Name: 冰雪之王：一個人如何創造出冰凍黃金 (The Ice King: How One Man Created Frozen Gold)
Uploaded: 2025-03-19T00:17:30.000Z
Duration: 8 min 23 s

分詞構句

In 1805, two wealthy brothers from Boston were at a family picnic, enjoying the rare luxuries of cold beverages and ice cream.

1805 年，兩個來自波士頓的富裕兄弟在一次家庭野餐中，享受著冷飲和冰激凌這些難得的奢侈品。

They joked about how their chilled refreshments would be the envy of all the colonists sweating away in the West Indies.

他們開玩笑說，他們的冰鎮茶點會讓所有在西印度群島揮汗如雨的殖民者羨慕不已。

It was a passing remark, but it stuck with one of the brothers.

這只是一句順口溜，卻讓兄弟倆中的一個記憶猶新。

His name was Frederick Tudor, and 30 years later, he would find himself shipping tons of ice halfway around the globe to become the Ice King.

他的名字叫弗雷德裡克-都鐸，30 年後，他發現自己把成噸的冰塊運到了地球的另一端，成為了冰雪之王。

So pour yourself a nice ice-cold glass of your favorite beverage as we... learn something new.

所以，在我們......學習新知識的時候，請給自己倒一杯您最喜歡的冰鎮飲料吧。

Born in 1783, nothing in Frederick Tudor's early years indicated that he would invent an entire industry.

弗雷德裡克-都鐸出生於 1783 年，早年的經歷並沒有預示著他會發明整個行業。

After years of staying at home on his family's estate, he decided to begin selling ice because his brother brought up how nice it would be if they could take the frozen ice on their estate's pond and sell it all to the West Indies.

在家裡的莊園裡呆了多年後，他決定開始賣冰，因為他的兄弟提出，如果他們能把莊園池塘裡的凍冰全部賣到西印度群島該有多好。

Despite it being a joke, Frederick took the idea seriously.

儘管是個玩笑，弗雷德裡克還是認真對待了這個想法。

He would go on to become obsessed with the idea of becoming rich from harvesting ice from local ponds in Massachusetts.

他後來痴迷於從馬薩諸塞州當地池塘裡採冰致富的想法。

In 1806, the two brothers exported their first shipment of ice to Martinique in the West Indies.

1806 年，兩兄弟向西印度群島的馬提尼克島出口了第一批冰塊。

It had been cut from the pond on the family's country estate near Boston, but that would turn out to be the easy part.

它是從波士頓附近的家族鄉村莊園的池塘裡割下來的，但這並不難。

As it turned out, there weren't many who believed in the viability of the idea of shipping blocks of ice hundreds of miles.

結果發現，並沒有多少人相信將冰塊運送數百英里的想法是可行的。

In fact, the brothers couldn't find a single ship that would help them, so they ended up having to buy a ship of their own for $5,000.

事實上，兄弟倆找不到一艘願意幫助他們的船，最後只好花 5000 美元自己買了一艘船。

The ice ended up arriving in Martinique in perfect condition, but no one wanted to buy it.

冰塊最終完好無損地運抵馬提尼克島，但卻無人問津。

Frederick desperately explained to the locals how the cold blocks of ice could be used in stifling the Caribbean heat, but the islanders weren't convinced.

弗雷德裡克拼命向當地人解釋如何利用寒冷的冰塊來悶熱加勒比海，但島民們並不相信。

This lackluster response led to his brother William pulling out of their partnership, leading Frederick to try and realize their dream on his own.

由於反響平平，他的兄弟威廉退出了合作，弗雷德裡克開始嘗試獨自實現他們的夢想。

Remarkably, the following winter, he drummed up enough money to send another shipment of ice to the Indies, but a trade embargo meant that the Caribbean was off-limits for the next two years.

值得注意的是，第二年冬天，他籌集到了足夠的資金，向印度群島運送了另一批冰塊，但貿易禁運意味著在接下來的兩年裡加勒比海是禁區。

At the same time, their family wealth was beginning to dwindle after some poor real estate investments in South Boston, and although Frederick was unwilling to give up on the idea of selling ice, his financial problems would only get worse, leading to him winding up in a debtor's prison three times, arrested and jailed for being unable to pay the debts he owed.

與此同時，由於在南波士頓的一些房地產投資失利，他們的家庭財富開始縮水，儘管弗雷德裡克不願放棄賣冰的想法，但他的財務問題只會越來越嚴重，導致他三次被關進債務人監獄，因無力償還債務而被捕入獄。

After he got out, he began to try ways to get people used to the idea of having ice around, taking chilled beverages to diners, asking barkeeps to try offering chilled drinks at the same price as regular drinks in the hopes that chilled would become more popular, and teaching restaurants how to make ice cream.

