>First pill to treat Covid gets approval in UK
英批准首款抗新冠口服藥
An experimental COVID-19 treatment pill called molnupiravir being developed by Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP, is seen in this undated handout photo released by Merck & Co Inc, May 17, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]
The first pill designed to treat symptomatic Covid-19 has been approved by the UK medicines regulator.
英國藥品監管機構批准了首款用于治療症狀性新冠肺炎的藥物。
The tablet – molnupiravir – will be given twice a day to vulnerable patients recently diagnosed with the disease.
近期確診新冠肺炎的虛弱患者將每天服用兩次莫那比拉韋。
In clinical trials, the pill, originally developed to treat flu, cut the risk of hospitalization or death by about half.
在臨床試驗中，該藥物將因感染新冠病毒住院或死亡的風險降低了一半左右。該藥物原本用于治療流感。
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the treatment was a “gamechanger” for the most frail and immuno-suppressed.
英國衛生大臣賽義德•賈維德稱，這種藥物對身體虛弱和免疫功能不全的人來說意義重大。
Molnupiravir, developed by the US drug companies Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is the first antiviral medication for Covid-19, which can be taken as a pill rather than injected or given intravenously.
莫那比拉韋由美國制藥公司默克和Ridgeback生物治療公司研發，是第一款抗新冠口服藥，而非靜脈注射類藥物。
The UK has agreed to purchase 480,000 courses, with the first deliveries expected in November.
英國政府已批准訂購48萬個療程，首批藥物預計于11月交付。
The drug needs to be given within five days of symptoms developing to be most effective.
該藥物需在出現症狀五天內服用才能發揮最大療效。
>CO2 turned to rock in Iceland
冰島工廠將二氧化碳變石頭
Climeworks factory with its fans in front of the collector, drawing in ambient air and release it, as largely purified CO2 through ventilators at the back is seen at the Hellisheidi power plant near Reykjavik on October 11, 2021. Photo/AFP
At the foot of an Icelandic volcano, a newly opened plant is sucking carbon dioxide from the air and turning it to rock, locking away the main culprit behind global warming.
在冰島的一座火山腳下，一家新開的工廠正在吸收空氣中的二氧化碳並將其轉化爲石頭，把全球變暖的元凶囚禁起來。
Orca, based on the Icelandic word for “energy,” does its cutting-edge work at the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant in southwest Iceland.
這家名爲Orca(源自冰島語，意思是”能源”)的工廠在冰島西南部的赫利舍迪地熱發電站開展這一尖端工作。
Fans in front of the collector draw in ambient air and release it, largely purified of CO2, through ventilators at the back.
該工廠的收集器在通過前端的風扇吸入周圍空氣後，會去除空氣中的大部分二氧化碳，然後通過尾端的排氣扇將淨化後的空氣排出。
Dissolved in fresh water, the gas is then injected under high pressure into the basalt rock between 800 and 2,000 meters underground.
二氧化碳在淡水中溶解後就會通過高壓注入地下800米到2000米深的玄武岩中。
The solution fills the rock’s cavities, and the solidification process begins — a chemical reaction turning it to calcified white crystals that occurs when the gas comes in contact with the calcium, magnesium and iron in the basalt.
溶液填滿岩石的縫隙，凝固過程就開始了。當二氧化碳接觸到玄武岩中的鈣、鎂和鐵，就會産生化學反應，轉變成鈣化白色晶體。
It takes up to two years for the CO2 to petrify.
讓二氧化碳石化需要兩年時間。
>Library creates literacy from litter
印尼圖書館推’垃圾換書’
Founder of the waste library (Limbah Pustaka), Raden Roro Hendarti, 48, arranges books on a three-wheeler vehicle at the library in Muntang village, Purbalingga, Central Java province, Indonesia November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana
A librarian in Indonesia’s Java island is lending books to children in exchange for trash they collect in a novel way to clean up the environment and get the kids to read more.
印尼爪哇島的一名圖書館館長讓孩子們用收集的垃圾來換取圖書借閱資格，這一新招既能清潔環境，也是爲了讓孩子們多讀書。
Each weekday, Raden Roro Hendarti rides her three wheeler with books stacked up in the back for children in Muntang village to exchange for plastic cups, bags and other waste that she carries back.
每個工作日，拉登•柔柔•亨達爾蒂都會騎著滿載兒童圖書的三輪車到滿堂村換取塑料杯、塑料袋和其他垃圾，然後再把一車垃圾帶回。
She told Reuters she is helping inculcate reading in the kids as well as make them aware of the environment.
她告訴路透社說，她在幫助培養孩子們的閱讀習慣和環保意識。
As soon as she shows up, little children, many accompanied by their mothers, surround her “Trash Library” and clamor for the books.
她一出現，小孩子們就把她的”垃圾圖書館”團團圍住，嚷嚷著要書。許多孩子都是在母親的陪同下來的。
She collects about 100 kg of waste each week, which is then sorted by her colleagues and sent for recycling or sold.
她每周能收集約100公斤垃圾，由她的同事對垃圾進行分類後將其回收或賣掉。
She has a stock of 6,000 books to lend and wants to take the mobile service to neighboring areas too.
她的館藏圖書共有6000本，她也願意爲鄰近地區提供移動借閱服務。
>Singapore to start charging some Covid patients
新加坡:拒打疫苗自付新冠治療費
People cross a road, amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Singapore November 3, 2021. REUTERS/Caroline Chia
Singapore will no longer pay the Covid-19 medical bills for people “unvaccinated by choice,” the government said, as the country grapples with a surge in cases.
隨著近期新冠病例激增，新加坡政府表示，新加坡將不再爲”自願選擇不打疫苗的”人群支付新冠肺炎醫療賬單。
The government currently covers the full Covid medical costs for all Singaporeans, as well as permanent residents and long-term visa holders, unless they test positive soon after returning from overseas. 新加坡政府目前爲所有公民、永久居民和長期簽證持有者全額支付新冠肺炎醫療費用，從海外歸國後不久檢測出感染新冠病毒的人除外。
However, from Dec 8, the government said, it will “begin charging Covid-19 patients who are unvaccinated by choice.”
但是，新加坡政府稱，將從12月8日起”開始對自願選擇不打疫苗的新冠患者收取治療費”。
It said unvaccinated people “make up a sizeable majority of those who require intensive in-patient care and disproportionately contribute to the strain on our healthcare resources.”新加坡政府指出，不打疫苗的人”占據了重症監護患者的大多數，並且極大地造成國內醫療資源的緊張”。
Covid-related medical bills will still be paid for people who aren’t eligible for a vaccine.對于不符合接種疫苗條件的患者，政府依然會爲其支付新冠相關醫療賬單。
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來源：chinadaily.com.cn