2 Early days

Chapter 2 Early days That's incredible! In 600BC, an ancient Greek scientist named Thales made a surprising discovery.

第2章早期太不可思议了！公元前600年，一位名叫泰勒斯的古希腊科学家有了一个惊人的发现。

Thales found that if he took a piece of amber and rubbed it with cat fur, the amber could pull things closer to it. It could even pick up light objects such as hairs or seeds. The amber has an invisible pulling force. It's like magic!

泰勒斯发现，如果他拿一块琥珀，用猫毛摩擦它，琥珀就能把东西拉得更近。 它甚至可以拾取头发或种子等轻物体。 琥珀有一种看不见的拉力。 就像魔术一样！

The Greeks were amazed by the amber's power to pick up objects. They also found that, if they rubbed the amber a lot, they sometimes saw a little spark. Did you see that? Hey! It tickles!

希腊人对琥珀拾取物体的能力感到惊讶。 他们还发现，如果他们经常摩擦琥珀，有时会看到一点火花。 你看到了吗？嘿!它痒!

Thales and his friends had discovered a kind of electricity, although they didn't realize that's what it was. Some even claimed that if amber had such amazing powers, it must have feelings. So, what's it like being a piece of amber?

泰勒斯和他的朋友们发现了一种电，尽管他们并没有意识到这是什么。 有些人甚至声称，如果琥珀有如此神奇的力量，那它一定有感情。 做一块琥珀是什么感觉？

Later, other scientists tried Thales' experiment with different substances. They found that diamonds could pick up small things too. Look what my diamond can do. Hah! Wait till I try my copper.

后来，其他科学家用不同的物质尝试了泰勒斯的实验。 他们发现钻石也能吸收小的东西。 看看我的钻石能做什么。 哈!等我试试我的铜吧。

But copper and other metals wouldn't pick up anything at all, no matter how hard they were rubbed. Ho ho! Bah!

但铜和其他金属无论怎么用力摩擦，都不会拾取任何东西。 Ho Ho !呸!