And did you know that before Benjamin Franklin was on money, he printed money?

你知道班傑明˙富蘭克林出現在鈔票上之前 他就印了鈔票嗎?

He started this career as a printer and went on to own a press that made all the money for colonial Delaware and Pennsylvania.

他從印刷工人做起 之後管理一家媒體公司 印製殖民地德拉瓦州和賓夕法尼亞州的鈔票

He also had a strange method for deterring counterfeiters: He spelled ‘Pennsylvania’ incorrectly on all of his money.

富蘭克林防範假鈔有一套: 他故意將紙鈔上的「Pennsylvania」拼錯

That way, when counterfeiters copied the bills, they thought they were working from a fake version

這樣印偽鈔的人就會以為拼錯的錢是假鈔

and would correct the spelling, and then Franklin could catch them.

並自動校正拼字 如此一來富蘭克林就能將他們逮個正著

Those are just two of the many amazing facts about the American Founding Fathers

關於美國開國元老們的有趣事實還不止這兩個

that I’m going to share with you today in this video presented by our friends at History.

今天就要與大家分享 這個歷史頻道朋友製作的影片

So everyone knows about Paul Revere’s famous ride, but did you know it included a monumental DY?

大家都知道保羅˙列維爾曾在戰爭前夕向殖民地示警 但你知道這件事也和「極端的酒駕」有關係嗎?

In order to get to Lexington to one of these impending British invasions, Revere had to travel through Medford, the rum capital of America.

警告列星頓英軍入侵的途中 要經過當時地勢險要的美國首都－梅德福

He stopped long enough to get suitably drunk.

列維爾喝得酩酊大醉

And then the stealthy ride that Revere had intended turned into a loud and drunken rampage.

本來偷摸鬼祟的行動變成醉漢大肆喧鬧

In fact, he was so rowdy that patrolling Redcoats detained him for an hour before letting him go.

被巡邏英軍拘留了一小時才放走

Of course, by then he had made enough of a racket to let everyone know that trouble was brewing.

當然他也已經鬧到全世界都知道有壞事在醞釀中

And speaking of brewing, one of the men Revere was on a mission to find and alert was Samuel Adams,

說到醞釀 列維爾任務之一是找到山謬˙亞當斯 並警告他敵軍來襲

who worked in his father’s malt house as a maltster.

亞當斯在爸爸的麥芽廠擔任麥芽製造者

His name is now synonymous with the beer, of course, but that’s not really Sam Adam’s face on the label.

山謬˙亞當斯現在是啤酒的代名詞 不過標籤上並不真的是亞當斯本人

Poor Samuel wasn’t known for his good looks, so a rumor spread that

亞當斯長相平平 所以有謠言說

the Boston brewery used handsomer Paul Revere’s portrait for their logo.

波士頓釀酒廠用更帥氣的列維爾當宣傳人物 而非亞當斯

But technically, it is a picture of Sam Adams, just a very, very flattering one, like multiple Instagram filters.

但嚴格說來 標誌是亞當斯本人沒錯 只是照片比本人好看了幾百倍 像瘋狂用Instagram濾鏡修飾過一樣

The other person Revere was trying to track down during his drunken ride was John Hancock,

路途當中 另一個要警告的人是約翰˙漢考克

best known for his, you know, “John Hancock”, his huge and ornate signature.

他的招牌就是大大的華麗簽名

But his signature on the Declaration of Independence was actually kept secret for months after the signing

但他在獨立宣言上的親簽其實被保密了好幾個月

because all of the signatures were, out of fear for the signer’s safety.

原因是維護簽署者的人身安全

Hancock’s successor as the President of the Continental Congress was South Carolina’s Henry Laurens,

繼漢考克之後的大陸會議(註: 美國國會前身)主席是來自南加州的亨利˙勞倫斯

a man who serves as an example of why the term “Founding Fathers” shouldn’t be synonymous with “great people.”

他是個絕佳的例子 證明「開國元老」並不等於「偉大、正派」

For one thing, Laurens got rich and powerful because he was a partner in North America’s largest slave-trading house.

舉個例 勞倫斯因為和北美最大的奴隸交易所結夥而致富

After Laurens, John Jay became President of the Continental Congress, and he was strong opponent of slavery.

