辛辛那提红人队吉祥物,辛辛那提home

呵呵，专辑歌曲看看吧

················

················

发行专辑

Babyface在1987年发行的个人首张专辑「情人」(Lovers)，来自各界的好评开始打响他的知名度。Babyface在这张专辑中用近似声的唱法，唱出他对爱情的观感。趁着这次的重新发行，专辑别收录三首不同版本的"Mary Mack"、"If We Try"和"Lovers"，歌迷可以重新回味Babyface的处女作。

专辑名称： 温柔情人／Tender Lover

曲目:

1. You Make Me Feel Brand New

2. Lovers

3. Chivalry

4. I Love You Babe

5. Mary Mack

6. Faithful

7. If We Try

8. Take Your Time

9. I Love You Babe (Reprise)

10. Mary Mack - (Free Style mix, track)

11. If We Try - ( track, 12" version)

12. Lovers - (Jazz Lover's mix, track

Babyface在1989年推出的第二张专辑「温柔情人」(Tender Lover)，对大部分的唱片消费者来说，是认识这位顶尖词曲创作者与制作人的一个开始。为了专心於个人的事业，Babyface离开了The Deele，他将之前累积的经验在第二张专辑的制作上，在声音的表现上显得更扎实、更有自信，而在内容上，相较於第一张专辑着重於男女间的亲密关系，这张专辑更强调情人彼此心灵的交流。Babyface说，他选择用较冷静的方式展现的一面，在当时，他在歌手与制作人这两个身份上，表现已渐趋成熟，所以专辑中不乏有感而发的作品。

专辑的首支单曲"It's No Crime"顺利登上节奏蓝调榜冠军，也使Babyface首次进入流行榜（最高名次为第七名）。第二支单曲"Tender Lover"也成功拿下R&B榜冠军席次，在此同时，Babyface和Reid成立了LaFace唱片公司，隶属於Arista公司，旗下艺人包括TLC及甫获本届葛莱美奖最佳节奏蓝调女歌手的Toni Braxton。之后的两支单曲"Whip Appeal"和"My Kinda Girl"都有相当不错的成绩，其中"Whip Appeal"在流行榜最高名次曾达到第六名。专辑本身则蝉连节奏蓝调专辑榜冠军高达十一周，可以说为Babyface创造了事业的一个高峰。

专辑名称： 只因你太酷／For the Cool in You

曲目:

1. It's No Crime

2. Tender Lover

3. Let's Be Romantic

4. Can't Stop My Heart

5. My Kinda Girl

6. Where Will You Go (Prelude)

7. Whip Appeal

8. Soon As I Get Home

9. Given A Chance

10. Sunshine

11. Where Will You Go

12. Tender Lover - (Dub L.A. mix, track)

13. My Kinda Girl - ( track, 12" version)

14. Whip Appeal - ( track, 12" version)

1992年，Babyface和老搭档Antonio "L.A." Reid联手为Boyz II Men谱写、制作了畅销单曲"End of the Road"，不但蝉连流行单曲榜冠军长达13周，也为他拿下生平首座葛莱美奖（年度制作人、最佳节奏蓝调歌曲）。但Babyface并未因此自满，反而更加认真制作他的第三张专辑，成品就是这张「只因你太酷」(For the Cool in You)。

这张专辑在美国卖出三百多万张，并产生四首单曲，其中最受瞩目的是"When Can I See You"。虽然这支单曲在节奏蓝调榜的成绩不如Babyface以前的单曲亮眼，但是也为他夺得葛莱美奖最佳节奏蓝调男歌手奖，且在流行榜曾高居第四名，证明他不只是能在节奏蓝调界有表现。唱片公司当初对于这支单曲是否会受欢迎而感到怀疑，但是Babyface相当有信心，他认为这首仅用吉他与鼓简单伴奏的歌曲，具有属于它自己的特色，事实证明他是对的。

