机械设计制造及其自动化专业英语翻译.doc

Unit1 Metals The use of metals has always been a key factor in the development of the social systems of man. Of the roughly 100 basic elements of which all matter is composed, about half are classified as metals. The distinction between a metal and a nonmetal is not always clear-cut. The most basic definition centers around[以…为中心] the type of bonding existing between the atoms of the element, and around the characteristics of certain of the electrons[某种电子] associated with these atoms. In a more practical way, however, a metal can be defined as an element which has a particular package of properties. 在人类社会的发展中，金属的应用起着关键性的作用。构成物质的大约100种基本元素中，大约有一半为金属。金属和非金属之间的区别不是特别明显。最基本的定义集中在元素原子间存在的连接形式和与这些原子相关联的电子的某些特性。然而，在实际应用中，可以将具有某些特性集合金属定义为某种元素。 Metals are crystalline[adj.晶体的] when in the solid state and, with few exceptions[极少例外] (e.g. mercury), are solid at ambient[周围环境的] temperatures. They are good conductors of heat and electricity and are opaque[不透明的] to light. They usually have a comparatively high density. Many metals are ductile[柔软的；易延展的]-that is, their shape can be changed permanently[永久地，长期不变地] by the application of a force without breaking. The forces required to cause this deformation and those required to break or fracture a metal are comparatively high, although, the fracture forces is not nearly[ =far from,much less than] as high as would be expected from simple consideration of the forces required to tear apart the atoms of the metal. 除了少数例外金属在常温下是固态的。它们是热和电的良导体，不透光。它们往往具有较高的密度。许多金属具有延展性，也就是说，在不被破坏的情况下它们的形状在外力的作用下可以发生变化。引起永久变形所需的力和最终使金属断裂所需的力相当大，尽管发生断裂所需的力远没有像所预期的撕开金属原子所需的力那么大。 One of the more significant of these characteristics from our point of view is that of crystallinity[crystallinity [,krist?lin?ti]]. A crystalline solid is one in which the constituent atoms are located in a regular three-dimensional array as if they were located at the corners of the squares of a three-dimensional chessboard[n. 棋盘]. The spacing of the atoms in the array is of the sa