Around 100 people have already put down a $10,000 deposit（定金） to get a
Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will 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 as much as $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 (联邦航空管 理局) 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.
68. What is the first paragraph mainly about?
A. The advantages of flying cars.
B. The basic data of the
C. The
Transition. C. The possible market for flying cars. designers of the Transition.
69. Why is the Transition unlikely to show up on too many roads?
A. It causes traffic jams. B. It is difficult to operate. C. It is very expensive. D. It burns too much fuel.
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70. What is the government’s attitude to the development of the flying car?
A. The government supports it. B. The government is against it.
C. The government sets higher standards to discourage it D. The government thinks it is on the way out. 71. What is the best title for the text?
A. Flying Car at Auto Show
B. The Transition’s First Flight
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C. Pilots’ Dream Coming True D. Flying Car Closer to Reality
D
China is a country of many resources. Among its resources are many great rivers, which provide useful transport routes. Water transport is an efficient way to carry heavy loads, such as grain. In ancient times, a waterway was needed between China’s rich farmlands and the capital city. This need inspired engineers to build a canal. According to writings by the ancient thinker Confucius, work on a canal linking the Yangze River with the city of Huai-in began about 486 B.C. For many centuries afterward, Chinese emperors worked on extending this ancient canal.
This canal is now known as China’s Grand Canal. One thousand years after the original canal was begun, it was in extreme need of repair. This was in the year 607, during the Sui Dynasty. By 610 the emperor had had the canal extended. The Grand Canal formed a northeast-southwest link between the Yellow River in the north and the Huai River in the south. The canal remained the main waterway in this part of China for the next five hundred years.
In the thirteenth century, the Mongols had conquered China. The Yuan Dynasty established Beijing as the capital. The city’s growing population needed food, so a new canal was built to extend shipping. Building this part of the Grand Canal required enormous effort and cost. Neither the first attempt nor the second one was successful, so the builders chose another route. Finally this link in the Grand Canal was finished.
By the time of the Ming Dynasty, the Grand Canal had six sections. These were busy with goods until the nineteenth century. Then a series of severe floods struck China. Parts of the Grand Canal were badly damaged. By 1868 it had been largely abandoned as a means of northern route.
The Grand Canal was mostly restored in the twentieth century. It was widened and deepened, and a new section was constructed. Today the canal, which
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is about 1,200 miles in length, has new locks(运河的水闸). It is busy with ships and barges(驳船) carrying goods to
and from cities along its banks.
72. The Grand Canal was first built in ancient times to provide .
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