The flying car has been talked about for many years, but now it appears to become a reality.
An international company has built a two-seater plane that, at the touch of a button, transforms into a car perfectly suitable for driving on public roads. It takes 15 seconds to switch between flying and driving. With its wings fully open and the propeller(螺旋桨) spinning, it can take off from any airfield.
Flying cars are quicker than traditional ones, and they can run on ordinary fuel. Another big advantage is that they are cool, like something you would see in an action film. At the moment, however, the flying car’s wheels are illegal to leave the ground. That is not because of technical reasons or problems with the design. It is because the various road and aircraft authorities simply cannot agree on whether it is a car or a plane.
Nevertheless the company hopes to produce and deliver its first flying car soon. The company already has orders for 40 of them. The majority potential customers are older and some are retired. There have even been orders from some people who have no pilot’s license.
The flying car will cost around $ 200,000. “For an airplane, that’s a very reasonable price, but for a car, it’s quite expensive,” explains Alan. “But it just is not possible to make a $ 10,000 flying car yet.”
This latest means of transport will not become a mass-market item in the near future, but in the long term it has the potential to change the way you travel. It will become no more expensive than driving your car on the motorway. Travel time could be reduced by more than half.
So the next time you are told to fasten your seat belt, it may be to prepare for take-off.
We know from the passage that the flying car .
| A．has to run on special fuel |
| B．will replace traditional planes |
| C．is popular with the rich |
| D．can shift between two forms |
The flying car is presently forbidden to take off because .
| A．many people think driving is not very safe |
| B．it’s hard to decide whether it’s a car or a plane |
| C．the government and the authorities accept it |
| D．there are still some technical problems to be solved |
According to the passage, we can learn .
| A．in the future few people will be able to afford a flying ear |
| B．owning two kinds of driving licenses is of great importance |
| C．because of the appearance of the flying car, traffic jams will disappear |
| D．flying cars may share the market in the future |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Your Car Is Ready for Take-off |
| B．Flying Car Will Be the Leading Means of Transportation |
| C．Affording a Flying Car Is a Necessity |
| D．The Advantages of Flying Cars |
Born in a fishing village in Japan, Fujiyama, 25, recalls a childhood dominated by health concerns. Doctors told his parents that he had a hole in his heart and “they didn’t think I had a lot longer to live”. But during a later visit to the doctor, his family learned the hole had closed. “Somehow I was cured and I became a normal kid,” Fujiyama says. “And I had a second chance.”
During his second year at the University of Mary Washington, he volunteered in Honduras with a campus group and was struck by the extreme poverty he saw—barefoot children collecting cans and sleeping in the streets. Fujiyama realized he could help give other children their own second chance.
Today, his organization, Students Helping Honduras, brings education and community projects to children and families in need.
He started by telling his friends about his experience and collecting spare change at his two campus jobs. “When I had my very first meeting, only two people showed up,” he says. “I knew I had to keep fighting.” He persuaded his younger sister, Cosmo, to join the cause. “She’s dynamite,.” He says. “When she talks in front of a crowd, she can move mountains. Knowing that she was behind it, I knew I could do anything.” Since 2006, the siblings’ organization has grown to 25 campuses and raised more than $750,000 to fund projects, including the construction of two schools and the establishment of scholarships to help young women attend college.
Fujiyama says students are deeply committed to the organization. They raise money and then travel to Honduras to help building houses. While Fujiyama spends his summers in Honduras working alongside volunteers, he spends a large portion of the year on the road visiting colleges to raise funds. Cosmo Fujiyama, 23, lives in Honduras full time to coordinate（协调）the group’s building efforts on the ground.
Students Helping Honduras is working with community members of Siete de Abril to build a new village. Many of the families lost their belongings in Hurricane Mitch in 1998. A lot of them didn’t have access to clean water or health care, and they didn’t have a school. Fujiyama’s group helped build 44 homes in the village named “Sunshine Village”. The organization is also raising funds to build a water tower, an eco-friendly sanitation system and a library. At the beginning of his organization, ________.
| A．Fujiyama was supported by many friends | B．things didn’t go on smoothly |
| C．Fujiyama had little idea of Honduras | D．many famous people joined in |
We can infer that Fujiyama is a _______ man.
| A．diligent | B．mean | C．sympathetic | D．cheerful |
The underlined word “siblings’ ” can be replaced by __________.
| A．brothers’ | B．brother and sister’s | C．friends’ | D．couple’s |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．Help the people in need |
| B．Students lend a hand in America |
| C．Fujiyama helps build “Sunshine Village” |
| D．Fujiyama gives poor people in Honduras a second chance |
Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question. The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.
Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of head-scratching puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want.
But the sources of distrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world through a set of standard patterns into which they plug each day’s events. In other words, there is a conventional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news.
There exists a social and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers, which helps explain why the "standard patterns" of the newsroom seem alien to many readers. In a recent survey, questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle-size cities around the country, plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these communities were phoned at random and asked the same questions.
Replies show that compared with other Americans, journalists are more likely to live in upscale neighborhoods, have maids, own Mercedes, and trade stocks, and they’re less likely to go to church, do volunteer work, or put down roots in a community.
Reporters tend to be part of a broadly defined social and cultural elite, so their work tends to reflect the conventional values of this elite. The surprising distrust of the news media isn’t rooted in inaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily clash of world views between reporters and their readers.
This is an explosive situation for any industry, particularly a declining one. Here is a troubled business that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the customers. Then it sponsors lots of symposiums and a credibility project dedicated to wondering why customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers. But it never seems to get around to noticing the cultural and class biases that so many former buyers are complaining about. If it did, it would open up its diversity program, now focused narrowly on race and gender, and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook, values, education, and class.What is the passage mainly about?
| A．needs of the readers all over the world |
| B．causes of the public disappointment about newspapers |
| C．origins of the declining newspaper industry |
| D．aims of a journalism credibility project |
The results of the journalism credibility project turned out to be______.
| A．quite trustworthy | B．somewhat contradictory |
| C．very instructive | D．rather superficial(肤浅的) |
The basic problem of journalists as pointed out by the writer lies in their _________.
| A．working attitude | B．conventional lifestyle |
| C．world outlook | D．educational background |
Jonathan James looks like just another kid about to graduate from high school. But this 19-year-old Swede is anything but ordinary, from the computer in his parents’ home he helps the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) find out the world’s most wanted cyber criminals .
Jonathan first made headlines when he and another Swede, Fredrik Bjoerck, found out the maker of the “Melissa” virus in March 1999. He came to the aid of the FBI again on May 7, finding out the suspected sender of the dangerous “I LOVE YOU” virus. The suspect was caught in Manila on May 8.
Jonathan’s special skills are in hot demand as officials around the world express alarm at the “virtual” crimewave. In between studying for final exams, hanging out with friends and refereeing his younger brother’s football matches, the quiet, gentle teenager also gives lessons on e-security (电子安全) to large companies. He reads a lot and exchanges information with other computer experts to know much about the latest tricks of the hacker trade.
Many companies have already tried to employ him, but he is not interested at the moment. Instead, he plans to begin law school in the autumn at Sweden’s Uppsala University and start up his own e-security company.
Although he works with the FBI now, his family insists he’s just “a regular kid”. “Jonathan is a great kid, he has his friends and he does a lot more than just play with the computer,” his little sister Tessa said, adding that he helps the FBI because “he likes to help”, not because he’s looking for fame and recognition.
When the world was hit by the “Love Bug” virus, Jonathan was too busy preparing a speech on e-security to look into the problem. “Finally on May 7, I had some free time, so I began looking.” Within a few hours, he had found the suspect and e-mailed his method and results to the FBI. He said his work on the “Melissa” virus, which took three weeks to solve, was a big help in finding the suspect so quickly.
“This time I knew exactly where to start, I knew what to disregard and what to look at.”The passage mainly wants to tell us that ___________.
| A．Swedish kid helps FBI find out the most wanted cyber criminals |
| B．Jonathan is really a quiet, gentle and ordinary boy |
| C．many companies want the young computer expert to join in |
| D．any cyber criminals will surely be found out wherever they are |
The public started to know something about Jonathan just from _________.
| A．his helping the US FBI to find out the sender of the dangerous “I LOVE YOU” virus |
| B．his work together with Fredrik Bjoerck to find out the maker of the “Melissa” virus |
| C．his little sister’s talk about his good qualities as a regular kid and a good programmer |
| D．his speech on e-security to many computer companies after his fight against hackers |
From Jonathan’s success in finding out the sender of the dangerous ‘Love Bug” virus we can infer that _________.
| A．where there’s a will, there’s a way | B．experience is knowledge |
| C．hard work leads to success | D．failure is the mother of success |
What do we know about Jonathan?
| A．He is a good fame hunter with various abilities. |
| B．He is such a brave fighter that any criminal will feel afraid. |
| C．He is an expert on security, not interested in running a company. |
| D．He is a regular kid but does something unusual. |
BEUING (Associated Press 美联社) —China has a growing middle class, a tradition of expecting education and 21 million new babies every year. Selling educational toys should be easy.
