It is late afternoon in Manhattan and you have a flight to catch at Kennedy International Airport. Instead of sitting in rush-hour traffic for two hours, you take a short ride to a nearby parking garage where you board an electric plane that takes off vertically from the roof and you arrive at Kennedy 20 minutes later for roughly the same cost as a fancy ride-share. You make your flight in time.
While it might sound impractical, several companies say they are on the edge of being able to offer a safe, cheap, clean electric plane that can help passengers travel distances between two and 150 miles without the need for a conventional runway. Public and private experts believe the technology could grow into a massive market that helps mitigate over-crowding and changes the way people travel in major urban areas.
While urban air travel is currently out of reach for most customers, improvements in battery technology have driven down the cost of developing electric-powered planes that are practicable as urban passenger transportation. These companies are betting they can bring electric urban and regional air travel to the masses, and have developed the new plane to compete for a slice of this emerging market within the next few years.
The new electric plane uses one-fifth the energy of conventional helicopters. Unlike traditional fixed-wing plane, they won’t require runways to take off and land. Unlike helicopters, they will be largely unhearable from the ground and have multiple rotors (旋翼) and backup systems, making them much safer.
Adam Goldstein, the co-chief executive of Archer Aviation, said his company hopes to offer fares in the range of three to four dollars per mile traveled. That would make the trip from Manhattan to Kennedy, typically 17 miles, between $50 and $80. Several experts predicted the price of regional flights would be around the same cost as the luxury car service Uber Black.
“The biggest cost is the batteries,” said Mr. Goldstein, “which are high-priced, but get cheaper every day.”
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To give advice on avoiding rush-hour traffic. |
| B．To introduce a new way of travelling. |
| C．To discuss how to cut down travel cost. |
| D．To explore how an electric plane works. |
| A．Increase. | B．Remove. | C．Ease. | D．Maintain. |
| A．Its size. | B．Its flight route. |
| C．Its way of taking off. | D．Its travel distance. |
| A．It has a promising future. | B．It is too expensive to build. |
| C．It will take the place of helicopters. | D．It will come on the market in a few months. |
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【推荐1】You know Australia is a big country, but you may not know how easy it is to get around. The untouched beaches that go for miles and deserts that touch the horizon are just there, waiting to be reached and explored. The following are the different ways you can explore our vast country.
Getting around Australia
Air
Flying is the best way to cover large distances in a short time. You can spend more time on the Australia’s can’t-miss landscapes and relaxing lifestyle. Moreover, competition among airlines makes great flying fees available for you.
Drive
Australia has a vast network of well-maintained roads and some of the most beautiful touring routes in the world. You have no difficulty finding car rental companies at major airports, central city locations, suburbs and attractions.
Bus
Bus travel in Australia is comfortable, easy and economical. Buses generally have air conditioning, reading lights, adjustable seats and videos. Services are frequent, affordable and efficient.
Rail
Train travel is the cheapest and gives you an insight into Australia’s size and variety, all from the comfort of your carriage. Scheduled services are a great way to get quickly between our cities and regional centers.
Ferry
The Spirit of Tasmania runs a passenger and vehicle ferry service between Melbourne and Tasmania nightly. Extra services are running during summer rush hours. Sealink ferries connect South Australia and Kangaroo Island several times a day. Ferries connect suburbs in our capital cities.
Walk
With easy on the feet pedestrian streets, walking is a great way to get around our cities. Besides all the above, you can also experience some of the longest tracks and trails in the world in central Australia—impressive journeys of a thousand kilometers or more that can take several weeks to complete.
1. The underlined word “untouched” in the 1stparagraph means _____.| A．secure | B．special |
| C．natural | D．artificial |
| A．More travelers make the flying fees among airlines higher than before. |
| B．You can easily rent a car to explore its most beautiful touring routes. |
| C．Taking a bus tour is the most comfortable, economical and efficient way. |
| D．Train services can offer you more comfort than any other means of transport. |
| A．only at night hours | B．only during rush hours |
| C．several times a day | D．Between different cities |
| A．pedestrian walking is a great way to travel between cities |
| B．walking in central Australia takes a long time |
| C．central Australia has the world’s longest railway line |
| D．you have to walk over a thousand kilometers in Australia |
| A．By air. | B．By car. |
| C．By bus. | D．On foot. |
【推荐2】I started my journey at the Cadillac House, drove out of the city and got on the 1-95 toward Washington, D.C.. It’s about a four-hour drive.
