Worth Its Weight in Gold稀土如金

Rare earths include 17 nearly identical， silvery-white， heavy metals. While they are relatively plentiful in Earth’s crust—even more abundant than copper—their production proves challenging. Rare earths tend to be spread out in their ores. So， getting purified rare earth metals requires processing enormous amounts of raw ore at great expense， thus making it “rare”.

You might think you would only come across rare earths in your chemistry textbook， but in fact they are part of your daily life. A typical example is their contributions to smartphones. Neodymium， for example， plays a crucial role in making the tiny yet powerful magnets responsible for the vibrations in your phone. Meanwhile， elements like terbium are responsible for producing the bright and pretty colors that grace your screen.

稀土是17種十分相似的銀白色重金屬元素的總稱。雖然它們在地殼中廣為存在，甚至比銅含量還高，但將它們運用于生產(chǎn)生活并不容易。稀土以稀土礦的形態(tài)存在，而想要采獲高純度稀土，需要進行大規(guī)模、高成本的開礦，這也是稀土之所以“稀有”的原因。

你或許認為你只在化學課本中見過稀土，但其實它們就在你的日常生活中。一個典型的例子是它們在手機中的運用。比如，釹，它對手機中微小但強力的振動磁鐵起到至關(guān)重要的作用。再比如，像鋱這樣的元素就作用于手機屏幕的亮度和色彩。

Known as the “vitamins of modern industry”， the rare earth resource has been used in many industries. In national defense and security， they are used to make things like precision-guided missiles， night vision goggles， and lightweight armor. For example， each US F-35 fighter jet contains about 417 kilograms of rare earths， reported The Washington Post. Rare earths are also key to making semiconductors. Being great at controlling conductivity， they can help make semiconductors smaller and more efficient.

China holds an absolute advantage in this area. Having over one-third of the global rare earth reserves， China uses cutting-edge techniques for rare earth purification.

With strong determination， China aims to safeguard this precious resource and make the best of it to power its ongoing development.

稀土資源號稱“現(xiàn)代工業(yè)的維生素”，被廣泛應用于工業(yè)生產(chǎn)。在國家防御安全系統(tǒng)中，稀土被應用于制造精確制導導彈、夜視鏡、輕裝盔甲等設備。比如，據(jù)《華盛頓郵報》報道，一架F-35戰(zhàn)機要用417千克稀土。稀土也是生產(chǎn)半導體的關(guān)鍵。由于具有強控制傳導性，因此稀土可以用于生產(chǎn)更小但更高效的半導體。

中國在該領(lǐng)域擁有絕對性的優(yōu)勢。中國擁有超過世界總儲量三分之一的稀土資源，并利用前沿技術(shù)開采、提純稀土。

中國有決心保護好珍貴的稀土資源，并在未來的發(fā)展中對其進行充分利用。

Word Bank

abundant /?'b?nd?nt/ adj. 豐富的；大量的

Fish are abundant in the lake.

vibration /va?'bre??n/ n. 震動；顫動

grace /ɡre?s/ v. 為增色；為錦上添花

The table graced the drawing room.

ongoing /'?nɡ????/ adj. 不斷發(fā)展的