经济学人287:3D打印 构筑长城的新砖石

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术

　　3D printing

　　3D打印

　　A new brick in the Great Wall

　　构筑长城的新砖石

　　Additive¹ manufacturing is growing apace in China

　　中国的叠层制造正在飞速发展

　　ALTHOUGH it is the weekend, a small factory in the Haidian district of Beijing is hard at work.

　　虽然是周末，北京海淀区的一座小型工厂还在努力地运转着。

　　Eight machines, the biggest the size of a delivery van, are busy making things.

　　厂里的八台机器正在忙碌地制造产品，最大的机器有厢式货车大小。

　　Yet the factory, owned by Beijing Longyuan Automated² Fabrication System, appears almost deserted³.

　　然而这家隶属于北京隆源自动成型系统有限公司的工厂看上去就像废弃了一样。

　　This is because it is using additive-manufacturing machines, popularly known as three-dimensional printers, which run unattended day and night, seven days a week.

　　这是因为工厂使用的是叠层制造设备，即广为人知的三维打印机，可以一周七天，不分昼夜的无人化运转。

　　The printers require an occasional visit from a supervisor⁴ to top them up with the powdered materials they use as their inks, or to remove a completed item, but apart from that they can be left on their own.

　　这些打印机需要管理员不定期的来为其加满粉末状原料，作为它们的墨水，或者取走完成的物品，但除此之外，这些打印机可以自行运转。

　　They build up the objects they are making one layer at a time, as the ink is sintered into place with a laser in a way that creates little waste and can make shapes impossible to achieve using the traditional subtractive⁵ technology of lathes⁶, milling machines and cutting tools.

　　它们一次一层的逐步构造物品，用激光以一种不会产生什么废料的方式将墨水在适当位置烧结，可以做出采用传统削减技术的车床、铣床、刀具不可能做出的形状。

　　Though it is not yet ready for use in mass production, 3D printing is excellent for making prototypes, customised jobs and short production runs, for there is no need to retool⁷ each time the specification⁸ changes.

　　虽然3D打印目前不能用于大批量生产，但3D打印非常适用于制造原型件，定制加工及小批量生产，因为改变规格时不需要每次都更换刀具，

　　All that need be done is to alter the software that controls the print heads.

　　需要的只是更改控制打印头的软件而已。

　　Western countries led the development of 3D printing, and the technique has been praised by Barack Obama as a way to revive America's manufacturing industries.

　　西方国家引领了3D打印的发展，该技术还被巴拉克·奥巴马誉为复兴美国制造业的一种途径。

　　It may yet do so.

　　3D打印或许能不负所望。

　　But the extent to which that revival⁹ will be brought about by the return to America of production which has migrated to countries like China is harder to predict—for China has plans of its own.

　　让以前转移到像中国这样的国家生产的产品回到美国生产会带来复兴，但复兴的程度更难预料——因为中国也有自己的计划。

　　Keep your powder dry

　　做好一切准备

　　At the moment AFS is in the prototyping business.

　　目前AFS从事的是原型设计业务，

　　Its customers are mainly aerospace¹⁰ firms and vehicle-makers that need experimental designs turned into metal quickly.

　　其客户大多是需要将实验设计快速转化为金属实样的航空公司及汽车制造商。

　　The powders in its machines' hoppers are plastics, waxes and foundry sand.

　　其设备料斗中的粉末是塑料，蜡及铸造用砂。

　　The results are sent off to foundries, where they are used to make moulds for the sand-casting of metal objects.

　　完成品送到铸造厂，用来制作金属件砂模铸造用的模具。

　　According to William Zeng, AFS's deputy general manager, all the parts needed to make a prototype car engine can be printed and cast in this way in under two weeks.

　　据AFS的副总经理William Zeng称，制作一个汽车引擎原型所需的全部零件均可以这种方式打印并铸造，用时不到两周，

　　A conventional machine shop would need several months to do that—not least because many of the components¹² would have to be made by hand.

　　而传统的机工车间需要数月时间才能做到——主要是因为许多组件需要手工制作。

　　AFS also has a second line of business. It sells the laser-sintering printers it makes to others, for this is a rapidly growing industry.

　　AFS还有一块副营业务，即将其制造的激光烧结打印机出售给其它公司，因为这是一个飞速增长的行业。

　　And some of its machines, which cost up to 1.5m yuan, can do more than just sinter plastics, wax and sand; they can sinter metals directly.

