All big ideas start life on the fringes of debate. Very often it takes a shocking: event to move them into the mainstream. Until last year interest in climate change was espoused mainly by scientists and green lobbyists -and the few politicians they had badgered into paying attention. But since Hurricane Katrina, something seems to have changed, particularly in America.
There are plenty of anecdotal signs of change: Britain’s pro business Tories have turned green; AI Gore is back in fashion in America. Companies are beginning to take action and encouraging governments to do the same. Europe already has an emissions trading system (ETS) for its five dirtiest industries. In America, although the Bush administration still resists federal legislation, more and more states do not.
So far the political rows about global warming have centered on two polluters, smoggy factories and dirty cars. Next month the European Parliament will vote on whether to extend its emissions trading system to airlines. If it decides in favor, the whole industry will feel the impact, for it will affect not just European airlines but all those that fly into and out of the EU. Talk about this prospect soured the International Air Transport Association’s annual meeting this week in Paris. But whatever happens in the EU, the airlines look set to face vociferous demands that they should pay for their emissions.
In. some ways, the airlines are an odd target for greens. They produce only around 3% of the world’s manmade carbon emissions. Surface transport, by contrast, produces 22%. Europe’.,, merchant ships spew out around a third more carbon than aircrafts do, and nobody is going after them. And unlike cars -potent symbols of individualism -airlines are public transport, jamming in as many people as they can into each plane.
What’s more, many air travelers cannot easily switch. Car drivers can hop on the train or the bus, but transatlantic travelers can’t row from London to New York. Nor can aircraft fuel be swapped for a green alternative. Car drivers can buy electro petrol hybrids but aircrafts are, for now, stuck with kerosene, because its energy density makes it the only practical fuel to carry around in the air.
Yet in other ways, airlines are a fine target. They pay no tax on fuel for international flights, and therefore escape the "polluter pays" principle even more niftily than other forms of transport. Their emissions are especially damaging, too -partly because the nitrogen oxides from jet engine exhausts help create ozone, a potent greenhouse gas, and partly because the pretty trails that aircrafts leave behind them help make the clouds that can intensify the greenhouse effect.
Slowly, businessmen and politicians are coining to agree with scientists. If this generation does not tackle climate change, its descendants will not think much of it. That means raising costs for all sources of pollution. Even those deceptively cheap weekend breaks cannot be exempt.
The author says that airlines are a good target because

A:passengers rather than airlines pay tax on fuel for international flights. B:emissions of airlines are especially damaging to our environment. C:the nitrogen oxides from jet engine exhausts help eliminate ozone. D:the trails that aircrafts leave behind them can draw much attention.

A little airplane has given new meaning to the term "going hyper. "
The Hyper-X recently broke the record for air-breathing jet planes when it traveled at a hypersonic speed of seven times the speed of sound. That’s about 5,000 miles per hour. At this speed, you’d get around the world -- flying along the equator (赤道) -- in less than 5 hours.
The Hyper-X is an unmanned,experimental aircraft just 12 feet long. It achieves hypersonic (超音速的) speed using a special sort of engine known as a scramjet. It may sound like something from a comic book,but engineers have been experimenting with scramjets since the 1960s.
For an engine to burn fuel and produce energy, it needs oxygen. A jet engine, like those on passenger airplanes, gets oxygen from the air. A rocket engine typically goes faster but has to carry its own supply of oxygen. A scramjet (紧急刹车) engine goes as fast as a rocket, but it doesn’t have to carry its own oxygen supply. A scramjet’s special design allows it to obtain oxygen from the air that flows through the engine. And it does so without letting the fast-moving air put out the combustion (燃烧) flames. However, a scramjet engine works properly only at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. A booster rocket carried the Hyper-X to an altitude of about 100,000 feet for its test flight. The aircraft’s record-beating flight lasted just 11 seconds. Although the little plane’s self-powered flight lasted only 11 seconds, that brief journey on March 27 makes a major milestone on the way to a new breed of very fast airplanes, comments Werner J. A. Dahm of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In the future, engineers predict, airplanes equipped with scramjet engines could transport cargo quickly and cheaply to the brink of space. Such hypersonic jets could potentially carry passengers anywhere in the world in just a few hours.
Out of the three experimental Hyper-X aircrafts built for NASA, only one is now left. The agency has plans for another 11-second hypersonic flight, this time at 10 times the speed of the sound.
What kind of an engine did the Hyper-X use

A:A jet engine that gets oxygen from the air. B:A scramjet engine that doesn’t carry its own oxygen supply. C:A rocket engine that carries its own supply of oxygen. D:A jet engine that uses no oxygen.