出獄後，他開始想方設法讓人們習慣在身邊放冰塊，把冰鎮飲料帶到食客面前，要求酒吧老闆嘗試以與普通飲料相同的價格提供冰鎮飲料，希望冰鎮飲料能更受歡迎，他還教餐廳如何製作冰淇淋。

He even went as far as to convince doctors and hospitals that there was no better cure for than some of his very own ice.

他甚至說服醫生和醫院，沒有比他自己的冰塊更好的治療方法了。

His idea was that tapping into as many markets as possible would eventually yield some favorable results.

他的想法是，開拓儘可能多的市場最終會產生一些有利的結果。

And they did, with the Tudor Ice Company seeing profits for the first time in the year 1810.

1810 年，都鐸製冰公司首次實現盈利。

As he began to make some money, he was able to begin improving his process for acquiring the ice.

當他開始掙到一些錢後，他就能夠開始改進獲取冰塊的流程。

The ice blocks originally had to be chipped out of the ice pack with a handsaw, a slow and grueling process.

冰塊最初是用手鋸從冰袋裡削出來的，這是一個緩慢而艱苦的過程。

To help make the process easier, Frederick hired a foreman named Nathaniel Wyeth.

為了讓這一過程更輕鬆，弗雷德裡克聘請了一位名叫納撒尼爾-懷斯的工頭。

He would go on to develop a horse-drawn ice plow, and a system where frozen bodies of water could be divided into checkered chessboard-like patterns to consistently get the same size ice blocks.

後來，他又研製出了馬拉冰犁，並開發出了一種系統，可以將冰凍的水體分割成棋盤格狀，從而穩定地獲得相同大小的冰塊。

This mass-produced ice was easier to transport and store, reducing Tudor's cost by two-thirds and enabling him to sell to a greater portion of the public.

這種大批量生產的冰塊更易於運輸和儲存，使都鐸的成本降低了三分之二，並使他能夠向更多的公眾銷售。

But harvesting was still a very difficult job.

但收割仍然是一項非常艱鉅的工作。

The harvest was in January and would last for several weeks.

收穫期在一月份，會持續幾個星期。

Employees included part-timers such as farmers and carpenters, and really anyone who did not have a full-time job during the winter.

僱員包括農民和木匠等兼職人員，以及所有在冬季沒有全職工作的人。

The harvest would usually run 24 hours per day.

Crews working the night shift on a cold winter night would only have the moonlight and kerosene lanterns for illumination, all the while being near open water where the ice had just been cut out.

在寒冷的冬夜裡，值夜班的工作人員只能靠月光和煤油燈照明，而此時他們就在剛剛鑿開冰層的開闊水域附近。

After being cut and removed, the blocks were floated to the nearest shoreline, where they were stored in ice houses, buildings insulated with either sawdust or straw.

冰塊被切割和移走後，漂流到最近的海岸線，儲存在用鋸末或稻草隔熱的冰屋中。

Despite the insulation, only about one-tenth would end up making it to the final destination.

儘管有保溫措施，但最終只有約十分之一的人能夠到達最終目的地。

The capacity of the ice house was sized to handle local market needs, until the next year's harvest.

冰庫的容量是為了滿足當地市場的需求，直到來年收穫。

These houses ranged from 10 to 30 tons in small communities and farms, to 200 to 300,000 tons in bigger cities, though many of these larger ones would come later in the business's life.

這些房屋的噸位從小型社區和農場的 10 到 30 噸不等，到較大城市的 20 到 30 萬噸不等，不過其中許多較大型的房屋都是後來才出現的。

Frederick's winter harvesting efforts would become fruitful in the spring, summer, and fall, when ice was delivered to homes, businesses, and railroads, mainly for the purpose of preserving food.

弗雷德裡克的冬季收穫工作在春、夏、秋三季碩果累累，冰塊被運送到家庭、企業和鐵路部門，主要用於保存食物。

Depending on the outdoor temperatures, the quality of the insulation in the ice houses, and how many times the door to the icebox was opened, an average home icebox may have needed to have ice replaced a couple of times a week, especially during the hot summer months.

根據室外溫度、冰庫隔熱材料的品質以及冰庫門打開的次數，一個普通家庭的冰庫每週可能需要更換幾次冰塊，尤其是在炎熱的夏季。

To order more ice, customers would put a numbered card in the porch window to indicate how many pounds of ice were needed on delivery day.

為了訂購更多的冰塊，顧客會在門廊的窗戶上放上一張編號卡，表明在送貨當天需要多少磅冰塊。

The delivery man would cut out the block to the required size and deliver it into their icebox.

送貨員會把木塊切割成所需的尺寸，然後送到他們的冰箱裡。

By 1821, the business had really started to gain traction.

到 1821 年，該公司的業務才真正開始起步。

Frederick Tudor had created real demand for the icebox, especially in Savannah, New Orleans, and as far away as Cuba.