As soon as I jumped on the highway, I sped up to about 70 miles per hour and entered standard cruise control. A small indicator on the instrument panel(仪表盘) showed the car was ready to engage self-driving mode. I pushed a button on the steering wheel to begin, initiating Super Cruise mode.
A green light bar at the top of my steering wheel showed that Super Cruise was on. There were no shake, no sudden speed changes or anything like that. The car remained perfectly steady. It uses a combination of cameras, radar sensors, and GPS to find the center of the lane. The car found it like a train on a track.
I had to admit that I was little worried about letting the car take over at first. I kept my hands near the wheel and my eyes locked on the road. After about ten minutes, I finally started to trust the car’s judgment. It soon became clear that it could easily drive itself in light traffic, braking when necessary and keeping a steady speed.
Then we hit a bottleneck. There was a standstill traffic outside of Baltimore, and things could have easily gone wrong, but this is where Super Cruise really shined. The vehicle came to a complete stop to avoid crashing into traffic, then sped up when cars started moving again. It was impressive as well, and something that sets the 2018 Cadillac CT6 apart from all competitors.
I eventually turned off the highway and headed into Washington D.C.. To turn Super Cruise of, I simply hit the button on the steering wheel again. The green light at the top of the wheel turned off, and I took control of the car.
The CT6 had no problem bringing me from New York to Washington, D.C, in Super Cruise mode practically all by itself. It makes me hopeful for a future where I’ll never need to touch a steering wheel again.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．A report comparing different cars’ performance. |
| B．A description of an adventurous journey. |
| C．An advertisement of a new type of car. |
| D．An account of a self-driving experience. |
| A．taking in | B．turning on |
| C．making out | D．coming off |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Exciting. |
| C．Boring. | D．Reliable. |
| A．There is no need to touch the steering wheel all the way. |
| B．The built-in facilities help the car remain steady. |
| C．The car can adjust its speed according to traffic conditions. |
| D．The operation of the Super Cruise mode is quite simple. |
【推荐3】Just under a decade ago, faced with a declining economy and rising oil prices, drivers were turning away from gas-powered vehicles and toward hybrid-electric cars (油电混合动力汽车) that promised, over time, to save them millions.
That was then, In recent years, as the economy recovered and gas prices dropped, so has demand for more-fuel-efficient cars. Electric cars and hybrids now make up less than 3% of new-car purchases, down from years past. Roughly 75% of Americas who traded in a hybrid or an electric car this year took home an all-gas car, an 11-point increase from 2015
At the same time, it's unreasonable to expect drivers to change their habits purely because of a sense of duty to build a better world. Buying a Toyota Camry, for example, would save its owner about $400 yearly in gas spending (vs. a similar-size all-gas vehicle). But it would also cost an extra $3000 in advance. For Americans, that payoff isn't worth the investment.
Automakers face this stalemate (僵局)? The government. Thanks to a set of regulations, automakers are required to keep improving their average fuel efficiencies to a certain degree, no matter how oil prices might change.
But starting a true green-car revolution will require more than fuel-efficiency standards. One solution, favored by some economists and environmental activists, is an increase in the gas tax, Which hasn't been raised since 1993. Others have suggested taxing carbon emission(排放), so people will rethink how they drive. In Norway, where drivers pay both fees, the electric cars from Tesla Motors have enjoyed a brief period as the country's top-selling vehicle.
Indeed, the best approach may well be to create the impossible: an electric car that actually offers more value than its gas-powered competitor. Many are trying, from Tesla to GM, which is releasing an inexpensive all-electric car this year. The future of driving is “not going to be determined by gas prices," says economist Jeff Sachs. “It's going to be determined by technology."
1. What change has taken place in the US car market?| A．Car purchases have dropped sharply |
| B．People are beginning to favor all-gas cars |
| C．Electric cars have become the most popular |
| D．Hybrid-electric cars have become more expensive |
| A．It is a good investment |
| B．It is perfectly comfortable. |
| C．It has a price disadvantage. |
| D．It will change bad driving habits. |
| A．They will slow they country's economy. |
| B．They may be a big potential market. |
| C．They will cause an increase in the gas tax. |
| D．They require higher fuel-efficiency standards. |
| A．There will be more electric cars. |
| B．All-gas cars will be the general trend. |
| C．Gas-powered cars will cost much more. |
| D．Technology will affect driving negatively. |
【推荐1】A robot, created by Washington State University (WSU) scientists, could help elderly people with limitations (限制) live independently in their own homes.
