Unit 13

Грамматика: Сложное предложение. Служебные слова. Местоимение и наречие. Местоимения и наречия типа whenever. Перевод сложных предложений с подлежащим, выраженным придаточным предложением, вводимым союзами that and what. Перестройка предложения при переводе. Текст: Carbon Wonderland

Carbon wonderland

(I) Whenever¹ someone scribes a line with a pencil, the resulting mark includes bits² of the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology: graphene. Graphite, the “lead”³ in a pencil, is a kind of pure carbon formed from flat, stacked⁴ layers of atoms. Graphene is the name given to one such sheet. It is made up entirely of carbon atoms bound⁵ together in a network of repeating hexagons⁶ within a single plane just one atom thick. Not only is it the thinnest of all possible materials, it is also extremely strong and stiff⁷. Moreover, in its pure form it conducts electrons faster at room temperature than any other substance. Engineers at laboratories worldwide are currently⁸ scrutinizing⁹ the stuff¹⁰ to determine whether it can be fabricated into smart displays, ultrafast transistors and quantum-dot computers.

In the meantime¹¹, the peculiar¹² nature of graphene at the atomic scale is enabling physicists to delve into phenomena that must be described by relativistic quantum physics. Investigating such phenomena has heretofore¹³ been the exclusive preserve¹⁴ of astrophysicists and high-energy particle physicists working with multimillion-dollar telescopes or multibillion-dollar particle accelerators. Graphene makes it possible for experimenters to test the predictions of relativistic quantum mechanics with laboratory benchtop apparatus. Two characteristics of graphene make it an exceptional¹⁵ material. First, despite¹⁶ the relatively crude¹⁷ ways it is still being made, graphene exhibits remarkably high quality – resulting from a combination of the purity of its carbon content and the orderliness of the lattice¹⁸ into which its carbon atoms are arranged¹⁹. Investigators have so far²⁰ failed to find a single atomic defect in graphene – say²¹, a vacancy at some atomic position in the lattice or an atom out of place. That perfect crystalline order seems to stem²² from the strong yet highly flexible interatomic bonds, which create a substance harder than diamond yet allow the planes to bend²³ when mechanical force is applied. The quality of its crystal lattice is also responsible for the remarkably high electrical conductivity of graphene. Its electrons can travel without being scattered²⁴ off course by lattice imperfections and foreign atoms.

(II) The second exceptional feature²⁵ of graphene is that its conduction electrons move much faster and as if they had far less mass than do the electrons that wander²⁶ about through ordinary metals and semiconductors. Indeed, the electrons in graphene – perhaps “electric charge carriers” is a more appropriate term – are curious creatures²⁷ that live in the weird* world where rules analogous to those of relativistic quantum mechanics play an important role. That kind of interaction inside a solid, so far as anyone knows, is unique to graphene. Thanks to this novel material from a pencil, relativistic quantum mechanics is no longer limited by cosmology or high-energy physics; it has now entered the laboratory.

One engineering direction deserves²⁸ special mention: graphene-based electronics. We have emphasized²⁹ that the charge carriers in graphene move at high speed and lose relatively little energy to colliding with atoms in its crystal lattice. That property should make it possible to build ballistic transistors, ultrahigh-frequency devices that would respond³⁰ much more quickly than existing transistors.

Even more tantalizing* is the possibility that graphene could help the microelectronics industry prolong³¹ the life of Moore’s law. The remarkable stability and electrical conductivity of graphene even at nanometer scales could enable the manufacture of individual transistors substantially less than 10 nanometers across and perhaps even as small as a single benzene ring*. Eventually, one can envision³² entire integrated circuits carved³³ out of a single graphene sheet.

Whatever³⁴ the future brings, the one atom-thick wonderland will almost certainly remain in the limelight* for decades to come. Engineers are expected to continue working on bringing its innovative by-products to market, and physicists will continue to test its exotic quantum properties. But what is truly astonishing is the realization that all this richness and complexity had for centuries lain³⁵ hidden in nearly every ordinary pencil mark.

Примечания к тексту:

* weird (a) – странный

* tantalizing (a) – привлекательный, соблазнительный

* benzene ring – бензольное кольцо

* in the limelight – в центре внимания

С л о в о о б р а з о в а н и е

1. Переведите на русский язык слова одного слово-образовательного ряда:

emphasize current (n) result (n) respond

emphasis current (a) result in response

emphatic currently result from responsive

resulting (a) responsible

create relate substance

creative relative substantial

creativity relativity substantially

creature relatively in substance

creativeness relativistic

2. Укажите от каких слов и с помощью каких средств образованы приведенные ниже слова и переведите их:

possibility, exceptional, remarkable, creature, responsible, orderliness, substantially, richness, stability, analogous, realization, complexity

3. Переведите следующие наречия на русский язык:

precisely, namely, considerably, obviously, naturally, definitely, mainly, essentially, properly, actually, sufficiently, simply, totally, constantly, perfectly, immediately, appropriately, remarkably, successfully, successively, highly, permanently

4. Предложите к ниже приведенным словосочетаниям синонимы, выраженные наречиями, образованными при помощи суффикса. Переведите их на русский язык:

in essence –

in accordance with –

in particular –

in practice –

in part –

in addition to –

in general –

5. Определите связь между частями сложного термина. Переведите на русский язык:

space-time scale (мат.), color three-dimensional lattice (электр.), high-order interaction (мат.), fail-safe feature (комп.), error-check program (комп.), receiver-tuning scale (телекомм.), rocket-borne recorders (авиа.), radiation-measuring apparatus (мед.), radiation-proof material (физ.), long-range propagation (физ.), off-the-job training (эконом.), ground-based beacon (телекомм.), high-capacity storage (комп.), battery-driven vehicle (авт.), self-check system (комп.), gravity-free state (косм.), water-tight chamber (инж.), rocket-assisted take off (авиа), flight-path deviation indicator (навиг.), battery-fed receiver (телекомм.), pressure-operated switch (физ.), two-way arrangement (мат.), off-the-shelf software (комп.), off-the-road tire (авт.).

Л е к с и ч е с к и е у п р а ж н е н и я