Babyface喜欢将男性对爱情的想法放在歌曲中，他说，或许男人会感到不自在，但是，这才是女人想要知道的。另外，Babyface还重新诠释Joe Cocker名曲"You Are So Beautiful"，并且赋予原曲一番新意。

专辑名称： 醉情歌／LOVE SONG

曲目:

1. For The Cool In You

2. Lady, Lady

3. Never Keeping Secrets

4. Rock Bottom

5. And Our Feelings

6. Saturday

7. When Can I See You

8. Illusions

9. A Bit Old-Fashioned

10. You Are So Beautiful

11. I'll Always Love You

12. Well Alright

13. For The Cool In You - (Quiet Storm vocal mix, track)

14. When Can I See You - (Urban Soul Basement mix, track)

15. For The Cool In You - (Midnight Luv Instrumental mix)

Babyface早期是从美国中部辛辛那提崛起的歌手，但由於他的才华出众，使得他在很短时间内就取得了为当时如Sheena Easton、Paula Abdul等许多女歌手制作唱片的机会。进入九零年代之后，Babyface不仅开始出版自己个人的专辑，而且也因为他所制作的专辑都获得商业上的成功，使得他的名气在制作圈内益发响亮。在当时，他以一张《Tender Lover》跨界流行榜而获致两百万的销售成绩，许多畅销单曲可说都是那时候完成的，而且再加上他在1995年为黑人偶像团体Boyz II Men、Madonna与Whitney Houston等大牌艺人担纲制作重任，使得他顿时间成为非常炙手可热的超级制作人。

这张选集可说是收录了他从早期第一张专辑《Tender Lover》一直到他最叫好畅销的《The

Day》为止，十六首歌曲，完全都是最精华的单曲曲目与最受欢迎的畅销情歌，不论是从现代都会式的节奏蓝调到充满柔情蜜意的缠绵灵魂歌曲，Babyface可说是展现了他男性温雅腼腆的一面，同时也帮许多的男性同胞唱出他们难以启口的心声，此张超值精选，正是全天下有情人都该配备在身旁的万用圣品。

专辑名称： 记得那天／THE DAY

1. I Said I Love You

2. All Day Thinkin'

3. This Is For The Lover In You

4. Lady, Lady

5. For The Cool In You

6. A Bit Old-Fashioned

7. Never Keeping Secrets

8. When Can I See You

9. Whip Appeal 12-inch Version

10. Soon As I Get Home

11. Given A Chance

12. Sunshine

13. Every Time I Close My Eyes

14. When Your Body Gets Weak

15. Lovers

16. You Make Me Feel Brand New

「记得那天…」对Babyface来说是个新的开始，因为这是他首次未和老战友"L.A." Reid联手制作专辑，同时，他也认为，这张专辑可以证明他在音乐界这么多年的成长、进步.此后,他又分别出了“圣诞专辑／CHRISTMAS WITH BABYFACE”、“绝对抒情精选＋新曲／THE COLLECTION OF HIS GREATEST HITS”、“ 世纪典藏／The Essential BABYFACE”和“ Grown and Sexy ”四张专辑

专辑名称： 圣诞专辑／CHRISTMAS WITH BABYFACE

曲目:

1. Everytime I Close My Eyes - (featuring Kenny G)

2. Talk To Me

3. I Said I Love You

4. When Your Body Gets Weak

5. Simple Days

6. All Day Thinkin'

7. Seven Seas

8. The Day (That You Ge Me A Son)

9. How Come, How Long - (featuring Stevie Wonder)

10. This Is For The Lover In You

11. Every Time I Close My Eyes - (Timbaland remix)

12. Everytime I Feel The Groove - (Urban Soul Basement mix, previously unreleased)

13. This Is For The Lover In You - (Honey Lookin' Laced Extended remix)

专辑名称： 绝对抒情精选＋新曲／THE COLLECTION OF HIS GREATEST HITS

曲目:

1. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

2. Winter Wonderland

3. The Christmas Song

4. White Christmas

5. The Little Drummer Boy

6. I'll Be Home For Christmas

7. It Came pon a Midnight Clear/The Frirst Noel

8. Sleigh Ride

9. Silent Night

10. You Were There

专辑名称： 世纪典藏／The Essential BABYFACE

曲目:

