阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项。

    If cars had wings，they could fly and that just might happen，beginning in 2011.The company Terrafugia，based in Woburn，Massachusetts，says it plans to deliver its car­plane，the Transition，to customers by the end of 2011.

    “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 car­plane 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 take off 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 aiming to sell the Transition to private pilots as a more convenient and cheaper way to fly. They say it saves you the trouble from 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 parking fees because you don't have to store it at an airport－you park it in the garage at home.

    The car­plane 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 the bad weather instead of flying into marginal(临界的) conditions.

    The Transition's price tag：$194,000.But there may be additional charges for options like a radio，a transponder or a GPS. Another option is a full­plane parachute.

    “If you get into a very awful situation，it is the necessary safety option，” Gersh said.

    So far，the company has more than 70 orders with deposits. “We're working very closely with them，but there are still some remaining steps，” Brown said.

    Hummingbirds(蜂鸟) are one of nature's most energetic fliers and the only birds to hover(盘旋) in the air by relying on their strength alone.

    Now scientists have found that it is the ratio(比值) of the bird's wing length to its width that makes them so efficient. The discovery is helping experts compete with 42 million years of natural selection to build helicopters that are increasingly efficient.

    David Lentink, an assistant professor at Stanford University in California, tested wings from 12 different species of hummingbirds, which he sourced from museums. He placed them on a machine used to test the aerodynamics(气力学) of the helicopter blades(桨叶). Professor Lentink's team used the same machine to test the blades from an advanced micro-helicopter used by the UK's army. They found that the micro-helicopter's blades are as efficient at hovering as the average hummingbirds.

    But while the micro-helicopter's blades kept pace with the average hummingbird wings, they could not keep up with the most efficient hummingbird's wing. The wings of Anna's hummingbird were found to be about 27 percent more efficient than the man-made micro- helicopter's blades.

    While Professor Lentink wasn't surprised at nature's superiority, he said that helicopter blades have come a long way. “The technology is at the level of an average hummingbird,” he said. “A helicopter is really the most efficient hovering device that we can build. The best hummingbirds are still better, but I think it's amazing that we're getting closer. It's not easy to match their performance, but if we build better wings with better shapes, we might match hummingbirds.”

    Professor Lentink said that we don't know how hummingbirds maintain their flight in a strong wind, how they navigate(确定方向) through branches, or how they change direction so quickly. He thinks that great steps could be made by studying wing aspect ratios-the ratio of wing length to wing width. Understanding these abilities and characteristics could be a benefit for robotics and will be the focus of future experiments.

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内.

    It is good to get in touch with your inner child from time to time，and obviously some people are willing to pay big money for the chance to do so in a proper environment．A Brooklyn-based adult preschool is charging customers between $333 and $999 for the chance to act like a kid again．

    At Preschool Mastermind in New York adults get to participate in show—and—tell，arts—and—crafts such as finger paint，games like musical chairs and even take naps．The month-long course also has class picture day where the adults are expected to have a field trip and a parent day．

    30-year-old Michelle Joni Lapidos， the brain behind the adult preschool，studied childhood education and has always wanted to be a preschool teacher．She's always on the lookout for new ways to get people in touch with the freedom of childhood．A friend encouraged her to start the mastermind course instead．

    According to Candice，her blogger friend，Preschool Mastermind gives adults a chance to relearn and master the things that they failed to understand as children．“I realized all the significances of what we learn in preschool，”said founder Michelle Joni，“People come here and get in touch with their inner child．It's magical．We are bringing ourselves back to another place，another time with ourselves when we are more believing in ourselves，more confident and ready to take on the world.”

    “One person's here because they want to learn not to be so serious．”Michelle said．“Another's here to learn to be more confident.” She explained that most of the classes were planned．However，Joni added that while the planned activities were fun，it was often the spontaneous(自发的)moments that attracted students．“It's the things you don't plan for，the sharing between friends and learning from each other.''

