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Elasticity is a term used a lot in economics to describe the way one thing changes in a given environment in response to another variable that has a changed value.
弹性是经济学中常常用的一个术语，用来描述在给定环境中一个变量相对于另一个变量发生肯定比率改变的属性。
For example, the quantity of a specific product sold each month changes in response to the manufacturer alters the product's price.
比如，每一个月销售的特定商品的数目伴随厂家改变商品的价格而变化。
A more abstract way of putting it that means pretty much the same thing is that elasticity measures the responsiveness of one variable in a given environment to a change in another variable, which in this instance is a change in price.
更为抽象的说法，弹性衡量的是给定环境中一个变量对另一个变量变化的响应性，在这个例子中是价格变化。
Or you could also say it measures "the sensitivity" of that variable.
或者你也可以说它测量了这个变量的“灵敏度”。
Often, e conomists speak of a demand curve, where the relationship between price and demand varies depending upon how much or how little one of the two variables is changed.
一般，经济学家说的是需要曲线，即价格和需要之间的关系取决于两个变量中的一个变化了多少。
Some Examples of Elasticity and Inelasticity
弹性和非弹性的一些例子
It's not surprising when a manufacturer substantially increases a product's price, that consumer demand should diminish.
当制造商大幅度提升商品价格时，买家的需要就会降低，这司空见惯。
Many common items, such as aspirin, are widely available from any number of sources.
很多容易见到物品，如阿司匹林，可以从很多来源广泛获得。
In such cases, the product's maker raises the price at its own risk -- if the price rises even a little, some shoppers might stay loyal to the specific brand -- at one time, Bayer nearly had a lock on the U.S. aspirin market -- but many more consumers would probably seek the same product from another manufacturer at the lower price.
在这样的情况下，厂家提升价格就会有我们的风险——假如价格小幅上涨，一些买家可能仍然会忠于特定的品牌——拜耳一度几乎占有了美国阿司匹林市场——但更多的买家或许会以较低的价格从其他厂家那里探寻相同的商品。
In such instances, the demand for the product is highly elastic and such instances e conomists note a high sensitivity of demand.
在这样的情况下，对商品的需要是高度弹性的，经济学家注意到了需要的高度敏锐性。
But in other instances, the demand is not elastic at all.
但在其他状况下，需要根本不具备弹性。
Water, for example, is usually supplied in any given municipality by a single quasi-governmental organization, often along with electricity.
比如，在任何特定的城市，水一般由一个单一的准政府组织提供，一般与电力一块提供。
When something consumers use daily, such as electricity or water, has a single source, the demand for the product may continue even as the price rises -- basically, because the consumer has no alternative.
当买家平时用的东西只有唯一一个来源时，即便价格上涨，对商品的需要也还是会继续的，由于买家们基本没其他选择。
Interesting 21st Century Complications
有趣的21世纪并发症
Another strange phenomenon in price/demand elasticity in the 21st century has to do with the Internet.
21世纪价格/需要弹性的另一个奇怪现象与网络有关。
The New York Times has noted, for instance, that Amazon often changes prices in ways that are not directly responsive to demand, but rather to the ways consumers order the product -- a product that cosplayt X when initially ordered may be filled at X-plus when reordered, often when the consumer has initiated automatic re-ordering.
比如，《纽约时报》指出，亚马逊常常以不直接响应需要而是响应买家订购商品的方法来改变价格——某种商品初次订购时本钱为X，当买家开始主动回购时，第三订购时的本钱就变为X+了。
The actual demand, presumably, hasn't changed, but the price has.
实质需要可能没发生变化，但价格已经改变了。
Airlines and other travel sites commonly change the price of a product based on an algorithmic estimation of some future demand, not a demand that actually exists when the price is changed.
航空公司和其他旅游网站一般会依据对将来需要的估计来改变商品价格，而不是依据价格改变时实质存在的需要。
Some travel sites, USA and others have noted, put a cookie on the consumer's computer when the consumer first inquires about the cosplayt of a product; when the consumer checks again, the cookie raises the price, not in response to a general demand for the product, but in response to a single consumer's expression of interest.
美国和其他一些旅游网站指出，当买家初次查看商品的价格时，会在买家的电脑上储存一个cookie;当买家第三查询时，cookie会提升价格，这不是反映商品的常见需要，而是反映了单个买家的兴趣。
These situations do not at all invalidate the principle of price elasticity of demand. If anything, they confirm it, but in interesting and complicated ways.
这类状况根本不会使需要的价格弹性原则失效。假如说有哪些不一样的话，那就是他们以有趣而复杂的方法证实了这一点。
In summary:
综上所述：
Price/demand elasticity for common products is generally high.
普通商品的价格/需要弹性一般非常高。
Price/demand elasticity where the good has only a single source or a very limited number of sources is typically low.
当产品只有单一来源或来源数目很有限时，价格/需要弹性一般非常低。
External situations may create rapid changes in the price elasticity of demand for almost any product with low elasticity.
外部环境或许会致使几乎所有低弹性商品的需要价格弹性的迅速变化。
Digital capabilities, such as "demand pricing" on the Internet, can affect price/demand in ways that were unknown in the 20th century.
数字能力，比如网络上的“需要定价”，可以以20世纪未知的方法影响价格/需要。
How to Express Elasticity as a Formula
怎么样用公式表达弹性
Elasticity, as an economics concept,can be applied to many different situations, each with its own variables. In this introductory article, we've briefly surveyed the concept of the price elasticity of demand. Here's the formula:
弹性，作为一个经济学定义，可以应用到很多不一样的状况，每种状况都有我们的变量。在这篇文章中，大家简要介绍了需要价格弹性的定义。以下是需要价格弹性的公式:
Price Elasticity of Demand =
需要价格弹性 =
