Terrafugia Inc. said Monday that its new flying car has completed its first flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of selling the flying car within the next year. The vehicle —named the Transition – has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. The Transition, which flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes last month, can reach around 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 in the air. It flies using a 23-gallon tank of gas and burns 5 gallons per hour in the air. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon.
Around 100 people have already put down a $10,000 deposit to get a Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will likely rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition to the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. But don’t expect it to show up in too many driveways. It’s expected to cost $279,000.And it won’t help if you’re stuck in traffic. The car needs a runway.
Inventors have been trying to make flying cars since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann, an airline industry expert. But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality. The government has already permitted the company to use special materials to make it easier for the vehicle to fly. The Transition is now going through crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.
Mann said Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft, which are lower than those for pilots of larger planes. Terrafugia says an owner would need to pass a test and complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the Transition, a requirement pilots would find relatively easy to meet.
1.What is the first paragraph mainly about?
A.The basic data of the Transition.
B.The advantages of flying cars.
C.The potential market for flying cars.
D.The designers of the Transition.
2.Why is the Transition unlikely to show up in too many driveways?
A.It causers traffic jams.
B.It is difficult to operate.
C.It is very expensive.
D.It burns too much fuel.
3.What is the government’s attitude to the development of the flying car?
A.Cautious B.Favorable.
C.Ambiguous. D.Disapproving.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.Flying Car at Auto Show
B.The Transition’s First Flight
C.Pilots’ Dream Coming True
D.Flying Car Closer to Reality
How is it that siblings (兄弟姐妹) can turn out so differently? One answer is that in fact each sibling grows up in a different family. The firstborn is, for a while, an only child, and therefore has a completely different experience of the parents than those born later. The next child is, for a while, the youngest, until the situation is changed by a new arrival. The mother and father themselves are changing and growing up too. One sibling might live in a stable and close family in the first few years; another might be raised in a family crisis, with a disappointed mother or an angry father.
Sibling competition was identified as an important shaping force as early as in 1918. But more recently, researchers have found many ways in which brothers and sisters are a lasting force in each others’ lives. Dr. Annette Henderson says firstborn children pick up vocabulary more quickly than their siblings. The reason for this might be that the later children aren’t getting the same one-on-one time with parents. But that doesn’t mean that the younger children have problems with language development. Later-borns don’t enjoy that much talking time with parents, but instead they harvest lessons from bigger brothers and sisters, learning entire phrases and getting an understanding of social concepts such as the difference between “I” and “me”.
A Cambridge University study of 140 children found that siblings created a rich world of play that helped them grow socially. Love-hate relationships were common among the children. Even those siblings who fought the most had just as much positive communication as the other sibling pairs.
One way children seek more attention from parents is by making themselves different from their siblings, particularly if they are close in age. Researchers have found that the first two children in a family are typically more different from each other than the second and third. Girls with brothers show their differences to a maximum degree by being more feminine than girls with sisters. A 2003 research paper studied adolescents from 185 families over two years, finding that those who changed to make themselves different from their siblings were successful in increasing the amount of warmth they gained from their parents.
1.In terms of language development, later-borns ________.
A.get their parents’ individual guidance B.learn a lot from their elder siblings
C.experience a lot of difficulties D.pick up words more quickly
2.What was found about fights among siblings?
A.Siblings hated fighting and loved playing. B.Siblings in some families fought frequently.
C.Sibling fights led to bad sibling relationships. D.Siblings learned to get on together from fights.
3.The word “feminine” (in Para. 4) means “_______”.
A.having qualities of parents B.having qualities of women
C.having defensive qualities D.having extraordinary qualities
Cities usually have a good reason for being where they are, like a nearby port or river. People settle in these places because they are easy to get to and naturally suited to communications and trade. New York City, for example, is near a large harbour at the mouth of the Hudson River. Over 300 years its population grew gradually from 800 people to 8 million. But not all cities develop slowly over a long period of time. Boom towns grow from nothing almost overnight. In 1896, Dawson, Canada, was unmapped wilderness(荒野). But gold was discovered there in 1897, and two years later, it was one of the largest cities in the West, with a population of 30,000.
