Teen Scientist Gets High Honor from Obamas

Li Boynton, 18, a senior at Bellaire High School, says meeting the president and first lady in White House will top the stack of academic honors she has accumulated.

In the fifth grade, Li Boynton, inspired by the hardships of the shipwrecked protagonist of Yann Martel’s novel “The Life of Pi”, built a device that removed salt from seawater. In the 11th grade she created a cheap method of testing for water contaminants.

Along the way, the Bellaire High School senior racked up $50,000 in college scholarships, won top honors in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, became a semifinalist in Intel’s Science Talent Search and was accepted to Yale University.

Biology teacher Anna Loonam, who taught Boynton as a freshman and again as a junior, called her “a top science student.” Art teacher Jo Zider has described her as “one who looks deeply into the mystery of life.” An entire class of younger science students appreciates her, too.

Boynton’s premier achievement as a young scientist was creation of a method to test for water pollutants by using light-generating bacteria. The student found that the microscopic organisms generated less light as the water’s toxicity grew.

By placing a bacterial culture in a light-tight box with a digital camera and processing the results through a free computer program, Boynton was able to reliably and cheaply test for half a dozen common pollutants. The technology, which won top science and engineering fair honors, has potential for testing water purity in developing countries where more costly testing procedures are not an option.

Boynton, who hopes to become a medical doctor or researcher or both, credits her mother, Laura Luo, a financial manager; her father, John Boynton, an aeronautical engineer; and her stepfather, Robert Pearson, a computer science expert, for supporting her academic interests.

Accepted by Yale, Boynton recently also applied to Harvard University.

Outside the classroom, Boynton enjoys socializing on Web social sites and shopping. Sports, she said, hold little charm. “I tried to make the tennis team,” she said, grimacing. “Physical education is one of my worst classes. I failed pushups.”

Вправа 3. Дайте відповіді на запитання про обох дівчаток-підлітків:

1. What is her name? 2. How old is she? 3. Does she go to school? 4. What is she famous for? 5. When did she begin her career? 6. Who does she live with? 7. What do her parents and other relatives do? 8. What are her achievements? 9. Is she a normal teenager? 10. What is she going to do in future? 11. What does she do in her free time? 12. Is she good at sports?

3.3. Письмові завдання

Вправа 4. Складіть розповіді про різних людей, користуючись інфор-мацією з таблиці. Наприклад: Jean Lacroi is a taxi driver. He comes from France and lives in Paris. He works ...

Name	Jean Lacroi	Tisato Greenwood	Sean O’Ranfey
Age	28	34	46
Occupation	taxi driver	dance teacher	journalist for “The Irish Examiner”
Origin	France	Japan	Ireland
Town	Paris	Boston	Dublin
Place of work	in the centre of Paris	high school	in an office
Languages	French	Japanese, English	English, French, and German
Family	a cat	married to an American, two sons	married, two daughters
Free time	computer games and singing	travelling	golf, yachting