励志传记(当今奇人周兴和)第三章第七节
内外交困搞发明
Internal and external difficulties in making inventions
路灯发出昏黄而惺忪的光影。
The lamp cast a yellow and drowsy light.
周兴和疲惫地从车间出来，拖着沉重的腿爬上几级石阶，准备回到家里去。可走到家门口，他想了想，又折了回去，在车间的一条长条椅子上，他用一块试验用的废料当枕头，裹了裹衣裳，准备就在这里过夜了。
Zhou Xinghe came out of the workshop tiredly, dragged his heavy legs up several stone steps, and prepared to go home. But when he reached the door, he thought about it, turned back again, and on a long chair in the workshop, he used a scrap of experimental waste as a pillow, wrapped himself in his clothes, and prepared to spend the night here.
不知怎么的，最近他越来越不想回家。在车间里，他很劳累但很充实；回到家，他原本可以稍微歇息一下，但他感到难受，感到压抑，甚至有些窒息。是的，妻子先前的唠叨完全可以理解，她操心着整个家庭的油盐柴米，她担心丈夫不知天高地厚又做出赔本的买卖，更担心丈夫脑袋发昏又上当受骗，所以她发些牢骚甚至怨气原本无可厚非。何况妻子只是个没见过多少世面的家庭妇女，你不能指望她能有多高的境界和远见卓识，周兴和体谅妻子的困难，也知道她活得很累，所以他对妻子的牢骚和抱怨采取了听之任之的态度，多次原谅了她的指责和喝斥。
For some reason, he had recently become more and more reluctant to go home. In the workshop he was tired but full; when he got home, he could have rested a little, but he felt sick, oppressed, even suffocated. Well, the wife's previous nagging was quite understandable. She was worried about the family's food and fuel, worried that her husband was ignorant and made a business at a loss, and even worried that he was confused and deceived, so it was not unreasonable for her to grumble or even complain. Besides, his wife was just a housewife who had never seen much of the world, and he didn't expect her to have a high realm and foresight. Zhou Xinghe understood his wife's difficulties and knew that she was very tired. So he took a passive attitude to his wife's complaints and forgave her accusations and scoldings many times.
就这样，俩夫妇在建房建厂阶段，虽然说不上那么美满，但也就得过且过了。
In this way, the couple, in the factory construction stage, although not so happy, but also muddled along.
但，自从刘凤琼知道周兴和想用秸秆做建材，并不惜一切代价开始他的研究实验后，他们夫妻的矛盾就开始白热化了。特别是周兴和把厂里并不多的经济收入，几乎全都投到他的发明试验里，而且在他试验经费困难时，还把家里值钱的东西拿来变卖后，刘凤琼终于忍无可忍，对周兴和彻底绝望了，她开始不顾一切阻扰起周兴和的试验和研究来！
But once Liu Fengqiong learned that Zhou Xinghe wanted to use the straw as the building material and started his research experiment at any cost, the conflict between the couple began to heat up. In particular, Zhou Xinghe invested almost all the meager income from the factory in his experiment of invention. Moreover, when he was in difficulty in funding the experiment, he sold off the valuable things in their family. Finally, Liu Fengqiong couldn't bear it any more and gave up all hope for Zhou Xinghe. She began to obstruct Zhou Xinghe's experiment and research at all costs.
“你这是不务正业，盲目投资！用麦草谷草做建材，这简直是异想天开！”刘凤琼这时已不想再听丈夫的什么解释了。
"You are doing nothing and investing blindly! Using the straw as building materials is completely imaginary!" Liu Fengqiong did not want to listen to her husband's explanation any more.
“异想天开？异想天开有什么不好？没有异想，那就永远不会有天开的日子。”周兴和不急不缓地回答妻子。
"Imaginary? What's wrong with being imaginary? It will never be practical there is no imagination." Zhou Xinghe took his time in answering his wife.
“你这是胡搅蛮缠！”刘凤琼对丈夫的行径太失望了，她不再和他讲道理了，“你听听人家是怎么说你的，说你是疯子、是狂人，不知天高地厚！”
"You're unreasonable!" Liu Fengqiong felt disappointed to her husband's behavior, and she no longer made reason with him, "Listen to what people say about you, they say you are a lunatic, a madman, conceited and ignorant!"
