VOA慢速英语:Flying Car Moves Closer to Reality

短语讲解：

1. You could fill the sky with all the ideas people have had for flying cars -- or what Carl Dietrich calls "flying-driving vehicles."

fill with (使)充〔挤〕满
例句：The sky filled with stars.
满天星斗。

2. And some of them have actually been built and flown. But at this point the Transition is the closest to actually getting to the marketplace.

close to离…近
例句：His house is close to mine.
他的房子靠近我家。

3. And the Transition is designed to really be a general aviation airplane, like a Cessna or a Piper, a propeller-powered airplane that can fold up its wings, drive down the road and park in a single-car garage.

fold up (把…)折叠起来
例句：She folded up some shirts.
她把一些衬衫折叠起来。
drive down向下〔南〕开〔赶〕
The car was driving down.
车正向南驶去。

4. It’s like putting the top down on a convertible, only instead of folding up your roof, we’re folding up our wings and we’re transferring power from a propeller to the wheels for driving on the ground.

instead of (用…)代替…, (是…)而不是…, (用…)而不用…
例句：Taking exercise every day makes him look younger instead of older.
每天锻炼身体使他看起来年轻而不显老。

5. Development began in two thousand six, and the first road and fight tests took place in two thousand nine.

take place发生; 举行
例句：The evening party will take place on New Year's Eve.
晚会将在除夕那天举行。

6. Last year the Federal Aviation Administration agreed to let it weigh more than other light sport aircraft.

agree to同意, 赞成, 同意照办
例句：He agreed to our sending Jack to Hong Kong.
他赞成我们把杰克派往香港。

7. The windows, for example, weigh less than traditional automotive safety glass.

for example例如, 譬如
例句：I know many women who have a career and a family—Kehr for example.
我知道有许多妇女能事业家庭兼顾——凯尔就是其中之一。

8. Terrafugia expects the Transition to reach market by the end of twenty-twelve, at a price of around two hundred fifty thousand dollars.

by the end of到…为止
例句：The project had been completed by the end of 1990.
这项工程于1990年底竣工。

9. Carl Dietrich says nearly one hundred people have already signed up as buyers.

sign up跟…签订合同
例句：They manage to sign up all the best performers.
他们设法跟所有最佳演员签订合同。

10. He hopes to sell as many as a thousand a year in the near future.

in the near future不久
例句：We hope to move to the country in the near future.
我们希望在不久的将来搬到乡下。