Dawson did not have any of the natural conveniences of cities like London or Paris. People went there for gold. They travelled over snow-covered mountains and sailed hundreds of miles up icy rivers. The path to Dawson was covered with thirty feet of wet snow that could fall without warming. An avalanche(雪崩) once closed the path, killing 63 people. For many who made it to Dawson, however, the rewards were worth the difficult trip. Of the first 20,000 people who dug for gold, 4,000 got rich. About 100 of these stayed rich men for the rest of their lives.
But no matter how rich they were, Dawson was never comfortable. Necessities like food and wood were very expensive. But soon, the gold that Dawson depended on had all been found. The city was crowded with disappointed people with no interest in settling down, and when they heard there were new gold discoveries in Alaska, they left Dawson City as quickly as they had come. Today, people still come and go — to see where the Canadian gold rush happened. Tourism is now the chief industry of Dawson City — its present population is 762.
1.What attracted the early settlers to New York City?
A.Its business culture.
B.Its small population.
C.Its geographical position.
D.Its favourable climate.
2.What do we know about those who first dug for gold in Dawson?
A.Two-thirds of them stayed there.
B.One out of five people got rich.
C.Almost everyone gave up.
D.Half of them died.
3.What was the main reason for many people to leave Dawson?
A.They found the city too crowded.
B.They wanted to try their luck elsewhere.
C.They were unable to stand the winter.
D.They were short of food.
4.What is the text mainly about?
A.The rise and fall of a city.
B.The gold rush in Canada.
C.Journeys into the wilderness.
D.Tourism in Dawson.
If you’d like to go sightseeing, the following World Heritage Sites may be your best choices.
Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic and Historic Interest Area
The Jiuzhaigou Valley, which lies in the northern part of Sichuan Province, reaches a height of more than 4,800 meters, with a series of different forest ecosystems. There you can enjoy watching excellent waterfalls. Some 140 kinds of birds also live in the valley, as well as a number of endangered plants and animals, the giant panda included.
For more information, please visit http://whc.unesco.org//en/list/637.
Khami Ruins National Monument
The city of Khami, which developed after the capital of Great Zimbabwe had been given up in the mid-16th century, is of great archaeological interest. The discovery of objects from Europe and China shows that Khami was a major centre for trade over a long period of time.
For more information, please visit http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/365.
Henderson Island
Henderson Island, which lies in the eastern South Pacific, is one of the few atolls(环礁) in the world whose ecology has not been touched by human beings. It is especially famous for the ten plants and four land birds that can only be seen on the island.
For more information, please visit http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/487.
The Old City of Jerusalem
As a holy city for three different religions in the Middle East, Jerusalem has always been of great religious importance. It was given a World Heritage Status in 1981 and placed on the “List of World Heritage in Danger” the following year.
For more information, please visit http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/148.
1.What can we know about the Jiuzhaigou Valley?
A.It has different forest ecosystems.
B.It sits at the foot of a 4,800-meter high mountain.
C.In all about 140 kinds of birds and animals live there.
D.Most of China’s endangered plants can be found there.
2.The discovery of some of the objects in Khami shows that the city _______ .
A.had a very short history B.was ruined in the mid-16th century
C.was once Great Zimbabwe’s largest city D.once played a great role as a trade center
3.What can be learned about Henderson Island from the passage?
A.It hasn’t been greatly influenced by human activities. B.It isn’t suitable for humans to live on.
C.It has been open to visitors for years. D.It is made up of a few large atolls.
4.Where will the passage appear?
A.A tourist guide. B.A newspaper advertisement.
C.The leaflet of a tourism agent. D.A web page.
假设你是李华，你在美国夏令营认识的朋友Mike给你来信说他最近沉迷于电脑（Internet addiction）难以控制。请你给他回一封信，告诉他网瘾可能会导致成绩下降、健康状况恶化、与家人产生矛盾等问题，并提出一些建议。
注意: 1. 词数100左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Mike,
I am glad to hear from you._________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
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Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除和修改
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1、每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2、只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
To a high school student like me, time is much important than money. Every day I have a lot of homework to do and textbook to read, because I must use my time wisely. When studying, I try hard to concentrate on my studies. Beside, I can manage to keep up with my classmates and make up for losing time. I believe that when I look back on high school life, it would not be a bitter memory. In the same time, I want to share with you a wise saying, “Don’t put it off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Know how to spend one’s time will influence one’s future.
