Name: 【6分鐘英語】3D列印機的未來展望 (3D printers - 6 Minute English)
Uploaded: 2023-02-11T21:01:30.000Z
Duration: 6 min 22 s

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Sam.

你好。這裡是 BBC 學英語的《六分鐘學英文》節目。 我是 Sam。

In 1436 in Germany, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press - a machine capable of making many copies of the same page of text.

1436 年在德國，約翰尼斯·谷騰堡發明了印刷機，一種能夠將同一頁文本複印多份的機器。

Ever since, printing has been used around the world to produce books, newspapers and magazines.

從那以後，印刷在世界各地被用於製作書籍、報紙和雜誌。

Printing technology has come a long way since Gutenberg's time, but even today's most advanced laser printers have only printed flat, two-dimensional objects... until now.

自谷騰堡的時代以來，印刷技術已經取得了很大的進步，但即使是當今最先進的雷射列印機也只能列印平面的二維物體，直到現在。

In this programme, we're discussing 3D printers – printers which can build solid, three-dimensional objects out of a variety of materials, including plastic, concrete and metal.

在本節目中，我們將討論 3D 列印機——可以使用各種材料，包括塑料、混凝土和金屬製造實體三維物體的列印機。

Now, Neil, when you say a printer that can make solid objects, I guess you're not talking about a normal printer.

Neil，當你說一台可以製造固體物體的列印機時，我猜你說的不是普通列印機。

These large and complex 3D printers work in a completely different way.

這些大型和複雜的 3D 列印機是完全不同的運作模式。

Unlike a sculptor who chips away at a block of stone to reveal a shape underneath, 3D printers work in the opposite way, building up physical objects by adding material layer on layer.

跟雕刻家在一塊石頭上雕刻來展現下方的形狀不同，3D 列印機的運作方式恰恰相反，是通過一層一層地添加材料來構建實物。

And the ability to print objects in this way is providing solutions to many problems, as we'll be finding out...

以這種方式列印物品的能力為許多問題提供了解決方案，正如我們將發現的那樣……

But first I have a question for you, Neil.

但首先我有一個問題要問你，Neil。

Before Johannes Gutenberg invented his printing press, copies of texts were made by block printing, using hand-carved wooden blocks pressed into ink.

在約翰尼斯·谷騰堡發明他的印刷機之前，文本的副本是通過木版印刷製作的，使用手工雕刻的木塊壓入墨水。

So, what was the oldest known text to be printed this way?

那麼，以這種方式印刷的已知最古老的文字是什麼？

Was it: a) a religious teaching?, b) a cooking recipe? or, c) a love letter?

是：a) 宗教教義，b) 烹飪食譜， 或者 c) 一封情書？

OK, Neil. I'll reveal the answer later in the programme.

好的，Neil。我稍後將在節目中揭曉答案。

The idea of printing solid objects is not new, but it was only after the millennium that tech companies began to realise how it could be done.

列印固體物品的想法並不新，但直到千禧年之後，科技公司才開始意識到如何做到。

Here's Professor Mark Miodownik, a material scientist at University College, London, explaining more to BBC World Service programme, People Fixing The World:

以下是倫敦大學學院的材料科學家 Mark Miodownik 教授在 BBC 國際台《People Fixing The World》節目中的採訪內容：

As the millennium turned, patents expired and that meant people started making really cheap 3D printers.

隨著千禧年的到來，專利到期，這意味著人們開始製造非常便宜的 3D 列印機。

And people started mucking about with them and going, "Hold on a minute! It's not just an industrial tool. You can put them in schools, you can put them in universities.

人們開始拿它們搗亂然後說：「等一下！這不僅僅是一種工業工具。你可以把它們放在學校裡，你可以把它們放在大學裡。

Ohh, it's actually really great for prototyping."

哦，這其實是真的很適合做原型設計。」

And then people got excited about it and it became the answer to everything. Everything was going to be 3D-printed!

然後人們對此感到興奮，它成為了一切的答案。 一切都將被 3D 列印出來！

After the year 2000, 3D printers suddenly got much cheaper and tech companies started mucking about with them – spending time playing with them in a fun way.

2000 年之後，3D 打印機突然變得更便宜，科技公司開始胡鬧它們，muck about 的意思是花時間以有趣的方式玩弄它們。

They realised that 3D printers had many uses - for example, they discovered that 3D printers were great at making prototypes – models of a product that can be tested, improved and used to develop better products.

他們意識到 3D 列印機有很多用途，例如，他們發現，3D 列印機在製作原型方面非常出色，原型就是可以測試、改進並用於開發更好產品的產品模型。

Professor Miodownik thinks these tech companies were surprised at how useful 3D printing was.

