Bill Bryson: We Forget Just How Painfully Dim the World Was Before Electricity
Bill Bryson, British-American author and journalist
[Scroll down for the English]
KISWAHILI
"Tunasahau jinsi ulimwengu ulivyofifia sana kabla ya umeme. Mshumaa fulani—mshumaa mzuri—hutoa kiasi kidogo kwamba inayofikia karibu na asilimia ya moja ya balbu moja yenye wati 100. Fungua mlango wako wa jokofu [au washa simu yako ya mkononi] na utatoa mwanga zaidi kuliko hiyo kwa jumla kinachofurahiwa na kaya nyingi [za Magharibi] katika karne ya kumi na nane kwa jumla nyumbani. Dunia, usikuni, kwa historia ya kiasi kubwa, ilikuwa mahali penye giza kamili kweli.”
- Bill Bryson, mwandishi wa Uingereza-Marekani na mwanahabari anayejulikana kwa uandishi wake wa maarifa yenye ukweli kuhusu sayansi, historia, na lugha ya Kiingereza.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“We forget just how painfully dim the world was before electricity. A candle—a good candle—provides barely a hundredth of the illumination of a single 100-watt lightbulb. Open your refrigerator door [or activate your mobile phone] and you summon forth more light than the total amount enjoyed by most [Western] households in the eighteenth century. The world at night for much of history was a very dark place indeed.”
- Bill Bryson, British-American author and journalist known for his insightful non-fiction writing on science, history, and the English language.
Chanzo (source): Bryson, Bill. At Home: A Short History of Private Life. New York: Doubleday, 2010, page 112.