　　其某些设备的售价高达150万元人民币（约合25万美元），不只可以烧结塑料，蜡和砂子，还可以直接烧结金属。

　　Indeed, one of the country's largest 3D printers does just this.

　　实际上，中国最大的3D打印机也有此功能。

　　It is 12 metres long and it belongs to the National Laboratory for Aeronautics¹³ and Astronautics at Beihang University.

　　该设备长12米，拥有者是北京航空航天大学的航空航天国家实验室。

　　Wang Huaming, the laboratory's chief scientist, told a digital-manufacturing seminar organised recently by the Laboratory of High Performance Computing¹⁴, a government research institute, that this behemoth is being employed to make large and complex parts for China's commercial-aircraft programme, which plans to build planes to rival those turned out by Airbus and Boeing.

　　该实验室的首席科学家王华明最近在一次由高性能计算实验室组织的数字制造研讨会上说，这个大家伙是为中国的商用飞机项目制造大型复杂部件的，该项目计划制造出可以与空客和波音制造的飞机匹敌的飞机。

　　These parts include titanium fuselage frames and high-strength steel landing-gear—objects that require the metal they are made from to be free of flaws which might cause them to fail.

　　这些部件包括钛机身骨架及高强钢起落架，制造这些部件所用的金属要求没有任何瑕疵，否则会导致部件无法使用。

　　Printing such things, rather than making them from precast metal, will be a technical tour de force, and Dr Wang's team is therefore working on the tricky¹⁵ problem of controlling the recrystallisation of metals after they have been melted by the laser.

　　打印这些部件，而不用预制金属制作，将会是一项技术绝活，因此王博士的团队正在致力解决的棘手问题是激光将金属熔化后对金属重结晶的控制。

　　Making planes is about as high-tech¹⁶ as mechanical engineering gets.

　　制造飞机算是机械工程中的高科技。

　　But 3D printing in China is also busy at the other end of the market: extruding¹⁷ filaments¹⁸ of molten plastic to build up objects such as toys, mobile-phone cases and car fittings.

　　但是3D打印在中国还广泛应用于其他市场：挤出熔融塑料的细丝来逐步构造出如玩具，手机壳及汽车配件等物品。

　　One of the biggest firms in this field is Tiertime, which operates from Huairou on the outskirts¹⁹ of Beijing.

　　位于北京市郊怀柔区的太尔时代是该领域最大的公司之一。

　　Tiertime makes a range of 3D printers that produce objects from polymeric alloys²⁰ of acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene.

　　太尔时代生产一系列3D打印机，可以用丙烯腈，丁二烯和苯乙烯的聚合物合金制作物品。

　　Tiertime's printers are also often used in the prototyping business, but unlike those of AFS they sit in designers' offices rather than on factory floors.

　　太尔时代的打印机也常用于原型设计业务，但与AFS的设备不同，太尔时代的设备是置于设计师的办公室，而非工厂的车间里。

　　Some are small enough to sit on a desk.

　　有的设备小到可以放在桌子上。

　　They allow people to print their ideas directly, rather than having to.

　　这让人们可以直接将自己的创意打印出来，而不用将创意发出去让别人制作。

　　The company also makes even smaller printers, called UP, which sell for less than 6,000 yuan.

　　太尔时代甚至还可以制造更小的打印机，叫做UP，售价不到6000元人民币。

　　Personal printers like these are helping²¹ to create a Chinese version of the maker¹¹ movement—a mixture of hobbyists and craft producers who, finding that 3D-printing technology greatly lowers the cost of going into production, are creating small manufacturing businesses.

　　类似UP的个人打印机正在促进中国版创客运动的形成，即一批发现3D打印技术极大的降低了投产成本的业余爱好者及工艺品制造者正在纷纷建立小型制造企业。

　　The maker movement began in America, but it is taking off in China too.

　　创客运动始于美国，但在中国的创客运动也在迅速发展。

　　Maker fairs are now being held in some of the big cities. Officials seem happy to encourage this, and some talk of introducing 3D printers into schools, to spark pupils' interest in careers in engineering.

