English Newspaper (5) Pop, pop, pop

Bubble wrap is one of those strangely alluring objects kids would sooner use as toys. The long journey from its creation to its current reputation, however, is a twisting and curious one.

氣泡膜是孩子們更願意將其用作玩具的那些奇怪而誘人的物品之一。然而，從它的誕生到如今的聲譽，漫長的旅程是一段曲折而好奇的旅程。

What do you imagine the inventors of bubble wrap intended it to be used for? Kids might see it as an amusement nowadays, but it actually had a very ambitious – and mundane – intent for adults. 

您認為氣泡包裝紙的發明者打算將其用於什麼用途？如今，孩子們可能會將其視為一種娛樂，但它實際上對成年人來說有著非常雄心勃勃且平凡的意圖。

In 1957, Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes were designing a lining with air pockets that would be put atop a second layer of plastic. They thought that it would be good to sell them as special '3D wallpaper' – customers, they envisioned, would 'Wow' their guests with walls full of interesting shapes.

1957 年，阿爾弗雷德·菲爾丁 (Alfred Fielding) 和馬克·查瓦尼斯 (Marc Chavannes) 設計了一種帶有氣袋的襯裡，將其放置在第二層塑料上。他們認為將它們作為特殊的「3D 壁紙」出售會很好——他們設想，顧客會因牆壁上充滿有趣的形狀而「驚嘆」他們的客人。

Of course, as we can see just looking at a wall today, 3D wallpaper never took off as an idea. But with their rolls of air bubbles, it did not take a great leap for the two businessmen to realise that their 'wallpaper' would also make excellent protective wrappings for objects.

當然，正如我們今天看到的牆壁所看到的那樣，3D 壁紙從未作為一個想法流行起來。但憑藉一捲捲的氣泡，兩位商人很快就意識到他們的「壁紙」也可以成為物體的極佳的保護包裝。

That is not even the end of the story, as bubble wrap, besides its function as protection, also has gained a reputation of being stress-relief aid and practically a toy for people who become caught up trying to pop all the bubbles. Pop Its and other toys even help imitate bubble wrap in a reusable, compact way. The action of popping bubble wrap is so famous that the last day of January is 'Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day', after a radio station in the US spent a day live broadcasting the sound of popping bubbles.

這甚至還不是故事的結局，因為氣泡膜除了具有保護功能外，還贏得了緩解壓力的幫助的聲譽，並且實際上是那些陷入試圖戳破所有氣泡的人們的玩具。 Pop It 和其他玩具甚至可以以可重複使用、緊湊的方式幫助模仿氣泡包裝。爆破氣泡紙的動作如此出名，以至於一月份的最後一天被定為“氣泡紙欣賞日”，美國一家廣播電台花了一天時間現場直播氣泡紙爆裂的聲音。

The shift in perception took a while, though, knowing that bubble wrap began life as an idea for decorative wallpaper, it is quite amusing to know how it is known for a completely different thing, even past its nominal purpose as, well, wrapping. 

不過，觀念的轉變花了一段時間，因為知道氣泡包裝紙最初是作為裝飾壁紙的一種想法而誕生的，知道它如何以完全不同的東西而聞名，甚至超出了其名義上的用途（嗯，包裝），這是非常有趣的。

Vocabulary

mundane (adj) 世俗的

lining (adj) 裡襯

envision (v) 預見

protective (adj) 防護的

stress-relief (n) 緩解壓力

imitate (v) 模仿

新聞來源: https://student.thestandard.com.hk/text/juniorstandard/article/stories/827

中文翻譯:晚晚有魚兒