TED演讲:下一次工业革命就在眼前(5)

 Last year in the US, they helped Amazon prepare and ship all the products required for Cyber Monday, 去年在美国，机器人帮助亚马逊发货，以应对网络星期一带来的

the annual peak of online retail¹. 年度线上零售消费高峰。

Last year in the US, it was the biggest online shopping day of the year and of history. 那是去年在美国的，有史以来最大的线上购物日。

Consumers spent 3 billion dollars on electronics that day. 消费者那天在网络上共支出30亿美元。

That's real economic growth. 那是实实在在的经济增长。

Then there's additive² manufacturing, 3D printing. 此外，还有积层制造，即3D打印技术。

3D printing has already improved plastic manufacturing and it's now making its way through metal. 3D打印已经提升了塑料制造行业。目前它正向钢铁行业进发。

Those are not small industries. 它们可不是小型行业。

Plastic and metals represent 25 percent of global manufacturing production. 塑料和钢铁占全球制造业生产的25%

Let's take a real example. 让我们看一个具体例子。

In the aerospace³ industry, fuel nozzles are some of the most complex parts to manufacture, for one reason: 在航空航天产业，燃油喷嘴是最难生产的部件之一，就因为一个原因：

they are made up of 20 different parts that need to be separately produced and then painstakingly⁴ assembled. 它由20种不同部件组成，并且它们需要独立生产，组装过程也极其复杂。

Aerospace companies are now using 3D printing, 航空公司现在正在采用3D打印技术，

which allows them to turn those 20 different parts into just one. The results? 这类技术可以让它们从需要生产20种不同部件，变为只生产一种。结果呢？

40 percent more productivity, 40 percent more output produced, 40 percent more growth for this specific industry. 生产力提高了百分之四十，产量提高了百分之四十，经济增长加快了百分之四十，仅仅就在这一特定的领域。

But actually, the most exciting part of this new manufacturing revolution goes much beyond productivity. 但事实上，这次新工业革命最激动人心的地方远不止生产率的提高。

It's about producing better, smarter products. It's about scale customization. 还有生产质量更优、更为精细的产品，还有批量定制。

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 additive   

adj.附加的；n.添加剂

参考例句：

• Colour is often an additive in foods.颜料经常是各种食物中的添加物。
• Strict safety tests are carried out on food additives.对食品添加剂进行了严格的安全检测。

3 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

4 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。