　　某些大城市现在正在举办创客展会。官方似乎乐于支持创客运动，某些官员谈及将3D打印机引入学校，激发学生从事工程职业的兴趣。

　　3D printing is still a long way from replacing mass manufacturing. But in China, as in America and Europe, the technology is changing the way products are developed and made.

　　3D打印要想取代大批量生产还有很长一段路要走。但在中国，与在美国和欧洲一样，该技术正在改变开发和制造产品的方式。

　　And by lowering the cost of entry, 3D printing could herald²² yet another new generation of Chinese manufacturing entrepreneurs.

　　通过降低成本门槛，3D打印或许能创造出新一代的中国制造业企业家。

　　1.delivery van 厢式送货车，送货车

　　You stole a floral delivery van?

　　你把一车花都偷来了?

　　Minneapolis moline international delivery van truck.

　　明尼阿波利斯莫林国际卡车送货车。

　　2.apart from 脱离；除此之外

　　Ms. mayer faces plenty of management challenges apart from the pregnancy²³.

　　除怀孕外，梅耶尔还在管理上面临很多挑战。

　　Apart from their direct costs, loan guarantees have other damaging effects.

　　除直接成本之外，贷款担保还有其他的不良影响。

　　3.build up 逐步建立；增进

　　The regime built up the largest army in Africa.

　　该政权逐渐建立起一支非洲规模最大的军队。

　　The collection has been built up over the last seventeen years.

　　在过去的17年中，收藏的规模不断扩大。

　　4.turn into 变成；成为

　　Could all of this really turn into a full-fledged crisis?

　　所有这一切真的会变成一场完全的危机？

　　Could 2010 turn into 1994 or 2004 for the markets?

　　2010年的市场会变成1994或2004年的市场吗？

1 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。

2 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

3 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

4 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

5 subtractive   

adj.负的；减法的

参考例句：

• The result is a subtractive number.结果是负数。
• Complementary to the three additive light primaries,there are three subtractive primaries.与加色法三原色互为补色的颜色为减色法三原色。

6 lathes   

车床( lathe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They showed keen interest in the various lathes on exhibition. 他们对展出中的各类车床表现出了浓厚的兴趣。
• To automate the control process of the lathes has become very easy today. 使机床的控制过程自动化现已变得很容易了。

7 retool   

v.改组，重新装备

参考例句：

• Each time the product changes,the machines have to be retooled.每次更换产品，就得重新装备机器。
• In the computer industry,engineers have to retool frequently.在电脑业中，工程师必须经常以新知识充实装备自己。

8 specification   

n.详述；[常pl.]规格，说明书，规范

参考例句：

• I want to know his specification of details.我想知道他对细节的详述。
• Examination confirmed that the quality of the products was up to specification.经检查，产品质量合格。

9 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

10 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。

11 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

12 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

13 aeronautics   

n.航空术，航空学

参考例句：

• National Aeronautics and Space undertakings have made great progress.国家的航空航天事业有了很大的发展。
• He devoted every spare moment to aeronautics.他把他所有多余的时间用在航空学上。

14 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

15 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

16 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

17 extruding   

v.挤压出( extrude的现在分词 )；挤压成；突出；伸出

参考例句：

• This makes the production process for extruding the powder mass very complicated. 这就使得压伸粉状药料的生产方式变得非常复杂。 来自辞典例句
• Application is made by dipping, rolling, extruding, wiping, or any other conventional techniques. 可采用浸、滚、挤压、刮刀或任何其它一般方式来进行。 来自辞典例句

18 filaments   

n.（电灯泡的）灯丝( filament的名词复数 )；丝极；细丝；丝状物

参考例句：

• Instead, sarcomere shortening occurs when the thin filaments'slide\" by the thick filaments. 此外，肌节的缩短发生于细肌丝沿粗肌丝“滑行”之际。 来自辞典例句
• Wetting-force data on filaments of any diameter and shape can easily obtained. 各种直径和形状的长丝的润湿力数据是易于测量的。 来自辞典例句

19 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

20 alloys   

n.合金( alloy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This is essentially a development of thoria dispersion strengthened nickel alloys. 这基本上是用二氧化钍弥散强度化的镍基合金。 来自辞典例句
• The lack of deep hardening in these alloys negates their use. 这些合金缺乏深层硬化能力使它们无法利用。 来自辞典例句

21 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

22 herald   

vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎

参考例句：

• In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
• Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。

23 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。