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Ever since anyone could remember, Hank was fas－cinated with watches, pocket watches of any kind. When he was a young boy, he received one of them as a present. He proceeded1 to astonish the family by taking it apart and then, putting it back together, and it ran perfectly. Shortly thereafter, he began repairing his friends’ watches. Dad said that Hank should charge for the ser－vice but the youngster explained it was just a labor of love2, he enjoyed it so much. In his 10s, Hank could dis－assemble3 and reassemble a watch,(listen to this)... blindfolded4. Well, by then it was clear to everybody that young Hank was headed for a career as a watchmaker.
At 17, he took a job at the Magill Jewelery Store. The establishment had recently procured5 a sizeable in－ventory6 of watches from another store. Hank’s first pro－ject would be to clean and check them. The job had one condition — Hank must remain in the back room, out of the customer’s view, for although his work was excellent, his apparent youth was potentially confidence shaking. But Hank didn’t mind the back room, as long as he could tinker7 with his beloved time pieces. After three years in the business, Hank had built up quite a reputation as a watch repairer, and quite a personal collection of watches, more than 300 of them.
And then, one day, he got an idea. In Hank’s era, the greatest part of a watch’s cost was that it had to be assembled by hand. There was no machinery accu－rate or delicate8 enough to put them together. But Hank became convinced that it was possible to mass produce watches, thereby drastically9 reduc－ing the price. And from the moment that brainstorm struck, Hank devoted all of his spare time to plan－ning mass production of watches. He made designs for the machinery, and for the dies10 for the stamp－ings11. He even cut some of the dies so that they would be ready for his future factory. He calculated the costs of production. He deduced12 that he could make a serviceable13 watch... for 30 cents. He got another young jeweler interested in the project and the two plotted14 various means of raising the nec－essary capital to go into the business of mass-pro－ducing watches.
But suddenly, on the verge of embarking15 up－on16 this revolutionary enterprise, Hank got cold feet. Even if he could make quality timepieces and the price is accessible to the American working man, a watch was not an outright17 necessity. And at 30 cents a piece, the way Hank figured, he’d have to manufacture and sell more than half a million watches to show a decent18 profit. So, Hank aban－doned the idea of mass-producing watches. In fact, he abandoned watch-making and watch-repairing altogether. But because he did, an American indus－trial empire was born.
The world has forgotten Hank the watchmaker. The world never even heard of Hank, the watchmak－er, and the dreamer of timepiece that anybody could afford. But because he applied the same principle to another kind of machinery, because his studies had taught him much about mass production, the auto－mobile was promoted from unattainable19 extrava－gance20 to everyday transportation. You know Hank, the Detroit watchmaker, as Henry Ford. Only now, you know the rest of the story.
在人们的记忆当中，汉克很小的时候迷上了表，各种各样的怀表。在他的孩提时代，他收到了一件礼物———一块表。令全家人吃惊的是，他把表拆开了，然后再把零件装上，表竟然走得很准。此后不久，他开始给朋友们修表。爸爸说汉克的服务应该收钱，但是这个少年解释说修表是他的爱好，他就爱干这个。汉克十几岁时就能把表拆开又重新装好。听好了……是蒙住眼睛干的。当时人人清楚，小汉克定能成为一个钟表匠。
十七岁时，他在马吉珠宝店找到一份工作。这家商店不久前从另一家商店搞到了相当多的一批表。汉克的第一个任务是清洗和检查它们。做这份工作有一个条件，汉克必须待在后面的房子里不让顾客看见，因为尽管他干得很出色，但他看上去却很年轻，有可能动摇顾客的信心。然而他不介意在后面的房间工作，只要他能够修理他心爱的表就行。在这个行业干了三年之后，汉克已成了一个很有名气的修表工，并且个人藏表有300多块。
于是，一天他想出了一个好主意。在汉克的时代，一块表的价值主要是贵在手工安装上。当时没有准确或精巧的机器来安装零件。但是，汉克确信成批生产手表从而大幅度地减价是可能的。从他想出那个妙主意时起，汉克就把他所有的业余时间都花在筹划表的批量生产上。他设计了机器及冲压模具。他甚至刻制了一些模具来为他将来自己的工厂做准备。他计算了一下生产的费用。他推断他制造一只可使用的表只需30美分。他的计划让另一位年青的珠宝工也发生了兴趣。两人想了各种各样筹集资金的方法，以便投入到成批生产各种表的生意里。
但是，突然，当汉克快要着手这个革命性计划时，他却失去了勇气。即使他能够制造高质量的表，在价钱方面也能为美国工人所接受，但表毕竟不是不可或缺的必需品。如果按照汉克计算的一块表30美分，他将不得不生产和销售50余万块表才能有像样的利润。因此，汉克放弃了成批生产表的想法。事实上，他也同时完全放弃了制表和修表。然而，得益于他批量生产的想法，一个美国工业帝国诞生了。
世人已忘记了制表工汉克，人们甚至从未听说过汉克这个制表工———这个梦想制造任何人都买得起表的人。但是他的研究使他学到了许多关于成批生产的知识，他把同样的原理应用于另一类机器，从而使汽车从不可及的奢侈品变成了日常运输工具。于是底特律的制表者汉克，就以亨利·福特而闻名天下。不过现在，剩下的故事你已经全知道了。
At 17, he took a job at the Magill Jewelery Store. The establishment had recently procured5 a sizeable in－ventory6 of watches from another store. Hank’s first pro－ject would be to clean and check them. The job had one condition — Hank must remain in the back room, out of the customer’s view, for although his work was excellent, his apparent youth was potentially confidence shaking. But Hank didn’t mind the back room, as long as he could tinker7 with his beloved time pieces. After three years in the business, Hank had built up quite a reputation as a watch repairer, and quite a personal collection of watches, more than 300 of them.
