Question

【題目】As motorways become more and more blocked up with traffic, a new generation on flying cars will be needed to ferry people along skyways. That is the conclusion of engineers from the US space agency and aeronautical firms, who envision future commuters traveling by “skycar”.

These could look much like the concept skycar shown in the picture, designed by Boeing research and development. However, such vehicles could be some 25 years from appearing on the market. Efforts to build flying vehicles in the past have not been very successful. Such vehicles would not only be expensive and require the skills of a trained pilot to fly, but there are significant engineering challenges involved in developing them. “When you try to combine them you get the worst of both worlds: a very heavy, slow, expensive vehicle that’s hard to use,” said Mark Moore, head of the personal air vehicle(PAV) division of the vehicle systems program at Nasa’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, US. But Boeing is also considering how to police the airways and prevent total pandemonium(吵雜狂亂的喧鬧)－if thousands of flying cars enter the skies.

“The neat, gee-whiz part is thinking about what the vehicle itself would look like,” said Dick Paul, a vice president with Phantom Works, Boeing’s research and development arm. “But we’re trying to think through all the consequences of what it would take to deploy(散開) a fleet of these.”

Past proposals to solve this problem have included artificial intelligence systems to prevent collisions between air traffic. Nasa is working on flying vehicles with the initial goal of transforming small plane travel. Small planes are generally costly, loud, and require months of training and lots of money to operate, making flying to work impractical for most people. But within five years, Nasa researchers hope to develop technology for a small plane that can fly out of regional airports, costs less than $100,000(55,725), is as quiet as a motorcycle and as simple to operate as a car.

Although it would not have any road-driving capabilities, it would bring this form of travel within the grasp of a wider section of people. The new technology would automate many of the pilot’s functions. This Small Aircraft Transportation System(Sats) would divert pressure away from the “hub-and-spoke(中心輻射型)” model of air travel. Hub-and-spoke refers to the typically US model of passengers being processed through large “hub” airports and then on to secondary flights to “spoke” airports near their final destinations.

【1】The best title for this text would be_______ .

A. Developing Skycars

B. The Traffic Jams in the Sky

C. How to Guide Flying Cars in the Sky

D. What Flying Cars Will Look Like

【2】The underlined word “envision” in Paragraph 1 most probably means “ “.

A.imagine B. expect C. think D. announce

【3】When engineers develop the skycars, they have to deal with the following difficulties except____ .

A. how to fly out of regional airports

B. how to prevent the disorder of the airways

C. how to reduce expenses and the vehicle’s weight

D. how to fly the skycars to enter skies

【4】Now Nasa researchers’ aim is to .

A. make big flying cars

B. work out the plan---how to transform small plane travel

C. develop a new kind of small plane different from the traditional one

D. build a new kind of small plane with road-driving abilities

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】A

【3】D

【4】C

【解析】

試題分析:本文是一篇關于飛行汽車制造的說明介紹。

【1】 主旨理解題。結合全文，作者首先提出新一代的飛行汽車在交通擁擠的高速公路上迫切需要，然后又介紹制造飛行汽車所遇到的嚴峻挑戰(zhàn)，問題等，均是圍繞研發(fā)發(fā)行汽車展開，故選A。

【2】詞匯理解題。從文中第一段That is the conclusion of engineers from the US space agency and aeronautical firms, who envision future commuters traveling by “skycar”.那是美國國家航空航天局和一些航空公司的工程師們得出的結論,他們想象未來人類將會乘坐“飛車”旅行。由future一詞結合上下文語境，可推知envision此處是相當于imagine。故選A。

【3】細節(jié)分析題。排除法。選項A，從文中倒數(shù)第二段But within five years, Nasa researchers hope to develop technology for a small plane that can fly out of regional airports, costs less than $100,000(55,725), is as quiet as a motorcycle and as simple to operate as a car. 但在五年內(nèi),美國國家航空航天局研究人員希望為小飛機開發(fā)一項技術以便它可以飛出區(qū)域機場，成本不到100000美元(55725),讓小飛機和摩托車一樣安靜，和汽車一樣操作簡單。故A正確；選項B，從文章第二段But Boeing is also considering how to police the airways and prevent total pandemonium(吵雜狂亂的喧鬧)－if thousands of flying cars enter the skies. 但波音公司也在考慮如何管轄空中航線和防止吵雜狂亂的喧鬧—如果成千上萬的飛行汽車進入天空時。故B正確；選項C，從文中第二段a very heavy, slow, expensive vehicle that’s hard to use, 非常重,緩慢、昂貴的汽車,很難使用,故可知也要解決如何減少成本和其重量，故C正確。而選項D，如何使飛天汽車進入天空。文中并未提到要解決這一困難。故選D。

【4】細節(jié)分析題。從文中倒數(shù)第二段But within five years, Nasa researchers hope to develop technology for a small plane that can fly out of regional airports, costs less than $100,000(55,725), is as quiet as a motorcycle and as simple to operate as a car. 但在五年內(nèi),美國國家航空航天局研究人員希望為小飛機開發(fā)一項技術以便它可以飛出區(qū)域機場，成本不到100000美元(55725),讓小飛機和摩托車一樣安靜，和汽車一樣操作簡單。這便是Nasa現(xiàn)在的研究目的，即研發(fā)與傳統(tǒng)不同的飛天汽車。故選C。