CNN News: 稀土元素

10 Second Trivia. On the Periodic Table, 17 elements are classified as what? Halogens, Noble gases, lanthanides or rare earth elements.

10秒快速问答。在元素周期表上，有17个元素被划分为什么?卤素、稀有气体、镧系元素或稀土元素。

Seventeen of the chemical elements on the table are rare earth metals which are widely used in electronics.

17种化学元素是稀土金属，广泛用于电子产品。

Fun fact about rare earth elements. They’re not that rare but maybe somewhat available earth elements didn’t have the same ring. Scandium, which is one of them, is used in many TVs. Lanthanum is in camera lens. Your watch may have artificial promethium. Many rare earth elements are produced or processed in China and that could factor into an ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China if higher tariffs or taxes effect the costs of rare earth metals. Everything from magnets to car engines could get more expensive.

关于稀土元素的趣事。其实它们并不是那么稀有，但可能地球上的某些元素并没有相同的环。钪就是其中之一，被用于许多电视。镧在照相机镜头中。你的手表可能含有人造钷。许多稀土元素都是在中国生产或加工的，如果更高的关税或税收影响到稀土金属的成本，这可能会导致美国和中国之间持续不断的贸易争端。从磁铁到汽车发动机，一切都可能变得更加昂贵。

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are everywhere. You’ll find them in your phone, your car, even in wind turbines. Without rare earth elements, a lot of the technology we have today wouldn’t exist in its current form. They’re mined in places like this and have been milled into a concentrate before being processed into the pure metal. The global appetite for rare earth elements is surging. There’s actually about 50 percent rare earths contained in this concentrate, but what are they? Well contrary to the name, they’re not actually that rare.

它们无处不在。会在你的手机里，你的汽车里，甚至在风力涡轮机里。如果没有稀土元素，我们今天拥有的许多技术就不会以现在的形式存在。它们是在这样的地方开采的，在加工成纯金属之前被磨成精矿。全球对稀土元素的需求正在飙升。实际上，这种浓缩物中含有大约50%的稀土，但它们是什么呢?与这个名字相反，它们其实并不罕见。

Rare earth elements are a collection of 17 metals that are found here on the Periodic

稀土元素是17种金属的集合，它们在这里被发现具有周期性

Table with names that are almost impossible to pronounce. And while they’re abundant, they’re not often found in quantities that make extraction economically viable. They’re known for having similar properties and are mostly used in magnets, catalysts or in hybrid car batteries. Even some military equipment requires rare earth elements.

化学周期表中的名称很难读。虽然它们储量丰富，但数量并不足以使开采在经济上可行。它们以具有相似的性能而闻名，主要用于磁铁、催化剂或混合动力汽车电池。甚至一些军事装备也需要稀土元素。

China is by far the biggest producer. It has a third of the world’s deposits and it counts for more than 90 percent of global production and supply.

到目前为止，中国是最大的生产国。它拥有世界三分之一的储量，占全球生产和供应的90%以上。