And then, one day, he got an idea. In Hank’s era, the greatest part of a watch’s cost was that it had to be assembled by hand. There was no machinery accu－rate or delicate8 enough to put them together. But Hank became convinced that it was possible to mass produce watches, thereby drastically9 reduc－ing the price. And from the moment that brainstorm struck, Hank devoted all of his spare time to plan－ning mass production of watches. He made designs for the machinery, and for the dies10 for the stamp－ings11. He even cut some of the dies so that they would be ready for his future factory. He calculated the costs of production. He deduced12 that he could make a serviceable13 watch... for 30 cents. He got another young jeweler interested in the project and the two plotted14 various means of raising the nec－essary capital to go into the business of mass-pro－ducing watches.
But suddenly, on the verge of embarking15 up－on16 this revolutionary enterprise, Hank got cold feet. Even if he could make quality timepieces and the price is accessible to the American working man, a watch was not an outright17 necessity. And at 30 cents a piece, the way Hank figured, he’d have to manufacture and sell more than half a million watches to show a decent18 profit. So, Hank aban－doned the idea of mass-producing watches. In fact, he abandoned watch-making and watch-repairing altogether. But because he did, an American indus－trial empire was born.
The world has forgotten Hank the watchmaker. The world never even heard of Hank, the watchmak－er, and the dreamer of timepiece that anybody could afford. But because he applied the same principle to another kind of machinery, because his studies had taught him much about mass production, the auto－mobile was promoted from unattainable19 extrava－gance20 to everyday transportation. You know Hank, the Detroit watchmaker, as Henry Ford. Only now, you know the rest of the story.
在人们的记忆当中，汉克很小的时候迷上了表，各种各样的怀表。在他的孩提时代，他收到了一件礼物———一块表。令全家人吃惊的是，他把表拆开了，然后再把零件装上，表竟然走得很准。此后不久，他开始给朋友们修表。爸爸说汉克的服务应该收钱，但是这个少年解释说修表是他的爱好，他就爱干这个。汉克十几岁时就能把表拆开又重新装好。听好了……是蒙住眼睛干的。当时人人清楚，小汉克定能成为一个钟表匠。
十七岁时，他在马吉珠宝店找到一份工作。这家商店不久前从另一家商店搞到了相当多的一批表。汉克的第一个任务是清洗和检查它们。做这份工作有一个条件，汉克必须待在后面的房子里不让顾客看见，因为尽管他干得很出色，但他看上去却很年轻，有可能动摇顾客的信心。然而他不介意在后面的房间工作，只要他能够修理他心爱的表就行。在这个行业干了三年之后，汉克已成了一个很有名气的修表工，并且个人藏表有300多块。
于是，一天他想出了一个好主意。在汉克的时代，一块表的价值主要是贵在手工安装上。当时没有准确或精巧的机器来安装零件。但是，汉克确信成批生产手表从而大幅度地减价是可能的。从他想出那个妙主意时起，汉克就把他所有的业余时间都花在筹划表的批量生产上。他设计了机器及冲压模具。他甚至刻制了一些模具来为他将来自己的工厂做准备。他计算了一下生产的费用。他推断他制造一只可使用的表只需30美分。他的计划让另一位年青的珠宝工也发生了兴趣。两人想了各种各样筹集资金的方法，以便投入到成批生产各种表的生意里。
但是，突然，当汉克快要着手这个革命性计划时，他却失去了勇气。即使他能够制造高质量的表，在价钱方面也能为美国工人所接受，但表毕竟不是不可或缺的必需品。如果按照汉克计算的一块表30美分，他将不得不生产和销售50余万块表才能有像样的利润。因此，汉克放弃了成批生产表的想法。事实上，他也同时完全放弃了制表和修表。然而，得益于他批量生产的想法，一个美国工业帝国诞生了。
世人已忘记了制表工汉克，人们甚至从未听说过汉克这个制表工———这个梦想制造任何人都买得起表的人。但是他的研究使他学到了许多关于成批生产的知识，他把同样的原理应用于另一类机器，从而使汽车从不可及的奢侈品变成了日常运输工具。于是底特律的制表者汉克，就以亨利·福特而闻名天下。不过现在，剩下的故事你已经全知道了。