A little airplane has given new meaning to the term "going hyper. "
The Hyper-X recently broke the record for air-breathing jet planes when it traveled at a hypersonic speed of seven times the speed of sound. That’s about 5,000 miles per hour. At this speed, you’d get around the world -- flying along the equator (赤道) -- in less than 5 hours.
The Hyper-X is an unmanned,experimental aircraft just 12 feet long. It achieves hypersonic (超音速的) speed using a special sort of engine known as a scramjet. It may sound like something from a comic book,but engineers have been experimenting with scramjets since the 1960s.
For an engine to burn fuel and produce energy, it needs oxygen. A jet engine, like those on passenger airplanes, gets oxygen from the air. A rocket engine typically goes faster but has to carry its own supply of oxygen. A scramjet (紧急刹车) engine goes as fast as a rocket, but it doesn’t have to carry its own oxygen supply. A scramjet’s special design allows it to obtain oxygen from the air that flows through the engine. And it does so without letting the fast-moving air put out the combustion (燃烧) flames. However, a scramjet engine works properly only at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. A booster rocket carried the Hyper-X to an altitude of about 100,000 feet for its test flight. The aircraft’s record-beating flight lasted just 11 seconds. Although the little plane’s self-powered flight lasted only 11 seconds, that brief journey on March 27 makes a major milestone on the way to a new breed of very fast airplanes, comments Werner J. A. Dahm of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In the future, engineers predict, airplanes equipped with scramjet engines could transport cargo quickly and cheaply to the brink of space. Such hypersonic jets could potentially carry passengers anywhere in the world in just a few hours.
Out of the three experimental Hyper-X aircrafts built for NASA, only one is now left. The agency has plans for another 11-second hypersonic flight, this time at 10 times the speed of the sound.
What is NOT true about the scramjet engine

A:It goes slower than a rocket. B:It extracts oxygen from the air that flows through the engine. C:It works only at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. D:It doesn’t carry its own oxygen supply.

{{B}}第二篇{{/B}}

What kind of an engine did the Hyper-X use?

A:A jet engine that gets oxygen from the air. B:A scramjet engine that doesn’t carry its own oxygen supply. C:A rocket engine that carries its own supply of oxygen. D:A jet engine that uses no oxygen.

A little airplane has given new meaning to the term "going hyper."
The Hyper-X recently broke the record for air-breathing jet planes when it traveled at a hypersonic speed of seven times the speed of sound. That’s about 5,000 miles per hour. At this speed, you’d get around the world -- flying along the equator -- in less than 5 hours.
The Hyper-X is an unmanned, experimental aircraft just 12 feet long. It achieves hypersonic speed using a special sort of engine known as a scramjet. It may sound like something from a comic book, but engineers have been experimenting with scramjets since the 1960s.
For an engine to burn fuel and produce energy, it needs oxygen. A jet engine, like those on passenger airplanes, gets oxygen from the air. A rocket engine typically goes faster but has to carry its own supply of oxygen. A scramjet engine goes as fast as a rocket, but it doesn’t have to carry its own oxygen supply. A scramjet’s special design allows it to obtain oxygen from the air that flows through the engine. And it does so without letting the fast-moving air put out the combustion flames. However, a scramjet engine works properly only at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. A booster rocket carried the Hyper-X to an altitude of about 100,000 feet for its test flight. The aircraft’s record-beating flight lasted just 11 seconds. Although the little plane’s self-powered flight lasted only 11 seconds, that brief journey on March 27 makes a major milestone on the way to a new breed of very fast airplanes, comments Werner J. A. Dahm of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In the future, engineers predict, airplanes equipped with scramjet engines could transport cargo quickly and cheaply to the brink of space. Such hypersonic jets could potentially carry passengers anywhere in the world in just a few hours.
Out of the three experimental Hyper-X aircrafts built for NASA, only one is now left. The agency has plans for another 11-second hypersonic flight, this time at 10 times the speed of the sound.
The Hyper-X broke the record because______.

A:it was the first air-breathing jet plane B:it flew along the equator C:it flew at speeds smaller than five times the speed of sound D:it traveled at a supersonic speed

A little airplane has given new meaning to the term "going hyper."
The Hyper-X recently broke the record for air-breathing jet planes when it traveled at a hypersonic speed of seven times the speed of sound. That’s about 5,000 miles per hour. At this speed, you’d get around the world -- flying along the equator -- in less than 5 hours.
The Hyper-X is an unmanned, experimental aircraft just 12 feet long. It achieves hypersonic speed using a special sort of engine known as a scramjet. It may sound like something from a comic book, but engineers have been experimenting with scramjets since the 1960s.
For an engine to burn fuel and produce energy, it needs oxygen. A jet engine, like those on passenger airplanes, gets oxygen from the air. A rocket engine typically goes faster but has to carry its own supply of oxygen. A scramjet engine goes as fast as a rocket, but it doesn’t have to carry its own oxygen supply. A scramjet’s special design allows it to obtain oxygen from the air that flows through the engine. And it does so without letting the fast-moving air put out the combustion flames. However, a scramjet engine works properly only at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. A booster rocket carried the Hyper-X to an altitude of about 100,000 feet for its test flight. The aircraft’s record-beating flight lasted just 11 seconds. Although the little plane’s self-powered flight lasted only 11 seconds, that brief journey on March 27 makes a major milestone on the way to a new breed of very fast airplanes, comments Werner J. A. Dahm of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In the future, engineers predict, airplanes equipped with scramjet engines could transport cargo quickly and cheaply to the brink of space. Such hypersonic jets could potentially carry passengers anywhere in the world in just a few hours.
Out of the three experimental Hyper-X aircrafts built for NASA, only one is now left. The agency has plans for another 11-second hypersonic flight, this time at 10 times the speed of the sound.
What kind of an engine did the Hyper-X use

