Unit 4 More practice

A pen giant

笔的巨人

Do you know László Bíró?

你知道拉斯洛o拜罗（注：匈牙利文）吗？

Maybe you do not, but you probably use his invention every day, and you may even have it in your hand right now!

也许你听说过，但你可能每天都在使用着他的发明，你甚至现在手里还拿着它吧！

Bíró (1899-1985) was the inventor of the ballpoint pen.

拜罗（1899-1985）是圆珠笔的发明者。

He was born in Budapest, Hungary.

他出生在匈牙利首都布达佩斯。

In the 1930s, when he worked as a newspaper editor, he used a fountain pen almost every day.

在 20 世纪 30 年代，当他担任报社编辑，他几乎每天都要使用的钢笔。

However, he had to refill it all the time.

但是，他不得不每时每刻都要将其加满墨水。

The ink also did not dry easily, and it sometimes made a mess on the paper.

墨水又没那么容易干，往往把报纸上搞得一团糟。

Bíró wanted a better pen. His brother, George, helped him develop a special ink. The ink dried easily.

拜罗想要一支更好的笔。他的弟弟乔治，帮助他制定了专门的墨水，很容易干。

Then they developed a new type of pen.

然后，他们开发了一种新型笔。

There was a tiny ball at the tip of the pen. The ball rolled ink onto paper as it moved.

有一个小球在笔尖。小球滚动时把墨水印在纸上。

They called it the “ballpoint” pen.

他们把它称为“圆珠笔”。

The ballpoint pen was a great success.

圆珠笔是一个巨大的成功，每个人都喜欢它。

Everyone loved it. Now millions of people use it all over the world every day.

现在，世界各地数以百万的人每天都使用它。

People will always remember Bíró for his invention.

人们将永远记住拜罗的发明。

Today in many English-speaking countries, people still use the word “biro” to refer to any kind of ballpoint pen.

今天，在很多英语国家，人们仍然用“biro”是代指所有类型的圆珠笔。