勞倫斯之後繼任的大陸會議主席是約翰˙傑伊－奴隸制度的超級反對者

He actually introduced legislation to abolish slavery in New York as early as 1777.

他甚至早於1777年就在紐約引進了廢奴制度的立法

Jay was in fact so popular that he was nominated and elected into office twice, without his knowledge.

傑伊人氣很旺 他在不知情的狀況下被提名到白宮3次

The first time was in 1784, when he returned from Europe after negotiating the Treaty of Paris.

第一次是在1784年 針對巴黎條約談判後從歐洲返國時

And upon coming home, found out that Congress had named him Secretary of Foreign Affairs, a job he would come to hate.

他一回國 就發現國會提名他當外交部秘書 然而他非常不樂意

Later, while Jay was serving as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1794,

1794年傑伊擔任第一任美國首席大法官時

President George Washington sent him to London to negotiate yet another peace treaty.

華盛頓總統派他去倫敦討論另一個和平條約

And when Jay came back from that trip, he found that he had been elected Governor of New York. Surprise!

當他返家後 又發現自己當上了紐約州州長 大驚喜!

Speaking of surprises, you may be shocked to hear that Ben Franklin was an expert swimmer.

說到驚喜 你可能會很驚訝富蘭克林是專業級泳者

Is there anything he wasn’t good at? As a child, he loved swimming in Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River

什麼都難不倒這個人 孩提時代的他很愛在費城的斯庫爾基爾河游泳

and went on to consider opening schools for young runners and swimmers before going on to do, you know, essentially everything else.

在著手其他所有計畫之前 他還為年輕跑者和泳者辦學校

And to be a proper polymath you must, of course, sleep very little.

作為一個博學之士 當然沒什麼時間睡覺

Franklin reportedly awoke at 5 in the morning every day and didn’t go to bed until 1 a.m.

據說富蘭克林每天都清晨5點起床 凌晨1點就寢

That said, Ben Franklin was a big fan of convenience, and even laziness.

不過他同時也是個貪圖方便的人 有時甚至到達了懶惰的境界

like, for instance, he invented a mechanical arm to retrieve shelved books

他發明了機器手臂 替他拿取架上書籍、

and a system where he could unlock his door from bed by activating a pulley.

一套利用滑輪控制的系統 讓他不用麻煩的下床開門

Moving on to another Benjamin, Benjamin Rush was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and he was also a physician,

來看看另一位班傑明 班傑明˙魯殊 是獨立宣言的簽署人之一 也是位內科醫生

today known as the first doctor to believe that mental illness was a disease and not something to be blamed on demons.

今天許多人都認為他是第一個確立精神疾病屬於病 而非魔鬼傑作的醫生

As the so-called “Father of American Psychiatry,” Dr. Rush paved the way for the humane treatment of the mentally-ill,

這位「美國精神病學之父」 為精神病人開啟了人道治療的門

but not all of his treatments would be considered “humane” by today’s standards.

但他的療法在今日看來 並不是每一項都那麼「人道」

For instance, he was a strong believer in blood purging, although back then, who wasn’t?

他盲目的相信放血療法 雖然這在當時是常態

And he also strapped some of his patients to spinning boards to force their blood flow outwards.

還會把病人綁在旋轉板上 讓他們的血液在體內快速流竄

He also invented the “Tranquilizing Chair,” a device that seems like it would be the opposite of tranquilizing.

「安寧之椅」也是他發明的 不過這個裝置似乎和安寧背道而馳

To achieve “tranquilization,” the patient would be strapped into a seat and immobilized before having a box placed on their head to deprive their senses.

為了讓病人得到「寧靜」 他會把他們綁在椅子上 並在頭上放置讓人感官功能失靈的盒子

Boy, would I rather vacation on the beach or in the tranquilizing box? I can’t decide.

老天 要去海灘度假還是頭戴「寧靜之盒」 真難決定啊

Anyway, Rush was friends with both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and knew them well during their famous and heated feuds.

魯殊和約翰˙亞當斯、湯瑪斯˙傑佛遜都曾是朋友 亞當斯和傑佛遜之間的緊張關係更為世人所熟知

One night, the doctor had a dream about his friends in which they reconciled their differences.

