Terrafugia Inc. said Monday that its new flying car has completed its first flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of selling the flying car within the next year. The vehicle —named the Transition – has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. The Transition, which flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes last month, can reach around 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 in the air. It flies using a 23-gallon tank of gas and burns 5 gallons per hour in the air. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon.
Around 100 people have already put down a $10,000 deposit to get a Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will likely rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition to the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. But don’t expect it to show up in too many driveways. It’s expected to cost $279,000.And it won’t help if you’re stuck in traffic. The car needs a runway.
Inventors have been trying to make flying cars since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann, an airline industry expert. But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality. The government has already permitted the company to use special materials to make it easier for the vehicle to fly. The Transition is now going through crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.
Mann said Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft, which are lower than those for pilots of larger planes. Terrafugia
says an owner would need to pass a test and complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the Transition, a requirement pilots would find relatively easy to meet.
What is the first paragraph mainly about?
A. The basic data of the Transition.
B. The advantages of flying cars.
C. The potential market for flying cars.
D. The designers of the Transition.
Do you like shopping? Or does the thought of wandering round the shops fill you with terror? For some of us, shopping is an enjoyable way of spending our spare time and our money. For me, it’s something I would rather avoid. Thank goodness for the Internet! It’s more convenient to buy CDs, electrical items, even food, from the comfort of your sofa. But that’s not the only reason：price is an important factor. We can buy goods and services cheaper online. But sometimes the problem is knowing what to buy. This has led to a type of shopping called ＂showrooming＂.
Showrooming is something I’ve done. I will go to a shop to see, touch and try out products but then go home and buy them online at a knock-down price. I’m not alone in doing this. Research by a company called Foolproof, found 24% of people showroomed while Christmas shopping in 2013.
Amy Cashman, head of Technology at TNS UK, says the reasons for this new shopping habit are that＂people are lacking time, lacking money and they want security about the products they are buying＂. She explains that consumers are not only shopping online at home but they are using the Internet in store or on their smartphones to shop around.
But does this mean technology will kill shops? Certainly shops will change. They will have to offer more competitive prices or encourage people to buy more by giving in-store discounts or free gifts.
We mustn’t forget that buying in a shop means you can get expert advice from the sales assistant and you can get good aftercare. It’s good to speak to a real human rather than look at a faceless computer screen but at least by showrooming, you get the best of both worlds!
1.The two questions in Paragraph l are raised to .
A. introduce the topic B. give two examples
C. compare different opinions D. get answers from readers
2.What does showrooming mean in the text?
A. Trying in shops and buying online. B. Showing products in a room.
C. Buying something in a store. D. Shopping on the Internet.
3.According to Amy Cashman, which is not the reason for showrooming?
A. The lack of time. B. The comfort of the sofa.
C. The shortness of money. D. The security of the product.
4.The author’s attitude towards showrooming is .
A. critical B. neutral
C. supportive D. casual
Modern inventions have speeded up people’s loves amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boats (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind on another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientist; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.
However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestor faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.
1.The new products become more and more time-saving because .
A. our love of speed seems never-ending
B. time is limited
C. the prices are increasingly high
D. the manufactures boast a lot
2.What does ＂the days＂ in Paragraph 3 refer to ?
A. Imaginary life. B. Simple life in the past.
C. Times of inventions. D. Time for constant activity.
3.What is the author’s attitude towards the modern technology?
A. Critical B. Objective.
C. Optimistic. D. Negative.
4.What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. The present and past times.
B. Machinery and human beings.
C. Imaginations and inventions.
D. Modern technology and its influence.
Recently, online hike-sharing has become the new favorite in China. In major cities, bikes in, yellow, orange, blue, white and green, can be seen almost everywhere on the street. It seems that these bikes appeared suddenly, adding a new beautiful scenery to Chinese cities.
Both the market and the public welcome online bike-sharing, but is it really a promising business? Well, it depends. After all, online bike-sharing platforms can never get away with huge operating cost and uncertain government policy.
Some theorists might say that online bike-sharing platforms can earn a fortune simply through deposit. Since users will always need to rent bikes, their deposit will always be kept to online bike-sharing platforms.
However, although online bike-sharing platforms may be able to use the deposit for other purposes at the primary stage, they will have to set up a special account, so that the deposit shall be used specially for its designated (指定的) purpose. As the market gets increasingly mature, they will have to do so whether to be responsible for users or in consideration of possible government regulations.
