Vocabulary

摩擦学家；专门研究摩擦、磨损与润滑的科学家（由希腊语 tribos“摩擦” + -logy“学科”构成）

"Having spent a career as a tribologist, studying friction, wear and lubrication scientifically, I have some opinions on this."

（此处指力）对抗性的、起阻碍作用的——即与运动方向相反、妨碍运动的

"The reality is that friction, despite seeming so antagonistic, is necessary and even productive."

（古罗马的）圆形竞技场、露天剧场——中央为椭圆形场地，四周环绕阶梯式看台

"The ancient Romans discovered this in their amphitheatres."

难题、棘手的问题——尤指难以解决或答案莫衷一是的困境

"However, that created a new conundrum: if the grease got hot enough, it risked catching fire."

（此处作动词）缓解、缓和（问题）；使（不良状况）减轻

"Roman designers eventually figured out that they could temper the problem by putting axungia (animal fat) grease between the wheel and axle."

极其、精致地——此处修饰形容词，表'达到极高程度'（exquisitely accurate 意为'极其精确'）

"Physics as we know it is elegant and exquisitely accurate."

动力学摩擦——天体在引力场中运动时，因与周围物质（恒星、暗物质）的引力相互作用而受到的拖曳阻力

"This led him back to the drawing board, where he spotted there was a resistance present that no one before had identified: dynamical friction."

星际的——恒星与恒星之间的（空间、介质或动力学）

"Despite the fact that established scientists mocked his theories, Chandrasekhar would go on to become a founder of astrophysics, and is the reason we understand the evolution of stars and interstellar dynamics."

（病毒的）衣壳——包裹病毒遗传物质的外壳蛋白

"The rate at which a virus ejects from its protein shell or capsid can dictate whether it results in an active infection or instead remains dormant in the cell."

严谨、严密（尤指学术或工程方法上的严格精确）

"In terms of friction, the 20th century can be thought of as the century in which humans accepted the resistance, and established engineering rigour around friction to propel our technological advances forward."

再生制动——利用制动时的动能转化为电能回充电池的制动技术（多见于电动车与混合动力车）

"The heat from friction in braking is now used to create electricity in regenerative braking in EVs and hybrids."

（此处作动词）引领、开创、把……引入（新时代、新阶段）

"From maps of frictional heating during operation to how friction is influencing cellular movement, instruments and techniques have enabled us to usher friction into a new era to drive us forward, doing more than just finding clever ways to overcome friction."

发现自己面对（困境、阻力）——'find oneself + 动词-ing/形容词'结构，表示'不知不觉处于某种状态'

"I think this is critical to remember anytime we find ourselves confronting unexpected resistance, and it's something I remind myself of whenever I get halted in my work."

（对细节）过分挑剔的、吹毛求疵的；也指（事物）需要精细处理的、难以对付的

"Tribologists are incredibly clever with innovating ways to measure friction, given how persnickety friction is."

顶点、终极结果——某过程发展所达到的最高点或最终成果

"Looking at boats and ships today, it's clear that we didn't just accept these Viking designs as the culmination of nautical perfection."

（造船术语）搭接式船壳板建造法——木板边缘相互重叠、用铆钉钉合，形成'叠瓦'式外壳

"To do this, the Vikings used their 'clinker' technique of nailing together long planks of wood."

异常巨浪、疯狗浪——远超周围海况预期的孤立巨浪，常突然出现且极具破坏性

"If I was on a boat trip in the middle of the ocean, I too would be happy to sacrifice a little bit of drag reduction to avoid capsizing from a rogue wave."

减震器、阻尼器——用于吸收振动或冲击的装置

"Yes, we've done so for a while with mechanisms like brakes and dampeners, but expanding this beyond machines has really taken hold in recent decades."

（标题中的生造词）倒生长、逆向生长——由 un-（反向）+ grow（生长）构成，指'使已生长之物退回未长状态'

"Why trees don't ungrow"

（对事物的）重新构想、重新定义；此处指二战后对“家庭”乃至“社会”的根本性重塑

"It would take the post-WWII economic boom, with this radical revisioning of the household (and for that matter, society), for the washing machine to triumph in homes across America."

（非组合式短语动词）取得成功、带来回报；此处指 Maytag 的法务优势“奏效”

"That paid off until it didn’t: a 1939 Supreme Court decision found Maytag’s patent claims invalid."

（尤指钱财）所需的手段、财力；此处指买得起或用得上自家洗衣机的经济条件与空间

"They could also be readily accessed in self-service establishments—the first was called a “washateria,” but “laundromat” gained wider acceptance—for those without the wherewithal or space for their own machines."

