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A Alan Macfarlane, professor of anthropological science at Kings College, Cambridge, has, like other historians, spent decades wrestling with the enigma of the Industrial Revolution. A 剑桥大学国王学院的人类学教授Alan Macfarlane 花费了几十年的时间潜心研究英国工业革命之谜。 Why did this particular Big Bang - the world-changing birth of industry - happen in Britain? 为什么这样的一场大变革——催生了改变世界的工业的大变革——会发生在英国呢？ And why did it strike at the end of the 18th century? 为什么这场变革会发生于18 世纪末期呢？

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B Macfarlane compares the puzzle to a combination lock, ‘ B Macfarlane 将工业革命之谜比喻为一个暗码锁。 There are about 20 different factors and all of them need to be present before the revolution can happen,’ he says. 他说：“产生一次工业革命需要20个不同的先决条件，而这20 个条件缺一不可。” For industry to take off, there needs to be the technology and power to drive factories, large urban populations to provide cheap labour, easy transport to move goods around, an affluent middle-class willing to buy mass-produced objects, a market-driven economy and a political system that allows this to happen. 工业腾飞需要诸多条件，如：让工厂运作的技术和动力；提供大量廉价劳动力的城市人口；便利的货物运输的交通；富裕的愿意购买大批量生产的商品的中产阶级以及允许这一切发生的市场经济和适宜的政治条件。 While this was the case for England, other nations, such as Japan, the Netherlands and France also met some of these criteria but were not industrialising. 虽然这的确是当时英国的现状，但其他国家，例如日本、荷兰和法国也同样具备上述的某些条件，但在这些国家却没有发生工业变革。 ‘All these factors must have been necessary but not sufficient to cause the revolution,’ says Macfarlane. 他说道：“所有的这些条件可能都是催生工业革命的必要非充分条件。 ‘After all, Holland had everything except coal, while China also had many of these factors. 毕竟荷兰什么都有，唯独缺乏煤矿。中国也具备很多这样的条件。 Most historians are convinced there are one or two missing factors that you need to open the lock.’ 很多历史学家认为，要打开这把暗码锁，肯定还需要一到两个条件。”

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C The missing factors, he proposes, are to be found in almost every kitchen cupboard. C 他认为，这些缺失的条件存在于每家每户的橱柜里。 Tea and beer, two of the nation's favourite drinks, fuelled the revolution. 茶和啤酒，这两类英国的国饮，催生了工业革命。 The antiseptic properties of tannin, the active ingredient in tea, and of hops in beer - plus the fact that both are made with boiled water - allowed urban communities to flourish at close quarters without succumbing to water-borne diseases such as dysentery. 因为茶叶里含有丹宁酸，啤酒中含有啤酒花，加上茶叶和啤酒都是经热加工煮沸调制，这两点让英国的市民得以在非常拥挤的区域繁衍不息，也不用遭受水源引发的疾病，例如痢疾的困扰。 The theory sounds eccentric but once he starts to explain the detective work that went into his deduction, the scepticism gives way to wary admiration. 这一理论乍听起来有些奇怪，但当他将后期的调研检测工作解释给大家听完之后，原来的批判之声就变成了赞许。 Macfarlane’s case has been strengthened by support from notable quarters - Roy Porter, the distinguished medical historian, recently wrote a favourable appraisal of his research. Macfarlane 的观点得到了许多专家的支持——Roy Porter，著名的医学历史学家也非常同意Macfarlane 的观点，为此还专门写了一篇评论来赞扬他的研究。

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D Macfarlane had wondered for a long time how the Industrial Revolution came about. D Macfarlane 长期以来一直在思考工业革命的真正诱因。 Historians had alighted on one interesting factor around the mid-18th century that required explanation. 历史学家们注意到18 世纪中期的一个有趣的需要解释的现象。 Between about 1650 and 1740, the population in Britain was static. 1650 年至1740 年间，英国的人口数量是较为稳定的， But then there was a burst in population growth. 但在1740 年后出现了一次激增。 Macfarlane says: ‘The infant mortality rate halved in the space of 20 years, and this happened in both rural areas and cities, and across all classes. Macfarlane 说道：“在20 年间，英国婴儿的死亡率减半，无论农村还是城市，无论什么社会阶层，皆是如此。 People suggested four possible causes. 人们猜想可能有四种原因。 Was there a sudden change in the viruses and bacteria around? 是因为周围的细菌和病毒突然发生了变化吗？ Unlikely. 不大可能。 Was there a revolution in medical science? 是因为医学界出现了一场大变革吗？ But this was a century before Listers revolution*. 但那时距离李斯特医生*的医学改革还有一个世纪呢。 Was there a change in environmental conditions? 是因为当时的环境状况发生了改变吗？ There were improvements in agriculture that wiped out malaria, but these were small gains. 农业技术的革新的确消除了疟疾，但那毕竟只是杯水车薪。 Sanitation did not become widespread until the 19th century. 英国的卫生设施直到19 世纪才得以普及。 The only option left: is food. 唯一剩下的选择就是食物了。 But the height and weight statistics show a decline. 但是从当时人们的平均身高和体重数据来看，这些反而有所下降。 So the food must have got worse. 所以当时的食物质量肯定还不如前。 Efforts to explain this sudden reduction in child deaths appeared to draw a blank.’ 当科学家们试图解释这一时期婴儿死亡率降低的原因时，他们遭遇到了瓶颈。” *Joseph Lister was the first doctor to use antiseptic techniques during surreal operations to prevent infections. *李斯特医生是在虚拟手术中使用抗菌技巧防止感染的第一人。