1. For The Cool In you

2. It's No Crime

节奏蓝调榜冠军、流行榜第7

3. Whip Appeal

节奏蓝调榜亚军、流行榜第6

4. Never Keeping Secrets

节奏蓝调单曲榜季军

5. Every Time I Close My Eyes

节奏蓝调榜第五、流行榜第6／玛丽亚凯莉与萨克斯风才子Kenny G助阵

6. When Can I See You

流行榜第4名,以此获得葛莱美奖最佳节奏蓝调男歌手肯定的动人情歌

7. Reason For Breathing

2000年最新感性创作新歌

8. This Is For The Lover In You

节奏蓝调榜亚军、流行榜第6／与饶舌悍将L.L.Cool J与Judy Wately动感佳构

9. How Come, How Long

与黑人前辈巨星史提夫汪达真挚情切合唱

10. Change The World

与艾瑞克克莱普敦为**第三类奇迹灌唱的抒情榜冠军曲

11. I Love You Babe

节奏蓝调单曲榜第8名

12. Soon As I Get Home

13. Where Will You Go

14. When Men You Grow Old

2000年洋溢真情至性的全新首选

专辑名称：Grown and Sexy

曲目:

1. I Said I Love You

2. Never Keeping Secrets

3. Every Time I Close My Eyes

Babyface,Mariah Carey,Kenny G,Shelia E.

4. Talk To Me

5. When Can I See You

6. For The Cool In You

7. My Kinda Girl

8. Whip Appeal

9. Soon As I Get Home

10. Well Alright

11. The Day (That You Ge Me A Son)

12. How Come, How Long

Babyface,Stevie Wonder

13. This Is For The Lover In You

Babyface (Featuring LL Cool J, Howard Hewett, Jody Watley & Jeffrey Daniels)

14. I'll Make Love To You Live On MTV Unplugged

15. End Of The Road Live On MTV Unplugged

专辑Playlist是Babyface在Mercury唱片公司发行的第一张唱片，之前一张专辑是2005年的Grown&Sexy，Babyface在新专辑音乐中倾注了大量的心血，音乐连接到了他年轻时聆听70年代的调幅电台的情景。原唱的大部分都非常的棒：有James Taylor、 Jim Croce、 Dan Fogelberg、De Loggins以及Bread。除了Bob Dylan的"Knockin' on Heen's Door"之外，其他的歌曲都非常适合Babyface，让人觉得这些歌曲与他在最近几年写的歌，听上去差别并不很大。如果你能回到过去，听到Deele（译者注：这是Babyface单飞前的团体）最早期的歌曲，同时感受到了在他的配唱中体现出的更多的灵魂乐与早期爵士乐的痕迹，那么这张专辑正好表现了他是如何受恩于这些70年代的唱作者们的。除了八首翻唱曲目外，专辑还收录了两首新歌，这两首歌都很好地融入了专辑的音乐主题之中.

01.Shower The People

02.Fire & Rain

03.Not Going Nowhere

04.Time In A Bottle

05.Wonderful Tonight

06.Knockin' On Heens Door

07.Longer

08.The Soldier Song

09.Please Come To Boston

10.Diary

···················

···················

所有歌曲吗？

自己慢慢区搜索吧，我懒得花时间gougou了。。

欧美组合babyface

他们的歌

A Bit Old-fashioned

All Day Thinkin

All Day Thinkin'

All Day Thinking

And Our Feelings

Babyface

Baby's Mama

Baby's Mama (featuring Snoop Dogg)

Breathe Again

Can't Stop My Heart

Can't Stop Now

Change The World

Chivalry

Don't Take It So Personal

Drama, Love & 'lationships

Dream Away

End Of The Road

Every Time I Close My Eyes

Exhale (shoop Shoop)

