Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep.
一百多年前的一天清晨，一位名叫伊莱亚斯·豪的美国发明家终于睡着了。
He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into（遇到） a very difficult problem:
他一整晚都在设计一台缝纫机，但他遇到了一个非常棘手的问题：
It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.
要让线平稳地绕着针走似乎不可能。
Though he was tired, Howe slept badly.
豪虽然很累，但他睡得很不好。
He turned and turned. Then he had a dream.
他辗转反侧。后来他做了一个梦。
He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages（野蛮人） whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine.
他梦见自己被可怕的野蛮人抓住了，他们的国王想杀死他，吃掉他，除非他能造出一台完美的缝纫机。
When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problem as before.
在尝试造缝纫机的时候，豪遇到了和以前一样的问题。
The thread kept getting caught around the needle.
线老是缠在针上。
The king flew into a rage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe.
国王勃然大怒，命令士兵们杀死豪。
They came up towards him with their spears raised.
他们举着长矛向他走来。
But suddenly the inventor noticed something.
但是突然，这个发明家注意到了什么。
There was a hole in the tip of each spear.
每个矛的尖端都有一个洞。
The inventor awoke from the dream, realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem.
发明家从梦中醒来，意识到他刚刚已经找到了问题的答案。
Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle, he should make it run through a small hole in the center of the needle.
他应该让线穿过针中心的一个小孔，而不是试图让线绕过针。
This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practical sewing machine.
这个简单的想法最终使豪设计并制造了第一台真正实用的缝纫机。
Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answer to his problem in this way.
伊莱亚斯·豪并不是唯一一个以这种方式找到问题答案的人。
Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light, said his best ideas came into him in dreams.
电灯的发明者托马斯·爱迪生说他最好的主意都是在梦中想到的。
Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing Jane Eyre.
夏洛蒂·勃朗特在写《简·爱》时也把她的梦境写了进去。
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