雅思阅读 034 · The Electric Air Taxi: How Close Are We?

改编自 Scientific American（Deni Ellis Béchard, 2026）。题型：段落信息匹配 + T/F/NG + 填空。难度：中等偏上（Passage 2，约 800 词）。

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🎧 课文朗读音频（约 1 分钟）

正文 Passage

A. A successful test flight

On the morning of April 14, 2026, at Cotswold Airport in southwest England, a test pilot rose straight into the air. He was testing the VX4 — an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, or air taxi — built by the British firm Vertical Aerospace.

During the test, the VX4's eight propellers lifted it like a drone. Then the four front propellers tilted forward, and the aircraft accelerated, no longer hanging on its rotors like a helicopter but cruising on its wings like a small airplane. Moments later, it reversed the sequence: the propellers tilted back up, and the aircraft decelerated, returned to a hover and landed vertically.

B. A hard feat

In completing this test, Vertical — founded in 2016 and based in Bristol — accomplished one of the hardest feats in eVTOL development: its prototype changed from flying like a helicopter to flying like an airplane, then back again.

But a prototype is allowed to fly because a regulator has agreed it is safe enough to test. A certified commercial aircraft, meanwhile, has to be safe enough for strangers to buckle their children into it.

C. Certification, not just technology

Vertical is among the first Western developers to demonstrate piloted transition, but the April flight also matters because of the regulatory context. Other developers have flown to prove the technology works; Vertical is trying to build a case for certification.

"The significance of this flight is that it has been achieved in a way that is aligned with the certification pathway from the outset," says David King, Vertical's chief engineer. In other words, Vertical is getting closer to the actual business of running an air taxi company.

D. King's background

King's journey to eVTOLs began with his work at Boeing in 1989, on a military aircraft called the V-22 Osprey. The Osprey was the first production tiltrotor — an aircraft with propellers that can swivel on their mounts, pointing up for vertical takeoff and tilting forward for horizontal flight.

For most of the next three decades, at Bell and then at Italian aerospace firm Leonardo, King worked on civil tiltrotors, the passenger-carrying cousins of the Osprey.

E. What remains

King decided to join Vertical in 2023 because the VX4 is essentially a tiltrotor with electric motors. "The beauty of the tiltrotor is it takes you less than a minute from the time you apply power to cruising on a wing," he says.

Daniel Pleffken, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, who specialises in aircraft certification, is more measured about what the flight proves. "A successful flight shows that something can work," he says. "Certification requires proving that it works safely, consistently and under all expected conditions."

The aircraft still must accumulate evidence from failure tests, repeat flights and design reviews before regulators will let it carry passengers.

F. Vertical's unusual situation

Vertical's situation is unusual. Since 2023 the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has overseen every test flight of the VX4. Most eVTOL companies fly their prototypes under research flight licenses, but the data they produce do not count toward certification.

Vertical flies under an arrangement that has been accumulating evidence toward certification for three years. "We are demonstrating to the regulator that we have the engineering capability, design assurance processes and internal governance required for full type certification," King says.

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题目 Questions

Questions 1-5: Which paragraph mentions the following?

1. the V-22 Osprey military aircraft

2. the VX4 changing from helicopter to airplane flight mode

3. certification requiring safety under all expected conditions

4. the U.K. CAA overseeing every test flight

5. the difference between a prototype and a certified aircraft

Questions 6-9: T/F/NG

6. The VX4 has eight propellers.

7. Vertical Aerospace was founded in 2026.

8. Most eVTOL companies' flight data count toward certification.

9. The VX4 can carry passengers commercially today.

Questions 10-13: Complete the notes. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

• The VX4 is an electric (10) ____________ takeoff and landing aircraft.
• The V-22 Osprey was the first production (11) ____________.
• Certification requires proving safety, consistency and (12) ____________ conditions.
• The U.K. (13) ____________ has overseen every test flight since 2023.

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答案 Answers

题号	答案
1	D
2	A
3	E
4	F
5	B
6	TRUE
7	FALSE（founded in 2016）
8	FALSE（do not count toward certification）
9	FALSE（not yet certified）
10	vertical
11	tiltrotor
12	expected
13	Civil Aviation Authority

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核心词汇

eVTOL / air taxi / vertical takeoff / certification / prototype / tiltrotor / propeller / hover / cruise / regulator / aviation