Airports on Water — IELTS Reading Answers

having an area of over 1000 hectares

“An island six kilometres long and with a total area of 1248 hectares is being created there The new island of Chek Lap Kok, the site of Hong Kong's new airport, is 83% complete This is a 520-hectare island built in Osaka Bay, Japan, that serves as the platform for the new Kansai airport”

Chek Lap Kok's island totals 1248 hectares, over 1000, while Kansai's island is only 520 hectares.

built in a river delta

“The changes in China's Pearl River delta, however, are more dramatic than these natural fluctuations. An island six kilometres long and with a total area of 1248 hectares is being created there. And the civil engineers are as interested in performance as in speed and size.”

Chek Lap Kok is being created in China's Pearl River delta, while Kansai sits in Osaka Bay.

built in the open sea

“Kansai was supposed to be built just one kilometre offshore, where the seabed is quite solid. Fishermen protested, and the site was shifted a further five kilometres. That put it in deeper water (around 20 metres) and above a seabed that consisted of 20 metres of soft alluvial silt and mud deposits”

Kansai's site was shifted five kilometres further out, putting it in deeper water above soft alluvial silt, effectively the open sea.

built by reclaiming land

“The usual way to reclaim land is to pile sand or rock on to the seabed. When the seabed oozes with mud, this is rather like placing a textbook on a wet sponge; the weight squeezes the water out, causing both water and sponge to settle lower. The settlement is rarely even; different parts sink at different rates.”

Both airports were built by reclaiming land, piling sand or rock on the seabed, as the passage explains for each scheme.

built using conventional methods of reclamation

“The usual way to reclaim land is to pile sand or rock on to the seabed. When the seabed oozes with mud, this is rather like placing a textbook on a wet sponge; the weight squeezes the water out, causing both water and sponge to settle lower. The settlement is rarely even; different parts sink at different rates.”

Kansai took the first approach, engineering around settlement problems of conventional reclamation, while Chek Lap Kok engineered them out.

“Most of the rock will become the foundations for the airport's runways and its taxiways”

The diagram label needs what most of the rock becomes foundations for; the text says the airport's runways and taxiways.

“Most of the terminal buildings will be placed above the site of the existing island”

The label needs where most terminal buildings will sit; the text says above the site of the existing island.

“The sand dredged from the waters will also be used to provide a two-metre capping layer over the granite platform”

The label needs the material forming a two-metre capping layer over the granite platform; the text says sand dredged from the waters.

“At the same time, sand was dredged from the waters and piled on top of the layer of stiff clay that the massive dredging had laid bare”

The label needs what lies beneath the sand; sand was piled on the layer of stiff clay that dredging had laid bare.

“The brunt of a typhoon will be deflected by the neighbouring island of Lantau; the sea walls should guard against the rest”

The summary needs the island deflecting typhoons; the text says the neighbouring island of Lantau deflects the brunt.

“The brunt of a typhoon will be deflected by the neighbouring island of Lantau; the sea walls should guard against the rest”

The summary needs what guards against the remaining typhoon force; the text says the sea walls should guard against the rest.

“Gentler but more persistent bad weather - the downpours of the summer monsoon - is also being taken into account. A mat-like material called geotextile is being laid across the island to separate the rock and sand layers.”

The summary needs the persistent bad weather considered; the text names the downpours of the summer monsoon, i.e. rainfall.

“A mat-like material called geotextile is being laid across the island to separate the rock and sand layers. That will stop sand particles from being washed into the rock voids, and so causing further settlement”

The summary needs the mat-like material laid across the island; the text calls it geotextile, separating the rock and sand layers.