billion

名词 billion:

1. the number that is represented as a one followed by 12 zeros; in the United Kingdom the usage followed in the United States is frequently seen
   同义词：one million million, 1000000000000
2. a very large indefinite number (usually hyperbole)
   同义词：million, trillion, zillion, jillion
3. the number that is represented as a one followed by 9 zeros
   同义词：one thousand million, 1000000000

形容词 billion:

1. denoting a quantity consisting of one thousand million items or units in the United States
2. denoting a quantity consisting of one million million items or units in Great Britain

1. Some computers can perform over a billion computation a second.
   有些计算机一秒钟能完成超过十亿次运算。
2. As a rule of thumb, a one-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax raises$1 billion. Oil producers in President-elect Bush's adopted state of Texas, however, would rather see a tax on imported crude oil.
   一般情形是，每加仑加汽油一分钱的税可以征收10亿元。可是，在布什第二家乡德克萨斯州的产油商宁愿看见在进口原油上征税。
3. The human brain contains several billion nerve cells, which are connected with one another by fine nerves.
   人类的大脑含有几十亿个神经细胞，这些细胞由纤细的神经将彼此连接起来。
4. It took them more than one billion dollars to complete the project.
   完成这个工程花费了他们十亿多美元。

bil.lion

n.Abbr. b.（名词）缩写 b.
The cardinal number equal to 09.
十亿：基数，等于09
Chiefly British The cardinal number equal to 02.
【多用于英国】 基数，等于02
An indefinitely large number.
不确定的大数字

来源：
French [a million million]
法语 [十万亿]
blend of bi- [second power] * see bi-
混合了 bi- [第二力量] *参见 bi-
million
million

【引伸】
bil.lion
adj.（形容词）
pron.（代词）