Airports on Water Reading Answers

Justin

4 min read

Updated On Aug 14, 2024

Airports on Water

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The Academic passage ‘Airports on Water’ is a reading passage that appeared in an IELTS Test.

It contains some of the IELTS reading question types. If you are interested in familiarising yourself with all the question types, don’t hesitate to take an IELTS reading practice test.

Airports on Water

Question Number	Answer	Explanation
1	A	Paragraph 1 informs that an ‘island’ six kilometres long and ‘with a total area of 1248 hectares’ (area of over 1000 hectares) is being created there. It is further added in paragraph 2 that the ‘new island of Chek Lap Kok’, the ‘site of Hong Kong’s new airport’ (Chek Lap Kok airport), is 83% complete. Hence, the answer is A (Chek Lap Kok airport only).
2	A	Paragraph 1 mentions that river deltas are difficult places for map makers. The river builds them up; the sea wears them down; their outlines are always changing. The changes in ‘China’s Pearl River delta’ are more dramatic than these natural fluctuations. ‘An island’ six kilometres long and with a total area of 1248 hectares ‘is being created there’. It is further written in paragraph 2 that the ‘new island of Chek Lap Kok’ is the ‘site of Hong Kong’s new airport’, Chek Lap Kok airport. Hence, the answer is A (Chek Lap Kok airport only).
3	B	Paragraph 3 As Chek Lap Kok rises, another new ‘Asian island is sinking back into the sea’. This is a ‘520-hectare island built in Osaka Bay, Japan’, that serves as the platform for the ‘new Kansai airport’. Hence, the answer is B (Kansai airport only).

Question Number

Answer

Explanation

Paragraph 1 informs that an ‘island’ six kilometres long and ‘with a total area of 1248 hectares’ (area of over 1000 hectares) is being created there. It is further added in paragraph 2 that the ‘new island of Chek Lap Kok’, the ‘site of Hong Kong’s new airport’ (Chek Lap Kok airport), is 83% complete. Hence, the answer is A (Chek Lap Kok airport only).

Paragraph 1 mentions that river deltas are difficult places for map makers. The river builds them up; the sea wears them down; their outlines are always changing. The changes in ‘China’s Pearl River delta’ are more dramatic than these natural fluctuations. ‘An island’ six kilometres long and with a total area of 1248 hectares ‘is being created there’. It is further written in paragraph 2 that the ‘new island of Chek Lap Kok’ is the ‘site of Hong Kong’s new airport’, Chek Lap Kok airport. Hence, the answer is A (Chek Lap Kok airport only).

Paragraph 3 As Chek Lap Kok rises, another new ‘Asian island is sinking back into the sea’. This is a ‘520-hectare island built in Osaka Bay, Japan’, that serves as the platform for the ‘new Kansai airport’.

Hence, the answer is B (Kansai airport only).

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4	C	Paragraph 4 shares facts about the usual way to reclaim land, which is to pile sand rock onto the seabed. When the seabed oozes with mud, 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. So buildings, pipes, roads, and so on tend to buckle and crack. You can engineer around these problems, or you can engineer them out. ‘Kansai took the first approach; Chek Lap Kok is taking the second’. Hence, the answer is C (Both airports).
5	B	Paragraph 4 mentions that the ‘usual way to reclaim land is to pile sand 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. You can ‘engineer around these problems’, or you can engineer them out. ‘Kansai took the first approach’ (conventional method); Chek Lap Kok is taking the second. Hence, the answer is B (Kansai airport only).
6	Runways and taxiways	Paragraph 9 informs that the ‘original granite island’, which had hills up to 120 metres high, ‘was drilled and blasted into boulders’. This provided ‘70m cubic metres of granite to add to the island’s foundations’. Most of the rock will become the ‘foundations for the airport’s runways and its taxiways’. Hence, the answer is runways and taxiways.
7	Terminal building site	Paragraph 9 says that most of ‘the terminal buildings’ will be ‘placed above the site of the existing island’. The original Chek Lap Kok island as shown in the first picture is replaced by the terminal building as mentioned in the passage. Hence, the answer is terminal building site.
8	sand	Paragraph 9 describes the process in which the Chek Lap Kok airport was built. The ‘sand dredged from the waters’ will also be used to ‘provide a two-metre capping layer over the granite platform’. The mud shown in the first picture is made into a layer on the layer of granite rock. Hence, the answer is sand.
9	Stiff clay	Paragraph 8 explains how the Chek Lap Kok airport was made. The ‘sand’ (as already marked in the previous question) was dredged from the waters and piled on top of the ‘layer of stiff clay’ that the massive dredging had laid bare. Hence, the answer is stiff clay.
10	Lantau Island/Sea walls (in either order)	Paragraph 11 points out that to protect ‘it’ (island/airport), the new coastline is being bolstered with a formidable twelve kilometres of sea defences. The brunt of a ‘typhoon’ (storms) will be ‘deflected by’ (partially protected) the ‘neighbouring island of Lantau’. The ‘sea walls’ should guard ‘against the rest’. Hence, the answer is Lantau Island/Sea walls.
11	Lantau Island/Sea walls (in either order)	Paragraph 11 points out that to protect ‘it’ (island/airport), the new coastline is being bolstered with a formidable twelve kilometres of sea defences. The brunt of a ‘typhoon’ (storms) will be ‘deflected by’ (partially protected) the ‘neighbouring island of Lantau’. The ‘sea walls’ should ‘guard against the rest’. Hence, the answer is Lantau Island/Sea walls.
12	rainfall	In paragraph 11, the writer writes that to protect ‘it’ (island/airport), the new coastline is being bolstered with a formidable twelve kilometres of sea defences. The brunt of a ‘typhoon’ will be ‘deflected by’ the ‘neighbouring island of Lantau’. The ‘sea walls’ should ‘guard against the rest’. Gentler but more persistent bad weather – the ‘downpours’ (rainfall) of the summer monsoon – is also being taken into account. Hence, the answer is rainfall.
13	geotextile	In paragraph 11, the writer mentions that to protect ‘it’ (island/airport), the new coastline is being bolstered with a formidable twelve kilometres of sea defences. The brunt of a ‘typhoon’ will be ‘deflected by’ the ‘neighbouring island of Lantau’. The ‘sea walls’ should ‘guard against the rest’. More persistent bad weather – the ‘downpours’ of the summer monsoon – is also being taken into account. Therefore, a ‘mat-like material called geotextile’ is being ‘laid across the island’ to separate the rock and sand layers. Hence, the answer is geotextile.

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