II. Переведите текст, обращая внимание на значение союзных оборотов:

CHEMICAL ENERGY

We know that heat is generated at reactions, as in the reactions of compounds with oxygen, with chlorine, with sulphur, etc. We also know that as far as possible industry strives to utilize these heat exchangers in order to economize fuel.

Heat is evolved in synthetic reactions as well as in other kinds of reactions. Thus, for example, we notice that when hydrogen peroxide is decomposed by means of manganese dioxide, the test tube becomes perceptibly warm. And when we displace both the hydrogen of sulphuric acid by zinc and the copper of copper sulphate by iron, we also note an evolution of heat. A vast amount of heat is generated as soon as an explosive substance is decomposed. Chemical reactions may be accompanied by other phenomena besides the evolution of heat. Thus in a number of reactions as in reactions of combustion, the synthetic reactions of chlorine, and the explosion of gun-powder, we have an emission of light as well as the evolution of heat. Some reactions produce electricity. Heat, light, and electricity are different modifications of energy.

Most commonly we use energy either in the form of chemical energy or in the form of mechanical energy.

In certain branches of industry chemical energy is not so widely used as mechanical energy.

One form of energy can be transformed into another, but it can be neither created, nor destroyed.

The more chemical energy a substance contains the more mechanical energy can it gives.

Pyroxiline and dynamite contain great stores of chemical energy and they produce a vast quantity of mechanical energy when they exploded, bursting huge rocks, destroying buildings, etc.

Practicum

A

NUCLEAR THERMOMETER. How hot is it inside the nucleus of a dysprosium atom (element 62, abbreviated Dy)? Temperature is a statistical concept that normally applies to an ensemble of many particles, such as air molecules or a gas of atoms kept in a bottle. Inside a heavy nucleus, swarming with protons and neutrons (collectively called nucleons) it’s not so easy to define temperature, owing to the many pairing and other internucleon interactions that take place, but it can be done. The nuclear environment can be sampled by colliding nuclei together and then carefully measuring the photons that fly out: high energy gamma rays, in this case, rather than the visible and infrared photons that come out of heated-up atomic gases. In this way, physicists at the University of Oslo have deduced the temperature inside a Dy nucleus (in effect, a gas of 162 nucleons) to be 6 billion K. It can be said, therefore, that even in winter parts of Norway (very small parts) remain quite warm. This is the first time a nuclear temperature ahs been measured strictly on the basis of the spectrum of gammas emitted.

GALAXY FORMATION IN AMOEBAS. Dictyostelium discoideum is the hydrogen atom of developmental biology. Depending on available nutrients the organism can exist in a unicellular or multi-cellular state (in which cells differentiate themselves as spore or stalk cells.) Dictyostelium cells like to huddle together. A new experiment at UC San Diego shows, furthermore, that when constrained to two dimensions the ensemble will also start rotating and persist in this motion for tens of hours. Self-organized vortex states in biological systems (flocking birds, schools of fish, bacteria) have been seen before but not in deformable units as here. A chemical wave (of the organic molecule cyclic AMP) probably brings the cells together in the first place, but thereafter the vortex behaviour seems to be guided by inter-cellular cohesion. There is so far no explanation why the cells proceed in this manner, but the vortex motion might aid in the process of sorting cell types following differentiation.

X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY OF NON-CRYSTALS has been carried out by a group at Stony Brook. X rays have long been used to determine the structure of crystalline objects: when the waves strike periodic arrays of atoms or molecules the waves diffract into patterns which, when analyzed by Fourier-transformation algorithms, provide a map of the sample’s structure with approximately angstrom resolution. In the Stony Brook experiment x-rays are shone onto a non-crystalline micron-sized specimen (a tiny array of letters spelled out with 100-nm gold nanoparticles). By pushing the algorithms a bit, images could be formed from the x-rays scattered from this patently non-crystal object. The resolution, about 75 nm, is not nearly as good as for traditional x-ray crystallography, but still much better than could be achieved with visible light. The researchers believe their method can be applied to imaging biological specimens at the level of cells or even subcelluar objects.

B

In Defense of Irony

By Ian Cooper

I should make clear before I begin a defense of irony that I am in fact being sincere. In other words, I truly believe that irony – the rhetorical embrace of paradox and multiple meanings – is valuable. Though I suppose that a sincere defense of irony is in itself a little ironic. But I just want to say, from the start, that I actually mean it. Really. (I can see this is going to be harder than I thought.)

Normally irony would need no defense. But there seems to be the distant murmur – a ripple perhaps – of a coming backlash against irony. The first evidence of this is in the form of a heartfelt book, “For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today,” by a home-schooled whippersnapper (born in 1974!) with the sincere name of Jedediah Purdy. And he’s not talking about that Alanis Morissette song, where “Ironic” seems to be defined as anything that’s kind of a bummer. (Morrissette, being Canadian, should be better acquainted with the concept.)

Purdy identifies irony as being at the heart of the current malaise of the American soul. It is not just shallow cynicism, but a more fundamental distaste for openly believing in what’s right and striving for it. Irony in this form leads not only to a general disengagement from public life – in which people are cynical about politicians but don’t bother to do anything about it – but even an inability to make direct emotional connections.

