>First pill to treat Covid gets approval in UK
英批准首款抗新冠口服药
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.
英国药品监管机构批准了首款用于治疗症状性新冠肺炎的药物。
The tablet – molnupiravir – will be given twice a day to vulnerable patients recently diagnosed with the disease.
近期确诊新冠肺炎的虚弱患者将每天服用两次莫那比拉韦。
In clinical trials, the pill, originally developed to treat flu, cut the risk of hospitalization or death by about half.
在临床试验中，该药物将因感染新冠病毒住院或死亡的风险降低了一半左右。该药物原本用于治疗流感。
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the treatment was a “gamechanger” for the most frail and immuno-suppressed.
英国卫生大臣赛义德•贾维德称，这种药物对身体虚弱和免疫功能不全的人来说意义重大。
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.
莫那比拉韦由美国制药公司默克和Ridgeback生物治疗公司研发，是第一款抗新冠口服药，而非静脉注射类药物。
The UK has agreed to purchase 480,000 courses, with the first deliveries expected in November.
英国政府已批准订购48万个疗程，首批药物预计于11月交付。
The drug needs to be given within five days of symptoms developing to be most effective.
该药物需在出现症状五天内服用才能发挥最大疗效。
>CO2 turned to rock in Iceland
冰岛工厂将二氧化碳变石头
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.
在冰岛的一座火山脚下，一家新开的工厂正在吸收空气中的二氧化碳并将其转化为石头，把全球变暖的元凶囚禁起来。
Orca, based on the Icelandic word for “energy,” does its cutting-edge work at the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant in southwest Iceland.
这家名为Orca(源自冰岛语，意思是”能源”)的工厂在冰岛西南部的赫利舍迪地热发电站开展这一尖端工作。
Fans in front of the collector draw in ambient air and release it, largely purified of CO2, through ventilators at the back.
该工厂的收集器在通过前端的风扇吸入周围空气后，会去除空气中的大部分二氧化碳，然后通过尾端的排气扇将净化后的空气排出。
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后就会通过高压注入地下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.
溶液填满岩石的缝隙，凝固过程就开始了。当二氧化碳接触到玄武岩中的钙、镁和铁，就会产生化学反应，转变成钙化白色晶体。
It takes up to two years for the CO2 to petrify.
让二氧化碳石化需要两年时间。
>Library creates literacy from litter
印尼图书馆推’垃圾换书’
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.
印尼爪哇岛的一名图书馆馆长让孩子们用收集的垃圾来换取图书借阅资格，这一新招既能清洁环境，也是为了让孩子们多读书。
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.
每个工作日，拉登•柔柔•亨达尔蒂都会骑着满载儿童图书的三轮车到满堂村换取塑料杯、塑料袋和其他垃圾，然后再把一车垃圾带回。
She told Reuters she is helping inculcate reading in the kids as well as make them aware of the environment.
她告诉路透社说，她在帮助培养孩子们的阅读习惯和环保意识。
As soon as she shows up, little children, many accompanied by their mothers, surround her “Trash Library” and clamor for the books.
她一出现，小孩子们就把她的”垃圾图书馆”团团围住，嚷嚷着要书。许多孩子都是在母亲的陪同下来的。
She collects about 100 kg of waste each week, which is then sorted by her colleagues and sent for recycling or sold.
她每周能收集约100公斤垃圾，由她的同事对垃圾进行分类后将其回收或卖掉。
She has a stock of 6,000 books to lend and wants to take the mobile service to neighboring areas too.
她的馆藏图书共有6000本，她也愿意为邻近地区提供移动借阅服务。
>Singapore to start charging some Covid patients
新加坡:拒打疫苗自付新冠治疗费
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.
随着近期新冠病例激增，新加坡政府表示，新加坡将不再为”自愿选择不打疫苗的”人群支付新冠肺炎医疗账单。
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. 新加坡政府目前为所有公民、永久居民和长期签证持有者全额支付新冠肺炎医疗费用，从海外归国后不久检测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，新加坡政府称，将从12月8日起”开始对自愿选择不打疫苗的新冠患者收取治疗费”。
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”占据了重症监护患者的大多数，并且极大地造成国内医疗资源的紧张”。
Covid-related medical bills will still be paid for people who aren’t eligible for a vaccine.对于不符合接种疫苗条件的患者，政府依然会为其支付新冠相关医疗账单。
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来源：chinadaily.com.cn