Miodownik 教授認為這些科技公司他們對 3D 列印的實用性感到驚訝。

He uses the phrase 'hold on a minute!' to express this surprise or disbelief.

他用了一句話：「等一下！」來表達這種驚訝或懷疑。

In fact, in turned out that 3D printers were excellent at making bespoke things – objects which are made specially for a particular person.

事實上，事實證明，3D 列印機精於訂製東西，意思是專門為特定的人製作的物品。

One area which 3D printing dramatically improved was medical prosthetics - artificial body parts made specially for someone who has lost an arm, a leg or a foot, for example.

3D 列印極大地改善了一個領域，就是醫學義肢。義肢是專門為失去一隻手臂、一條腿或一隻腳的人製作的人造身體部位。

In 2021, Stephen Verze, who lost an eye in a childhood accident, became the first person to be fitted with a 3D-printed prosthetic eye.

2021 年，失去一隻眼睛的 Stephen Verze 在一次童年事故中，他成為第一個安裝上 3D 列印義眼的人。

It's prosthetic, so the new eye doesn't restore Stephen's sight, but it has boosted his confidence.

它是義眼，所以新的眼睛不會恢復 Stephen 的視力，但這增強了他的信心。

Surgeon Mandeep Sagoo, led the team at Moorsfield Hospital that operated on Stephen's eye.

外科醫生 Mandeep Sagoo 領導了 Moorsfield 醫院的團隊，為 Stephen 的眼睛進行了手術。

Here he is explaining more to BBC World Service's, People Fixing The World:

以下是他在 BBC 國際台的《People Fixing The World》節目中的採訪內容：

In many countries, particularly the developed world, there are facilities for custom-making a prosthetic eye to match the other eye,

在許多國家，特別是已開發國家，有機構專門定制義眼來匹配另一隻眼睛，

and that's an artisan process which is very time-consuming and requires real artistry on the part of the ocularist – the ocularist is the person who fits the prosthetic eye –

這是一個非常耗時的過程，需要製造義眼人真正的藝術，ocularist 是製作義眼的人，

and so what we have been developing is a technique to automate the whole process.

所以我們一直在開發的是一種使整個過程自動化的技術。

Even before 3D printers, prosthetic eyes were custom-made, a word similar to 'bespoke' which means specially made according to a particular person's requirements.

甚至在 3D 列印機出現之前，義眼就是「客製化的」，這個詞類似於「訂製」，意思是根據特定人的要求專門製作。

But the traditional way of making artificial eyes by hand is very time-consuming – it takes a lot of time to do.

但是傳統的手工製作人造眼睛的方法非常耗時，需要大量的時間來完成。

Nowadays, 3D printing can complete the whole process in just thirty minutes.

如今，3D 列印僅需三十分鐘即可完成整個過程。

It's great to see technology helping people, and amazing how far new inventions like 3D printers have come since the days of Johannes Gutenberg.

很高興看到科技幫助人們，也很驚訝自約翰尼斯·谷騰堡時代以來 3D 列印機等新發明取得了很大的進展。

Speaking of which, Neil, it's time to reveal the answer to my question.

提到他，Neil，是時候揭曉我的問題的答案了。

Right. You asked me about the earliest known text to have been printed using wooden blocks, and I guesses it was a cooking recipe. So, was I right?

沒錯。 你問我已知最早的用木塊印刷的文字是什麼，我猜是烹飪食譜。 那麼，我是對的嗎？

The oldest known wooden block print was actually a religious text – the Buddha's Diamond Sutra.

已知最古老的木刻版印刷其實是一本宗教文本——佛陀的金剛經。

OK, let's recap the vocabulary from this programme, starting with 'mucking about', an informal way to say playing with something carelessly, not for a serious reason.

讓我們回顧一下這個節目中出現詞彙，從 mucking about 開始，這是一種非正式的說法，表示隨意地玩弄某物，而不是出於嚴肅的原因。

A 'prototype' is a model of a product that can be tested, improved and used to develop a better product.

「原型」是可以測試、改進並用於開發更好產品的產品模型。

The phrase 'hold on a minute!' can be used to express surprise or disbelief.

「等一下！」的用法可用於表示驚訝或懷疑。

'Prosthetics' refer to artificial body parts such as arms, legs, feet or eyes, which are used to replace a missing natural part.

「義肢」是指人造身體部位，例如手臂、腿、腳或眼睛，用於替換缺失的身體部位。

The words 'bespoke', and 'custom-made' describe something specially made for a particular person.

bespoke 和 custom-made 這兩個詞描述的是為特定的人特別製作的東西。

And finally, if something is 'time-consuming', it takes a lot of time to do.

最後，如果某件事是「耗時的」，那就是要花很多時間去做。