The Robot Activity Support System (RAS), uses sensors (传感器) in a WSU smart home to decide where its users are, what they are doing and when they need help with daily activities. It navigates (定位) through rooms to find people on its own, provides video instructions on how to do simple tasks. It can even lead its owner to objects such as his or her medicine or some food in the kitchen.
Now, about 50 percent of adults over the age of 85 need help with every day activities such as preparing meals and taking medicine. Every year the cost for that in the US is nearly 2,000 billion dollars. The number of adults over 85 is expected to double by 2050. Therefore, researchers hope that technologies like RAS and the WSU smart home will cut some of the spending on the health care system by making it easier for older adults to live alone.
RAS is the first robot that researchers have tried to put into their smart home environment. They recently published a study in the journal (专业期刊) Cognitive Systems Research. The study explains how RAS could make life easier for older adults who struggle to live independently.
“While we are still in an early stage (阶段) of development, our results with RAS have been promising,” Minor said, “The next step in the research will be to test RAS’ performance with a group of older adults to get a better idea of this robot.”
1. What can RAS do?| A．Getting medicines for the user. | B．Finding the people by itself. |
| C．Offering picture instructions. | D．Treating people with limitations. |
| A．By making older adults live alone. | B．By using technologies like RAS. |
| C．By asking for help from the pubic. | D．By struggling against limitations. |
| A．They tried to use it in smart home environment. |
| B．They tried to use it to live independently. |
| C．They tried to use it to save money for the elderly. |
| D．They tried to use it to make life easier for adults. |
| A．Passive. | B．Anxious. | C．Positive. | D．Doubtful. |
【推荐2】On June 22, 1927, Charles Lindbergh flew into Dayton, Ohio of the US, for dinner at Orville Wright’s house. It had been just a month since the young aviator (飞行家) completed the first ever solo nonstop crossing of the Atlantic, and he felt he ought to pay his respects to the celebrated pioneer of flight.
Forty-two years later, on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong was allowed to bring a personal guest to the Kennedy Space Center to witness the launch of NASA’s towering Saturn V rocket. Armstrong invited his hero, Charles Lindbergh.
One man, Lindbergh, could be the living link between the pilot of the first powered flight and the commander of the first mission to another world.
In our century, for better or worse, progress isn’t what it used to be. Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon argues that by 1970, all the key technologies of modern life were in place: electricity, mechanized agriculture, highways, air travel, telecommunications, and the like. After that, innovation and economic growth simply couldn’t keep going at the breakneck pace set over the previous 100 years—a period Gordon calls “the special century.”
Since 1970 the only notable creation has been the ever-growing increase in computing power in the form of the Internet and our mobile devices. But in most other ways, Gordon argues, the lives of people in developed nations look and feel the same in 2019 as they did in 1979 or 1989.
Consider consumer robotics. There’s enormous potential for robots to help us with housework, education, entertainment and medical care. But home robotics companies seem to keep folding. So far, the only commercially successful home robot, the Roomba vacuum cleaner, hit the market in 2002.
Or consider access to space. In 2007 the XPRIZE Foundation offered $30 million in prizes to commercial teams that would compete to land a robotic rover on the moon by 2018. Although five teams had built rovers, all had trouble raising enough money to buy launch contracts.
Meanwhile the list of potentially world-changing technologies that get lots of press ink but remain stubbornly in the prototype (雏形) phase is very long. Self-driving cars, flying cars, gene therapy, nuclear fusion. Need I continue?
Granted, these are all hard problems. But historically, solving the really big problems—rural electrification, for example—has required sustained, large-scale investments, often with private markets and taxpayers splitting the burden. In this century, we urgently need to undo some of the consequences of the last great boom by developing affordable zero-and negative-emissions technologies. That’s another hard problem—and to solve it, we’ll need to recapture some of what made the “special century” so special.
