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塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯：自助论·摘录 111
塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯《自助论》· Self-Help · 领导
When Franklin made his discovery of the identity of lightning and electricity, it was sneered at, and people asked, “Of what use is it?” To which his reply was, “What is the use of a child? It may become a man!” When Galvani discovered that a frog’s leg twitched when placed in contact with different metals, it could scarcely have been imagined that so apparently insignificant a fact could have led to important results. Yet therein lay the germ of the Electric Telegraph, which binds the intelligence of continents together, and, probably before many years have elapsed, will “put a girdle round the globe.” So too, little bits of stone and fossil, dug out of the earth, intelligently interpreted, have issued in the science of geology and the practical operations of mining, in which large capitals are invested and vast numbers of persons profitably employed.
出处：
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/935
定位：Excerpt 111 · 核对日期：2026-10-19 · 核验：短摘录
白话
当富兰克林发现闪电和电是同一回事时，人们嘲笑他，问：“这有什么用？”他回答说：“孩子有什么用？他可能成为大人！”当伽伐尼发现青蛙腿接触不同金属时会抽动，几乎没人能想象如此不起眼的事实会带来重要结果。然而其中却蕴含着电报的萌芽，电报把各大洲的智慧连接起来，而且很可能不出多少年，就会“环绕地球”。同样，从地下挖出的小块石头和化石，经过明智解读，催生了地质学和采矿的实际操作，大量资本投入其中，无数人因此获得有报酬的工作。
上下文
斯迈尔斯用富兰克林和伽伐尼的例子，说明看似无用的发现往往孕育着重大应用。
今日一问
面对一个新奇但暂时无用的想法，你会轻易否定它，还是给它成长的时间？
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