International Year of Chemistry

Think of Switzerland and a word beginning with “ch-” and I’ll bet you won’t come up with chemistry.

But in 2011, International Year of Chemistry, Swiss scientists are briefly putting down their Bunsen burners to celebrate their achievements, explain how interesting and important their subject is to Switzerland – and try to attract some future Nobel Prize winners along the way.

If the 20th century belonged to physics – relativity, quantum mechanics, nuclear energy, computers – and the 21st century to biology – genetics, cloning, stem cells – where does chemistry fit in?

“Everywhere,” chemists will reply, casually pointing out that if you take several trillion hydrogen, oxygen and carbon atoms, add a few trace elements and give them a shake, you’ll get a human being. They will remind you that every aspect of our lives, from what we wear, eat and drink to what we splash on after a shower or take when ill, is the result of countless hours of laboratory experiments… Or just luck.

Take a closer look at applied chemistry: doping in sport, forensic examination, medications testing, cleaning and chemistry’s role in global changes – both in the form of pollution and solutions.

Forget boring lessons at school and remember the hands-on joy of dabbling with My First Chemistry Set – although this amateur scientist remembers an ill-advised experiment involving magnesium almost resulting in My Last Chemistry Set...

Above all, get involved!

Задание

Обсудите в группе варианты перевода текста. Проанализируйте, какими способами и средствами вы добивались сохранения «интересности», динамики. Как это отразилось на структуре текста и отдельных высказываний?

Упражнение 2. Переведите самостоятельно текст, проанализируйте и сравните разные варианты перевода.