2018考研英语双语阅读：迪拜首次测试“飞行出租车”

　　2018考研复习进行时，考研英语阅读真题中的文章，多摘自英美主流外刊，有时候你认识所有单词、搞清全部语法还不够，还需要了解英美文化，掌握他们的表达方式，这就是阅读的潜台词。下面新东方在线考研整理《2018考研英语双语阅读精选》，速来学习吧！

　　Dubai starts tests in bid to become first city with flying taxis

　　迪拜首次测试“飞行出租车”，“打飞的”即将成为日常!

　　DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai staged a test flight on Monday for what it said would soon be the world’s first drone taxi service under an ambitious plan by the United Arab Emirates city to lead the Arab world in innovation.

　　迪拜(路透社电)——星期一，迪拜举行了一场试飞，据称将很快成为世界上首个提供无人驾驶出租车的服务，这正是这个阿联酋城市一项雄心勃勃的计划，它将引领阿拉伯世界的创新。

　　The flying taxi developed by German drone firm Volocopter resembles a small, two-seater helicopter cabin topped by a wide hoop studded with 18 propellers.

　　德国无人机制造商Volocopter开发的这款飞行出租车，类似于一个小型的双座直升机机舱，它的顶部有一个宽环，上面有18个螺旋桨。

　　It was unmanned for its maiden test run in a ceremony arranged for Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.

　　在为迪拜王储Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed举行的仪式上，这个无人驾驶车进行了其首次测试飞行。

　　Meant to fly without remote control guidance and with a maximum flight duration of 30 minutes, it comes with plenty of fail-safes in case of trouble: back-up batteries, rotors and, for a worst case scenario, a couple of parachutes.

　　此次飞行没有遥控制导，时间最长为30分钟，万一遇到故障，它还会有大量的故障保护措施，如备用电池、旋翼，在最坏的情况下，它还备有几个降落伞。

　　Volocopter is in a race with more than a dozen well-funded European and U.S. firms, each with its own science fiction-inspired vision for creating a new form of urban transport that is a cross between a driverless electric car and a short-haul, vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft.

　　制造商Volocopter目前的竞争对手包括十多家资金雄厚的欧洲和美国公司，他们每家公司都有自己的科学幻想，那就是创造一种新型的城市交通工具。这种交通工具将介于无人驾驶电动汽车和短途、垂直起降飞机之间。

　　These include aerospace giant Airbus, which aims to put a self-piloting taxi in the air by 2020; Kitty Hawk, a company backed by Google co-founder Larry Page; and Uber, which is working with partners on its own flying taxi strategy.

　　这包括航空巨头Airbus公司，其目标就是，到2020年将一辆自动驾驶的出租车升到空中;其他还包括由谷歌联合创始人Larry Page支持的“Kitty Hawk(小鹰)”公司，以及Uber，正在与合作伙伴合作计划开发自己的飞行出租车。

　　"Implementation would see you using your smartphone, having an app, and ordering a Volocopter to the next voloport near you. The volocopter would come and autonomously pick you up and take you to your destination," CEO Florian Reuter said.

　　Volocopter首席执行官Florian Reuter说，“用户可以用智能手机上的App，就近预约一个Volocopter来接你。它会自动来接你，并把你带到目的地。”

　　"It already is capable of flying based on GPS tracks today, and we will implement full sense capability, also dealing with unknown obstacles on the way," he added, saying developers aimed to initiate the taxis within five years.

　　“当前，它已经能够基于GPS轨迹飞行，我们将实现完全的感知能力，同时处理未知的障碍。”他补充道，开发人员计划在5年内启动这个出租车项目。

　　In Monday’s test flight, the device hovered upward about 200 meters and whirred for about five minutes over a windswept patch of sand astride the emirate’s Gulf coast.

　　在周一的试飞中，这个飞行器飞到200米左右高的上空，在阿联酋海湾沿岸的一处风沙上盘旋了大约5分钟。

　　Attired in crisp white robes and headdresses, Sheikh Hamdan and his entourage clapped approvingly from a nearby viewing deck as the craft alighted.

　　迪拜王储Sheikh Hamdan和他的随从们穿着整洁的白色长袍和头饰，在附近的一处观景台上，赞许地鼓掌，飞行器也安全降落。

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