新高级阅读前（双语）80（886）

PASSAGE EIGHTY

Flying car

1.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. 

2.The vehicle—named the Transition—has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. 

3.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. 

4.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.

5.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. 

6.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.

7.The car needs a runway. Inventors have been trying to make flying cars since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann, an airline industry expert. 

8.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. 

9.The Transition is now going through crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.

10.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. 

11.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.

第八十篇

飞行汽车

1.特拉弗吉亚公司周一表示，其新型飞行汽车已经完成了首次飞行，使该公司离明年销售飞行汽车的目标又近了一步。

2.这款名为“过渡”的汽车有两个座位、四个轮子和可以折叠起来的机翼，可以像汽车一样驾驶。

3.过渡上个月在1400英尺的高空飞行了8分钟，在公路上的时速可以达到70英里，在空中的时速可以达到115英里。

4.它使用一个23加仑的油箱飞行，在空中每小时燃烧5加仑。在地面上，它每加仑能跑35英里。

5.大约有100人已经支付了1万美元的订金，希望在过渡上市时买到这辆车。本周晚些时候，特拉弗吉亚公司在纽约车展上向公众推出过渡后，这一数字可能会上升。

6.但别指望它会出现在很多车道上。预计花费27.9万美元。如果你被堵在路上，这也没用。

7.这辆车需要一条跑道。据航空业专家罗伯特·曼恩介绍，自20世纪30年代以来，发明家们一直在尝试制造飞行汽车。

8.但曼恩认为，特拉弗吉亚公司比任何人都更接近于让飞行汽车成为现实。政府已经允许该公司使用特殊材料，使飞行器更容易飞行。

9.过渡现在正在进行碰撞测试，以确保它符合联邦安全标准。

10.曼恩说，特拉弗吉亚公司得益于美国联邦航空管理局五年前的决定，该决定为轻型运动飞机制定了一套单独的标准，比大型飞机飞行员的标准要低。

11.特拉弗吉亚公司说，车主需要通过测试并完成20小时的飞行时间才能驾驶过渡，飞行员会发现这一要求相对容易满足。