VOA慢速英语:Inventor of Weed Eater Started a Revolution

George Ballas of Houston, Texas, lived a long life. He was a businessman and property developer. A university lecturer and author. A dancer and dance studio owner whose son Corky and grandson Mark followed in his footsteps into the dance world.
得克萨斯州休斯敦的George Ballas走过了一生光辉的岁月。他是一位商人，房地产开发商，大学讲师和作家，他还是一位舞蹈家，拥有一个大型舞蹈工作室。他的儿子Corky和孙子Mark追寻着他的足迹进入舞蹈界。

And Mr. Ballas was the inventor of the Weed Eater.
此外，Ballas先生还是Weed Eater这种打草机的发明人。

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The man who found an easier way for people to cut grass and weeds died in Houston on June twenty-fifth. He was eighty-five years old.
这位为人们找到了一种更简单的修剪草坪方式的男子于6月25日去世，享年85岁。

George Ballas was born in Louisiana. He joined the military at seventeen. He served in World War Two and the Korean War. After the military, he became a dance teacher and executive in the dance school industry.
George Ballas在路易斯安那出生，17岁参军，曾参加第二次世界大战和朝鲜战争。从军队退役后，他成为一所舞蹈学校的舞蹈教师和行政管理人员。

In the nineteen fifties, he built a dance studio of his own in Houston. People called it the biggest in the world. Dance City USA had one hundred twenty teachers. Mr. Ballas sold the studio in nineteen sixty- four.
上世纪50年代，他在休斯敦创建了自己的舞蹈工作室。人们称这是全世界最大的舞蹈工作室。Dance City USA舞蹈工作室拥有120名舞蹈教师。1964年，George Ballas将这个工作室出售。

By the early seventies, he was on to the next big thing. The idea had come to him at a car wash. He watched the needle-like bristles of the brushes as they went round and round against his car. Could a similar idea be used to cut grass in places out of reach of someone pushing a lawn mower?
到了七十年代初，他迈向了人生又一个壮举。他在一次洗车过程中产生了这个想法。他观察到洗车的刷子上像针一样的刷毛不断在车上打转，能否把类似的想法应用到割草上，去清理那些手推式割草机够不着的地方？

To find out, he placed lengths of fishing line through holes in a tin can. He attached the can to the spinning part of a motorized grass edger. The result? A revolution for millions of people who cut grass for a living or just to keep their neighbors happy.
为了找到答案，他把一定长度的钓鱼线穿过锡罐的小孔，然后把这个锡罐固定到机动的草坪修边器的旋转部位。结果如何呢？这对数百万以修剪草坪为生以及修剪自己草坪的人来说是一次革命。

His invention grew into a company which he later sold.
根据这项发明，他成立了一家公司，后来将这家公司出售。

George Ballas became known as the "Weed King." As he once told the Houston Chronicle, "A Weed Eater comes along once in a lifetime."
George Ballas成为著名的“割草大王”。就像他告诉休斯敦编年史的，“打草机这种想法是一生之中最难得的。”

Today the idea lives on in a new generation of string trimmers and edgers that people often call weed whackers.
今天，该想法已经进化到新的一代，有着磨边和修饰的部件。人们通常叫做除草机。

The noise may not be the nicest, but neither is a loud mower. Trimmers work well in corners and along walls and fences. And, as weed expert Bill Curran at Penn State University points out, they avoid the use of chemicals. Or the labor of pulling weeds by hand.
这种除草机的声音可能并不优美，但是大型的割草机也是如此。这种除草机在角落，墙边和栅栏边都能很好的工作。就像宾夕法尼亚大学杂草专家Bill Curran指出的，他们避免使用化学制剂，也不需要用手拔除杂草。

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Of course, in the wrong hands, a weed whacker can do damage like any other power tool. The high-speed cutting line can whack pieces out of trees, wood fences, stone surfaces or birdbaths.
当然，如果操作失误，除草机也会像其他工具一样带来损害。高速转动的切片会将树木，木头栅栏，石头表面或水盆撞破。

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In nineteen fifty-two, George Ballas married Maria Louisa Marulanda, a Spanish flamenco dancer and film actress. They were together for fifty-nine years until his death.
1952年，George Ballas和西班牙弗拉曼柯舞者，电影演员Maria Louisa Marulanda结婚。他们一起度过了59年的时光，直到George Ballas去世。