Faithful

Fire

For The Cool In You

Give U My Heart

Given A Chance

God Must Love U

Goin' Outta Business

Gone Too Soon

Good To Be In Love

Grown & Sexy

He Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Honey (oh How I Need You)

How Can U Be Down

How Come, How Long

I Care About You

I Keep Callin' Your Name

I Love You Babe

I Said I Love You

If

If We Try

I'll Always Love You

I'll Be Home For Christmas

I'll Make Love To You

Illusions

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear / The First Noel

It's No Crime

Lady, Lady

Let's Be Romantic

Love Makes Things Hen

Lover And Friend

Lovers

Mad, Sexy, Cool

Mary Mack

My Kinda Girl

Never Keeping Secrets

Outside In, Inside Out

Outside In-inside Out

Reason For Breathing

Rock Bottom

Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer

Saturday

Seven Seas

She

She's International

Silent Night

Sleigh Ride

Slow Jams

Slow Jams (remix)

Someone To Love

Soon As I Get Home

Sorry For The Stupid Things

Still In Love With U

Stressed Out

Sunshine

Take Your Time

Tender Lover

The Christmas Song

The Day (that You Ge Me A Son)

The Little Drummer Boy

The Loneliness

There She Goes

This Is For The Lover In You

Tonight It's Goin' Down

Treat You Right

Two Occasions

U Should Know

Well Alright

What If

When Can I See You

When Can I See You Again

When I Can See You

When Men Grow Old

When Your Body Gets Weak

Where Is My Love?

Where Will You Go

Whip Appeal

White Christmas

Winter Wonderland

Wish U Was My Girl

With Him

Work It Out

You Are So Beautiful

You Make Me Feel Brand New

You Were There

A little Bre Girl

A little Bre Girl

It is a true story.

This story was set in at the end of 2004 Zhejiang, when a ten-year old girl walked on her way to home from school as usual, she was being kidned off guard

by three men, whom are over 30 years of age, be tall, strong, and are very experienced in kidning. For just a split second, the girl was got in a car and didn’t know where she would head, but she didn’t burst into tears like others probably he done in her age, was unusually sober and figured out what has just hened. After short deliberation, she ge her parents telephone number to three

kidners after she was asked twice. Kidners shortly send short message to

her parents to tell what they did a moment ago for the ransom of RMB500,000 as they commands, threatened them with their daughter’s life. Her parents were at their wits' end at that moment and later had to dial police for helping. During closely watched by two kidners, the girl were pleased to cooperate with them in three meals, water, and spoke something to them for delaying. Luckily, kidners are very emotional and were amazed at what the girl said when it comes to money, “ I know clearly you are impossible to kill me, you need money most of all

, but you should know money doesn’t grow on trees, but on painstaking hands.”

The girl said, “ Uncle, you he probably had children like me, if you children

are in the danger of kidning, how then do you think? …” Finally, the kidners were profoundly moved by her reasonable words, and policemen easily seized them about two days later, now they do their time.

Soon after, a journalist wanted to disclose the reason why such a little young

girl is so wise upon the curious queries from the public, but the girl’s parents definitely rejected to accept visit, because they are afraid of kidning again as everyone would probably know her. But her main teacher briefly told that

the school often takes “ Keep a head during a crisis, to be wise and bre.” as a compulsory lesson to educate pupils, this girl are bre enough to practise

this lesson. Also, the girl said she was sort of scared but must to eat enough to keep energetic so as to fight against the kidners as long as she could.

Through this story, I deeply feel that the importance of education. Nothing is

more important than to receive education. Education, is absolutely not complete

with graduation, is a lifelong study and bound to exert a great impact on our future. Further, the value of education. We should not educate children only for

the aim of education, our foremost purpose is to fit them for life.

We can see bats in almost every part of the world but they can’t live in very hot or very cold places. They live on all continents but do not live on Antarctica. You can find most species of bats in the places where the weather is nice and warm.

On some islands there are only a few kinds of bats. That’s because it’s too far for most bats to get to those islands.

