A piece of electrical equipment that changes electricity from one voltage to another — pushing it up for long journeys along power lines, or bringing it down to a level that is safe for the machines in your home. The grey drum you see hanging on a power pole in the street is one; so is the small heavy block on the cable of an old laptop or a keyboard, which takes the 110 volts from the wall and steps it down.

A piece of electrical equipment變壓器是一種電力設備 that changes electricity from one voltage to another能把電從一個電壓轉換成另一個電壓 — pushing it up for long journeys along power lines在電線長途傳輸時把電壓升高, or bringing it down to a level that is safe for the machines in your home或把電壓降到你家裡電器可以安全使用的程度。The grey drum you see hanging on a power pole in the street is one你在街上電線杆上看到的那個灰色圓桶就是一個變壓器, so is the small heavy block on the cable of an old laptop or a keyboard舊筆電或鍵盤電線上那個小小的重塊也是, which takes the 110 volts from the wall and steps it down它把牆上插座的110伏特電壓降下來。

Engineers speak of a 'step-up transformer' and a 'step-down transformer' for the two directions. In ordinary talk, people who travel also use 'transformer' loosely for the box they carry to run a foreign appliance — though strictly that is a voltage converter, and a plug that only changes the shape of the pins is an adapter, not a transformer at all.

Engineers speak of a 'step-up transformer' and a 'step-down transformer'工程師會用「step-up transformer」（升壓變壓器）和「step-down transformer」（降壓變壓器） for the two directions來稱呼這兩種方向。In ordinary talk在日常說法裡, people who travel也用 transformer 這個詞旅行的人也會不太精確地用 transformer 這個詞 for the box they carry to run a foreign appliance指他們帶去讓國外電器能用的那個盒子 — though strictly不過嚴格來說 that is a voltage converter那其實是 voltage converter（變壓轉換器）, and a plug that only changes the shape of the pins is an adapter而只是改變插頭形狀的東西叫 adapter（轉接頭）, not a transformer at all根本不是變壓器。

Outside electricity, the word simply means 'something or someone that transforms', and it has two other lives students meet: the toy robots and films called Transformers, and, in computer science, the transformer — the model design behind modern AI systems, named because it transforms one sequence of data into another.

Outside electricity在電力領域之外, the word simply means 'something or someone that transforms'這個詞單純指「使某事物轉變的東西或人」, and it has two other lives students meet而學生還會遇到另外兩種用法: the toy robots and films called Transformers像玩具機器人和電影《變形金剛》, and在電腦科學裡, in computer science, the transformer指的是 transformer 模型 — the model design behind modern AI systems是現代AI系統背後的模型架構, named because it transforms one sequence of data into another之所以這樣命名，是因為它把一個資料序列轉換成另一個序列。