“人家愿怎么说就怎么说，我干我的，又没有妨碍到谁，关他们屁事！”周兴和还想再给妻子作些解释，可妻子根本就不听他那些遥不可及、画饼充饥的宏伟设想了，她只知道眼前一家人要吃饭穿衣，要尽快还清别人的欠款，要尽快摆脱家庭的贫困。
"People can say what they like, and I'm not in anyone's way, it's none of their business!" Zhou Xinghe tried to explain some more to his wife, but she did not listen to his grand far-away and windy imagine. All she knew was that the whole family needed to eat and dress, pay off debts as soon as possible, and get rid of poverty as soon as possible.
人哪，只要一钻进牛角尖，就容易执迷不悟，难以转过身来。现在，这对夫妻都钻进了牛角尖：一个为了他事业的发展，为了实现自我的人生价值，铁了心地要搞他的发明创造；一个为了家庭现实的利益，为了解决眼前的生活困难，坚决要制止他的这种无休无止的“折腾”！
When someone splits hairs, he is apt to get so perverse that he cannot turn round. Now, both of the couple split hairs: one was determined to pursue his inventions in order to advance his career and realize his life value; the other was for the practical benefit of the family, and determined to stop him from this endless "toss and turn" in order to solve the immediate difficulties of life!
公正地说，两人各有各的道理。一个局外人，你很难给他们判定谁是谁非——因为这是两个人在价值观念、认识水平、性格志趣等方面深层次的问题，在当时那种情形下，一般人是很难进行调和的。
To be fair, both of them had their reasons. As an outsider, it was difficult to judge who was right and who was wrong - because this was the deep-seated problem of two people in the value concept, level of understanding, personality and interest and other aspects, in that case, it was difficult for ordinary people to reconcile.
于是，刘凤琼开始不遗余力地阻止起周兴和“不务正业、盲目投资”的行径来：为了能让周兴和从痴迷状态中清醒过来，她一次又一次藏匿周兴和的试验资料，销毁他的试验图纸，弄坏他的试验模型。甚至，在周兴和依然执迷不悟的情况下，她满肚子气没法出的时候，在周兴和接待客户、向客户介绍产品、洽谈价格的关键时刻，她或公开同周兴和大吵大闹，或向客人说些粗鲁的脏话，或暗暗希望企业倒闭，或干脆把合格的产品说成不合格或弄得不合格。
Therefore, Liu Fengqiong began to spare no effort to prevent Zhou Xinghe's "irresponsible and blind investment": in order to sober Zhou Xinghe from his obsession, she hid Zhou Xinghe's experimental materials again and again, destroyed his experimental drawings and damaged his experimental models. Even in the case of Zhou Xinghe still wrong-headed, and with her full anger, when Zhou Xinghe received the client, introduced the products to clients, negotiated the price, she yelled publicly with Zhou Xinghe, or said some rude words to the clients, or hoped that the enterprise could fail, or even simply said the qualified product was not qualified or made it unqualified.
天低云黯，燕雀低廻。
With low clouds in the sky, the birds flied low.
无数次的试验失败，无休止的家庭扯皮，在盐亭那一两年的时间里，周兴和是弄得是焦头烂额内外交困。
With numerous experiment failures and endless family disputes, in that year in Yanting, Zhou Xinghe was in a state of internal and external difficulties.
让我们再来看他的研究发明。
Let's just look at his research and invention.
当周兴和把全部精力和时间投入到秸秆做建材研究时，才知道这个项目的难度远远超出他的想象。用秸秆做建材，必须使用菱镁等两种化工原料作黏合剂。在整个产品生产中，它有四大不可逾越的技术难题：反卤、结露、变形和裂纹。这四大技术难题是国家已用了30年、先后投入约25亿人民币进行研究，但都未能解决的技术顽疾。国家有关部门因此于1993年至1999年间，先后发了3个文件，禁止使用菱镁作为黏合剂。
When Zhou Xinghe put all his energy and time into the straw research for building materials, he knew that the difficulty of this project was far beyond his imagination. When using the straw as building materials, it needed the magnesite and other chemical materials as adhesives. In the whole product production, it had four insurmountable technical problems: anti-halogen, condensation, deformation and crack. These four major technical problems had been researched by the state for 30 years and costed about RMB 2.5 billion, but none of them had been solved. Accordingly, from 1993 to 1999, the relevant state authorities issued three documents prohibiting the use of magnesite as adhesive.