In the United States, the greatest number of bats live in the south-western part of the country. This place has all kinds of places where bats can live and there is a lot of food during most of the year. For example, Texas has 32 different kinds of bats while Maine has only 8; Arizona has 28 species, but Michigan has just 10.

词数:39处理时间:2′09〃

Questions:1. The underlined word "species" in the first paragraph means "______"in Chinese.

A. 种类B. 数量C. 天敌D. 栖息地

2. We can learn from the passage that _____.

A. bats like warm places

B. bats live everywhere in the world

C. the US has the most bats in the world

D. bats don’t like living on islands

3. The passage mainly tells us ____.

A. how bats live B. where bats live

C. bats’food D. bats’life

B

本文词数:182参考时间:2′32〃

In warm water, there is a kind of sea mammal1 called dugongs. They live a comfortable life. They he no natural enemies and never fight2.Dugongs lived in the oceans during the age of dinosaurs. They he funny faces and no front teeth! Their teeth grow only along the sides of their mouth. Some think they are ugly. Only their mothers may love them, but as we know, they are important and helpful for us!

Dugongs only eat plants. They swim slowly so that they can eat the sea grass. They often dig down into the sand and eat sea-grass roots. Dugongs relax during the day. During most of the night, they eat. They eat noisily and you can often hear the sounds of their chomping teeth.

Dugongs give birth to only one baby every three to five years. They take the newborn baby to the surface of the water so that the baby can take its first breath of air. It stays with its mother for two years and sometimes rests on its mother’s back. Dugongs feed their young with milk.

Dugongs can live for about 60 years, but every year more and more people move to near the warm coasts and rivers which are also the homes to dugongs. They he fewer places to live and feed.

Notes:

1. mammal n. 哺乳动物

2. 意为:在自然界它们没有敌人,也从不争斗。

词数:39处理时间:2′09〃Questions:

1. Which one is the best title for this article?

A. The Kind Animal

B. Dugongs’Lives

C. Dugongs Are Nice

D. Mother Loves Dugongs

2. The underlined words "chomping teeth"mean __________.

A. washing teeth

B. changing teeth

C. eating loudly

D. opening the mouth

3. Which one is TRUE?

A. Dugong babies live with their mother when they are 3 years old.

B. Dugongs eat animals and plants.

C. Dugongs give birth every year.

D. Dugongs can live for as long as 60 years.

阅读新题型

本文词数:240参考时间:6′00〃

A man was looking for office help. He put a sign1 in the window: "HELP WANTED. Must know how to type2 and speak two languages, and be good at the computer."1 The man was surprised, but led him into the office. Inside, the dog jumped on the chair and looked at him.

The man said, "I can’t give you this job. The sign says you must know how to type." The dog jumped down, went to the typewriter, and typed out a perfect letter. 2 The man was shocked3, but told the dog, "The sign says you he to be good at the computer." The dog went to the computer and wrote out the same letter on it.

The man looked at the dog and said, "You’re a very clever dog. 3 "

The dog looked at the man and said, "Meow!"

Notes:

1. sign n. 标牌

2. type v. 打字

3. shock v.使震惊

词数:39处理时间:2′09〃

Task: Please put the following sentences in the blanks. 把下列句子还原到文中空白处。

A. He took out the piece of paper and ge it to the manager.

B. However, I still can’t give you the job, because the sign also says that you need to speak two languages.

C. A short time later, a dog came to the window, saw the sign and went inside.

本期阅读答案

阅读A 1-3 A A B

阅读B 1-3 B C D

阅读新题型

1-3 C A B

Thomas Alva Edison was a man of wonderful ability who

had the good luck to be born at a good time. In the period

just after the American Civil War the United States was

growing conditions were right for the talents of a man like

Edison.

The Edison family had come to the United States from Holland

in the early part of the l8th century． Thomas Alva the

youngest of Samuel’s seven children was born in 1847.

