自20世纪70年代以来, 类固体非晶态材料变形与失效的理论模型相继出现, 这些模型基于应力驱动分子重排从而在局部流动缺陷处发生剪切转变这一物理图像. 该图像是现代剪切转变区理论的基础, 也是本综述的焦点. 我们将首先概述该理论框架并给出一些应用案例, 特别是块体金属玻璃应力−应变测量结果的阐释, 剪切带数值模拟分析和剪切转变区运动方程在自由边界计算中的应用. 在本综述的第二部分, 为简单起见, 将关注非晶塑性的非热模型, 并基于该模型说明剪切转变区理论是如何从非平衡热力学的系统描述中发展起来的.“,”Since the 1970s, theories of deformation and failure of amorphous, solidlike materials have started with models in which stress-driven, molecular rearrangements occur at localized flow defects via shear transformations. This picture is the basis for the modern theory of shear transformation zones (STZs), which is the focus of this review. We begin by describing the structure of the theory in general terms and by showing several applications, specifically, interpretation of stress-strain measurements for a bulk metallic glass, analysis of numerical simulations of shear banding, and the use of the STZ equations of motion in free-boundary calculations. In the second half of this review, we focus for simplicity on what we call an athermal model of amorphous plasticity, and use that model to illustrate how the STZ theory emerges within a systematic formulation of nonequilibrium thermodynamics.