Now I should say that while Americans might think that they are suffering from an epidemic of irony, to an outsider this is still a deeply earnest country. It is a place where people still sing the national anthem with hand on heart, where Oprah rules the airwaves, and where Ronald Reagan could be elected President (though the latter could be a sign of a profound ironic streak). I suppose that were you to search, you could find a country, which is less ironic than American. Like, say, Iran.

But I digress. I’m not going to quibble with Jedediah about the private, emotional side of things, where too much irony can definitely be a problem. (The test here is that you should be able to look your lover straight in the eye and say flat out, “I love you.” If you can only say it in a way that sounds italicized or in quotation marks, or you can only say, “I loves ya,” accompanied by a wink and two pointed index fingers in pop-gun style, then you should seek therapy immediately.) But in public life irony is indispensable.

Irony is at the heart of the ability, requiring a certain mental agility, to believe in something and doubt it at the same time. This is essential, for example, to the scientific method of inquiry, in which – rather perversely – you try your best to disprove something in order to reach the tentative conclusion that it’s true. (Kansas School Board, take note.) It is also necessary for a clear-eyed view of history, allowing you to acknowledge, say, Thomas Jefferson’s brilliance and his hypocrisy at the same time. But most basically, it allows a healthy skepticism towards political leaders, institutions, and ideologies. The ironic mind is the opposite of the totalitarian mind.

It is in satire – especially political satire – that irony is put to its sharpest use. Non-satirical political humor is hollow because it has the comfortable effect of confirming your prejudices rather than exercising your critical faculties. (Every joke that Jay Leno tells fits into this category: Bill Clinton = womanizer, Al Gore = wooden, Linda Tripp = fat, Monica Lewinsky = oral sex.) Satire, by contrast, plays with and subverts your political beliefs. In “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift wrote that the problems of malnutrition and overpopulation could be solved in a stroke if only people ate newborn babies. His logic was impeccable and his style deadpan, so that his true intent – to draw attention to the misery – snuck up on the reader.

That is irony at its best, put to use for the advancement of the public good.

I mean it. Really.

C

Images Of Thanksgiving Dinner

Some people see the turkey

Roasted to a golden brown

Some people think of families

That come from out of town.

Some remember fondly

That there’s no school for the day,

And maybe one or two are glad

That Grandma comes to stay.

But when I think “Thanksgiving”

I have some different wishes,

‘Cause for me it usually means

Just stacks of dirty dishes!

Q: What key has legs and can’t open doors?

A: A Turkey.

Q: What did the mother turkey say to her disobedient children?

A: If your father could see you now, he’d turn over in his gravy!

Q: If April showers bring May flowers what do May flowers bring?

A: Pilgrims!

Q: Why did the turkey cross the road?

A: It was the chicken’s day off.

A gentleman was having some physical problems and his doctor told him that he had to drink warm water one hour before breakfast. At the end of a week he returned and the doctor asked if he was feeling better. The man said that he actually felt worse.

- “Did you drink warm water an hour before breakfast each day?”

- “No,” replied the man, “All I could do was about 15 minutes!”

_______________________________________

A man enters the pro shop and, scanning like a HP Laser-Jet, looks around frowning.

Finally the pro asks him what he wants.

“I can’t find any green golf balls,” he replies.

The pro looks all over the shop, through all the catalogs, and finally calls the manufacturers. Sure enough, he determines that there are no green golf balls.

As the man walks out the door in disgust, the pro asks him, “Before you go, could you tell me why you want green golf balls?”

“Well, obviously! Because they’d be so much easier to find in the sand traps!!”

___________________________________

I AM THANKFUL…

… for the taxes that I pay because it means that I am employed.

…for the mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.

…for the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.

…for my shadow who watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.

…for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

…for all the complaining I hear about the government because it means we have freedom of speech.

…for the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.

…for the lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means that I can hear.

…for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.

…for weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.

…for the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am alive.

…for getting too much e-mail because it lets me know I have friends who are thinking of me.

________________________________

Top Ten Signs You’ve Eaten Too Much at Thanksgiving Dinner

10. Hundreds of volunteers have started to stack sandbags around you.

9. Doctor tells you your weight would be perfect for a man 17 feet tall.

8. You are responsible for a slight but measurable shift in the earth’s axis.

7. Right this minute you’re laughing up pie on the carpet.

6. You decide to take a little nap and wake up in mid-July.

5. World’s fattest man sends you a telegram, warning you to “back off!”

4. CBS tells you to lose weight or else.

3. Getting off your couch requires help from the fire department.

2. Every escalator you step on immediately grinds to a halt.

1. You’re sweatin’ gravy.

Top Ten Signs That You’ve Bought a Cheap Car

10. Your tinted windows are also known as Hefty Garbage Bags.

9. The car reaches its optimum speed when going downhill.

8. The hi-tech stereo system often requires a new needle.

7. The rear-view mirror says, “Objects in Mirror Are Better Than This Piece of Junk.”

6. The odometer on the dashboard is not as sophisticated as the everyday abacus.

5. Traffic Watch warns other drivers what highway you’re taking.

4. The sticker on the windshield says, “Batteries Not Included.”

3. You fill up the tank with Unleaded Coals.

2. You can only go to restaurants that offer Valet Pushing.

And, without further ado, the number one sign you bought a cheap car:

1. When you pass hitchhikers, they put their thumbs down.