Now that online hike-sharing platforms can’t make profit through deposit，how can they become profitable as fiercer market unfolds? Although Hu Weiwei, CEO of Mobike, stated in an article that she would take Mobike as charitable(慈善的) project if she failed, running a startup is absolutely different from managing a charity organization. After all , she has to pay back investors’ billions of investment(投资).
To make profit, online bike-sharing platforms might have to increase rent fee for each trip, just as Didi did.
From this aspect, it might be a really good business. If we consider full screen ads fee, recommendation fee for business owners, etc. , its annual income might reach at least RMB 15 billion. If we consider the huge operation cost, including bike repairs，bikes’ service life and labor cost, there might not be much net profit left. After all, offline operation cost has always been an unbearable burden for such internet plus mode-based startups.
1.How does the author feel about the future of online bike-sharing platforms?
A. Optimistic. B. Doubtful.
C. Hopeful. D. Secure.
2.How do some theorists think online bike-sharing platforms can make money?
A. Through advertisements. B. Through services.
C. Through deposit. D. Through investment.
3.How should deposit be dealt with when the market is mature according to the author?
A. Used for other purposes.
B. Kept in a special account.
C. Used for charity.
D. Left aside to the users.
4.What does the underlined word ＂unfolds＂ mean in the passage?
A. Shrinks. B. Spreads.
C. Shows. D. Develops.
After years of heated debate, gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Fourteen wolves were caught in Canada and transported to the park. By last year, the Yellowstone wolf population had grown to more than 170 wolves.
Gray wolves once were seen here and there in the Yellowstone area and much of the continental United States, but they were gradually displaced by human development. By the 1920s, wolves had practically disappeared from the Yellowstone area. They went farther north into the deep forests of Canada, where there were fewer humans around.
The disappearance of the wolves had many unexpected results. Deer and elk populations — major food sources (来源) for the wolf — grew rapidly. These animals consumed large amounts of vegetation (植被), which reduced plant diversity in the park. In the absence of wolves, coyote populations also grew quickly. The coyotes killed a large percentage of the park’s red foxes, and completely drove away the park’s beavers.
As early as 1966, biologists asked the government to consider reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone Park. They hoped that wolves would be able to control the elk and coyote problems. Many farmers opposed the plan because they feared that wolves would kill their farm animals or pets.
The government spent nearly 30 years coming up with a plan to reintroduce the wolvers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service carefully monitors and manages the wolf packs in Yellowstone. Today, the debate continues over how well the gray wolf is fitting in at Yellowstone. Elk, deer, and coyote populations are down, while beavers and red foxes have made a comeback. The Yellowstone wolf project has been a valuable experiment to help biologists decide whether to reintroduce wolves to other parts of the country as well.
What is the author’s attitude towards the Yellowstone wolf project?
A. Doubtful. B. Positive.
C. Disapproving. D. Uncaring.
I work with Volunteers for Wildlife, a rescue and education organization at Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley. Trying to help injured, displaced or sick creatures can be heartbreaking; survival is never certain. However, when it works, it is simply beautiful.
I got a rescue call from a woman in Muttontown. She had found a young owl(猫头鹰) on the ground. When I arrived, I saw a 2-to 3-week-old owl. It had already been placed in a carrier for safety.
I examined the chick(雏鸟) and it seemed fine. If I could locate the nest, I might have been able to put it back, but no luck. My next work was to construct a nest and anchor it in a tree.
The homeowner was very helpful. A wire basket was found. I put some pine branches into the basket to make this nest safe and comfortable. I placed the chick in the nest, and it quickly calmed down.
Now all that was needed were the parents, but they were absent. I gave the homeowner a recording of the hunger screams of owl chicks. These advertise the presence of chicks to adults; they might also encourage our chick to start calling as well. I gave the owner as much information as possible and headed home to see what news the night might bring.
A nervous night to be sure, but sometimes the spirits of nature smile on us all! The homeowner called to say that the parents had responded to the recordings. I drove over and saw the chick in the nest looking healthy and active. And it was accompanied in the nest by the greatest sight of all — LUNCH! The parents had done their duty and would probably continue to do so.
How would the author feel about the outcome of the event?
A. It’s unexpected. B. It’s beautiful.
C. It’s humorous. D. It’s discouraging.
