scarce考研四级六级 /skɑ:s/

The idea that one might burn down an entire house just to reclaim the nails underlines how scarce, costly and valuable the simple-seeming technology was.

一个人可能会为了回收钉子而烧毁整栋房子的想法，凸显了这种看似简单的技术是多么稀缺、昂贵和有价值。