每日新聞播報（September 27）

A rendering of Vertical Aerospace's VA-X4 aircraft is seen in this image obtained by Reuters. Photograph: Vertical Aerospace/Reuters

>Electric air taxis to make debut in Brazil

聖保羅將推'空中出租車'

The skies over Latin America's largest city are set to witness a futuristic aerospace revolution after the Brazilian airline Gol struck a deal that could see it ferry commuters around Sao Paulo in hundreds of low-cost zero-emission electric air taxis.

拉丁美洲最大城市聖保羅的上空將會見證一場未來主義航空革命。巴西戈爾航空公司日前達成了一項協議，將用數百架低成本零排放的電動空中的士搭載當地的通勤族。

Domhnal Slattery, chief executive of the Dublin-based firm Avolon, which will provide the aircraft to Gol and recently placed an order for 500 of the aircraft from their British manufacturer, admitted helicopters were the "domain of the ultra wealthy".

向戈爾航空供應空中的士的都柏林公司阿沃隆最近剛從他們的英國生產商那裡訂購了500架飛機。阿沃隆的首席執行官多姆納爾•斯萊特瑞承認，直升機過去是"超級富豪的專屬"。

But the Avolon boss said the introduction of VA-X4 eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft to Sao Paulo would be a game changer for commuters once the taxis, which look like a futuristic cross between a helicopter and a glider, are delivered in late 2024 or 2025.

但是阿沃隆的首席執行官稱，聖保羅引進VA-X4電動垂直起降飛機對通勤族而言將是改天換地的變革。這款未來風格的空中的士外形介於直升機和滑翔機之間，將於2024年底或2025年交付使用。

"Our basic estimate at the moment is that the operating cost here for this aircraft will be the equivalent of $1 per passenger over a 25-mile trip," Slattery told the Financial Times. "We think we can get the cost of this down to the equivalent of an Uber ride, equivalent to downtown Manhattan to JFK."

斯萊特瑞告訴《金融時報》說：“據我們目前粗略估算，這款飛機在聖保羅的運營成本相當於25英里範圍內每名乘客1美元(約合人民幣6元)。我們認為，我們可以把成本壓到和優步出租車差不多的水平，相當於從曼哈頓市中心到肯尼迪國際機場的打車費。”

Sixty years after Christo and Jeanne-Claude first conceptualized the project, the Arc de Triomphe has been wrapped. Credit: Benjamin Loyseau/Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

>Arc de Triomphe wrapped in fabric

巴黎凱旋門穿上新'外套'

After three months of construction work at Paris' famed Arc de Triomphe, the 160-foot-tall war monument has been completely concealed. The landmark, built during Napoleon's reign, has been outfitted in 270,000 square feet of silver-blue polypropylene fabric bound with red ropes.

施工了三個月後，巴黎名勝古迹凱旋門被完全包裹了起來，用掉了27萬平方英尺的銀藍色聚丙烯布料並用紅繩固定。凱旋門高160英尺(49米)，是建於拿破崙統治時期的地標性建築。

Encasing the Arc de Triomphe in cloth was a longstanding vision of the late artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude -- one that finally came into focus this summer.

給凱旋門"穿上衣服"是已故藝術家克里斯托和珍妮-克勞德的多年願景，今夏終於付諸實踐。

It began with 400 tons of steel beams erected like a metal jacket around the structure, followed by the wrapping, which was conducted by a team of climbers over the course of a few days.

400噸重的鋼樑像一件金屬夾克一樣矗立在建築周圍，並由一個攀爬隊在幾天內將其包裹起來。

Following the project's completion on Thursday, the arch will remain transformed for just 16 days.

9月16日該項目完工後，這一新貌只能保持16天。

Originally scheduled for spring 2020, the project was first delayed out of concern for nesting kestrel falcons in the arch, and then because of the ongoing pandemic.

這一項目原定在2020年春季動工，先是出於擔心在凱旋門上築巢的紅隼鷹而被耽擱，而後又因為疫情而拖延。

Vladimir Yavachev, Christo's nephew and the project's director of operations who worked with the artist for 30 years, explained that the shimmering color of the fabric and vivid ropes are Christo's "poetic interpretation" of the blue, white and red of the French flag.

