The tiny, mesmerizing percentage we call precious opals have regions where silica beads of uniform size form orderly arrays.

有极小比例的珍贵蛋白石会在部分区域中有大小一致的矽珠形成整齐的阵列。

The circumstances that lead to the formation of precious opal are so uncommon that they only occur in a handful of places.

从各种泼彩，到星火，到超稀有的彩纹都有。形成珍贵蛋白石的条件非常罕见，以至产出的地方屈指可数。

For the sake of simplicity, let's look at what happens when a single color of light — green, with a wavelength of 500 nanometers — hits a precious opal.

为了简单解释起见，看看当单一颜色的光——绿色，波长五百奈米——射中珍贵的蛋白石时会如何。