逐渐削弱、暗中破坏（此处指经济萧条削弱了该市场的购买力）

"When the Depression undermined this market sector, the industry switched to selling to white-collar families who were, Scott writes, “struggling to maintain a middle-class lifestyle on reduced incomes.”"

单调乏味的苦差事、繁重无聊的劳作

"Second, the semiautomatic washing machines themselves may have taken some of the drudgery out of clothes washing, but they did not really save time."

特许权使用费许可；按产量/销售额向专利持有者支付提成以获得生产授权的许可方式

"Scott notes that Maytag largely controlled manufacturing through royalty licenses during the interwar period."

不情愿、勉强；此处指社会对接受洗衣机的抵触心理

"In response to this social reluctance, washing machine manufacturers and retailers resorted to high-pressure “forced selling,” as they themselves called it."

（老式洗衣机的）绞拧器、压水辊；通过滚筒挤压排出衣物的水分

"Scott explains that the person washing “had to manually feed each item of clothing through the powered wringers between each part of the cycle.”"

洗衣妇；以替人洗衣为业的女性

"“Even working-class white women outsourced washing to black laundresses, reflecting both the low cost of black female labor and the social convention, established in the slavery era, that heavy manual labor was below the dignity of white southern women.”"

外包；把（工作）交给外部（此处指交给黑人工洗衣妇）承办

"“Even working-class white women outsourced washing to black laundresses, reflecting both the low cost of black female labor and the social convention, established in the slavery era, that heavy manual labor was below the dignity of white southern women.”"

蓝领的；从事体力或制造业劳动的（工人阶级）

"They targeted blue-collar families who couldn’t afford to outsource their laundry."

有失……的尊严；与……的身份不相称（因而有损体面）

"“Even working-class white women outsourced washing to black laundresses, reflecting both the low cost of black female labor and the social convention, established in the slavery era, that heavy manual labor was below the dignity of white southern women.”"

（新产品、观念等的）传播、扩散、普及

"Two other factors pushed back against the rapid diffusion of washing machines."

（日常）杂务、家务活；尤指枯燥重复的家务

"Business historian Peter Scott explains that clothes-washing was the “least popular chore for nineteenth century housewives, owing to the long, heavy, and unpleasant physical labor that hand-washing required.”"

商业洗衣店、洗衣工场；对外承接洗涤业务的机构（相对于家用）

"Those who could passed the task on to domestic workers or commercial laundries."

（旧时观念）淑女的、合乎淑女身份的；举止端庄得体的（多含性别规训意味）

"Laundry, in short, was not (white) women’s work; even with a machine it wouldn’t be ladylike."

（喻）艰难的道路、阻力重重的历程；此处指电动洗衣机推广之路困难重重

"But electric-powered washing machines, which began to be introduced in the 1910s, had a more uphill road to acceptance at even half the price of refrigerators."

（口语）加装了动力/电力、经改装增强的；此处指把传统手动器具（扫帚、冰箱）改装为电动版本

"These were juiced-up variations on familiar things (brooms, iceboxes) and were welcome—if one could afford them."

强行推销、高压推销；以强势、反复施压方式促成购买的做法

"It took the hard sell, going door-to-door during the 1920s and 1930s, to get washing machines in people’s homes."

社会地位、名望；一个人在社群中受尊重的程度

"As the contemporary trade publication Electrical Merchandising put it, the washing machine “does not add social standing, it has no luxury appeal, and no entertainment value.”"

公开地、毫不掩饰地；明显地（此处 modif. racist arguments）

"The industry even tried “overtly racist arguments to deter southern white families from using black laundresses.”"

两次世界大战之间的（尤指1918—1939年）

"Scott notes that Maytag largely controlled manufacturing through royalty licenses during the interwar period."

阻止、威慑（使人打消念头）；此处指劝退南方白人家庭，使其不再雇佣黑人洗衣妇

"The industry even tried “overtly racist arguments to deter southern white families from using black laundresses.”"

步态，行走或奔跑的方式与节奏

"should be able to reproduce every known walking and running gait found in animals."

天真，幼稚——此处指创业者对困难严重性缺乏认知的那种必要的盲目乐观

"This combination of ambition and naivete is necessary for anyone to found a new company—how hard could it be?"

两足行走的，双足的

"We put theory into practice by building the bipedal robot ATRIAS—short for "Assume The Robot Is A Sphere,""

位移运动，从一个地点移动到另一地点的能力

"My dream has always been to build robots that combine locomotion and manipulation to move through the world and interact with it as people do."