Thomas was an unusually curious child． Even at an early age

he loved to read and make experiments． Because he was so

dreamy and quiet a teacher once accused him of being stupid．

Thomas’s mother was so displeased by this remark that she took

her son out of school and never sent him back. She took charge

of his education herself and taught him reading history

science and philosophy． Edison was a very quick reader and he

remembered everything． Once he got the idea of starting at the

first shelf of a large library and reading everything in it．

But after reading through fif feet of books he ge up

this ambition.

In order to earn money for books and for his scientific

experiments Thomas sold vegetables from the family garden.

This work did not bring in enough money and so he began to

sell newspapers and candy on a train that ran between Port

HuronMichigan and Detroit． Because people were so eager for

the latest news about the CiviI War which was then at its

height Thomas decided in February 1862 when he was fif

years old to print a newspaper of his own the Weekly Herald,

in a baggage car of the train where he worked．In four years he

earned two thousand dollars from thisbusiness.

While he worked on the train young Edison continued to

experiment setting up a laboratory in the baggage car. One day

a stick of phosphorus feIl to the floor and set thecar on

fire． The conductor of the train as so angry that he threw Tom

and all his equipment off the train at the next station； he

also struck Tom causing a permanent injury which later made

him deaf in the right ear.

One day not long after he had started his newspaper, EdiSon

saw a child playing on the tracks in front of a train. He

jumped off the station platform and snatched the child from

the wheels of the train. The father who hened to be the

stationmaster was so grateful that he offered to teach Tom to

become a telegraph operator．He ge him lessons four days a

week after the station had closed for the nightand in three

weeks Edison was a better telegrapher than his teacher.

Edison was sober and independent for his age, but hen was

restless and very careless in his dress． He began to wander

from city to city and from job to job． Because his ideas were

too strange to please the men who hired him,they often asked

him to lee． During this time, he worked in Indianapolis,

Cincinnati, Memphis, and Louisville．

Edison went to Boston's where he had been promised work as

adegraph operator, mainly because of the neat handwriting in

his letter of lication, When heeared in that city, he

looked so untidy and strange that the superintendent asked him

to return later in the day to take a test in telegraphy, with

ihe idea of making ihe test so diffcult that the young man

could not possibly pass it, As the rapid message came in,

Edison realized clerks in the station were playing a joke on

him. They had arranged for the new York operator to send him a

message, faster and faster,in an effort to make Edison admit

that he could not write it down at such a rapid pace, But

Edison was not discouraged. He decided to outwit these

fellows, and he began to send a message himself. He said to

the New York operator,“Come on, don’t go to sleep．Get busy!

That ended the joke, and Edison won his job, as weil as the

title of fastest telegraph operator in the Western Union

Company.

In 1869 he borrowed some money and went to New York． During

the first three years he spent there, he nearly died of

starvation. He slept in a room belonging to a company that

sent information on stock prices to the business houses of New

York． One day the machine that printed news about gold

stopped． Six hundred banks and business houses were without

information about what was being bought and sold that day.

Edison succeeded in repairing the machine, and he was then

offered a job as manager for $300 a month． He was soon hard at

work making improvements in the machine and inventing new

parts． His Universal Printer, invented at this time, printed

full information about gold prices, instead of showing them

only by a few letters and numbers． This was his first big

success． GeneraI Marshall Lefferts, president of the Gold and

Stock Telegraph Company, bought this and several other

inventions of Edison's for forty thousand dollars.

Edison then put his new money to work． He opened a factory

in Newark,New Jersey． Soon he had over one hundred and fifty

men building machines to record stock prices, while he himself

continued to work on new ideas. At one time, he had forty-five

separate inventions in his laboratory, including several

important improvements of the telegrilph. He invented a way of

sending two messages at the same time in opposite directions,

and then a way of sending two messages at the same time in the

same direction,In 1874 he invented and sold to Western Union a

system by which four messages could be sent over one wire at

the same time, two in each direction. He also perfected a new

system for sending telegrams. These inventions sed Western

Union milhons of dollars in the cost of wires and telegraph

poles alone.

