1 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. How long will it take the man to get a visa by mail?

A．About three days.

B．About two weeks.

C．About three weeks.

2. Where is the man going for his trip?

A．To Chiang Mai.

B．To Bangkok.

C．To Chicago.

3. What can be known from the conversation?

A．The man is planning a two-week trip.

B．It’s not necessary to book a hotel in advance.

C．The woman is a secretary.

5 . Towards the end of the 1985 sci-fi classic Back to the Future, the inventor Doc Brown announces “where we’re going, we don’t need roads as the car lifts into the air”. While flying cars aren’t yet filling our skies, many are in development. In October the Chinese XPeng X2 successfully completed the first public test flight of its two-seater flying car in Dubai.

The XPeng X2 lifts vertically off the ground using eight propellers (螺旋桨), without the need for a runway, and is therefore suitable for built-up city areas. The vehicle, designed to carry two passengers, is fully electric and its makers say it can rise through the air at around two meters per second and then reach speeds of up to 80 miles per hour. The XPeng X2 is equipped with AI automation — it can be set to self-drive. It learns how to avoid traffic, buildings and people. It does not produce any carbon dioxide emissions during flight and is a step forward in the pursuit of urban green transportation. It is suitable for future low-altitude city flights and is perfect for short-distance city journeys such as sightseeing and medical transportation.

Although the test flight lasted just 90 seconds, according to Dr. Liu, chief aviation specialist at Xpeng Aeroht, the technology is close to being ready for public use, but regulations on flying cars are still some way off. Liu believes that people will be able to use flying cars within limited regulated spaces in just five years. This lines up pretty well with the Chinese government’s plan to put flying taxis on the market by 2025. The self-driving function presents further difficulties with regulation and also throws into question public acceptance. Many people are worried about the safety issues around self-driving cars on the ground, let alone vehicles that are flying around above their heads. However, Peng says it is safer for its flying car to be self-driving than to be driven by a human.

There are lots of flying cars in development now around the world and many of them actually fly, like Opener’s “BlackFly”, SkyDriver’s “SD-03’’and Klein Vision’s “AirCar” — which made a successful 35-minute test flight between two cities in Slovakia in 2021.

1. Why does the author mention the 1985 sci-fi classic Back to the Future?

A．To introduce the topic	B．To recommend the movie
C．To provide background information	D．To make a prediction

2. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．The popularity of XPeng X2.	B．The advantages of XPeng X2.
C．The limitation of XPeng X2.	D．The prospect of XPeng X2.

3. What can we learn from the text?

A．XPeng X2 can carry two passengers at a speed of 80miles per hour.

B．XPeng X2 is close to finishing the first public test fight.

C．XPeng X2 has already been launched on the market at present.

D．XPeng X2 has been widely accepted by the public now.

4. In which section of a website may this text appear?

A．Science fiction	B．Film review
C．Science & Technology	D．Historical events

9 . Two car manufacturing companies in the US have been developing self-driving taxis, sometimes called “robotaxis”. Before August, their cars have had a human in the driver’s seat, ready to take over if there was a problem, and they could only drive in specific areas, at certain times. In early August, they weren’t required to have safety drivers in their cars. They are programmed to do everything on their own, including obeying the rules of the road, following speed limits, and avoiding people and other cars.

The move was a big step for self-driving cars, and many people were excited about the change. But almost immediately, there were problems coming along. A self-driving car crashed into a fire truck, causing a person seriously injured. Later, another one failed to work in the middle of a crossroad, causing a traffic jam. As a result, the two companies were told to take half of its robotaxis off the roads.

In one recent example, a self-driving car got stuck in wet concrete (混凝土) because it didn’t know that wet concrete was different from a road. In another case, a robotaxi killed a dog. The self-driving system knew the dog was there, but didn’t know how to avoid it. Most people believe that self-driving cars aren’t ready for the real world. Those who are upset about self-driving cars have found an unusual way to be against them: putting traffic cones (路锥) on the hoods (引擎盖) of robotaxis, which can confuse the cars’driving system and leave them unable to move.

In spite of the problems, both companies are planning to expand their self-driving car service to other cities. One of them says its driverless system will soon be able to work in any city, on any kind of vehicle. Though the quality of self-driving cars is improving, it’s likely to be a while before most people view them as safe.

1. What was the biggest change to the robotaxis recently?

A．They are limited in their speed.

B．They must obey the traffic rules.

C．They can work at certain times of a day.

D．They can drive without a human driver.

2. What problem has happened to robotaxis?

A．They killed a person in an accident.

B．They couldn’t avoid the traffic cones.

C．They sometimes broke down on the roads.

D．They often failed to recognize the directions.

3. How do most people feel robotaxis?

A．Concerned.

B．Supportive.

C．Curious.

D．Uncaring.

4. Which is the best title for the text?

A．Robotaxis struggled to survive, but failed finally

B．Robotaxis move forward, but far from satisfaction

C．Robotaxis driven by a perfect self-driving system

D．Robotaxis expanding to more cities in America