不仅是小朋友们，大人们也喜欢来自丹麦的乐高积木。托儿子的福，近日读了一本英文版的乐高发展史，以下是摘录自原文的精彩内容，并配上中文翻译（本人水平有限，还各位看官请多指正），分享给有兴趣了解乐高的大小朋友。大家喜欢的话，请在文章底部点赞、转发、分享，多谢！
作者：Lowey Bundy Sichol 出版：Houghton Mifflin Harcout
第一章 Ole Kirk Christiansen（奥利）
OLE Kirk Christiansen
Ole was a skilled carpenter, he bought a Carpentry shop and lumberyard for around 1,600 dollars in Billund, Denmark. He built doors, cabinets, cupboards, entire houses, stables, dairies, and churches for local towns people.
【译文】乐高创始人叫Ole（ 小编：现在大家熟知的连锁超市名字Ole，可不是他开的 ），他原来是一位熟练的木匠，在丹麦的比隆市花了大约1600美元买了一个木工商店和伐木场。他为当地居民造木门、橱柜、橱柜、整座房子、马厩、牛奶场和教堂等等。
The First fire. In 1924, five-year-old Karl and four-year-old Godtfred accidentally set fire to some wood shavings, the fire burning entire factory and house to ashes. Hopefully no one was injured. Later, Ole rebuilt a larger and grander factory.
【译文】第一场火灾。1924年，五岁的Karl和四岁的Godtfred不小心放火烧了一些木屑，大火把整个工厂和房子烧成了灰烬，幸运的是没有人受伤。（ 小编：小朋友读者注意啦，玩火很危险！ ）不久，Ole重建了一个更大更宏伟的工厂。
The year 1930, the start of a difficult time for Ole, farmers and villagers could no longer afford his products, he resorted to making less expensive items. But still didn’t earn enough money to pay his employees, he was forced to have layoffs. Ole’s wife died suddenly two years later, he had to raising four boys, ages six to fifteen, all by himself.
【译文】1930年，Ole的艰难时期开始了，农民和村民再也负担不起他的产品，他就转而制造更便宜的产品，但仍然没有赚到足够的钱支付他的员工，他被迫裁员。Ole妻子两年后突然去世，由他独自抚养4个6到15岁的儿子[紫薇别走]。
Great Depression
1929-39, a period of time when the world’s economy collapsed. Millions of people lost their jobs, and many lost their money. People struggled to afford necessities such as food, clothes, and shelter. Many stood in line for hours just for a free loaf of bread.
【译文】 大萧条，1929-39年，世界经济崩溃的时期。数百万人失去了工作，许多人入不敷出。人们难以负担食物、衣服和住所等必需品。许多人排了几个小时的队，只为了领一块免费的面包。
1930年出版的《文学文摘》中，一群失业者在美国大萧条时期以5美分的价格购买苹果
“Life is a gift, but it’s more than just that. Life is a challenge.”
【译文】 生命是一份礼物，但它不止如此。生活就是一种挑战。”
第二章 Construction begins（打造开启）
Ole began making many different types of toys from wood. Best seller was a pull-along wooden duck that opened and closed its beak as it moved. He selling them door to door. Twelve-year-oldson Godtfred became Ole’s assistant in the workshop, helped sand, paint, and package the toys, as well as keep track of sales.
【译文】Ole开始用木头制作许多不同类型的玩具。最畅销的是一种可拖动的木鸭，它的嘴随着移动而张开和合上。他挨家挨户去推销。12岁的儿子Godtfred成了Ole车间的助手，帮忙给玩具打磨、喷漆、包装，还负责记录销售情况。
A pull-along wooden duck
Ole needed a brand name, which to be short and stand for --- fun, high quality, and all about play. The term “leg godt”means “play well”, he combined leg and godt to create a new word LEGO. Ole insisted that every single detail mattered; LEGO produced only the highest-quality toys. “Only the best is good enough.”
【译文】Ole需要为产品取一个品牌名，它要是一个缩写，代表着乐趣、高质量和所有关于玩的东西。“leg godt”是丹麦语，意思是“玩得好”，他把leg和godt结合起来创造了一个新词LEGO。Ole坚持认为，每一个细节都很重要；乐高只生产最高质量的玩具。“只有最好的才够好。”
Brand name
第三章 Brick by brick（块块搭）
Despite the hard times (Europe entered World War II), sales at LEGO doubled, parents continued to buy LEGO’s wooden toys because they were a small thing that brought joy to their children.
【译文】尽管时局艰难(当时欧洲进入第二次世界大战)，乐高的销售额还是翻了一番，家长们继续购买乐高的木制玩具，因为它们是给孩子带来快乐的小玩意儿。
A second Fire. A short circuit in the woodfactory’s electrical wires sparked another fire, before the fire trucks couldarrive, the entire building burned to the ground. LEGO’s inventory and all drawings and modelsfor all the toys were destroyed. Ole picked himself up and had a third factory constructed, bigger and grander.
