Humans take a step closer to “flying cars”

In the 1880s, the first automobile was developed, and about two decades later, the Wright brothers in North Carolina invented the first successful airplane. “Today, the world is closer to     1     (combine) those two concepts.” said a Japanese tech company     2     completed a manned test flight of a “flying car”.

The company, SkyDrive, said in a news release on Friday that it     3     (complete) a flight test using “the world’s first manned testing machine,” its SD-03 model,     4     electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle. “The flight time was four minutes.” the company said.

The aircraft has one seat and operates with eight motors and two propellers (螺旋桨). It lifted about 10     5     (foot) into the air and was operated by a pilot, the company said. Tomohiro Fukuzawa, SkyDrive’s chief executive, said that five years ago there were various prototypes (原型) of flying cars, usually with fixed wings. SkyDrive’s product, he said, was one of the most smallest in size and was lighter     6     (compare) with other designs.

    7     (safe) is one of two challenges preventing the technology from becoming     8     (wide) used, said Derya Aksaray, an assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics at the University of Minnesota. “Now, safe autonomous technology for eVTOL aircraft     9     (develop).” Aksaray said, “The other challenge is design—the vehicles should be powerful enough to carry any necessary weight, yet quiet enough to fly     10     undetermined low altitudes.”

Taking a taxi in some Eastern European countries can be     1     shocking experience. It is said that some taxi drivers have metal wires     2     (stick) into the passenger's seats. And when a button     3     (push) ,the seat will give you an electric shock. These taxi drivers don't do this       4     fun.

They do it to tourists     5     argue about the ridiculous fares they charge. Some drivers charge as much     6     ten times the legal fare.

They have a secret switch which makes the meters much     7     (fast) . If you refuse to pay, you are really in for a shock.

In one case,a German woman had no choice     8     to pay $120 for a $20 ride from the airport. She said that she was “really taken for a ride"，but what could she do? Besides the electric shock, she was verbally abused and threatened with physical violence. She has only one piece of advice for     9     (tour) , “Take the bus     10     stay at home.