2015-04-23

【Aiden in English】

        After mom’s episode of being laid off from Merck, and also finding her another arguably better job, I have never seen much GSK. From the facts that mom tells me, it sounds really nice. Take Your Child to Work Day is a great opportunity to see how good of a replacement it was, and Merck had really set a high bar.

        Right away, GSK earned some easy points. On the outside, lush green trees dotted a sea of exuberant grass. A fountain lazily sprouted water as if it had nothing to do in the world, which it probably didn’t. Another few points were awarded inside, where everything was so modern. Entire walls were made of glass panes, paintings of people, nature, machines, whatever lined the sides. And every twenty or so feet was an elevator. I guess they were too cool for stairways, huh. Mom dropped her stuff off at her desk, and we quickly found the sign in the designated area. I got an orange wristband, you know, the kinds that gave you the itch but couldn’t come off or else. Footprints and signs led us to the breakfast area, and also showed us to a delicious breakfast of donuts. 

        I was in the orange group, and soon enough, members trickled to our first station. Rooms around the building were being used for this very delightful occasion, and some were about to be seriously messed up. But that’s science. It’s about messing things up and learning from the mistakes, although some of us here probably just wish to do it for fun. 

        The first experiment/step was called “Color Blast”. With a beckoning of a few hands, the orange group, which had suddenly and surprising grown significantly, put on lab coats, slipped on some gloves, and wore some nerdy glasses (no offense). The lab was filled with different kinds of machines. Pistons, monitors, and buttons, oh my! This seemed like a quantum leap in my brain, the time era jumping from the 21^st to the 22^nd century or something. The first experiment conducted was with sugar. Yep, the same old favored-in-coffee and loved-by-kids’ sugar. The sugar was mixed with sulfuric acid, which, in a moment, bubbled, then a black … thing rose from the container. It looked like asphalt, black as night with holes here or there. The thing rose up and out of the container, steam curling at the edges. Apparently, the sulfur was dehydrating or evaporating the water, from the sugar creating a violent chemical reaction. The black asphalt stuff continued to grow, stopping at five times the original amount of sugar. Some volunteers poked it, and so did I. Again hard as asphalt. The presenter Lynette even explained that this was the lead in pencils, aka. graphite. Pretty cool, huh? 

        However, that was only the start. The day continued on to explain and show the secret of glowsticks. The reaction inside a glowstick was a fluorescent mixture coming in contact with peroxide based upon the variable temperature. Furthermore fireworks were discussed, and they worked by lighting different atoms of nitrates on fire, burning at the molecules and changing colors in the hood. All different crazy kinds of colored flames erupted and danced, shooting up and down in bursts. Even at a distance, the heat could be felt. 

        After it, which was surprisingly only the first part of a long list to come, we went on to learn about the beating heart. Later we studied robotics to chicken eggs, a huge variety of science. To top it off, we had chicken strips and pizza for lunch.

        GSK was really a great place. New inventions constantly were happening, and learning was actual not as boring as school. What an environment, I might say to invest money in this pharmaceutical industry down the road. I’ll add GSK to my career list someday.

【紅霞譯文】

        自媽媽從默克公司下崗到重返熟識的職場以來，我對其新公司葛蘭素史克了解極為有限，得知媽媽感覺良好，看來它算不錯。帶孩子上班日恰巧提供一次難能可貴的機會，讓我身臨其境，好歹以默克為準來評估葛蘭素史克。

        轉眼之間，葛蘭素史克便輕鬆地拿下幾個印象分。就外觀而言，門前樓外的青草綠葉將其環境裝點得鬱鬱蔥蔥，噴泉不緊不慢地吐着水花，好像從不在乎也不關心周圍所發生的一切。從內部來講，現代化的裝潢令人心曠神怡，靠街的一面牆全部由落地玻璃板構成，相對的另一面牆壁則張貼着人物肖像、自然風光、機械器具等藝術作品；每隔廿英尺左右就有一台電梯，看來在這爬蹬樓梯反倒變得了不起。待媽媽把自己的東西擱到辦公桌旁，倆人迅速來到指定地點。我先領了桔色腕帶，就是你知道的既叫皮膚瘙癢又難以脫落的那種玩藝，然後順着地標路牌去吃早飯，美味可口的甜甜圈正等待我們的到來。

        我所在的桔色小組需要趕到活動的第一站集結，今天每項活動地點均有不同，並且分別散布於大樓各個角落，有的房間因臨時換來換去而難以一下子找到，但這就是科學所在，人們從零亂中摸索頭緒，儘管不少參加者純粹來湊熱鬧。

        第一項實驗或第一個步驟叫“色彩爆破”。隨着桔色隊伍發展壯大，各個成員先後繫緊實驗服、穿好防護手套、戴上呆頭呆腦的眼鏡（毫無冒犯之意），實驗室里五花八門的儀器隨處可見，活塞、熒光屏、按鈕之類的東西應有盡有！我的思緒馬上轉入時空穿梭，從眼下廿一世紀飛躍到未來廿二世紀甚至更遠。該實驗採用的材料是糖，一點沒錯，就是放進咖啡以及孩童愛吃的糖。糖與硫酸混合在一起，稍等片刻，逐漸產生氣泡，隨之在容器里轉變成黑色……物質，看上去宛如瀝青，像深夜地洞一般黢黑，這種黑色物質繼續膨脹並慢慢溢出容器，周邊同時還釋放出裊裊炊煙。顯然，硫磺吸收水分或使水揮發，與糖發生了劇烈的化學反應。這時，黑色瀝青狀物質不斷增長，直至長到原來五倍體積為止。有人自報奮勇親手感受硬度，我也戳一戳好生體驗一番，這東西確實硬得跟瀝青似的，主持人麗奈特同時還解釋說我們所用的鉛筆即石墨就是這樣製成的，很酷吧？

        然而，這不過僅僅是個開頭。接下來向我們展示的還有熒光棒的奧秘。熒光棒之所以發射熒光是因為不同溫度下過氧化氫與熒光染料之間的氧化反應。此外，我們還討論煙花爆竹，硝酸鹽如何經過燃燒分解成原子，分子組成各異的硝酸鹽如何呈現不同的色彩。通風櫥里，光怪陸離的火焰正翩翩起舞，在空中上下竄跳並強烈放熱，即使遠隔一段距離，我們仍能感受到它的威力。

        第一實驗就這樣結束了，下面我們還要完成一長串引人入深的研究課題，從心率、機器人到雞蛋，涉及到多種科學領域，其中最為稱道的應該首推午餐上的炸雞和比薩餅。

        葛蘭素史克果真名不見虛傳，目前正在不斷進行新藥開發，到此學習要比在學校實際有趣，況且氛圍又棒，值得今後我來投資這樣的製藥工業，相信總有一天，我會把葛蘭素史克納入本人職業生涯規劃之中。