弗雷德裡克-都鐸創造了對冰櫃的實際需求，尤其是在薩凡納、新奧爾良和遠在古巴。

Tudor asserted his long-fermenting monopoly and became known as the Ice King, solidifying this reputation in 1833, when he shipped 180 tons of ice 14,000 miles across the world to British colonists in Calcutta, raking in an estimated $220,000 in profits that year from the lucrative marketplace he had developed.

1833 年，都鐸將 180 噸冰塊運到了位於加爾各答的英國殖民地，跨越 14000 英里，鞏固了他長期以來的壟斷地位，並從他開發的利潤豐厚的市場中獲得了約 22 萬美元的利潤。

The venture was so successful that it reopened trade routes between India and Boston.

這次冒險非常成功，重新打通了印度和波士頓之間的貿易路線。

Back at home, Tudor continued to dominate the scene.

在國內，都鐸繼續主宰著舞臺。

By 1847, nearly 52,000 tons of ice traveled by ship or train to 28 cities across the United States.

到 1847 年，近 52,000 噸冰塊通過輪船或火車運往全美 28 個城市。

Nearly half of the ice came from Boston, and most of it was Tudor's.

近一半的冰塊來自波士頓，其中大部分是都鐸的。

He also maintained the ice-harvesting rights to buy key ponds throughout Massachusetts.

他還保留了在馬薩諸塞州購買重要池塘的採冰權。

Though in 1864, finally rich once again, Frederick Tudor would pass away.

雖然在 1864 年，弗雷德裡克-都鐸終於再次富裕起來，但他還是離開了人世。

By that time, everyone with access to a frozen body of water was getting in on the action.

到那時，每個能接觸到冰凍水體的人都加入了這一行動。

Ice boomtowns sprouted along the Kennebec River in Maine, where farmers found year-round employment.

緬因州肯尼貝克河沿岸的冰雪小鎮如雨後春筍般湧現，農民們在這裡找到了全年的工作。

The 1860s would become the peak competitive period for American ice harvesting, and Tudor's company prospered.

19 世紀 60 年代是美國採冰業競爭最激烈的時期，都鐸的公司也是以蒸蒸日上。

Even during the Civil War, when the South was cut off from ice supplies in the North, the ice industry continued to grow in New England and in the Midwest.

即使在南北戰爭期間，南方與北方的冰塊供應中斷，新英格蘭和中西部的製冰業仍在繼續發展。

By the late 1880s, ice was the second-largest export in the United States, right behind cotton.

到 19 世紀 80 年代末，冰成為美國第二大出口產品，僅次於棉花。

By 1886, 25 million tons were cut and stored or shipped in the United States.

到 1886 年，美國共切割、儲存或運輸了 2500 萬噸。

To put things into perspective, a football field's worth of ice, at over 12 inches thick, would yield about 1,000 tons.

從這個角度來看，一個足球場 12 英寸厚的冰可以產生大約 1000 噸的重量。

However, by this time, technology allowed for mechanical refrigeration equipment to make ice in warm climates.

不過，此時的技術已經允許使用機械製冷設備在溫暖的氣候條件下製冰。

Roosevelt signed an executive order to create the Rural Electrification Administration, which brought electricity to rural Minnesota, and of course, the option for mechanical refrigeration.

羅斯福簽署了一項行政命令，成立了農村電氣化管理局，為明尼蘇達州的農村地區帶來了電力，當然也帶來了機械製冷的選擇。

By 1950, 90% of American city homes had mechanical refrigerators, along with 80% of rural households.

到 1950 年，90% 的美國城市家庭和 80% 的農村家庭都擁有了機械冰箱。

Ice demand would only decline further through World War II, and by the mid-1950s, the ice business was almost completely gone.

第二次世界大戰期間，冰的需求進一步下降，到 20 世紀 50 年代中期，製冰業務幾乎完全消失。

It had survived and thrived for well over 100 years, due to many innovations in the tools and technology used, but it could not compete with electricity, and could not support the rapidly growing demand for cold.

由於所使用的工具和技術的許多創新，它已經生存和發展了 100 多年，但它無法與電力競爭，也無法支持迅速增長的對冷的需求。

But, in an ever-increasingly complicated world, it's amazing to look back at how a business as simple as cutting blocks out of a cold lake, and taking them to a hot community, was able to take the world by storm.

但是，在這個日益複雜的世界上，回首往事，我們不禁驚歎，從冰冷的湖水中切割出積木，然後將它們帶到一個炎熱的社區，這樣簡單的業務竟然能夠風靡全球。

Thank you for watching Learn Something New.

If you like this video, please consider liking and subscribing.

如果您喜歡這段視頻，請考慮點贊和訂閱。

Thanks again, and I will see you in the next one.