当周兴和投入经费开始该项目研究时，得知它的技术难度后，他确实也犹豫过动摇过。但在研究过程中，他同时又发现了该材料巨大的优越性和使用潜力：当时，氯化镁产地价1顿才50元，轻烧镁出厂价1吨才120元；而这些材料的强度，比架桥用的300号专用混泥土还强1倍以上。而农作物秸秆，成本则更低廉了，几乎可以忽略不计。他设想，如果通过自己的研究，能够攻克这四大技术难题，使它成为社会亟需的合格建材产品，那它的社会效益和经济效益将是无可估量的！还有，正因为它是高难度的科技项目，那么它更具有研究价值——周兴和所言不谬，仅2011年9月，他的1项专利技术转让给美国一家公司，仅技术转让费就高达150万美元。
When Zhou Xinghe put the money into the project and learned of its technical difficulties, he did waver. But in the process of research, he also found the great advantages and application potential of the material: at that time, the origin price of magnesium chloride was only 50 yuan per ton, and the factory price of caustic calcined magnesite was only 120 yuan per ton; the strength of these materials is more than one time stronger than that of No. 300 concrete used for the bridge. And the crop straw, on the other hand, were even cheaper in the cost, almost negligible. He imagined that if through his own research, he can overcome these four technical problems, so that it becomes the qualified building materials products that the society badly needs, then its social and economic benefits will be inestimable! What's more, because it's such a difficult technology project, it's worth researching - Zhou Xinghe was right to say that, in September of 2011, one of his patented technologies was transferred to an American company for US$1.5 million in technology transfer fee alone.
白日有光，夜晚有灯。
There is light in the day, and a lamp in the night.
经过痛苦的思索，周兴和决心亲自做试验。那几年，他确实像疯了一样，忘了白天和黑夜，忘了春夏与秋冬，更忘了吃饭和换衣。无论白天晚上，他都呆在实验室里，平均每天要工作十几个小时。在这场马拉松似地研究中，他给自己作了个规定：每天试验5个小件，每个小件用5种不同的配方进行对比，然后对这些试验品进行破坏性的试验，对每次试验都做好文字记录。几年下来，他试验的记录资料，堆积起来竟有两米多高！
After painful reflection, Zhou Xinghe decided to do the experiment himself. In those years, he had indeed seemed mad, forgetting the day and night, forgetting the spring, summer, autumn and winter, and even more forgetting to eat meals and change clothes. He stayed in the lab day and night, working an average of more than ten hours a day. In this marathon study, he made a rule for himself: test five small pieces a day, compare them with five different formulations, and then run the destructive tests on them, keeping a written record of each experiment. Over the years, the records of his experiments piled up to more than two meters high!
在利用秸秆制作各种房屋装饰品的发明过程中，他遇到连自己都难以想象的困难。这期间，他因资金拮据，出差只睡车站，啃面包；这期间，他为研究发明产品常常被弄得昏乎乎的，连走路也在思考分析问题，别人喊他他听不见，有几次竟然连头撞在了墙上也不知道——难怪有人说他是疯子、是狂人、是神经出了问题。
In the process of inventing various house decorations by straw, he encountered difficulties that even he could not imagine. In the meantime, he slept at the station and ate bread on business trips for lack of money. During this period, he was often dazed for the invention research, even thought and analyzed problems while walking, so that people shouted at him but he did not hear, and several times he even hit his head on the wall - no wonder some people said that he was a lunatic or madman, with nerve problem.
试验、试验、再试验！然而，失败、失败、再失败！
Test, test, and test! However, fail, fail, and fail again!