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

     My husband and I had been married nearly twenty-two years when I acquired Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a disorder where my immune（免疫的）system responded to a virus by producing painful blisters. Although my long-term evaluation was good, I, who had been so fiercely independent, rapidly became absolutely helpless.

My husband, Scott, stepped up to the plate, taking care of kids and cooking dinners. He also became my personal caretaker, applying the medicine to all of my blisters because my hands couldn't do the job. Needless to say, I had negative emotions, bouncing from embarrassment to shame caused by total reliance on someone other than myself.

I recovered from my illness, but I couldn't seem to recover from the thought that I loved my husband less than he loved me. This seeming distinction in our love continued to annoy me for the year following my illness.

Then recently Scott and I went on a long bike ride. He's an experienced cyclist; I'm quite the green hand. At one point with a strong headwind and sharp pain building in my tired legs, I really thought I couldn't go any further. Seeing me struggle, Scott pulled in front of me and yelled over his shoulder, “Stay close behind me.” As I followed his steps, I discovered that my legs quit burning and I was able to catch my breath. My husband was pulling me along-again.

     I pray my husband will always be strong and healthy. But if he should ever become the struggling one, whether on a bike ride or with an illness, I trust Ill be ready to call out to him, Stay close behind me--my turn to pull you along.

    On a recent afternoon, some 60 years after they graduated from grammar school, Kathleen Rys, 72, and her sister Lorraine O'Kelly, 70, sat down and had a meal with a classmate, Bruce Smit, 71 for the first time.

    In the 1950s, Lorraine and Kathleen Rys' family moved from Chicago to Monee. As new kids at Monee Elementary School, they soon found themselves on the outs with other students.

    "I would be with the other guys and see Kathleen walking down the hallway, her head down, holding her books, walking slowly. And all of us guys would be flat against the wall until she passed. Then we'd burst into laughter. How rude is that? It's just crazy." said Smit, a doctor whose wife, Tammy, organized the meeting.

    The women said none of the teachers cared about it. "We just kept it to ourselves. " Lorraine said.

    Over the years, Tammy Smit said, "Bruce would just start to cry at times. He'd wonder what happened to the sisters, if they landed OK." One day a few weeks ago, Tammy took to the internet and found Mary O'Kelly, Lorraine's daughter, and offered to set up a meeting. The idea of revisiting the pain was not well- received by Kathleen, who had never married, let alone gone on a date. It took some convincing, but Lorraine finally got Kathleen to agree to meet with Bruce.

    Bruce broke into tears. "I'm so ashamed, so embarrassed," he said. "But I'm so happy you're still here and that I can finally apologize. " He said he hopes his apology will encourage others to seek forgiveness for the pain they make on others. Lorraine said, "This is a beautiful thing. It's just wonderful that a person from 60 years ago can ask for forgiveness. It's like a miracle to us. It's a healing to us."

    A new Magic Bench designed by Disney Research lets you interact (互动) with lovely animated (动画的) character—and no special glasses or earphones are required. Instead, the complete environment-the seat, the sitter and the cartoon characters-is mirrored on a screen opposite the bench making it possible for others to watch the scene unfold.

    How does the illusion work? A camera and sensor catch images and gather depth information about physical objects the bench and the person. And then computer translates them into the 3D animations. Meanwhile sensors of touch built into the bench deliver shaking that is happening at the same time and speed to animated actions on the screen, creating the illusion that the animated figures are occupying real-world space next to the user.

    "Our goal for this project was: hear a character coming, see them enter the space, and feel them sit next to you," said Moshe Mahler, principal digital artist at Disney Research. Unlike the traditional mobile technology, one of whose limitations is that only a single user can see its illusion, the Magic Bench allows groups of people to gather in a single environment and collectively participate in an augmented—reality (扩充实境) experience, all at the same time.

    In a video show, a small cartoon donkey runs into view and kicks the bench, causing sharp sound and making the seated person jump in surprise. Another test shows two people on the bench, reacting as they feel an animated rabbit skip up beside them and jump up and down. When a user passes his hand over the rabbit, a shadow moves across its head, as though it were occupying the same physical space as the person next to it.