【译文】第二次发生火灾。木材厂的电线短路引发了第二场火灾，在消防车到达之前，整个建筑已被毁于一旦。乐高的库存以及所有玩具的图纸和模型都被烧没了。Ole依然振作起来，又建了第三个工厂，且更大更宏伟。
The new LEGO® factory, 1943
Listened to customer feedback --- complained that toys were hard to clean and absorbed dirt and germs. Ole bought a injection-molding in a toy fair, it could make toys out of plastic, which would not absorb germs and be easier to clean. Also received samples of plastic self-locking building bricks, which looked very similar to what LEGO bricks look like today, only the inside was a hollow square.
【译文】顾客的抱怨说玩具难以清洁，而且很难去除污垢和细菌，Ole听进去了。他在一个玩具博览会上买下了一个注塑模具，它可以用塑料制作玩具。塑料不会吸收细菌，而且更容易清洁。Ole还收到了塑料自锁积木的样品，看起来很像今天的乐高积木，只是里面是一个空心的正方形。
the forerunner of LEGO bricks
第四章 A snappy Idea（灵感乍现）
Ole suffered a stroke after his sixtieth birthday,Godtfred became junior managing director, and three brothers also put in charge of different departments.
【译文】Ole在他60岁生日不久中风了，儿子Godtfred成为年轻的总经理，他的另外三个儿子也负责不同的部门（ 小编：幸亏拉扯大了四个光榔头 ）。
Godtfred Kirk Christiansen
Godtfred had a revolutionary idea, he decided that LEGO would develop a way for children to build their own toys using LEGO’sbricks, the “system” meant every individual LEGO brick would always fit together with every other LEGO brick, no matter what shape or size it was, or when or where it was made. In 1955, LEGO launched the LEGO System to play, each box contained an assortment of LEGO bricks and a town plan.
【译文】Godtfred有一个革命性的想法，他决定，乐高将开发成一种孩子能用乐高积木搭建自己想要的玩具。所谓乐高“系统”，意味着每个人乐高砖，不管形状或大小，不管何时、何地生产，总是可以和其他乐高砖组合在一起。1955年，推出了乐高系统，每盒乐高积木都包含各种规格的乐高砖，和一个城镇规划图。
the LEGO bricks
However,children complained they did not stick together well, kids couldn’t move them from place to place without them collapsing into a pile of colorful bricks. 【译文】然而，孩子们抱怨积木不能很好地粘在一起，他们不能把积木作品从一个地方搬到另一个地方，因为它们就会倒塌，散成一堆彩色的乐高砖。
Godtfred created a series of tubes inside the bricks that attached to the studs on top. The space between the hollow tubes and side walls was just a bit smaller than the studs themselves, so friction held the bricks together, the interlocking bricks literally snapped together with a satisfying click! The invention of clutch power was a major turning point in the history of LEGO’s success.
【译文】Godfred在乐高砖内部造了一系列管子，并与顶部的螺柱相连。空心管和侧墙之间的空间只比螺柱本身小那么一丢丢，所以摩擦力会将乐高砖连接在一起，伴随着令人满意的“咔嗒”声，乐高砖啪的一声连在了一起！握力的发明是乐高成功历史上的一个重要转折点。
第五章 Follow the plastic brick road（塑料砖之路）
Ole suffered a heart attack and died at sixty-six, his hard work, perseverance and ingenuity would remain at the soul of the company.
【译文】Ole死于心脏病，享年66岁，他的努力，毅力和聪明才智将成为公司的精神力量。
The Third fire. Lightning stuck the factory where all wooden toys were produced, the entire wooden toy inventory destroyed. Godtfred decided that LEGO would stop making wooden toys and lay its future in its little plastics bricks.
【译文】第三次火灾（ 小编：真的印证中国一句古话，火烧旺地 ）。闪电劈中了生产所有木制玩具的工厂，整个木制玩具库存被摧毁。Godtfred毅然决定，将停止生产木质玩具，把乐高的未来寄托在小小的塑料积木上。
LEGO Futura, R&D team, created a rubber wheel,meant that all sets could move along the ground like the real thing. Also created the idea for Duplo, oversizebricks designed for younger children with smaller hands, perfect solution for preschoolers. Developed wordless instructions, booklets that included pictures and numbers only, put an emphasison mathematical skills such as counting and measuring, which pleased parents and teachers alike.
the first building instruction
【译文】LEGO Futura研发团队创造了一个橡胶轮子，这意味着所有的套件都可以像实物一样在地面上移动。团队还专为手较小的儿童设计了培乐多(Duplo)超大积木，是提供给学龄前儿童的完美解决方案。团队还设计了无文字的说明书，这款只有图片和数字的小册子，强调数学技能，如计数和测量，这让家长和老师都很满意。
the LEGO wheel
Billund Airport opened, shipments of LEGO sets could be flown to the rest of the world quickly and easily. LEGOLAND opened in 1968, built on fourteen acres, included hundreds of buildings and models of famous cities, all built from twenty million LEGO bricks, a LEGO train that encircled the park, 3,000 visitors on its first day and 625,000 visitors the first year, LEGOLAND exceeded everyone’s expectations.
【译文】比隆机场开通了，让乐高积木可以快捷地空运到世界其他地方。乐高主题乐园于1968年开放，占地14英亩，用2000万块乐高积木建造了数以百计的建筑和著名城市的模型，一辆乐高观光列车环绕着公园。第一天就接待了3000名游客，第一年接待的游客达62.5万名，乐园超出了所有人的预期。
The Miniland in LEGOLAND Billund, 1968
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