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E This population burst seemed to happen at just the right time to provide labour for the Industrial Revolution. E 这一时期的人口爆炸恰巧给工业革命提供了劳动力。 ‘When you start moving towards an industrial revolution, it is economically efficient to have people living close together,’ says Macfarlane. Macfarlane 说道：“当一场工业变革正在酝酿之时，从经济学的角度，让人们都聚集在一起生活是很高效的。 ‘But then you get disease, particularly from human waste.’ 但一旦人口开始密集，疾病也会同时产生，尤其是垃圾导致的疾病。” Some digging around in historical records revealed that there was a change in the incidence of water-borne disease at that time, especially dysentery. 如果翻看一下历史记录就会发现，当时在处理痢疾这类由水源引发疾病的事件上发生了一些变化。 Macfarlane deduced that whatever the British were drinking must have been important in regulating disease. Macfarlane认为，英国人喝的东西对于防控这种疾病肯定起到了举足轻重的作用。 He says, ‘We drank beer. For a long time, the English were protected by the strong antibacterial agent in hops, which were added to help preserve the beer. 他说道：“当时我们是喝啤酒的，长期以来，啤酒中的一种高度抗菌的成分——啤酒花保护着英国人的健康。 But in the late 17th century a tax was introduced on malt, the basic ingredient of beer. 但17世纪后期英国政府开始对麦芽征税，而麦芽是酿造啤酒的基本原料。 The poor turned to water and gin and in the 1720s the mortality rate began to rise again. 穷人们便开始喝白开水和杜松子酒，从而导致18 世纪20 年代的婴儿死亡率上升。 Then it suddenly dropped again. 然后死亡率突然又下降了。 What caused this?’ 这是由什么造成的？”

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F Macfarlane looked to Japan, which was also developing large cities about the same time, and also had no sanitation. F Macfarlane 研究了日本的案例，当时日本的大型城市也在发展，同样日本也没有卫生设施。 Water-borne diseases had a much looser grip on the Japanese population than those in Britain. 由水源引起的疾病对日本人的影响远小于英国。 Could it be the prevalence of tea in their culture? 这是因为日本人推崇的茶饮文化吗？ Macfarlane then noted that the history of tea in Britain provided an extraordinary coincidence of dates. Macfarlane 进而发现英国的茶叶发展史出现了日期上的巧合。 Tea was relatively expensive until Britain started a direct clipper trade with China in the early 18th century. 茶叶对于英国人来说有些昂贵，但18 世纪初期当英国开始同中国进行直接的大宗茶叶贸易往来之后情况就不一样了。 By the 1740s, about the time that infant mortality was dipping, the drink was common. 而到了18 世纪40 年代，恰逢婴儿死亡率下降的那个时候，茶饮在英国就非常普遍了。 Macfarlane guessed that the fact that water had to be boiled, together with the stomach-purifying properties of tea meant that the breast milk provided by mothers was healthier than it had ever been. Macfarlane 猜测，饮用水需要煮沸以及茶叶中包含的清理肠道的成分都表明，喝茶水的母亲的母乳比从前的母乳更健康。 No other European nation sipped tea like the British, which, by Macfarlane’s logic, pushed these other countries out of contention for the revolution. 除英国之外没有哪个欧洲国家如此爱好饮茶，根据Macfarlane 的逻辑推理，因而这些国家就不具备产生工业革命的温床了。

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G But, if tea is a factor in the combination lock, why didn't Japan forge ahead in a tea-soaked industrial revolution of its own? G 然而，如果茶真的是暗码锁中的关键因素，为什么日本却没有发生工业革命呢？ Macfarlane notes that even though 17th-century Japan had large cities, high literacy rates, even a futures market, it had turned its back on the essence of any work-based revolution by giving up labour-saving devices such as animals, afraid that they would put people out of work. Macfarlane 注意到，即使17 世纪的日本拥有了大型城市，较高文化程度的国民，甚至期货市场，但日本却放弃了很多可以节省人力的先进设备，因为他们害怕这样一来人们就都会失业，从而自己抹杀了工业革命发生的先决条件。 So, the nation that we now think of as one of the most technologically advanced entered the 19th century having ‘abandoned the wheel’. 因此，日本，这个我们今天公认的全世界科技最发达的国家之一，在进入19 世纪的时候，“放弃了车轮”。