Science people- can you explain this in Laymen's terms for me?

So I know that Ribosome's (in a cell) primary function is "protein synthesis" but, in Laymens terms, what does that mean? Also, what does it mean when something in the cell "increases surface tension?" Why is increasing surface tension important in cell function? For example, the mesosome, in a prokaryotic cell, increases surface tension- but I don't really understand what that means or why that is important. I've tried to look it up but all I can find are more terms and definitions that say the same thing.