1 . A 420-meter white steel tube running alongside a railway line in the northern Netherlands could be the start of a new kind of transportation for people and goods. The tube from Hyperloop Center is the heart of the new transport technology that opened recently in Veendam. Developers from Hyperloop Center will be testing the changing technology there over the coming years.
Hyperloop technology was once supported by business leader Elon Musk. Its supporters say it is far faster than short flights, high-speed rail, and trucks. When Musk first presented the idea, he said it could transport people the nearly 645 kilometers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes. But since then, progress has been slow to get from an idea to the real world.
Sascha Lamme is the center’s director. He expects to have the first Hyperloop route by 2030. He said, “There are already preparations being done for such routes in for example Italy or India.”
Robert Noland is a professor at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He told The Associated Press that policy makers go after big ideas of the future but they should invest in simpler transportation structures. He added, “It costs too much to build.” But Lamme noted that they have not added all of the ways they can reduce costs over the next ten years.
The test center’s tube is made up of 34 separate sections mostly 2 and a half meters wide. A piece of equipment next to the tube removes air in the tube to reduce the pressure inside the tube. That reduces air resistance and permits capsules to travel at such high speeds. A capsule built by Dutch hyperloop company Hardt Hyperloop will be tested next month. It receives financial support from private investments, local and national governments, and the European Commission.
While testing continues in Veendam, hyperloop developers hope that routes for their technology will be coming. Lamme stated that getting government authorization (授权) for building routes is their main hardship they encountered. And he said finding new financial support to test and show the technology is what is needed to make this happen.
1. What does Hyperloop Center aim to do?| A．Build a 420-meter white steel tube. | B．Develop a new transport technology. |
| C．Ask for donations from the local company. | D．Meet the challenges of the new technology. |
| A．It’s more eco-friendly. | B．It’s cheaper. |
| C．It’s more efficient. | D．It’s much safer. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Indifferent. | C．Approving. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Finding some new financial supports. | B．Gaining the government’s approval. |
| C．Travelling at a very high speed. | D．Running along a railway line. |
2 . How to charge an electric vehicle (EV) is one of the biggest concerns people have when working out whether going electric is right for them.
It is true that sometimes gaining access to reliable charging can seem a bit tricky.
First, download an app with a comprehensive map of the public charging points showing their locations, how powerful they are, and whether they’re working. All this is vital information because, even if you have public charging points nearby, you will need alternatives in case they’re in use.
A growing number of property owners are renting out their charging points and drive ways to other local EV drivers when they’re not using them.
For now, if charging access remains difficult for you, it’s still possible to go electric-in part.
| A．But it may be easier than you think. |
| B．It actually worked out much cheaper. |
| C．There are also other innovative ways to get your EV going. |
| D．A plug-in EV combines a petrol engine with a smaller battery. |
| E．A “fast” charger usually takes eight hours to fully charge an EV. |
| F．So you need to get a good feel for where your nearest points are. |
| G．You can find a map of homeowners whose charging points are available. |
1. What is the man doing?
| A．Conducting a survey. | B．Asking for directions. | C．Planning a trip. |
| A．Its space. | B．Its Internet. | C．Its speed. |
| A．It was too crowded. | B．It broke down halfway. | C．It ran behind schedule. |
| A．The information display facilities. |
| B．Bigger boards for train times. |
| C．More seats on the platforms. |
| A．lanes B．charged C．dramatically D．mostly E．estimated F．powered G．connectivity H．boundary I．dependent J．advocates K．invasion |
E-Scooters
Over the past two years, electric scooters have become ever-present in many of Europe and America’s biggest cities. Britain is the last major western European country to hold out against the
As with a dockless (无桩) bike, scooters are fitted with GPS trackers and wireless
E-Scooters have the potential to solve some of the worlds biggest transport problems. Most cities are already dangerously polluted and heavily congested, and it is simply not an option to put more cars and taxis on the streets. Scooters are efficient; one kilowatt hour of energy carries a car
Scooters are clean, cheap, and they require little new infrastructure. For a country like car-
5 . The longest rail link in the world and the first direct link between China and Spain is running after a train from Yiwu completed its journey of 8, 111 miles to Madrid. On the way, it passed through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and France before arriving in Madrid. The railway has been considered as the “21st-century Silk Road” by Li Qiang, the governor of Zhejiang province, where Yiwu is located.
