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  3. It looks rather like a futuristic stretch limousine, but its actual function is rather more populist: the Superbus is a novel pu

It looks rather like a futuristic stretch limousine, but its actual function is rather more populist: the Superbus is a novel pu

admin2014-06-13  11
问题     It looks rather like a futuristic stretch limousine, but its actual function is rather more populist: the Superbus is a novel public-transport system being developed in the Netherlands by the Delft University of Technology. It is an electric bus designed to be able to switch seamlessly between ordinary roads and dedicated "supertracks", on which it can reach speeds of 250kph (155mph). It could thus present an alternative to much more expensive magnetic-levitation trains.
    Though it is as wide and long as a standard city bus, the Superbus is only 1. 7 metres high. Joris Melkert, the project’s manager, explains that the designers managed to keep the Superbus this small by doing away with the central aisle usually found in today’s buses, a vestigial design feature that allows passengers to stand upright, but also gives conventional buses the aerodynamic profile of a brick.
    The low-riding Superbus, in contrast, has a separate door for each of its 30-odd seats. The low ceiling and the use of lightweight materials make for a far more streamlined vehicle, which in turn requires only a modest electric motor: though engineers have not yet decided whether the Superbus will be powered by fuel cells or batteries, they estimate that it will be able to accelerate from rest to 100kph in a leisurely 36 seconds.
    The individual doors also allow for rapid loading and unloading of passengers, which will need to be fast if the Superbus is to live up to its promised door-to-door mission: instead of making predetermined stops, the vehicle will pick up and drop off passengers based on their text-messaged requests. This kind of flexibility is a central tenet of the project; the estimated three-year lifespan of a Superbus will also allow the latest technologies to be phased in quickly as they become available.
    To start with, that might include satellite-based tracking to keep the Superbus on course, sensors to scan the road for obstacles up to 300 metres ahead and a smart suspension system that remembers the rough spots in the road.
    Some detractors have suggested that making so many stops would erode the Superbus’s speed advantage, and others question whether a new cog in the Netherlands’ already-intricate transport infrastructure is even needed. Furthermore, the Superbus does not yet exist, whereas maglev trains are already operating successfully in Shanghai.
    The future of the project is uncertain. Its intended route, a new transport link connecting Amsterdam with the northern city of Groningen, was recently scrapped by the Dutch government. In spite of the setback, the project has since received an extra 7m in government funding, plus lm from Connexxion, a local bus company. With its combination of low emissions, high speed and snazzy design, this might prove to be a bus that is worth waiting for.
According to the last but one paragraph, some critics believe the Superbus
选项 A、can’t race against a standard city bus because of so many stops.
B、may bring troubles to the Netherlands’ transport infrastructure.
C、is no more successful than maglev trains in Shanghai.
D、may need more transport infrastructure.
答案B
解析 事实细节题。第六段提到批评者对超级巴士的看法。其中others question whether a new cog in…transport infrastructure is even needed表达了批评者对超级巴士必要性的怀疑，他们担心超级巴士可能会给荷兰的基础交通造成麻烦，故答案为[B]。[A]是对首句第一个分句的误解，[C]是对该段第二句的误解，均可排除；[D]文章没有提及。
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