中英對照讀新聞》Not wasted: Sewage in Nepal serves as affordable virus warning tool 不浪費:尼泊爾污水當作平價的病毒警示工具
◎管淑平
A pungent smell hangs in the early morning air as researchers collect samples of sewage dumped into a river in Nepal - a cost-effective way to trace the coronavirus spread for the resource-strapped Himalayan nation.
研究人員在尼泊爾一條河流採取排放到河中的污水樣本,空氣中飄著一股強烈的臭味—對於這個資源拮据的喜馬拉雅山國家來說,這是追蹤冠狀病毒散播情況的一種划算方式。
"When you are limited in the resources that are available for testing and screening, this is a quick and easy way - and a cheaper way - of finding hotspots," said Dibesh Karmacharya, who co-founded Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal, the NGO leading the research.
「當你篩檢所需資源有限,這是找出熱點的便捷方法,而且比較便宜」,率領這項研究的非政府組織「尼泊爾分子動態中心」共同創辦人卡瑪查亞說。
With some cases asymptomatic, the community-wide nature of the testing, rather than at an individual level, could help pick up the disease in places where it may not appear to be present. (AFP)
由於有些感染病例是無症狀,這種檢測方式涵蓋全社區,而非針對個人,有助於在疫情或許尚未浮現的地方得知病毒蹤跡。(法新社)
新聞辭典
pungent:形容詞,強烈的,刺鼻的;尖銳的(批評)。例句:His actions provoked some fairly pungent criticisms.(他的行動挑起一些相當尖銳的批評。)
cost-effective:形容詞,划算的,有成本效益的。例句:The procedure has been proved to be cost-effective.(這套製程已經證實是有成本效益的。)
pick something up:片語,得知,學會。例句:Kids pick languages up quickly.(小孩子學語言很快。)