事业 · 创业者自述
塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯：自助论·摘录 112
塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯《自助论》· Self-Help · 领导
The gigantic machinery employed in pumping our mines, working our mills and manufactures, and driving our steam-ships and locomotives, in like manner depends for its supply of power upon so slight an agency as little drops of water expanded by heat,—that familiar agency called steam, which we see issuing from that common tea-kettle spout, but which, when put up within an ingeniously contrived mechanism, displays a force equal to that of millions of horses, and contains a power to rebuke the waves and set even the hurricane at defiance. The same power at work within the bowels of the earth has been the cause of those volcanoes and earthquakes which have played so mighty a part in the history of the globe.
出处：
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/935
定位：Excerpt 112 · 核对日期：2026-10-19 · 核验：短摘录
白话
用于抽矿井水、驱动工厂和制造业、推动蒸汽船和机车的大型机械，其动力来源同样依赖于一种微小的媒介——被热量膨胀的小水滴，也就是我们熟悉的蒸汽。我们常见它从普通茶壶嘴冒出，但一旦被装入巧妙设计的机械中，就能展现出相当于数百万匹马的力量，拥有平息波浪甚至对抗飓风的能力。同样的力量在地球内部运作，引发了那些在地球历史上扮演重要角色的火山和地震。
上下文
斯迈尔斯以蒸汽为例，说明微小因素通过机制放大后能产生巨大力量。
今日一问
你生活中哪些微小的习惯或资源，经过合理组织后可能产生巨大的效果？
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