and animals, sap circulates in trees. Sap is a liquid that carries sugars and other nutrients to feed different parts of a tree. The sap of rubber trees is called latex. Latex is thick and sticky. It is found inside 10 percent of all flowering plants, including rubber plants. Latex is usually white, though some latex can be yellow, orange, or even red. There are many different species of rubber plants that produce latex, but the Parä rubber tree is the main species used for large-scale latex production.

橡胶的特殊特性橡胶并非以弹跳球或黑色大轮胎的形式来自大自然。 就像血液在人和动物体内循环一样，树液在树木中循环。 树液是一种携带糖和其他营养物质的液体，可以滋养树木的不同部位。 橡胶树的汁液叫做乳胶。 乳胶又厚又粘。 它存在于10%的开花植物体内，包括橡胶植物。 乳胶通常是白色的，尽管有些乳胶可能是黄色、橙色甚至红色的。 生产乳胶的橡胶植物种类很多，但Parä橡胶树是用于大规模生产乳胶的主要树种。

Parå rubber trees first grew in South America, but as world demand for rubber increased, rubber plantations were developed in other parts of the world. Today, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia are the world's top producers of rubber. To obtain latex, you have to tap the rubber tree. A rubber tapper makes shallow cuts in the bark of a rubber tree. The liquid then begins to drip out, and it is collected in buckets that hang on the trees. The longer latex is in contact with the air, the thicker and stickier it becomes. Eventually the cut in the tree is covered by the latex and the dripping stops. So latex acts as a natural bandage. A tree can be tapped every two or three days in the same general area before tappers have to move to a different place on the tree. It takes about seven years for a used section to heal and become usable again.

橡胶树最初生长在南美洲，但随着世界对橡胶需求的增加，橡胶种植园在世界其他地方发展起来。 今天，泰国、印度尼西亚和马来西亚是世界上最大的橡胶生产国。 要获得乳胶，你必须敲打橡胶树。 橡胶机在橡胶树的树皮上打浅孔。 然后液体开始滴落，并被收集在挂在树上的桶里。 乳胶与空气接触的时间越长，就会变得越厚越粘。 最终，树上的切口被乳胶覆盖，滴水停止了。 所以乳胶就像天然的绷带。 在同一区域，每隔两三天就可以对一棵树进行一次采伐，然后采伐者必须移动到树上的不同位置。 使用过的部分需要大约七年的时间才能愈合并再次可用。

Each time a tree is tapped, it will produce about 30 grams of raw latex, adding up to about 11 kilograms a year. After the latex is collected, it is mixed with chemicals to help keep it thin and flowing. Later, acid is added to make the mixture more solid. This mixture is then rolled into big, flat sheets to dry. Drying can be done naturally by placing the sheets in the sun. The rubber sheets can also be dried by placing them in a smokehouse— rather like pizzas in an oven! Inside a smokehouse, smoke surrounds the sheets of rubber, heating and drying them. In forest villages around the world, rubber is still created this way: rolled out by hand, and dried by sunshine or smoke. But today most rubber is produced in industrial laboratories and factories.

每一棵树被砍伐一次，它将产生大约30克的生乳胶，每年加起来大约11公斤。 乳胶被收集后，与化学物质混合以保持其稀薄和流动。 之后，加入酸使混合物更坚固。 然后把这种混合物卷成又大又平的薄片晾干。 将床单放在阳光下自然晾干即可。 橡胶薄片也可以放在熏制室里晾干，就像把披萨放在烤箱里一样！在熏制室里，烟雾包围着橡胶片，加热并干燥它们。 在世界各地的森林村庄里，橡胶仍然是这样生产的：手工碾压，然后用阳光或烟熏干燥。 但今天大多数橡胶是在工业实验室和工厂生产的。

Often, as with tires and erasers, the use of rubber is obvious, but there are some uses of rubber that are more surprising. Some medical tools, for example, are dipped in latex. Natural latex is also important as an adhesive in the production of envelopes, labels, sticky tape, and bandages. In fact, rubber is used in factories around the world as a raw material in all kinds of products, from airplanes to zippers. Rubber— or the latex it is made from— may seem like a miracle product, but it can be dangerous. About 4 percent of Americans are allergic to latex. People who are in contact with latex on a regular basis, such as hospital workers and industrial rubber workers, are two to three times more likely to suffer from latex allergies. Just touching a small amount, such as when putting on latex gloves, can cause the skin to become very irritated.

通常，就像轮胎和橡皮擦一样，橡胶的用途是显而易见的，但橡胶的一些用途更令人惊讶。 例如，一些医疗工具浸在乳胶中。 天然乳胶在信封、标签、胶带和绷带的生产中也是重要的粘合剂。 事实上，橡胶被世界各地的工厂用作各种产品的原材料，从飞机到拉链。 橡胶——或制成橡胶的乳胶——看起来像是一种神奇的产品，但它也可能很危险。 大约4%的美国人对乳胶过敏。 经常接触乳胶的人，如医院工作人员和工业橡胶工人，患乳胶过敏的可能性要高出两到三倍。 只要接触少量，例如戴上乳胶手套时，就会导致皮肤变得非常刺激。