1 . Uber and Hyundai have joined forces to develop a flying taxi to be used for the ride-sharing company, and you could order one within three years. The two companies showed a model of the futuristic electric air taxi at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate, said, “We’ve been making satisfactory progress towards a goal of launching Uber Air ride-sharing program by 2023.”

The self-flying electric taxi is designed to carry up to four passengers with a pilot and fly on trips of up to 60 miles. It will be 100% electric, and during the busiest hours will need around five to seven minutes to recharge, according to Hyundai. And while the air taxi will be controlled by a pilot at the beginning, Hyundai believes that in the near future, it could be autonomous.

Hyundai will produce and deploy the air taxis, while Uber will provide airspace support services, connections to ground transport, and the computer system for customers. Mr. Allison added, “We believe Hyundai has the possibility to build Uber Air flying taxis at a great speed unseen in the aerospace industry of the present time, producing high-quality carriers at high volumes to drive down passenger costs per trip.”

According to Uber, the air taxis will first be launched in three cities — Los Angeles, Dallas, and Melbourne. Once the taxis are up and running, they could help to stop the pain of sitting in a long line of cars on a road that cannot move.

Jaiwon Shin, Head of Urban Air Mobility Division at Hyundai Motor Company, added, “We are in a completely new period of time in which the skies above our cities will be opened. Urban Air Mobility will set people free from heavy traffic, so that they can spend more time on activities they care about and enjoy.”

1. What do we know about the air taxi?

A．It will have room for four people.	B．It is expected to be used around 2023.
C．It can fly automatically when launched.	D．It will take several minutes to be fully charged.

2. What can we learn from the text?

A．Hyundai will volume-produce the air taxis.	B．Uber will help Hyundai deploy the air taxis.
C．The air taxis will be popular among the rich.	D．The air taxis will be used in the aerospace industry.

3. What is Jaiwon Shin mainly talking about?

A．The service of Urban Air Mobility.	B．The growth of Urban Air Mobility.
C．The purpose of Urban Air Mobility.	D．The success of Urban Air Mobility.

4. In which part of a newspaper may the text appear?

A．Education.

B．Health.

C．Technology.

D．Business.

2 . Traffic jams are the horrible dreams of motorists’ lives. If you think your journey is bad, spare a thought for drivers in Sao Paolo, Brazil — one evening in May last year, the traffic jams during the rush hour added up to a 344km queue, according to the city's traffic management agency.

This isn't a new problem, of course. During the car boom of the 1960s, city planners had one seemingly obvious solution: build more and wider roads. But the more roads created, the more cars they attracted. So what's the solution? Some cities have adopted easy methods, like banning cars from driving on certain days.

However, ending this horrible dream may need more of a complete rethink. A company, Urban Engines, has a slightly fresher method. "We're providing an online game that offers trip suggestions and prizes to encourage commuter behaviour changes, including changing travel from peak to off-peak times,“ says Shiva Shivakumar, Urban Engines' co-founder and GEO. For the past two-and-a-half years, the company has conducted pilot studies in major cities, including Bangalore and Singapore. In Bangalore, one-in-six people who took part in the trial started travelling off-peak, and in Singapore one-in-eight.

But others think this solution doesn't go far enough—and that we should provide more reasons for putting fewer cars on the road. “The only effective long-term solution is to improve alternative methods—walking, cycling and particularly high-quality public transport,” says Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute in Canada. Road pricing that charges motorists extra if they drive during the rush hour could also be an option. Cities like Singapore, London and Stockholm have successfully used road pricing to control the steel river.

The solution to beating traffic jams in cities, if it comes, will probably take a long time to gain prizes. But if at least some of these new ideas are a success, the days of Sao Paolo's heavy traffic jams may finally become history.

1. What can we learn about the method of building wider roads?

A．It results in the car boom.	B．It is far from satisfactory.
C．It needs to be further tested.	D．It is unlikely to be widely used.

2. What does Urban Engines do to deal with traffic jams?

A．It charges commuters for travelling at peak times.

B．It changes its working time to avoid peak times.

C．It bans commuters from driving on certain days.

D．It offers prizes to those travelling at off-peak times.

3. What does the underlined part “the steel river” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．The traffic flow.	B．The traffic light.
C．The public transport.	D．The crowd of people.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．How Do Traffic Jams Form	B．Can We Ever End Traffic Jams
C．Do Traffic Jams Affect Our Life	D．Where Is the Most Jammed City