The world keeps running out of helium(氦气). There is now a race to prepare for the next shortage
世界不断耗尽氦气。现在有一场为下一次短缺做准备的竞赛
by Callum Bains
Nasa美国国家航空航天局
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Our lives are surprisingly dependent upon this extremely light and unreactive gas, yet supplies of it are remarkably fragile.
♋surprisingly，surprise遇到生词不要慌，看看是不是跟学过的单词相似，it's a surprise！
♋reaction n.反应
♋remarkable a.非凡的，不同寻常的
♋fragile a.脆弱的
我们的生活出人意料地依赖于这种极轻且无反应的气体，但它的供应却非常脆弱。
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Nancy Washton remembers the sinking feeling she got when she heard her helium delivery wouldn't be arriving.
♋sink v.下降，降低 n.洗碗槽 sinking a.沮丧的
南希·沃斯顿记得，当她听说她的氦气送货不会到达时，她感到很沮丧。
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In early 2022, she and her team (of chemists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in the United States) were abruptly told by their supplier that they wouldn't get their usual shipment of the gas, which they use in a range of different experiments.
♋Pacific n./a. 太平洋(的) pacific a.平静的，安宁的
♋abrupt a.突然的
♋shipment n.运输，货物
♋in a range of 在…范围内
2022 年初，她和她在美国西北太平洋国家实验室的化学家(chemist)团队突然被供应商告知，他们不会收到通常运送的气体，他们本来要在一系列实验使用它。
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Shortages meant there wasn't enough to go around, and the laboratory would simply have to make do with less.
♋simply adv.简单的，仅仅 simple a.简单的
短缺意味着没有足够的资源可供使用，实验室只能用更少的资源来凑合。
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In the first weeks of that year, the laboratory's supply dropped well below the 2,500 litres (660 gallons) it normally received.
在那年的头几周，实验室的供应量远低于通常收到的 2,500 升（660 加仑）。
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By April, just a couple of months later, it was getting less than half the helium it needed.
♋a couple of 一对，两个，实际使用也可以表示’几个’。
到 4 月，仅仅几个月后，它获得的氦气还不到所需氦气的一半。
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With a small fleet of instruments that require regular top-ups of liquid helium, the lab had no choice but to sacrifice the greediest of these in order to continue running the most important.
♋fleet n.舰队，捕鱼船队，车队，扩展义：’一队，一群’ a.快速的，敏捷的
♋instrument n.仪器，乐器，工具，手段
♋regular a.有规律的，频繁的，通常的 n.常客
♋top-up n.充值，续费(英) = refill / recharge (美)
♋sacrifice n./v. 牺牲，献祭
♋greed n.贪婪 greedy a.贪婪的，贪吃的
由于有一小群仪器需要定期补充液氦，实验室别无选择，只能牺牲其中最贪婪的仪器，以继续运行(run)最重要的仪器。
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Washton's own instrument of choice was a nuclear(原子核的) magnetic(磁铁的,磁性的) resonance(洪亮,共鸣) spectrometer(谱仪) – a huge, hulking tower, capable of peering into the molecular(分子的) structure of atoms(原子).
♋hulk n.庞然大物 hulking a.巨大的
♋tower n.塔 v.胜过
♋capable a.能做…的，能干的 像是able加上了can
♋peer n.同龄人 v.端详，费力地看
Washton 自己选择的仪器是核磁共振光谱仪——一座巨大而笨重的塔，能够窥视原子的分子结构。
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Such measurements can contribute to the development of new batteries and energy storage(store v.) systems, for example.
♋measure v.测量，估量 n.措施，方法，提案
例如，此类测量有助于开发新电池(battery)和储能系统。