这个过程，他就如一个精疲力竭在茫茫沙漠上的跋涉者，头上顶着的是干焦的烈日，脚下踩着的是滚烫的流沙，疲惫、饥饿、干渴，有时甚至是奄奄一息，但无论怎么向前走，似乎都永远也看不到前面的绿洲，似乎漫长的行程永远没有尽头。
In this process, he was like the exhausted wader on the vast desert, with burning sun over his head, and hot sands under his feet, tired, hunger, thirst, and sometimes even dying, but no matter how hard to move forward, it seemed he always couldn't see the oasis in front, and seemed to be a long journey never end.
“在科学的道路上，从来没有平坦的大道可走，只有在崎岖的山道不畏艰险勇于攀登的人，才有希望到达光辉的顶点。”周兴和一开始做实验，就明白这个道理。在他搞发明创造艰难的过程中，有一个人的毅力和精神始终都在激励着他，那就是——爱迪生。
"There is no royal road to science, and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of its steep paths have a chance of reaching its luminous summit." Zhou Xinghe knew this truth from the very beginning of his experiments. In the difficult process of his invention and creation, there was a person's perseverance and spirit that had always inspired him, that was Edison.
这个伟大的发明家，仅仅为了发明一个白炽灯，在试用了6000种材料，做了7000次试验时，仍没取得最后的成功。一次次的试验，一次次的失败，很多专家都认为发明电灯的前途黯淡，英国一些著名专家甚至讥讽爱迪生的研究“毫无意义”；一些记者也报道说：“爱迪生的理想已成泡影。”面对失败，面对人们的冷嘲热讽，爱迪生没有退却，没有灰心。他心里明白，每一次的失败，意味着又向成功走近了一步。最后，在爱迪生试用了6076种材料，做了7080次试验后，终于才取得突破性的进展，成功地发明了白炽灯泡，给人类带来了永恒的光明。
The great inventor, for the purpose of inventing an incandescent lamp, tried 6,000 kinds of materials and conducted 7,000 experiments, but still failed to achieve the final success. Experiment after experiment, failure after failure, many experts believed that the future of the invention of light bulb was bleak, and some famous experts in Britain even derided Edison's research as "meaningless"; some journalists also reported: "Edison's dream has come to naught." Faced with the failure and people's cynicism, Edison did not retreat and did not lose faith. He knew in his heart that every failure meant one step closer to the success. Finally, after Edison tried out 6,076 kinds of materials and made 7,080 experiments, he finally made a breakthrough and successfully invented the incandescent light bulb, bringing the eternal light to mankind.
是呀，自己的失败又算得了什么呢？
So, what does it matter for one’s failure?
夜已经很深了。然而周兴和躺在长条椅子上，仍久久不能入睡。不知怎么的，今夜里他突然强烈地想起他的老家来。他想起山上那些随风摇曳的松树和枫树，想起自己亲手建起来的老屋，想起很久不见的儿子和女儿们——是啊，干脆明天休息一天，回老家去看看吧！
The night was already deep. However, Zhou Xinghe lay on a long chair and could not fall asleep for a long time. Tonight, somehow, he had a sudden and violent recollection of his hometown. He thought of the pine and maple trees swaying in the wind on the mountain, of the old house he had built with his own hands, of the sons and daughters he had not seen in a long time - well, why not take a day off tomorrow and go back to visit his hometown!
“避开一切喧嚣，摒弃一切烦乱，忘却一切苦痛，丢掉一切纷繁——走，到大山里去！山中或许能给我灵感，自然之神或许能把我领进圣洁而有创造性的殿堂。喧嚣和浮躁大约只能培养出声嘶力竭的这星那星，而绝对创造不出摘取诺贝尔桂冠上宝石的这家哪家来……”
"Get out of all noise, out of all disturbance, out of all pain, out of all complexity - back to the mountains! The mountains may give me inspiration, the God of Nature may lead me into the halls of holiness and creativity. Noise and impetuosity will probably only produce this or that, but will never create those to pick the precious stone of the Nobel Laureates..."
周兴和不知是在哪本书上，读到过哪位作家写的这段话，想到这里，他心情似乎平静了一些。唉，实在太疲倦了，他不由得沉沉睡去……
Zhou Xinghe did not know in which book or by which writer he had read this passage. He seemed to feel a little calmer at the thought of it. Alas, he was so tired that he fell into a deep sleep...
