1. Back in the early 1960s, when the laser was first being developed, it was viewed by some as a fascinating research tool, others called it a science-fiction toy.
    追溯到二十世纪六十年代初期,当激光最初被开发利用时，一些人视之为神奇的科研工具，另一些人则称之为科幻小说里的玩具。

2. With scarcely a glance at the items, the clerk sweeps them across an aperture, where a special marking on each item is scanned by a low-powered laser beam inside the machine, connected to a remote computer.
    收款员几乎不看商品，只是把商品从机器上的孔眼处一扫而过，机器里的低能量激光对商品上的一个特殊标志进行扫描，这台扫描机与另一台电脑相联。

3. The laser jet printer is out of order.
    这台激光打印机不能正常工作了。

4. The laser jet printer is out of order.
    这台激光打印机不能正常工作了。

5. The scanning laser beam was an ideal device for reading these markings, and so the Universal Product Code was born.
    能进行扫描的激光是一阅读这些标志的理想手段，因而通用条形码便应运而生了。

6. As the grocery items moves along the conveyor belt, the checker passes each item over a glass plate in the counter top, making sure that the UPC symbols can be read by the laser beam under the glass.
    食品杂货经传送带传到收款员跟前，收款员随即将每一物品搁在柜台上的一块玻璃板上一扫，好使板下的扫描机阅读条形码。

7. Since that time, the laser has proved to be an instrument of many uses.
    自那时起，激光已被证明是具有多种用途的工具。