The world keeps running out of helium(氦氣). There is now a race to prepare for the next shortage
世界不斷耗盡氦氣。現在有一場為下一次短缺做準備的競賽
by Callum Bains
Nasa美國國家航空航天局
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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遇到生詞不要慌，看看是不是跟學過的單詞相似，it's a surprise！
♋reaction n.反應
♋remarkable a.非凡的，不同尋常的
♋fragile a.脆弱的
我們的生活出人意料地依賴於這種極輕且無反應的氣體，但它的供應卻非常脆弱。
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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.沮喪的
南希·沃斯頓記得，當她聽說她的氦氣送貨不會到達時，她感到很沮喪。
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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.平靜的，安寧的
♋abrupt a.突然的
♋shipment n.運輸，貨物
♋in a range of 在…範圍內
2022 年初，她和她在美國西北太平洋國家實驗室的化學家(chemist)團隊突然被供應商告知，他們不會收到通常運送的氣體，他們本來要在一系列實驗使用它。
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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.簡單的，僅僅 simple a.簡單的
短缺意味著沒有足夠的資源可供使用，實驗室只能用更少的資源來湊合。
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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.
在那年的頭幾周，實驗室的供應量遠低於通常收到的 2,500 升（660 加侖）。
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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 一對，兩個，實際使用也可以表示’幾個’。
到 4 月，僅僅幾個月後，它獲得的氦氣還不到所需氦氣的一半。
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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.艦隊，捕魚船隊，車隊，擴展義：’一隊，一群’ a.快速的，敏捷的
♋instrument n.儀器，樂器，工具，手段
♋regular a.有規律的，頻繁的，通常的 n.常客
♋top-up n.充值，續費(英) = refill / recharge (美)
♋sacrifice n./v. 犧牲，獻祭
♋greed n.貪婪 greedy a.貪婪的，貪吃的
由於有一小群儀器需要定期補充液氦，實驗室別無選擇，只能犧牲其中最貪婪的儀器，以繼續運行(run)最重要的儀器。
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Washton's own instrument of choice was a nuclear(原子核的) magnetic(磁鐵的,磁性的) resonance(洪亮,共鳴) spectrometer(譜儀) – a huge, hulking tower, capable of peering into the molecular(分子的) structure of atoms(原子).
♋hulk n.龐然大物 hulking a.巨大的
♋tower n.塔 v.勝過
♋capable a.能做…的，能幹的 像是able加上了can
♋peer n.同齡人 v.端詳，費力地看
Washton 自己選擇的儀器是核磁共振光譜儀——一座巨大而笨重的塔，能夠窺視原子的分子結構。
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Such measurements can contribute to the development of new batteries and energy storage(store v.) systems, for example.
♋measure v.測量，估量 n.措施，方法，提案
例如，此類測量有助於開發新電池(battery)和儲能系統。