1. In the beginning of the passage, the author used the story Charles Lindberg to _____.| A．explain technology advanced fast in the past 100 years |
| B．infer most aviators are likely to know each other well |
| C．prove this man was a key historic figure of the past century |
| D．point out we should be grateful to such a pioneering inventor |
| A．Computing power keeps growing at a high speed. |
| B．New things keep coming up to make life easier. |
| C．Human life has become highly mechanized. |
| D．People have been trained to be more creative. |
| A．Big innovations can’t be achieved without constant financial support. |
| B．Technological development can’t be gained if it is not applied practically. |
| C．Scientific projects are not considered valuable unless commercially successful. |
| D．New creations are not worth making unless significantly improving people’s lives. |
| A．Sustained and large-scale investments are harder to get now than before. |
| B．People are facing a time with more difficult problems than it used to be. |
| C．Major technological shifts are fewer and farther between than they were. |
| D．Solutions to the really big problems are fewer than we could expect. |
【推荐3】Elevators (电梯) haven’t been updated much in 150 years but PLP Architecture wants to change that.
PLP’s IUMO, formerly known as the SkyPod, is an elevator that runs outside of buildings instead of inside. That means IUMO doesn’t just go up and down. It can turn and go in any direction the user requires. Unlike traditional elevators, IUMO runs on a track fixed onto the building’s outside.
In action it looks almost like a roller coaster-elevator hybrid as it goes up, down and circles around a building. However, the passengers inside IUMO aren’t rolling upside down with it. In fact, the futuristic elevator won’t even make your ears uncomfortable. IUMO works like a gyroscope (陀螺). The elevator car is totally stabilized (稳定), while the part that connects to the track is what turns. “It uses the same stabilization systems of high-speed trains,” PLP stated. “Driving this is a motor system similar to that used by roller coasters and Maglev trains.”
But the goal isn’t just to change elevators. It’s also to reimagine the experience of actually riding one. “Imagine such an elevator in which your journey begins at home, pauses at your favorite cafe and ends directly on your 55th-floor office,” PLP said.
The company believes that IUMO will be able to change the way buildings are designed in the future too. Traditional elevators, which require expensive equipment, already affect a building’s architecture.
“IUMO will allow for new types of buildings that, despite their height, match the city style,” PLP stated. “The elevator has been a primary influence on the shape and appearance of the modern city to date. We believe that the certain end of it will be the encouragement for the next chapter in the life of the city.”
1. In what way is IUMO special?| A．It makes passengers roll. | B．It goes up and down. |
| C．It runs inside the building. | D．It goes in different directions. |
| A．Comfortable. | B．Nervous. | C．Sick. | D．Excited. |
| A．Depth. | B．Architecture. | C．Application. | D．Material. |
| A．The elevator. | B．The shape. | C．The building. | D．The city. |
【推荐1】Workers are quitting their jobs. A lot of them. In fact, there are so many people that it seems that we’re still in the middle of the so-called Great Resignation (辞职). In the US, the Labor Department reported that 4.3 million Americans left their jobs in August 2021, making up about 2.9% of the national workforce — the highest number on record. In the UK, the number of open jobs was more than 1 million for the first time ever in August. There are several reasons why workers are walking away — poor working conditions, fears of getting infected with COVID-19 and a better understanding of life during COVID-19.
You may have heard the story that in the golden age of American labor, 20th-century workers stayed in one job for 40 years and retired with a gold watch. But that’s a total myth. The truth is that people in the 1960s and 1970s quit their jobs more often than they have in the past 20 years, and the economy was better off for it. Since the 1980s Americans have quit less, and many held on to valueless jobs for fear that the safety net wouldn’t support them while they looked for a new one. But Americans seem to have put an end to their persistence (坚持). And they’re being rewarded for their lack of patience: Wages for low-income workers are rising at their fastest rate since the Great Recession (大萧条). In fact, the number of the Great Resignation is really great.
Nearly 7 percent of employees in the “accommodations and food services” area left their jobs in August. That means one in 14 hotel clerks, restaurant servers, and barbacks said goodbye in a single month. Thanks to several pandemic-relief checks, a rent moratorium (缓交), and student-loan forgiveness, everybody, particularly if they are young and have a low income, has more freedom to quit the jobs they hate and hope for something else.