Western Union then suggested to Edison that he try to

develop a commercially useful telephone, Alexander Graham Bell

had already patented the te1ephone, but Bell's telephone could

be heard only over short distances． Edison added several

improvements, which were adopted, and are still used in the

telephone today． Western Union paid Edison one hundred

thousand dollars for his inventions.

In l876 he built a workshop and laboratory in Menlo Park,

New Jersey． He was known after that as he Wizard of Menlo

Park,because of the wonderful discoveries he made there, He

began to study the attempts of other men to invent an

incandescent electric light． He tried over and over again to

make a soft light that would be suitab1e for use in private

houses． He tested over two thousand materials before

discovering one that would work． He needed something that

would become hot and give off light when electricity passed

through it in a glass container from which the air had been

removed． He spent a hundred thousand dollars searching for the

best material． Men were sent to India, China, Brazil, and

finally, Japan, where a material was finally found.

In Jalluary,1880, the electric light was patented. Edison

then built a factory for the production of his light in Menlo

Park, and an electric power station in New York City. But it

was four years before the public really accepted the

electric light． After that, the electric light business grew

So great that Edison was able to sell his share in the

electric light for more than one million dollars.

Edison patented over one thousand separate inventions during

his life, He never stopped trying to learn more about science

and what it could do for man, His discoveries probably

increased the wealth of the world more than those of any other

single man in history.

On October l8,1931,Edison died at the age of eighiy-four at

his home in Orange, New Jersey． Several days later, the whole

United States turned off its electric lights for one minute,

in honor of the man whose discoveries had so changed and

improved the life of people everywhere.

托马斯.阿尔法.爱迪生是一位诞生在好时代里的天才人物。

南北战争以后,美国正在成长壮大,各种条件对于象爱迪生这样有天才的人都是有利的。

爱迪生一家人在十八世纪早期从荷兰来到美国。托马斯·阿尔法生于1847年,是撒缪尔的七个孩子中最小的一个。

托马斯是一个好奇心特强的孩子。即使还在幼年时代,他就爱读书和做实验。因为

他如此爱好空想和不声不响,以致一位老师有一次骂他愚蠢。托马斯的母亲对这个评语很不高兴,她令孩子退学不再返校。母亲自己照管孩子的教育,教他阅读,教他历史、科学和哲学等。爱迪生读起书来,领会得快,而且过目不忘。有一次他异想天开,要从一所大图书馆的第一个书架看起,看完书架上每一本书。但在看完了书架上十五英尺厚的书籍后,他放弃了这个野心。

为了挣钱买书和搞科学实验,托马斯就出售他家菜园中的蔬菜。这工作挣不到足够的钱,所以他就开始在一列专跑休伦港、密执安和底特律的火车上卖报纸和糖果。因为人们在南北战争的高潮中急于了解战争的新情况,托马斯在1862年2月间,他十五岁时,决定在他所工作的火车行李车上印刷他自己的报纸《先驱周报》。四年之间他从这张报纸上赚了二千美元。

