Časoris is an online newspaper aimed at children. Each week we’ll take an article and post it here as a Slovene-English dual text.
Virus, kdo ali kaj si ti?
Virus, who or what are you?
Written by Urša Adamič, translated by JL Flanner & G Translate
So virusi živi ali niso živi?
Are viruses alive or not alive?
Na to vprašanje ni enostavnega odgovora. Virus se ne prehranjuje, ne diha in se ne premika sam.
There is no easy answer to this question. A virus does not feed, breathe and does not move alone.
Velika večina virusov za nas ni nevarna.
The vast majority of viruses are not dangerous to us.
»V človeku živi približno od 12 do 20 različnih vrst virusov. Z večino teh se čisto dobro razumemo,« je za RTV Slovenija povedal virolog Vincent Racaniello.
“There are about 12 to 20 different types of viruses in humans. Most of these get along with us just fine,” virologist Vincent Racaniello told RTV Slovenia.
Virusi so zelo majhni. Njihova zgradba je preprosta: sestavlja jih zaporedje genov, ki so obdani z maščobnim ovojem. Namesto okončin imajo na ovoju proteine, s katerimi se pritrdijo na celice.
Viruses are very small. Their structure is simple: they consist of a sequence of genes surrounded by an envelope of fat. Instead of limbs, they have proteins on the sheath that attach them to cells.
Sami po sebi virusi niso škodljivi. Večino časa naključno tavajo po prostoru in upajo, da se bodo zaleteli v kakšno celico.
Viruses in themselves are not harmful. Most of the time, they wander randomly around the room and hope to run into some cells.
V primeru, da virus najde pravo celico, se nanjo pritrdi in sprosti svoje gene. Celica jih začne prepisovati in nastanejo novi virusi.
If a virus finds the right cell, it attaches to it and releases its genes. The cell starts transcribing them and new viruses are generated.
Zaradi njihove preproste zgradbe jih lahko, dokler ne vstopijo v telo, zelo enostavno uničimo. Kako? Z milom!
Because of their simple structure, they can easily be destroyed before they enter the body. How? Soap!
V milu so prisotne molekule, ki razbijejo maščobni ovoj virusa. Učinkujejo hitro. Že če si roke natančno umivamo vsaj dvajset sekund, uničimo viruse, ki so se morda prilepili na naše prste.
There are molecules present in soap that break the fatty envelope of the virus. They work quickly. If we wash our hands carefully for at least twenty seconds, we destroy viruses that may have stuck to our fingers.
Read more stories and improve your Slovene at Časoris, while all our dual texts can be found here.
