今天的主角是托福聽力TPO32 Lecture4里的女主人公Harriet Morrison Irwin哈里特·莫里森·歐文。她就是我們所說的六邊形房子的締造者，一位值得稱頌的偉大女性。六邊形的房，你可能沒見過，但是六邊形的帳篷可能更好想象吧。

　　接下來，我們就先來看看有著這樣腦洞的女人，她背后不一樣的故事吧。

　　不幸，卻又萬幸的她

　　Harriet Abigail Morrison was born in Charlotte in 1828. `She is the third child of her family, and one of the ten children who survived into adulthood. 哈里特生于1828年，在家中十個兄弟姐妹中排行老三，卻是家里唯一一個活到成年的孩子  。

　　Harriet was frail in her early years, so spent much of her time poring over books and writing down stories. 小時候的哈里特因為嚴重體虛，所以大量的時光就在家讀書和寫作。

　　When it was time to attend college, she studied literature, religion, history, some math, painting, music, and lots of embroidery.But no curriculum was available to satisfy her interest in advanced mathematics and engineering. 直到上大學，她學習了文學、宗教、歷史、藝術(shù)和刺繡等多種學科，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)始終滿足不了她對高等數(shù)學和工程學學習的渴求。

　　In 1849, she married a wealth and educated man. Even as an adult, Harriet continued to suffer from diseases, but gave birth to 9 children. 盡管依然長年受到疾病的侵擾，婚姻幸福的哈里特堅強地生下了九個孩子！可謂美滿家庭里幸福的妻子和母親了。

　　學習不止，事業(yè)不休

　　In 1869, after watching the construction of many new buildings in Charlotte, she renewed her earlier interest in engineering and architecture. Heavily influenced by her years of illness, Irwin wanted to design a home that was both practical and economical for the invalid housekeeper. 1869年，哈里特看到家鄉(xiāng)的許多新式建筑后，重燃了她自己對工程和建筑的激情。正因為想為自己飽受疾病的痛苦多年，哈里特想為類似她這樣的家庭主婦們設(shè)計出一種既實用又經(jīng)濟的家。

　　She studied John Ruskin’s popular architectural books: Buildings should have plenty of access to the outdoors. Nature contributed to people’s mental power and good health. 她潛心學習和研究著名作家和藝術(shù)家約翰·羅斯金的建筑類書籍，受到了很大啟發(fā)。羅斯金提到：建筑應該與戶外充分交融，自然能給予人們強大的精神動力和健康的身體。于是，由哈里特設(shè)計的六邊形房屋誕生了。

　　On August 24, 1869, Harriet Morrison Irwin, with no formal training in architecture, received U.S. Patent for a design for hexagonal, or six-sided houses. 1869年，哈里特·莫里森·歐文，一位沒有接受過任何正式的建筑學學習的女性，憑借其設(shè)計的六邊形房屋，獲得了美國專利獎。

　　六邊房，牛在哪

　　我想大家都住慣了我們四面墻的屋子，不太能理解六邊形對于房子的意義。做慣了家庭主婦的哈里特，自有她的設(shè)計理由：

　　采光更好，通風更暢，空間利用率更高，角落的衛(wèi)生更好打掃，冬天暖氣的效果更好更節(jié)能……這一切，可能對于我們的母親們來說，會更容易理解吧。