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NASA has hired airplane manufacturer Lockheed Martin to build its next experimental plane, which is designed to fly faster than the speed of sound without producing the loud sonic booms that have plagued the transportation form. The plane is due to be delivered in 2021 and will cost just shy of $250 million. During a press conference hosted by the agency during which they announced the partnership, Lockheed Martin spokesperson Dave Richardson explained that the new plane will be neither a prototype for a new commercial airplane, nor a reincarnation of previous supersonic jets. 'This is a purpose-built experimental research craft,' he said. 'This aircraft was designed from a clean sheet.' NASA will use the plane to gather data about the impact of its low-boom design, which the agency hopes will address the single biggest challenge of supersonic flight. Flying faster than the speed of sound produces shock waves that result in a loud booming sound. 'The air does not know that the airplane is coming,' Peter Coen, a NASA project manager for supersonic technology, explained during the press conference. Because no one liked hearing that noise, the Federal Aviation Administration and similar international organizations banned supersonic travel over land. Now, NASA thinks technology can break the sound barrier without being quite so loud about it. The secret is in the shape of the plane. Sonic booms form because the plane's flight produces many shock waves of different strengths headed in different directions that absorb into each other to create two strong pulses of pressure. From the testing done so far, NASA thinks the new plane's design successfully dissipates and weakens those shock waves, keeping them from forming the strong pulses responsible for booms. The plane would still produce what they've dubbed 'sonic thumps,' but the hope is that those would be much easier to deal with. Once the new plane is built, NASA will run surveys on the ground to see how people respond to the sonic thumps. Then, the agency will bring that survey data to the Federal Aviation Administration and its international counterparts in order to revisit the rule about breaking the speed of sound over land. 'It's not about making a new airplane for airplanes' sake, although I love airplanes,' Richardson said. 'It's about the data that will be collected.' If the rule change does come through, that could kick off a new era of commercial supersonic travel.
单选题
According to the first two paragraphs, the experimental plane ______
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】本文节选自Newsweek(《新闻周刊》)，原文标题为The Future of Air Travel Is Here? NASA Is Building a Supersonic Speed Plane(航空旅行的未来在这里?美国国家航空航天局正在建造一架超音速飞机)。本文主要讲述了美国国家航空航天局正在建造的一架超音速飞机。第一至三段讲该实验飞机的建造理念及目的。第四至六段讲如何消除噪音，打破音障。第七至八段讲该飞机的作用与未来。 定位词：the first two paragraphs, experimental plane 事实细节题。根据题干定位到文章第一段和第二段。第二段提到这架新飞机既不是新商用飞机的原型，也不是以前超音速飞机的再生，而是一种全新的设计。C项符合文义，故C项为正确选项。 第一段最后一句提到这架飞机将于2021年交付，费用将略低于2.5亿美元，A项中的exact一词与原文不符；B项中的put into service与deliver意思不符；文章第二段提到新的飞机不是新的商用飞机的原型，D项与原文不符。故均排除。 [参考译文] 美国国家航空航天局(NASA)已经聘请飞机制造商洛克希德·马丁公司来建造它的下一架实验飞机，它的设计目的是使其飞行速度比音速快。同时又不会产生干扰运输形式的巨大音爆。这架飞机将于2021年交付，费用将略低于2.5亿美元。 在该机构举行的一次新闻发布会上，他们宣布了这一合作关系，洛克希德·马丁公司的发言人载夫·理查德森解释说，这架新飞机既不是新商用飞机的原型，也不是以前的超音速飞机的再生。“这是一架专门建造的实验研究飞机，”他说，“这架飞机是全新的设计。” NASA将利用这架飞机收集有关其低吊杆设计的影响的数据，该机构希望这将解决超音速飞行唯一的最大挑战——因飞行速度比音速快而产生的冲击波会发出巨大的声响。“空气不知道飞机要来了。”NASA的超音速技术项目经理皮特·科恩在新闻发布会上解释说。 因为没有人喜欢听到这种噪音，所以联邦航空管理局和类似的国际组织禁止飞机在陆地上进行超音速飞行。现在，NASA认为技术可以在噪音不那么大的情况下打破音障。 秘密就在飞机的形状上。音爆形成的原因是飞机的飞行产生了许多不同强度的冲击波，它们向不同的方向移动，相互吸收，形成了两股强大的压力脉冲。 截止到今天所进行的测试中，NASA认为新飞机的设计成功地消散并减弱了这些冲击波，使它们无法形成与音爆相关的强大脉冲。这架飞机仍将产生他们称之为“声波重击”的东西，但人们可以期待的是这些东西能更容易得到处理。 一旦新飞机建成，NASA将在地面上进行调查，以了解人们是如何对声波的重击做出反应的。然后，该机构将会把该调查数据提交给联邦航空管理局及其国际同行，以重新审视关于在陆地飞行时打破音速的规则。 理查德森说：“尽管我喜欢飞机，但这不是为了飞机而制造一架新飞机。这是关于将要收集的数据。”如果规则真的被改变，那将开启一个商业超音速旅行的新时代。
单选题
The crucial factor in the sound barrier breaking technology is ______