IN THE CHEMICAL LABORATORY

Look at the picture!

Here is our chemical laboratory. It occupies a large. room which is furnished with many long tables or benches ² as they are called. It is at these benches that experiments are usually done. There are a lot of things on the first bench. Nearly in the middle there stands a Bunsen burner ³ with a flask over it. During an experiment the Bunsen burner is connected with the main gas line by a rubber tube. The flame of the burner is being regulated by means of a tap. The flask is fixed to the ring-stand. If some solution is boiling in the flask, the steam is coming out of it.

At the side of the bench there is a sink with two taps for cold and hot water. At the foot of the bench on the left-hand side there are two shelves with a few bottles on them. They contain chemical substances: solids and liquids. Some of the liquids are colourless and odourless, while others possess different colours and odours.

On the right-hand side there stands a rack with twelve test-tubes in it. On the wall above the bench one can see the Periodic Table of Elements. In the cupboard on the left you can see flasks of different shapes and sizes, different kinds of glass tubes, condensers, filters, and so on, that is,⁴ things without which no chemical experiment can be done.

A student in white overall, Barbara, is preparing for an experiment at her bench. She is to get a new compound. Barbara is measuring some liquid in the measuring-glass. When the liquid is measured it is poured into a special vessel and is mixed with water. From time to time Barbara looks up at the solution which is boiling oh the Bunsen burner.

The other student, David, is sitting at the table on the left near the window and is putting down the results of his experiments which he was carrying out from 11 to 12 a. m.⁵ Suddenly he raises his head and says:

"Hey, Barbara, what are you doing? Why is the room being filled with steam? Regulate the flame of the burner, please, or turn it off."

Barbara runs up to the burner. She turns off the tap of the burner and turns on the ventilators. The flame is being regulated; the powerful ventilators are being turned on. Little by little the air in the room is being purified.

Notes on the Text

1. Here is our chemical laboratory. — Вот наша хімічна лабора­торія. (Тут має місце інверсія. Прислівник here набуває но­ве лексичне значення.)

2. bench — зд. лабораторный стол

3. Bunsen burner — бунзенівський пальник; Bunsen, Robert — Роберт Бунзен, німецький фізик ( 1811—1899)

4. that is — тобто

5. from 11 to 12 a. m. — з 11до 12 години дня; а. m.— лат. ante meridiem — до полудня; р. m. — лат. post meridiem — післе полудня

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