10 . The official opening of Beijing Daxing International Airport caps a long design and building process. Designed by the late architect Zaha Hadid and her Chinese partners, the airport is built for the future, having a terminal the size of 97 soccer grounds—as well as customerservice robots that provide travelers with flight updates and airport information.
Called “Starfish” by Chinese media for its shape of five concourses (大厅) connected to a main hall, Daxing aims to reduce walking for passengers. The airport authority has promised a distance of no more than 600 meters—about eight minutes of walking—between security checkpoints and the remotest boarding gates.
This new modern airport employs a special intelligent lighting system, supported by eight big C-shaped columns that let in the sunlight, brightening the architecture and structure. Therefore it minimizes the need to use electric lighting.
To offer a more refreshing travel experience, five outdoor courtyards—with the themes “Silk Garden”, “Tea Garden”,“Porcelain (瓷) Garden”, “Countryside Garden” and “Chinese Garden”—feature at the end of the five departure lounges for use by passengers waiting for their flights. Travelers will be scanned on cameras using facial recognition. Counters will be fully automated to capture face photos and relay them each part of the journey through the airport, including security and the departure gate.
China is projected to overtake the United States as the world’s biggest air travel market by 2022. The “modest” initial operational target at Daxing is to accommodate 72 million passengers and 2 million tons of goods annually by 2025. The ambitious master plan calls for the building of a total of seven runways, and moving at least 100 million passengers and 4 million tons of goods a year through the airport.
1. Why is the airport in a starfishshaped design?
| A．To keep security checkpoints effective. |
| B．To hold as many passengers as possible. |
| C．To make boarding gates within easy reach. |
| D．To get the main hall easier to be found. |
2. What can the airport’s lighting system be described as?
| A．Energysaving. | B．Highend. |
| C．Passengerfriendly. | D．Strangelyformed. |
3. What can be inferred about the five outdoor courtyards?
| A．They use popular techniques. |
| B．They reflect the Chinese tradition. |
| C．They follow the latest world trend. |
| D．They promote Chinese goods to people. |
4. What do the numbers in the last paragraph indicate?
| A．The airport’s potential. |
| B．The airport’s market. |
| C．The airport’s facilities. |
| D．The airport’s project. |
