英语听力精选进阶版 6104

Chaos¹ as New Terminal Opens 新航站楼的混乱

London Heathrow is the biggest airport in the UK, and it also handles more international passenger traffic than any other airport in the world. For this reason, expansion was planned and on 27th March a fifth terminal opened to help to cope with the many passengers that pass through the airport.

The new terminal has taken a long time to plan and build. The idea was first proposed back in the 1980s.

The opening of it has been talked about widely in the media in the UK and expectations were high for the ￡4.3 billion (60.2 billion RMB) project.

However, in spite of long preparations at Terminal 5 ahead of the grand opening, things soon descended² into chaos.

There were problems from the outset as staff had difficulties finding car parking spaces and getting through security to get into the building. This consequently caused a delay when passengers started to arrive and adequate numbers of staff were not in place.

Long passenger queues formed and the slow start meant that everyone had to play catch-up from the beginning.

Staff were having problems using the new systems and a baggage handler told the BBC, it was all "a shambles³ the moment the doors opened".

The terminal has been designed to handle 12,000 bags an hour but due to a reported "lack of training and essential support that was promised", a backlog⁴ of luggage soon materialised.

By lunchtime on that first day, 20 flights had been cancelled to try and alleviate⁵ the problems. Flights continued to be cancelled in the days following the opening and up to 28,000 bags have now had to be placed in temporary storage.

BA, the only airline operating at Terminal 5 says it is working to clear the backlog, but the negative publicity⁶ caused by this fiasco has not helped the airport or the airline's reputation at all.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

handles 处理

international passenger traffic 国际航空客运量

expansion 扩建/扩展

to cope 应对

proposed 拟议/建议的

expectations 期待

billion （数）十亿

grand opening 隆重的揭幕仪式

from the outset 伊始

adequate 足够的

queues formed 出现长队

to play catch-up 紧紧追赶

a baggage handler 行李管理员

a shambles 大混乱

lack of 缺少

a backlog 积压（行李）

materialised 形成

alleviate 减轻/减缓

temporary storage 临时行李储存处

fiasco 大失败/乱七八糟

1 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

2 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

3 shambles   

n.混乱之处；废墟

参考例句：

• My room is a shambles.我房间里乱七八糟。
• The fighting reduced the city to a shambles.这场战斗使这座城市成了一片废墟。

4 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

5 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。

6 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。