Electron affinity is actually the ability of an atom, or we could also talk about an ion to gain electrons.

电子亲和能其实就是一个原子，或者我们也可以讨论离子获取电子的能力。

麻省理工公开课 - 化学原理课程节选

So, basically any time we have a really high positive number of electron affinity, it means that that atom or ion really wants to gain another electron, and it will be very stable and happy if it does so.

因此，基本上无论什么时候,只要我们有一个很大的正的电子亲和能，这就意味着这个原子,或离子非常希望得到一个电子，如果它得到了，会变得更稳定更开心。

麻省理工公开课 - 化学原理课程节选

If it could gain one more electron, then chlorine would be iso-electronic with argon.

如果它能得到另一个电子，它就能和氩一样是电绝缘。

麻省理工公开课 - 固态化学导论课程节选

So this means nitrogen has low electron affinity, it doesn't actually want to gain an electron.

这意味着氮的电子亲和能很低，它实际上并不愿意得到一个电子。

麻省理工公开课 - 化学原理课程节选

This should make sense to you, because they don't, in fact, want to gain another electron, because that would mean that electron would have to go into a new value of n, a new shell, and that's really going to increase the energy of the system.

这对大家来说应该容易理解，因为它们实际上不想得到另一个电子，因为这意味着这个电子不得不,到一个新的，n，值更大的壳层上去，这将会增加系统的能量。

麻省理工公开课 - 化学原理课程节选