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?There's this amazing picture of my coworker.
这是一张很棒的照片，上面是我同事。
It's him reading a Ninja Turtles book, lying next to a SuperSoaker.
他正在看一本《忍者神龟》的漫画，就躺在一把超级水枪。
When the SuperSoaker came out, it was a game changer.
超级水枪一出场，就能称霸全场。
The slogan "wetter is better" was essentially a mantra for kids during summer break.
品牌的标语“越湿越好”也是暑期孩子们的经典口号。
So when I went to Atlanta to interview the guy responsible for all of that,
所以，当我去亚特兰大采访这一切的“始作俑者”时，
I had to show him the photo.
我必须给他看这张照片。
That's funny.
这挺有意思的。
Lonnie Johnson invented the SuperSoaker back in 1982.
早在1982年，朗尼·约翰逊就发明了超级水枪。
But, that is not his only invention.
然而，这并不是他唯一的发明。
Well, I have over a hundred patents.
嗯，我有100多个发明专利。
Everything from the Nerf gun to a thermoelectric energy converter.
从热火水枪到热电换能器都有。
He also worked on NASA’s Galileo mission to Jupiter and alongside the U.S. military.
他还参与了和美国军方合作的国家宇航局伽利略木星探测计划。
For the first SuperSoaker, actually, I made in my shop in my basement in the evening when I would come home from work.
其实，第一款超级水枪是我傍晚下班回到家之后在我底下工作室里发明出来的。
And at the time I was actually working on the Stealth Bomber program,back when it was highly classified
那个时候我在做一个隐形轰炸机的项目，是高度机密的项目，
and I actually couldn't even tell my wife what I was working on during the daytime.
我白天的工作内容连我妻子也不能透露。
It was that top secret.
那属于最高机密。
The original name for the SuperSoaker was The Drencher.
最初给超级水枪取的名字叫“湿身器”。
We ran into a challenge regarding the name because another inventor claimed it.
但我们遇到了一个问题，因为有其他发明家已经注册了这个名字。
So we changed the name to SuperSoaker just to avoid having to deal with that.
所以为了避免麻烦，我们才改用了“超级水枪”这个名字。
SuperSoaker is definitely a way better name.
超级水枪绝对更好听。
When he started, Lonnie wasn't trying to create a toy for kids.
一开始，朗尼并不是想发明一个儿童玩具。
I was working on a new type of heat pump that would use water as a working fluid instead of freon.
我本来是想发明一种能够以水替代氟里昂为工作液的热泵。
And I was experimenting with some nozzles that I machined
在试验我加工的几种喷嘴的时候，
and I shot a stream of water across the bathroom
喷出的水从浴室这头喷到了那头，
and I thought, "Geez, maybe I should put this hard science stuff aside "
我就想到，“天啦，或许我应该把硬科学先放一放，
and work on something fun like a water gun."
做一个像水枪一样好玩的东西出来。”
It still works.
竟然还能用！
And this brings me back to a previous point.
这又让我回到了之前的论点：
Lonnie Johnson is a super genius scientist.
朗尼·约翰逊是一个绝顶聪明的科学家。
This is his lab. And this is what he's working on now.
这是他的实验室，这是他正在研究的项目。
Yeah, right now I'm working on advanced battery technology.
没错，现在我正在研究高能电池技术。
My goal is to develop a battery that will store about three times the energy of a lithium ion battery.
这项研究的目标是发明一种能够储蓄3倍于锂电池电量的高能电池。
In comparison, the SuperSoaker might not seem as hard science,
相比之下，超级水枪可能不那么像硬科学，
but it was still a really, really important invention.
但它依然是一项非常非常重要的发明。