這位醫生有天夢到他的兩位朋友們消弭歧見、言歸於好

He wrote Adams and Jefferson to tell them all about it,

他寫信告訴亞當斯和傑佛遜這個夢境

and his dream became a self-fulfilling prophesy as the two statesmen reached out to talk to each other about it

並居中斡旋 讓兩位政治家關係破冰、重啟對話

and wound up renewing their friendship. And then they died on the same day. It’s very cute.

並且和好 那兩人之後甚至在同一天過世

Not only was it the same day, Jefferson and Adams both died on July 4,

傑佛遜和亞當斯皆於7月4日辭世

exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

正好是簽署獨立宣言後的50年

Adams and Jefferson were also linked by their shared love of pets.

他們兩人也都對寵物情有獨鍾

Jefferson had two pet grizzly bear cubs and Adams had a dog named Satan.

傑佛遜養了兩隻灰熊 亞當斯養了條叫撒旦的狗

Now Satan is a weird name for a dog, but George Washington might take the cake when it comes to our founding fathers’ pet-naming skills

叫自己的狗撒旦實在很怪 但華盛頓總統可能可以擊敗所有開國元老 奪得寵物命名獎倒數第一名

Three of our first president’s dogs were named Drunkard, Mopsey, and Sweetlips.

第一屆美國總統的3隻狗狗分別叫醉鬼、拖把和小丑石鱸

Alright, I hereby christen you Mopsey, you’re Sweetlips. Elephant, you’re Drunkard.

我以聖靈之名 指派你當拖把 你當小丑石鱸 大象呢～就當醉鬼好了

I will remind you, these are the dudes that we are still looking up to 230 years later.

儘管如此 這些創立美國的精神人物在230年後的今天依舊受到景仰

We’re still like, “but what would the owner of Sweetlips say about this?”

對於這件事 不知道華盛頓總統有什麼看法呢?

Ben Franklin’s fellow founding fathers didn’t want him to draft the Declaration of Independence

富蘭克林的同伴不希望他草擬獨立宣言

because they were worried he might try to sneak a joke into it.

因為擔心他在上面動手腳、自娛娛人

They clearly were familiar with his work, like the time that he wrote the Royal Academy,

他們顯然十分了解他的寫作風格 富蘭克林在皇家研究院的刊物上

asking them to find a way to make his farts stop smelling.

公開詢問有什麼方法讓屁不會臭

Franklin lied that letter enough to sign it under his own name,

那篇文章是他的得意作品 他甚至在上面署了名

but he wrote many essays, books, and more under a whole slew of pseudonyms.

但他還寫了許多文章、書籍 用一堆假名發表言論

They including Richard Saunders, Silence Dogood, Anthony Afterwit, Polly Baker, Alice Addertongue, Busy Body, Benevolous, Caelia Shortface and Martha Careful.

包括理查˙桑德、沉默是金、安東尼˙馬後炮、波利˙貝克、艾莉絲˙艾德頓、八卦人士、發揮愛心、凱利˙短臉、馬莎˙給我注意點

The last two were used by Franklin to make fun of Samuel Keimer, his former employer whom he accused of stealing his ideas.

最後兩個是富蘭克林取笑山謬爾˙基莫(註: 英國印刷師傅)抄襲自己想法的代號

Ben Franklin was many things: brilliant, ambitions, incredibly hardworking, astonishingly petty.

班傑明˙富蘭克林集各種特質於一身: 聰明絕頂、野心勃勃、無敵勤奮、心胸狹隘

But he also coined many of the electricity-related terms we use today, including “battery,” “conductor,” and “electrician.”

也是他創造了許多和電相關的詞彙 例如: 「電池」、「導體」、「電工」

And finally, I return to my salon to tell you that Ben Franklin was also prolific when it came to alcohol.

最後 富蘭克林對於酒精也很有見地

In 1737, Franklin published a list of over 200 synonyms for “getting drunk.”

他在1737年出版了一張表 明列200多個「喝酒醉」的同義詞

Thanks for watching Mental Floss on YouTube, which is made with the help of all these nice people

感謝你的收看 心靈牙線的存在是多虧了這些善心人士的鼎力相助

and was made possible by our friends at History. Be sure to check out their new series, Sons of Liberty.

還有在歷史頻道那兒的朋友 別錯過他們的新節目「自由之子」

And as we say in my hometown, don’t forget to be awesome.

送給各位我家鄉常說的話－不要停止追求卓越