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  3. If cars had wings, they could fly—and that just might happen, beginning next

If cars had wings, they could fly—and that just might happen, beginning next

游客2023-09-04  17
问题     If cars had wings, they could fly—and that just might happen, beginning next year. The company Terrafugia, says it plans to deliver its car-plane, the Transition, to customers by the end of 2011. It recently cleared a major hurdle when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted a special weight limit exemption to the Transition.
    " It’s the next ’ wow’ vehicle," said Terrafugia vice president Richard Gersh. " Anybody can buy a Ferrari,but as we say,Ferraris don’t fly. " The Transition is a long way from cartoon dad George Jetson’s flying car zooming (快速上升的) above traffic,or even the magical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. "There is no launch button on the (instrument) panel," Gersh noted. Rather,the car-plane has wings that unfold for flying—a process the company says takes one minute—and fold back up for driving. A runway is still required to takeoff and land.
    The Transition is being marketed more as a plane that drives than a car that flies, although it is both. The company has been working with FAA to meet aircraft regulations, and with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to meet vehicle safety regulations.
    The company is making the Transition to private pilots as a more convenient—and cheaper—way to fly. They say it eliminates the hassle (麻烦) trying to find another mode of transportation to get to and from airports: You drive the car to the airport and then you’re good to go. When you land, you fold up the wings and hit the road. There are no expensive hangar (飞机库) fees because you don’t have to store it at an airport—you park it in the garage at home. The plane is designed to fly primarily under 10,000 feet. It has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,430 pounds, including fuel and passengers.
    Terrafugia says the Transition reduces the potential for an accident by allowing pilots to drive under bad weather instead of flying into marginal conditions.
    The Transition’s price tag: $ 194,000. But there may be additional charges for options like a radio or GPS. Another option is a full-plane parachute.
    "If you get into a very terrible situation,it’s the ultimate safety option," Gersh said. So far,the company has more than 70 orders with deposits, he said. Terrafugia is Latin for " escape from the land. " The company was founded in 2006 by five Massachusetts Institute of Technology grad students who were also pilots. They received some seed money from the school.
    The concept of a car-plane has been around since at least the 1950s,but it’s possible that Terrafugia may become the first company to mass-produce one, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said, " We’re working very closely with them,but there are still some remaining steps. " [br] From Paragraph 4,we know the car-plane can______.
选项 A、help reduce parking charge
B、get rid of the flying height
C、reduce changing vehicles
D、endure more loads
答案 C
解析 事实细节题。由定位句及其下文可知，飞车省去了人们来回机场更换交通工具的麻烦，故C)“减少更换乘车工具”正确。A)“帮助人们减少停车费用”，原文只说到飞车的停车费用不是很昂贵，并没有说减少费用；B)“不受飞行高度的限制”，与原文中提到的“飞机的飞行高度主要是在10，000英尺以下”不相符，故排除；D)“承受更大载重”，与原文中提到的“飞机的最大载重量是1，430磅”不符，故排除。
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