1. Which is one of the reasons why lots of workers are quitting their jobs in the US?| A．They find their life meaningless. |
| B．They want to get more freedom. |
| C．They are afraid of picking up COVID-19. |
| D．Their living conditions are very terrible. |
| A．Workers quit their jobs more frequently in the 1980s than in the 1960s. |
| B．Workers working for 40 years were awarded a gold watch in the 19th century. |
| C．All the workers’ wages are rising sharply since the Great Recession in the US. |
| D．Workers’ quitting their jobs more often contributed to the economic growth in the 1970s. |
| A．Legend. | B．Fact. | C．Secret. | D．Experiment. |
| A．The golden age of American labor has gone. |
| B．Americans are leaving their jobs in groups. |
| C．Young workers are fighting for freedom. |
| D．America’s economy is getting worse due to COVID-19. |
【推荐2】Across the gardens of Britain, people are building sheds (工棚). People have gone crazy about sheds. The Timber Trade Federation reports that in October, the last month for which statistics were available, imports of softwood were 34% higher than a year earlier. With stocks (库存) running low, what wood is available is quickly sold out.
A garden shed used to be mostly a place to store tools, or a place to discuss how to grow flowers and enjoy tea and snacks while the rain falls outside, according to Michael Rand, an expert gardener. But the creative brain-worker has long put it to more productive use. Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas wrote in sheds. George Bernard Shaw had one in his Hertfordshire garden that faced the sun.
Besides growing flowers, the sheds now being built are also often intended for work. However, they are grander than the ones those pioneer shed-writers used. Green Retreats, which mostly builds garden offices, says that overall sales on building sheds grew by 113% between 2019 and 2020. Larger and fancier structures are especially popular.
This has an important impact on cities. Urban scholars like Richard Florida and Edward Glaeser are busy trying to work out whether the rise in home-working that has occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic will continue when the virus declines. If it does, many service jobs in cities, from waiters to taxi drivers, will disappear. Public transport systems will struggle. The value of city-centre housing will drop. The shed boom makes that outcome more likely.
A white-collar worker who has tried to work from the kitchen table for the past nine months might be keen to return to the office. A worker who has a beautiful garden shed with Wi-Fi will not hope so. Joel Bird, who builds personalized sheds, is certain that his customers expect a long-term change in their working habits. “They don’t consider home-working to be temporary,” he says. “They’re spending too much money on sheds.”
1. Why did Britain buy more softwood from other countries?| A．Softwood was cheaper this year. |
| B．Demands for sheds were on the rise. |
| C．Softwood suppliers were fewer than before. |
| D．Britons stored softwood like crazy due to COVID-19. |
| A．Previous shed-writers. | B．Various functions of sheds. |
| C．Improvements on shed-building. | D．The development of shed-offices. |
| A．The shed boom might threaten economy in cities. |
| B．Workers are eager to return to work in their offices. |
| C．More people prefer gardening in their beautiful sheds. |
| D．People’s working habits remain the same after COVID-19. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Optimistic. | C．Indifferent. | D．Pessimistic. |
【推荐3】Water equals life. This is true for people, animals and plants. And while water is plentiful in some locations, this is not the case all over the world. Now scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may have developed a way to change that.
The new desalination (脱盐) device produces water actually above the World Health Organization standards, just by pushing a button. There are no filters (过滤器) required, and the device uses electrical power to remove salt and other particles (微粒) — including bacteria and viruses — from the saltwater. This reduces the need for constant maintenance.
Most commercially available portable desalination units use filters that require high-pressure pumps to push the water, which makes them huge in size and less energy efficient. The filterless MIT device will allow it to be used in remote or resource-limited places like small islands, ships, and even for emergency use.
The device took years to develop. After running tests in the lab with water that had different salinity and particles, it was tested at Boston’s Carson Beach. The device produced drinkable water in just half an hour.
The new desalination unit needs less power than a cell phone charger, reported Fast Company, and works using two types of electrical fields to filter the saltwater. But best of all, it is designed to be used by average people and not engineers. In fact, the device only has three buttons, one to power the device, one to start it, and one to stop it.
The researchers are still working on a final design that could use cheaper materials to make it ready by the end of next year. This small but mighty desalination unit may be the key to bringing safe water to a thirsty world.
1. What’s the advantage of the new desalination device?| A．It’s convenient. | B．Ifs a lot cheaper. |
| C．It has improved filters. | D．It has a larger output. |
| A．By making comparisons. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By analyzing causes. | D．By listing figures. |
| A．It requires much less power. |
| B．It possesses two electrical fields. |
| C．It can be easily operated by ordinary people. |
| D．It is controlled by the same button. |
| A．Deeper research finds new contents of seawater |
| B．Better method improves the quality of drinking water |
| C．Report shows a world thirsty for safe drinking water |
| D．New portable device makes seawater drinkable on the way |
