Graphene's Superstrength1
Big technology comes in tiny packages. New cell phones and personal computers get smaller
every year，which means these electronics require even smaller components on the inside.
Engineers are looking for creative ways to build these components，and they've turned their eyes to graphene，a superthin2 material，made of carbon，that could change the future of electronics.
This year's Nobel Prize for Physics3 has been awarded to Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov
from the University of Manchester4，UK. for the discovery of graphene. Graphene isn't just small,
it's“the thinnest possible material in this world，” says Novoselov. He calls it a“wonder
material. ”It's so thin that you would need to stack about 25,000 sheets just to make a pile as thick as a piece of ordinary white paper. If you were to hold a sheet of graphene in your fingers5，you'd have no idea because you wouldn't be able to see it.
Carbon is one of the most abundant elements in the universe. Every known kind of life
contains carbon. Graphene is a sheet of carbon，but only one atom thick. You don't have to look
far to find grapheme —it's all around you.
If you want this high-tech wonderstuff6，all you need is a pencil，paper and a little adhesive
tape. Use the pencil to shade a small area on the paper, and then apply a small piece of adhesive
tape over the area7. When you pull up the tape，you'll see that it pulls up a thin layer of some of
the shading from your pencil. That layer is called graphite，one of the softest minerals in the world.
Now stick the same piece of tape on another sheet of paper and pull the tape up —there should be an even thinner layer，this time left on the paper. Now imagine that you do this over and over，until you get the thinnest possible layer of material on the paper. This layer would be only one atom thick，and you wouldn't be able to see it. Graphite is made of layers of graphene，so when you get to the thinnest possible layer，you've found graphene.
詞匯：
graphene/ 'græfi:n/ n.石墨烯
abundant/ə’bʌndənt / adj.豐富的，充裕的
atom/ 'ætəm/n.原子
adhesive/ əd'hi:siv/ n.膠粘劑; adj. 黏著的
stack/stæk/ v.使成堆，堆放
graphite / 'græfait / n.石墨
注釋：
1. superstrength：超強的力量。該詞是一個合成詞，由兩部分組成， super(超級的)和strength (力量)。
2. superthin：超薄。見注釋1。
3. Nobel Prize for Physics ：諾貝爾物理學(xué)獎
4. the University of Manchester：曼徹斯特大學(xué)。這是一所位于英國曼徹斯特市的公立研究型大學(xué)，創(chuàng)建于1851 年。
5. If you were to hold a sheet of graphene in your fingers：句子使用的是虛擬語氣，因為不可能將幾乎肉眼看不到的石墨烯放在指尖上。
6. wonderstuff：神奇物。該詞為合成詞，由wonder(神奇)和stuff(東西)兩個詞構(gòu)成。
wonderstuff 指的是第二段提到的wonder material。
7. apply a small piece of adhesive tape over… ：將一小片膠帶敷在……上。