| A．1:00. | B．2:30. | C．4:20. |
1. Where does this conversation take place?
| A．At a store. | B．At an office. | C．At a hotel. |
| A．To buy grapes. | B．To book a room. | C．To discuss his trip. |
| A．By taxi. | B．By bus. | C．By subway. |
1. What can the woman see?
| A．A drink shop. | B．The traffic lights. | C．An advertisement. |
| A．At the bottom of North Street. |
| B．At the front door of a clothes store. |
| C．At the front door of a department store. |
| A．Call the police. | B．Have a drink in a cafe. | C．Go to meet the woman. |
| A．They arrive at different places. |
| B．They can’t agree on a place for shopping. |
| C．They don’t know where a department store is. |
5 . Remember solar roadways, where solar panels were embedded (嵌入) in roads? The idea of the solar roadway seems attractive because the solar resource is everywhere, and someday there will be a lot of electric cars that will need charging. But for me, the idea has little to recommend it. There is another kind of road — the railway — that might be a much better place for solar panels. And that’s what is happening in Germany, where the British company Bankset Energy is installing solar panels between the rails.
As estimated, 100 kilowatts of electricity can be generated per kilometer of railway line. Since the rail network in Germany is over 60,000 kilometers long, the power that can be generated is comparable to the output of five nuclear power plants in total.
But, why is putting solar panels is a railway better than a roadway? Trains generally stay on the rails, so there is no need to have solar panels designed to take any serious load. Although there is a serious amount of vibration, the panels wouldn’t shake apart. Railways usually own their rights of way and restrict access, so they have much better control. They also own the electrical infrastructure, which is right overhead and can directly use the electricity. German railways have been trying to justify hydrogen-powered trains because it was too expensive to electrify many of their lines. Turning their rail beds into power sources might change the economics.
On the other hand, rail rights of way are generally a lot wider than the tracks; it might make more sense to fix the panels next to the tracks, pointing in the right direction instead of lying flat. German Rail is already a huge consumer of solar power from more conventional installations.
1. What does the author think of solar roadways?| A．He thinks they are attractive. |
| B．He shows disapproval of them. |
| C．He believes they are underused. |
| D．He figures they are energy-saving. |
| A．The solar railway has won wide recognition. |
| B．Germany is leading the world in rail transportation. |
| C．Fixing solar panels on railways in better than on roadways. |
| D．The solar railway has great potential for generating electricity. |
| A．The length of the railway. |
| B．The lower installation costs. |
| C．The safety of the solar panels. |
| D．The wider use of the electricity. |
| A．German roadways start to go downhill. |
| B．Solar railways are coming down the line. |
| C．German railway are facing a great challenge. |
| D．Solar energy becomes a cost-competitive alternative. |
6 . Tracks Through Time: Four Stunning UK Train Journeys
The United Kingdom is rightly celebrated as the birthplace of the railway. And there’s no better way to see it than sitting by the window in a train.
Glasgow to Mallaig
Considered by some to be the most scenic railway line in the world, this line takes passengers from the bustling city of Glasgow through Scotland’s wild western highlands to the remote port of Mallaig. Immerse yourself in unforgettable scenery on this journey, and don’t forget to look out for Ben Nevis!
The Caledonian Sleeper
Passengers can enjoy falling asleep to the rhythm of the train on leaving London, then waking up to the serene beauty of the Highlands at dawn right outside your window. Take a trip back in time with all the modern amenities you could want with this iconic train journey!
The Cambrian Line
Wales, with its dramatic landscapes, historic sites and inspiring vistas, offers some magical train journeys to be found in the UK. And perhaps the jewel in the Welsh crown is the Cambrian Line, which weaves its way through Mid Wales to the coast. The route begins in Shrewsbury in England and is famed for its scenery.
The Settle-Carlisle Line
No article on iconic United Kingdom train journeys would be complete without this incredible train line. Opened in 1876, the 73-mile long route takes the traveller from Settle Junction in North Yorkshire to Carlisle in Cumbria. Threatened with closure in the 1980s, the line was saved thanks to the efforts of rail lovers, and passenger numbers have gone from strength to strength.
1. Which place should you go to if you want to visit a harbor?| A．Glasgow. | B．Mallaig. |
| C．Western highlands. | D．Ben Nevis. |
| A．Pick up some precious jewels. |
| B．Weave magic to enjoy the route. |
| C．Have a sound and comfortable sleep. |
| D．Appreciate fantastic views in Wales. |
| A．Glasgow to Mallaig. | B．The Caledonian Sleeper. |
| C．The Cambrian Line. | D．The Settle Carlisle Line. |
| A．By train. | B．By bus. | C．By plane. |
| A．$ 13.50. | B．$1.50. | C．$12.30. |
| A．15 minutes. | B．20 minutes. | C．5 minutes, |
10 . On average, cars sit, doing nothing, 96 percent of the time. That makes them ideal candidates for the sharing economy. The potential to reduce traffic jams is enormous. A handful of car-sharing systems are already having a major impact on the total number of vehicles in our cities. Scholars have estimated that every shared vehicle removes nine to 13 privately owned cars from the streets.
The benefits will grow greatly as autonomous vehicles, that is, self-driving cars, currently available in experimental forms, gain a notable portion of the market. “Your” car could give you a lift to work in the morning and then, rather than sitting in a parking lot, give a lift to someone else in your family—or to anyone else in your neighborhood or social media community.
As a result, a single vehicle could go from one to 24 hours of use a day. A recent paper by our colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report s that, under such conditions, the mobility demand of a city like Singapore could be met with only 30 percent of its existing vehicles. In addition to vehicle sharing, autonomy could open up a new wave of ride sharing. Already applications such as Via, uberPOOL and Lyft Line allow different people to share the same ride, cutting operating costs and individual fares. Autonomy could boost ride sharing even more because all trips could be managed online. In cities, the potential for ride sharing is significant, based on analyses by our Sense able City Lab at M. IT.
New York City, for example, is obviously shareable. Our lab’s HubCab project gathered data from 170 million taxi trips involving 13,500 taxis in the city—specifically, the GPS coordinates (协调) for all pickup and drop-off points and corresponding times between the two. We then developed a mathematical model to determine the potential effect of ride sharing applied to those journeys. The project introduced the concept quantitative results revealed how taxi sharing could reduce the number of cars by 40 percent with only rainimal delays for passengers.
Combine car sharing and ride sharing, and a city might get by with just 20 percent the number of cars now in use, with its residents traveling on-demand. Of course, such reductions are theoretical. In real life, they would depend on how willing people are to share rides and adopt self-driving technology. But any drop in the number of vehicles could lower the costs and energy associated with building and maintaining our mobility infrastructure (基础建设). Fewer cars might also mean shorter travel times, fewer traffic jams and a smaller environmental impact.
1. What does the author imply in the first paragraph?| A．Car-sharing is still in its infancy. |
| B．Cars aren’t made full use of at present. |
| C．Privately-owned cars have decreased by 13%. |
| D．There have been fewer traffic jams in big cities. |
| A．They can reduce the mobility demand of big cities. |
| B．They will account for a large portion of the market. |
| C．They can make it convenient for people to share the same ride. |
| D．They will raise people’s awareness of environmental protection. |
| A．how trip-sharing has helped the city |
| B．how ride-sharing can be put into practice |
| C．why people are worried about taxi sharing |
| D．why mathematical models matter in making a city shareable |
| A．We should share not only cars but also rides. |
| B．People have no confidence in self-driving technology. |
| C．The estimated reductions of cars on streets are theoretically groundless. |
| D．Our mobility infrastructure cannot support the development of autonomy. |