這一項目的運營總監、克里斯托的侄子弗拉基米爾•亞瓦切夫解釋道，閃閃發光的布料和鮮艷的繩子是克里斯托對法國藍白紅國旗的"詩意解讀"。亞瓦切夫和叔叔克里斯托共事長達30年。

Lila Blanks holds the casket of her husband, Gregory Blanks, 50, who died of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), ahead of his funeral in San Felipe, Texas, US, Jan 26, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]

>1 in every 500 US residents have died of Covid-19

美國每500人就有1人死於新冠

As of Tuesday night, 663,913 people in the US have died of Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

根據約翰斯•霍普金斯大學的數據，截至9月14日晚，美國累計新冠肺炎死亡病例663913例。

According to the US Census Bureau, the US population as of April 2020 was 331.4 million.

根據美國人口普查局的數據，截至2020年4月，美國人口為3.314億。

The US averaged 1,805 new Covid-19 deaths each day over a week as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins.

截至9月14日的一周時間內，美國日均新增新冠死亡病例達到1805例。

With only 54% of the population fully vaccinated, the rate of people initiating vaccinations each day (more than 341,900) is a 4% drop from last week and 28% drop from a month earlier, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

根據美國疾病控制和預防中心的數據，美國疫苗接種率只有54%，每天接種疫苗的人數(超過341900人)比上周下降了4%，比一個月前下降了28%。

Health experts have hailed vaccinations as the best source of protection against the virus, noting that the majority of people hospitalized with and killed by Covid-19 are unvaccinated.

衛生專家表示，接種疫苗是預防新冠病毒的最佳方法，並指出，大多數新冠住院病例和死亡病例都沒有接種疫苗。

In Pennsylvania, from Jan 1 to Sept 7, 97% of the state's Covid-19 deaths were among unvaccinated people, Pennsylvania's acting secretary of health said Tuesday.

賓夕法尼亞州代理衛生部長9月14日表示，從1月1日到9月7日，該州97%的新冠肺炎死亡病例是未接種疫苗的人群。

A 39,000-year-old female woolly mammoth which was found frozen in Siberia, Russia and exhibited in Yokohama, Japan, July 9, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

>Scientists want to resurrect the woolly mammoth

哈佛醫學院欲'復活猛獁象'

Geneticists, led by Harvard Medical School's George Church, aim to bring the woolly mammoth, which disappeared 4,000 years ago, back to life, imagining a future where the tusked ice age giant is restored to its natural habitat.

哈佛醫學院的喬治•丘奇教授率領的一群遺傳學家計劃復活4000年前滅絕的猛獁象，並設想未來能讓這些冰河時期的動物恢復其自然棲息地。

The efforts got a major boost on Monday, with the announcement of a $15 million investment.

該項目在9月13日宣布獲得了1500萬美元的投資。

Proponents say bringing back the mammoth could help restore the fragile Arctic tundra ecosystem, combat the climate crisis, and preserve the endangered Asian elephant.

支持這個項目的人表示，復活猛獁象可以幫助恢復脆弱的北極凍原帶生態系統，應對氣候危機，還能幫助瀕危的亞洲象得以延續。

However, it's a bold plan fraught with ethical issues.

然而，這個大膽的計劃仍面臨倫理問題。

The goal isn't to clone a mammoth -- the DNA that scientists have managed to extract from the woolly mammoth remains frozen in permafrost is far too fragmented and degraded -- but to create, through genetic engineering, an elephant-mammoth hybrid that would be visually indistinguishable from its extinct forerunner.

由於科學家從凍土中冷凍的長毛猛獁象中提取的DNA太分散和退化，所以該項目實際上不是克隆，而是通過基因工程創造一種大象-猛獁象雜交種，只不過看起來和已經滅絕的猛獁象相似。

Others say it's unethical to use living elephants as surrogates to give birth to a genetically engineered animal.

還有人表示，用活象作為代孕來生基因工程動物是不道德的。

Find more audio news on the China Daily app.

來源：chinadaily.com.cn