The first train was met by the mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella, and Spain’s minister of public works, Ana Pastor. It consisted of 30 containers carrying 1,100 tonnes of cargo —— mostly toys stationery (文具) and other goods for sale over Christmas across Europe. According to China’s ambassador to Spain, Zhu Banzao, it will return filled with wine, jamon and olive oil in time for the Chinese new year in February.
China is Spain’s biggest trading partner after the EU and it is also Spain’s third largest source of imports (进口产品), after Germany and France. About half of these imports are made up of mobile phones and clothing. The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, was in China in September, where he signed deals reported to be worth more than ￡6.3 billion.
A major advantage of the rail route is speed. The train took just three weeks to complete a Journey that takes up to six weeks by sea. It is also more environmentally friendly than road transport, which would produce 1l4 tonnes of CO2 compared with the 44 tonnes produced by the train —— a 62% reduction.
1. What is the main purpose of running the direct train link?| A．To exchange goods. |
| B．To celebrate festivals. |
| C．To improve environment. |
| D．To make sure of the safety of transport. |
| A．Green and fast. | B．Quick and expensive. |
| C．Changeable and productive. | D．Comfortable and fashionable. |
| A．News. | B．Environment. |
| C．Lifestyle. | D．Culture. |
1. Why was Jim unable to find Susan’s home
| A．He hadn’t been told how to get there. |
| B．He forgot to bring the map Susan gave him. |
| C．He just spent thirteen minutes searching for her house. |
| A．Come and get him. | B．Give him a new map. | C．Tell him the direction again. |
| A．On foot. | B．By bike. | C．By bus. |
7 . Researchers have proposed a novel method for counting and tracking vehicles on public roads, a development that could improve current traffic systems and help travelers get to their destinations faster.
Using the cameras already installed on campus buses at the Ohio State University, researchers proved that they could automatically and accurately measure counts of vehicles on urban roadways, detect objects in the road and distinguish parked vehicles from those that are moving.
In previous studies, Ohio State researchers found that using these mobile cameras provides much better spatial and temporal (时间的) coverage than relying on often temporarily placed sensors that don’t provide a view of many streets and roads in a city.
“If we collect and process more high-resolution (高清) spatial information about what’s happening on the roads, then planners could better understand changes in demand, effectively improving efficiency in the broader transportation system,” said Keith Redmill, lead author of the study.
“If we can measure traffic in a way that is as good or better than what is conventionally done with fixed sensors, then we will have created something incredibly useful extremely cheaply,” he said. “Our goal is to start building a system that could do this without much manual intervention because if you want to collect this information over lots of potential vehicles and lots of time, it’s worth fully automating that process.”
While still a long way from total implementation (实施), the study suggests the system’s results bear promise for the future of intelligent traffic surveillance. Transportation planners, engineers and operators make vital decisions about the future of our roadways, so when designing transportation systems to work over the next 30 to 50 years, it’s necessary that we give them data that allows them to improve the efficiency of the system and the level of service provided to travelers.
1. How can cameras on buses benefit travelers?| A．By shortening their travel time. |
| B．By making their schedules tight. |
| C．By decreasing their transport cost. |
| D．By improving their safety awareness. |
| A．They provide more spatial coverage. |
| B．They can’t detect objects on the road. |
| C．They cover less view of the urban traffic. |
| D．They accurately record the flow of traffic. |
| A．Operation. | B．Monitoring. | C．Protection. | D．Arrangement. |
| A．Transportation automation is on its way |
| B．It is time to improve the efficiency of traffic system |
| C．Transportation planners use cameras to make policies |
| D．Cameras installed on buses can better measure traffic |
The sheepskin raft (羊皮筏), the oldest means of transportation along the Yellow River, has
It is said that the largest sheepskin raft in old times
In the early 20th century, before the 1950s,
However, with the rapid development of society, the sheepskin raft has
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is road testing a new way to keep winter roads ice-free by spreading on them cheese brine, the salty liquid
Wisconsin, also called “America’s Dairyland”, is famous for its cheese. The state produced 2.8 billion pounds of cheese last year! As a result, there
Cheese brine has salt in it,
In addition to saving money, cheese brine could also be a more eco-friendly option. Many people suspect that all the rock salt used every winter
The sheepskin raft (羊皮筏), the oldest ferry tool along the Yellow River in Northwest China, boasts a history of nearly 2,000 years. The airbag of the raft is made of a whole sheepskin and undergoes many processes including heating
It is said that the largest sheepskin raft in old times
In the early 20th century, before the1950s,
However, with the rapid development of society, the sheepskin raft has