年轻的爱迪生在火车上工作时继续搞实验,在行李车上建立了一间实验室。有一天

一根磷棒掉在地板上使这节车厢着火。列车长十分生气,在下一个车站把汤姆和他的所有实

验设备都扔下了火车,还揍了汤姆一顿,造成永久性伤害,使爱迪生右耳聋了。

爱迪生在开办他的报纸后不久,有一天望见一个小孩在火车前面的铁轨上玩耍。他急忙从站台上跳下把小孩从火车轮子下抢救出来。这孩子的父亲正好是站长,他很感激,主动

提出要教会汤姆成为电报员。他在车站夜晚关门后,每周给他上四次课,三个星期之后爱迪生 便成为比他老师更好的电报员了。

就他的年龄来说,爱迪生很稳重,有独立性,但他见异思迁,而且对于衣着很不注意。 他开始从一个城市漫游到另一个城市,从一个

职业换到另一个职业。因为他的想法太离奇,

不能使雇用他的人满意,雇主们常常叫他卷铺盖走路。在这段时间里,他在印地安纳波利斯,辛辛那提,孟菲斯和路易斯维尔等城市都工作过。

爱迪生去到了波士顿,在那里有人答应给他电报员的工作,主要因为他的求职信中字迹写得工整。当他在波士顿露面时,他是如此的衣冠不整,怪里怪气,以致主管人叫他当天晚些时候去参加电报技术的考试,目的是要故意出难题,使这位青年考不及格。当电报迅速拍进来时,爱迪生意识到电报局的职工们是在和他开玩笑。他们已经和纽约市的电报员安排好,给爱迪生拍一份电报来,越拍越快,企图迫使爱迪生承认他抄不下这么快的电报。但爱迪生没有泄气。他决心以智取胜,于是他开始自己拍出一份电报。他对纽约市的电报员说：“来吧,别去睡觉,使劲吧！”这就结束了这场玩笑,爱迪生也赢得了他的职位,同时还赢得了西联电讯公司最快电报员的称号。

1869年爱迪生借了些钱去到纽约,他在纽约的头三年里,几乎饿死。他睡在一家公司的一间房子里,这公司专给纽约各商行提供股票行情。一天,那台印刷黄金行情的机器不动了。六百家银行和商行都收不到关于那天买进卖出的商情,爱迪生把这机器修好了,因此人家给了他一个经理的职位,月薪三百美元。他很

快地就努力改进这台机器,并且还发明了许多新部件。他当时发明的万能印刷机印出了关于金价的全部情报,而不只是以少数字母和数字来显示行情。这是他第一个巨大的成功,金价和股票电报公司的经理马歇尔。莱费兹将军出资四万美元把这台机器和爱迪生的其他几项发明买了下来。

爱迪生就拿这新到手的钱做生意。他在新泽西州纽阿克市开了一家工厂。很快地他就雇了一百五十人制造纪录股票行情的机器了,而他自己则继续试验他的一些新想法。有一段时间在他实验室里共有四十五个不同的发明项目,包括几项对于电报机的重要改进。他想出了一种方法,可从两个相反方向同时各拍出一份电报,随后又想出一种方法,可从一个方向同时拍两份电报。1874年他发明并售给西联电讯公司一种装置,用了它可以在一根电线上拍发四份电报,即从每一方向可同时拍发两份电报。他还改进了一种拍电报的新方法。使之趋于完善。这些发明,仅在电线和电线竿的成本上就为西联电讯公司节约了几百万美元。

西联电讯公司又向爱迪生建议：叫他试制一部商用电话,亚历山大.贝尔已经取得了电话机的专利,但贝尔的电话讥只能在短距

离内听见。爱迪生增大了几项改进,被用了,这些改进直到今天仍然应用在电话上。西联电讯公司为他的几项发明付给爱迪生十万美元。

1876年,爱迪生在新泽西州门洛园建造了一个车间和实验室,由于他在那里搞出了许多奇妙的发明,以后他被人们称为“洛园的巫师”。他开始研究别人为发明白热电灯所作的尝试。他一次再一次地试制一种适子家用的柔光灯。在找到,种合用的材料之前,他竟试验了两千种以上的材料。他需要某种可放在抽去空气的玻璃容器内,通过电流后能变热并发出光来的材料。他花了十万美元寻找最好的材料。他派人去印度、中国、巴西,最后终于在日本找到了。

在1880年1月,他取得了电灯专利权。爱迪生在门洛园建造了一家生产电灯的工厂,并在纽约市建成了一座发电站。但是直到过十四年公众才真正接受他的电灯。在那以后,电灯业发展得规模如此之大。以致爱迪生出售他的电灯股票时,竟得了一百多万美元。

爱迪生一生中得到一千多种发明项

国的专利为了学习更多的科学并使科学为人类服务,他永不停息。他的各种发明为世界增加的财富可能比历史上任何一个人都多。

1931年10月18月,爱迪生在新泽西州奥兰奇城的家中去世,终年八十四岁。几天后全美国都停电一分钟以纪念这个以他的发明大大改变并改善了各地人民生活的人。