学进去

Go up and down

Today, around half of the world's population (人口) lives in cities. But when you grow up, cities may become more crowded. By 2050, 68% of the world's population may live there. What might your life look like in the future? Scientists say there will be some possible changes in the ways we travel, live, wear and have fun. Some of them are under study. Others are just ideas. First let's take a look at some cool future transportation (交通).

Supersonic airplanes (超音速飞机)

Supersonic airplanes came out in the 1960s. But they were too noisy to use. Now US company Boom will make better airplanes of this kind. They fly higher than usual planes. This makes the flight more stable (稳定的). Supersonic airplanes also are quieter and faster. Now it takes you more than 11 hours to fly from Beijing to Seattle. With a supersonic airplane, it will be just 5 hours.

Flying taxis and buses

Many companies are working on flying cars. Japan's SkyDrive is one of them. Its car has only two seats for a driver and a passenger. It runs on electricity (电) and flies about 10 km per charge (充电). It helps to cut traffic jams (交通拥堵).

Underwater highways

Besides “flying” in the air, we might also move around underwater. These highways are underwater tubes (管道). People sit in pods (舱). They can travel between the UK and the countries in Northern Europe in less than an hour. Usually it takes around two hours.