The unique solution to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport阿姆斯特丹史基浦机场的奇招

张成

主题语境：飞行安全 篇幅：351词 建议用时：6分钟

1 Birds have a history of troubling operations atairports around the world， but now AmsterdamSchiphol Airport （AMS） in the Netherlands hasa solution—pigs.

2 The airport is surrounded by crop?growing farmlandand wetlands that attract flocks of wildgeese. As we all know after the US Airways flight 1549 had to land in the HudsonRiver， geese can be a murderer to aircraft. All 155 people onboard the AirbusA320?214 survived thanks to Captain“ Sully” Sullenbergers quick decision?makingand his ability to land the plane on the water safely. Without doubt， AmsterdamSchiphol wants to avoid any such incident.

3 Besides having 15 full?time bird controllers who drive around to ensure Schipols sixrunways are bird?free， the Dutch airport has developed a unique solution. Between twoof the airports runways is a sugar beet （甜菜） farm. When the farmer harvests the crop，geese and other birds would arrive to feed on the leftover scraps and worms in theturned?over soil.

4 In an experiment， the airport hired pig farmer Josse Haarhuis to let 20 of his pigs stayon the site for six weeks. A pig?free area of similar size at the airport will be observedto compare the differences between the two locations. The airport has installed a specialbird detecting radar to see whether the pigs presence makes a difference.“ Thepigs were immediately brought to the field within 12 hours of the sugar beet harvest onTuesday. They eat the crop remains so that there will be nothing left for the geese toget，” said Haarhuis.

5 Besides using noise cannons， scarecrows， and even lasers， the airports primary bird defensehas killed thousands of geese by shooting them. In 2014， airport workers killed7000 geese. Due to their size and the fact that they fly in flocks， geese pose a severethreat to aircraft and are a danger if left to congregate around the airport.

6 If the pig experiment works out well， perhaps this will no longer be necessary. Letshope that the pigs can do their job， and there is no longer a need for the geese to bekilled in such large numbers.

Reading

Check

1. What was the cause of the US Airways flight 1549 incident？

A. Bad weather. B. A bird strike.

C. An engine failure. D. Human error.

2. Which method did the airport use in their experiment？

A. Making comparisons.

B. Collecting lab data.

C. Having interviews.

D. Examining samples.

3. What would be an expected result of the airports experiment？

A. There would be no other birds on the airport but geese.

B. There would be no food left for the birds on the airport.

C. There would be no more sugar beet farms at the airport.

D. There would be less noise from airplanes at the airport.

4. What does the underlined word“ congregate” mean in paragraph 5？

A. Gather. B. Exist.

C. Ignore.D. Survive.

Language

Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

The airport has installed a special bird detecting radar to see whether the pigs presencemakes a difference. 機场安装了特制的鸟群观测雷达，以确定猪群的出现是否（对驱鸟）有作用。

【点石成金】本句是一个主从复合句。不定式to see作目的状语，whether引导宾语从句。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

be surrounded by 被……包围

thanks to 多亏；由于

feed on 以……为食

make a difference 起作用；有影响

due to 由于；因为

pose a threat to 对……构成威胁

work out 进展顺利；健身；计算出

in large numbers 大量地