A:A jet engine that gets oxygen from the air. B:A scramjet engine that doesn’t carry its own oxygen supply. C:A rocket engine that carries its own supply of oxygen. D:A jet engine that uses no oxygen.

A little airplane has given new meaning to the term "going hyper."
The Hyper-X recently broke the record for air-breathing jet planes when it traveled at a hypersonic speed of seven times the speed of sound. That’s about 5,000 miles per hour. At this speed, you’d get around the world -- flying along the equator -- in less than 5 hours.
The Hyper-X is an unmanned, experimental aircraft just 12 feet long. It achieves hypersonic speed using a special sort of engine known as a scramjet. It may sound like something from a comic book, but engineers have been experimenting with scramjets since the 1960s.
For an engine to burn fuel and produce energy, it needs oxygen. A jet engine, like those on passenger airplanes, gets oxygen from the air. A rocket engine typically goes faster but has to carry its own supply of oxygen. A scramjet engine goes as fast as a rocket, but it doesn’t have to carry its own oxygen supply. A scramjet’s special design allows it to obtain oxygen from the air that flows through the engine. And it does so without letting the fast-moving air put out the combustion flames. However, a scramjet engine works properly only at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. A booster rocket carried the Hyper-X to an altitude of about 100,000 feet for its test flight. The aircraft’s record-beating flight lasted just 11 seconds. Although the little plane’s self-powered flight lasted only 11 seconds, that brief journey on March 27 makes a major milestone on the way to a new breed of very fast airplanes, comments Werner J. A. Dahm of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In the future, engineers predict, airplanes equipped with scramjet engines could transport cargo quickly and cheaply to the brink of space. Such hypersonic jets could potentially carry passengers anywhere in the world in just a few hours.
Out of the three experimental Hyper-X aircrafts built for NASA, only one is now left. The agency has plans for another 11-second hypersonic flight, this time at 10 times the speed of the sound.
What is NOT true about the scramjet engine

A:It goes slower than a rocket. B:It extracts oxygen from the air that flows through the engine. C:It works only at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. D:It doesn’t carry its own oxygen supply.

A little airplane has given new meaning to the term "going hyper."
The Hyper-X recently broke the record for air-breathing jet planes when it traveled at a hypersonic speed of seven times the speed of sound. That’s about 5,000 miles per hour. At this speed, you’d get around the world -- flying along the equator -- in less than 5 hours.
The Hyper-X is an unmanned, experimental aircraft just 12 feet long. It achieves hypersonic speed using a special sort of engine known as a scramjet. It may sound like something from a comic book, but engineers have been experimenting with scramjets since the 1960s.
For an engine to burn fuel and produce energy, it needs oxygen. A jet engine, like those on passenger airplanes, gets oxygen from the air. A rocket engine typically goes faster but has to carry its own supply of oxygen. A scramjet engine goes as fast as a rocket, but it doesn’t have to carry its own oxygen supply. A scramjet’s special design allows it to obtain oxygen from the air that flows through the engine. And it does so without letting the fast-moving air put out the combustion flames. However, a scramjet engine works properly only at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. A booster rocket carried the Hyper-X to an altitude of about 100,000 feet for its test flight. The aircraft’s record-beating flight lasted just 11 seconds. Although the little plane’s self-powered flight lasted only 11 seconds, that brief journey on March 27 makes a major milestone on the way to a new breed of very fast airplanes, comments Werner J. A. Dahm of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In the future, engineers predict, airplanes equipped with scramjet engines could transport cargo quickly and cheaply to the brink of space. Such hypersonic jets could potentially carry passengers anywhere in the world in just a few hours.
Out of the three experimental Hyper-X aircrafts built for NASA, only one is now left. The agency has plans for another 11-second hypersonic flight, this time at 10 times the speed of the sound.
What is NOT true about the scramjet engine

A:It goes slower than a rocket. B:It extracts oxygen from the air that flows through the engine. C:It works only at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. D:It doesn’t carry its own oxygen supply.