While China may be the world’s biggest toymaker, many of the best are exported . Department stores here do not have enough high quality toys. It is said that the demand for educational toys is low.
A US company, BabyCare, is trying to change that with a new way to sell toys in China.
BabyCare works basically together with doctors in Beijing hospitals. People who join the company’s "mother club"can get lectures and newsletters on baby and child development at no extra cost, if they agree to spend 18 dollars a month on the company’s educational toys and childcare books.
"We want to build a sevenyear relationship with those people," said Matthew J. Estes, BabyCare’s president. "It starts during pregnancy , when the anxiety and needs are highest." BabyCare works on a onetoone basis. Doctors, nurses, and teachers paid by BabyCare advise parents, explain toys that are designed for children at each stage of development to age six.
BabyCare opened its first store in China last June in a shopping center in central Beijing and another near Beijing Zoo. It plans to have 80 stores in China within six years.
It is a new model for China and develops a market in young children’s education and health that no other companies are in.What do the first two paragraphs mainly tell us?
| A．Educational toys and foreign toy markets. |
| B．Problems with China’s toy market and education. |
| C．Reasons for pushing sales of educational toys in China. |
| D．Baby population and various kinds of toys made in China. |
Which of the following is a fact according to the passage?
| A．Club members buy BabyCare products for free childcare advice. |
| B．Doctors in Beijing help in making BabyCare products. |
| C．Parents are encouraged to pay $ 18 for club activities. |
| D．BabyCare trains Chinese doctors at no extra cost. |
BabyCare is developing its business in China by.
| A．opening stores in Beijing hospitals |
| B．offering 18month courses on childcare |
| C．setting up children’s education centers |
| D．forming close relationships with parents |
Which of the following would be the most suitable title for the passage?
| A．Mother’s Club in China. | B．BabyCare and Doctors. |
| C．American Company Model. | D．Educational Toys in China |
A woman renewing her driver’s license at the County Clerk’s office was asked to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
“What I mean is,” explained the recorder, “do you have a job, or are you just a …”
“Of course I have a job,” said Emily. “I’m a mother.”
“We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation…‘housewife’ covers it,” said the recorder.
One day I found myself in the same situation. The clerk was obviously a career woman, confident and possessed of a high sounding title. “What is your occupation?” she asked.
The words simply popped out. “I’m a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”
The clerk paused, ballpoint pen frozen in midair.
I repeated the title slowly, then I stared with wonder as my statement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.
“Might I ask,” said the clerk with new interest, “Just what you do in this field?”
Coolly, without any trace of panic in my voice, I heard myself reply, “I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn’t), in the lab and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most careers and rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.”There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice as she completed the form, stood up, and showed me out.
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up (鼓舞) by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants---ages 13, 7, and 3.
Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6 month old baby), in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal（嗓音的） pattern.
I felt proud! I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable (不可缺少的) to mankind than “just another mother.”
Motherhood…What a glorious career! Especially when there’s a title on the door. What can we infer from the conversation between the woman and the recorder at the beginning of the passage?
| A．Motherhood was not recognized and respected as a job by society. |
| B．The recorder was impatient and rude. |
| C．The author was upset about the situation that mothers faced. |
| D．The woman felt ashamed to admit what her job was. |
How did the female clerk feel at first when the author told her occupation?
| A．curious | B．indifferent | C．interested | D．puzzled |
Why did the woman clerk show more respect for the author?
| A．Because the author cared little about rewards. |
| B．Because she admired the author’s research work in the lab. |
| C．Because the writer did something she had little knowledge of. |
| D．Because she thought the author did admirable work. |
What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?
| A．To show how you describe your job affects your feelings toward it. |
| B．To show that the author had a grander job than Emily. |
| C．To argue that motherhood is a worthy career and deserves respect. |
| D．To show that being a mother is hard and boring work. |