中国离圆珠笔的成功更近了

BBC News – It has sent rockets into space, produced millions of the world's smartphones and built high-speed trains. But until now, one bit of manufacturing had perhaps unexpectedly eluded China: the ballpoint pen.

BBC资讯 – 它把火箭送入太空，生产出了世界上成千上百万部智能手机，造出了高铁。但到目前为止，制造业一个不起眼的部分或许出乎意料地难倒了中国：圆珠笔。

A year ago Premier Li Keqiang went on national television and bemoaned the failure of his country to produce a good quality version of this seemingly-simple implement. Locally-made versions felt "rough" compared to those from Germany, Switzerland and Japan, Mr Li complained.

一年前，李克强总理在国家电视台发表讲话，慨叹中国无法制造出高质量的这种看似简单的用具。国产圆珠笔与德国、瑞士和日本产圆珠笔相比显得“粗糙”，李克强抱怨说。

The problem was not the body of the pen, but the tip - the tiny ball that dispenses ink as you write. It might be something we take for granted, but making them requires high-precision machinery and very hard, ultra-thin steel plates.

问题不在笔身，而在笔尖 – 书写时出墨水的细小圆珠。这可能是我们不当回事的东西，但制造圆珠需要高精度机械设备和硬度非常高的超薄钢板。

Without that ability, China's 3,000 penmakers have had to import this crucial component from abroad, costing the industry a reported 120m yuan ($17.3m) a year.

没有那个能力的话，中国3千家圆珠笔制造商不得不从国外进口这种关键部件，据报道每年耗费该行业1.2亿元（合1730万美元）。

But according to People's Daily, the state-owned Taiyuan Iron and Steel Co thinks it has cracked the problem, after five years of research. The first batch of 2.3-millimetre ballpoint pen tips has recently rolled off its production lines, the paper says.

但根据《人民日报》，国营太原钢铁公司经过5年研究已经攻克了这个难题。第一批2.3毫米的圆珠笔尖最近已经下了生产线，该报说。

And once lab tests are completed, it's expected China could phase out pen tip imports completely within two years.

而一旦完成实验室测试，中国有望在两年内逐步彻底结束圆珠笔尖进口。