It’s proposal season, and engagements are on the rise. So are factory-made diamond sales.现在正是求婚季，订婚人数不断增长，工厂生产的钻石销售量也在增加。Not that you’d know the difference. Man-made diamonds look the same as naturally occurring ones. The only noticeable difference is the price tag.但你不会知道其中的区别。人造钻石与天然钻石看起来别无二致，唯一明显的区别是价格不同。“The result is really stunning,” said Edahn Golan, a diamond industry analyst.钻石行业分析师埃达恩·戈兰（Edahn Golan）说：“其结果真的很令人震惊”。He said March data showed the number of engagement rings sold that featured a manufactured diamond jumped 63% compared to last year, while the number of engagement rings sold with a natural diamond declined 25% in the same period.他说，3月份的数据显示，与去年相比，人造钻戒的销售量猛增了63%，而同期天然钻戒的销售量下降了25%。Going back by another month, to February, the data showed the number of rings sold with lab diamonds that month surged even more, to 80% compared to a year earlier while the number fell by 13% for natural diamond engagement rings.再往前推一个月，即2月份，数据显示，当月人工钻戒的销售量比一年前激增了80%，而天然钻戒的销售量下降了13%。“The big fear in the natural diamonds industry is that consumers will start accepting lab-grown diamonds in engagement rings,” he said. Too late. “It’s actually happening.”他说：“天然钻石行业最大的恐惧是，消费者将开始接受人工培育的钻石用作订婚戒指。但这份恐惧为时已晚，“人工培育钻石的主流趋势实际上正在进行中”。Why are consumers flocking to man-made diamonds? Cost is the most obvious reason. The average retail price of the most popular one carat round man-made diamond for an engagement ring in March was $2,318, Golan said.为什么消费者对人造钻石趋之若鹜？最明显的理由是成本。戈兰说，3月份最受欢迎的一克拉圆形人造钻戒的平均零售价格为2318美元。“This is substantially less – as much as 73% cheaper – than a natural diamond of the same size, cut and clarity as the man-made diamond, which would cost $8,740,” he said. Plus, the lower cost allows couples to buy a bigger stone.他说：“这比天然钻石便宜得多达73%，天然钻石的价格为8740美元，但尺寸、切工和净度又与人造钻石相同。此外，较低的成本促使夫妻可以购买更大的钻石。“A lab diamond is a real diamond, but maybe it took a few weeks to make it,” said Golan. “Natural diamonds were formed over 800 million to three billion years and there isn’t an infinite supply of them.”戈兰说：“人造钻石是真正的钻石，但也许它花了几周时间来生产，天然钻石是经过8亿至30亿年形成的，而且供应有限。”Man-made diamonds are also becoming popular as consumers are more aware and educated about them, said Dan Moran, a third-generation diamond expert and owner of LA-based fine jeweler Concierge Diamonds. Moran said the typical buyer of man-made diamonds is typically younger than 40 and very budget conscious.第三代钻石专家、洛杉矶高级珠宝商Concierge Diamonds的老板丹·莫兰说，随着消费者对人造钻石有了更多的了解和认识，人造钻石也在变得流行。莫兰说，人造钻石的买家通常不到四十岁，而且非常注重预算。Although its slice is growing, the market share for man-made diamonds remains relatively small.虽然钻石切片正在增大，但人造钻石的市场份额仍然相对较小。Currently, about 7% of the specialty diamond jewelry market is represented by man-made diamonds, up from 3% in 2020, said Golan.戈兰说，目前，人造钻石占专业钻石珠宝市场的7%左右，相较于2020年的3%有所增加。Some major jewelry retailers are driving the effort to take man-made diamonds mainstream. In 2021, the world’s largest jewelry company, Pandora (PANDY), made a major shift by announcing it would stop using mined diamonds and would swap to lab-created diamonds in its jewelry.一些大型珠宝商正在努力将人造钻石纳入主流。2021年，世界上最大的珠宝公司潘多拉做出了一个重大转变，宣布将停止使用开采的钻石，在其珠宝中改用人工培育的钻石。
- engagement [ɪnˈɡeɪdʒmənt] ：订婚（期）; 约会; 交战
- noticeable [ˈnoʊtɪsəbl] ：显而易见的，明显的; 引人注目的
- stunning [ˈstʌnɪŋ] ：令人晕倒的，震耳欲聋的; 极好的; 令人震惊的
- flock [flɑːk] ：群聚; 蜂拥而至
- carat [ˈkærət] ：（宝石的重量单位）克拉
