Maarten Meuris, Tristan Verheecke, Robbe Ryckaert2TINB1

Glossary

Word / Explanation / Translation
accusingly / in an accusing manner, blaming someone / beschuldigend
a nuisance / an annoyance, a bother / iets irritant, lastig
paradoxical / something that seems like a contradiction / paradoxaal
seers / people with a vision of the future / zieners (ook: helderziende)
to tinker with / fixing and experimenting with / ergens aan sleutelen
Rigidity / stiffness, resistance to bending / stijfheid, onbuigzaamheid
to bestow / to give a quality to something / geven
to assess / to make a judgment of value or quality / naar waarde inschatten
novel / fresh: original and of a kind not seen before / als een nieuwigheid
accumulate / to gather together / opzamelen
pulmonary inflammation / irritation of the lungs / irritatie van de longen
to devise / to invent, to come up with something / opstellen
to cope with something / to be able to handle something / iets aankunnen
whistling to the graveyard / be cheerful or optimistic in a situation that doesn't warrant cheer or optimism and could even be deadly / (expression)
implicitly / automatically included without being specified / erin besloten
patchy / irregular or uneven in quality / onregelmatig, variërend
prudence / to be careful / voorzichtigheid
stifle / smother or suppress / verstikken
to mitigate / to make milder, less severe, less harsh / verzachten
inherently / built-in, always having this property / van nature, vanzelfsprekend
aftermath / the consequences of an event / Nasleep

Gap exercise. Fill in the word matching the description

Words to fill in: rigidity, antimicrobial, sampling, potential, assessed, despite, airborne, paradoxically, monitored, engineered

1. Research can ______(seemingly contradictory) add to the problem.

2. Nanomaterials also offer huge ______(possibilities) for making better batteries, generating green energy and producing clean water.

3. Moreover, ______(even though there have been) hundreds of years of experience in chemistry, it is not easy to predict how a substance will behave when it is made extremely small.

4. These particles can also be ______(designed and constructed) into shapes that provide some functional property, like ______(stiffness).

5. At such small sizes, silver can have ______(germ-killing) properties.

6. The European Commission concluded that each new material should be ______(evaluated) on a “case by case basis”.

7. Some ______(taking small quantities for tests)of ______(floating in the air) particles is done, but it is still not clear what should be ______(kept under surveillance).

Translation exercise: Translate to Dutch

1. Many products are now embedded with silver nanoparticles.

2. At the moment, firms with product-liability insurance are implicitly insured for their nanoparticles.

3. There was a pressing need for a strategic programme of spending.

4. Nanoparticulate versions of a material can act in novel ways.

5. Titanium dioxide is commonly used as the white pigment in sunscreen.

NanotechnologyEnglish