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Listen to part of a lecture in a material science class.
请听材料科学课上的部分内容。
So what’s the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about uses for copper? Tammy?
提到铜的用途时，你们的脑海中会最先出现什么？Tammy，你来说？
The penny. It’s made of copper.
便士，它是用铜做的。
Okay, good one. But what’s a one cent coin worth these days?
不错的例子，但是如今一个一分钱的硬币值多少呢？
You might get back change, like if you go to the store and give the cashier 5 dollars for something that costs 4 dollars 98 cents,
你可能会拿回找零，比如，如果你去商店，然后买了某个4.98美元的东西，你给了收银员5美元
you’ll get 2 cents back, but 2 cents does not buy much.
会得到2分钱的找零，但是2两分钱买不了什么。
The value of the penny in terms of what it’ll buy has gotten so low that there’s actually a move afoot to eliminate the coin from US currency, but there’s more to it.
便士在购买力方面的价值变得非常低，以至于事实上现在正在进行一个从美国货币中淘汰这种面额的硬币的行动，但是并不仅因为这个原因。
As Tammy implied, the penny looks like it’s solid copper.
正如Tammy所说，便士看上去像纯铜的。
It is reddish orange with a bright metallic luster when it’s new, but that’s just the copper plating.
新便士是红褐色的，带有一层亮金属光泽，但那只是镀铜的。
The penny’s not solid copper, in actuality, it is almost 98 percent zinc.
便士不是纯铜的，事实上，它的材质几乎98%都是锌。
But given the rising value of both these metals, each penny now costs about 1.7 cents to produce, so it generates what is called negative Seigniorage.
但是考虑到这两种金属的价值都在上涨，现在每个便士的制造成本约1.7分钱，所以它产生了负铸币利差。
Negative Seigniorage is when the cost of minting a coin is more than the coin’s face value.
负铸币利差就是铸造一枚硬币的成本高于这个硬币的面值。
Even though the penny generates quite a bit of negative Seigniorage, there is concern that if it’s eliminated, we’ll need more nickels,
虽然便士产生了负铸币利差，但是有人担心如果淘汰了它，我们就会需要更多五分钱，
because more merchants might start setting prices in five-cent increments, 4 dollar 95 cents and so on.
因为更多的商家可能会开始给价格定五分钱的增额，比如4.95美元等等。
So we need a trusty five-cent piece that can be minted economically.
所以我们需要能划算地铸造的可靠的五分硬币。
