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The military, space and aviation experts at Lockheed Martin want you to know that they're closing in on fusion. The firm's secretive Skunk Works has announced that its compact fusion reactor is a mere 10 years away and would investors please send money.
洛克希德·马丁公司的军事及航空航天专家想让你们知道，他们的聚变实验正接近成功。日前，该公司的神秘臭鼬工厂宣布：小型聚变反应堆的研发仅还需十年，投资者们快快投资吧！
The device would work… if it works…by fusing atoms of hydrogen together. This fusion produces a larger atom—helium—plus copious energy. As a bonus, fusion does not produce radioactive waste, unlike its poor cousin fission that's in use in nuclear reactors around the world today.
该设备可能能运转……如果它能运转，那么，……它是通过将氢原子融合在一起而运转的。这一聚变会产生大量的氦原子——以及丰富的能源。其额外优点是：与如今应用在核反应堆中的裂变不同，聚变不会产生放射性废弃物。
The key to Lockheed's device, they say, is superconductors. They’ll create magnetic fields strong enough to contain the superhot plasma created by fusion. When the atoms of heavy hydrogen fuse in that plasma, neutrons are released that then hit the reactor wall, heating it. That heat then boils water to make steam to spin a turbine.
他们说，洛克希德设备的关键在于超导体。超导体能制造出足够强大的磁场，控制住聚变产生的超高温等离子体。当重原子氢和等离子体重合时，被释放出的中子会撞击反应堆外壁，并将其加热。热量使得水沸腾成为水蒸气，水蒸气再带动蒸汽涡轮机旋转。
Or so the theory goes. Unfortunately, neutrons have a nasty habit of making materials brittle, among other challenges faced by Lockheed and everyone else chasing fusion.
理论上大概是这样的。可惜的是，第一：中子有种恶习，它会增加材料的脆性——这是洛克希德公司面临的挑战之一；第二，其他人也热衷于聚变。
Of course, the world already enjoys the benefits of one fusion reactor, which sits at a comfortable remove and can be easily harnessed with a working technology called photovoltaics. It's called the Sun.
当然，世人早已享受到了一种聚变反应堆带来的好处——这种聚变能够让人自由走动，且易于被人使用（利用光伏处理技术即可）——这种聚变反应堆就是太阳。
