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Today I'm going to talk about Germany's dream airport in Berlin. The airport looks exactly like every other major modern airport in Europe, except for one big problem: more than seven years after it was originally supposed to open, it still stands empty.
Germany is known for its efficiency and refined engineering, but when it comes to its new ghost airport this reputation could not be further from the truth. (22)Plagued by long delays, perpetual mismanagement and ever-soaring costs, the airport has become something of a joke among Germans and a source of frustration for local politicians, business leaders and residents alike.
(23)Planning for the new airport began in 1989. At the time, it became clear that the newly-reunified Berlin would need a modern airport with far greater capacity than its existing airports. The city broke ground on the new airport in 2006.
The first major sign of problems came in summer 2010, when the construction corporation pushed the opening from October 2011 to June 2012. In 2012, the city planned an opening ceremony. (24)But less than a month beforehand, inspectors found significant problems with the fire safety system and pushed the opening back again to 2013. It wasn't just the smoke system: many other major problems subsequently emerged. More than 90 metres of cable were incorrectly installed; 4,000 doors were wrongly numbered; escalators were too short. And there was a shortage of check-in desks.
So why, with so many problems discovered, didn't the airport corporation decide to give up on the project and start over? The reason is simple: people are often hesitant to terminate a project when they've already invested time or resources into it, even if it might make logical sense to do so.
The longer the delays continued, the more problems inspectors found. Leadership of the planning corporation has changed hands nearly as many times as the opening date has been pushed back. Initially, rather than appointing a general contractor to run the project, the corporation decided to manage it themselves despite lack of experience with an undertaking of that scale.
(25)To compound the delays, the unused airport is resulting in massive costs. Every month it remains unopened costs between 9m and 10m.
Assuming all goes well, the airport should open in October 2020. But the still-empty airport stands as the biggest embarrassment to Germany's reputation for efficiency and a continuing drain on city and state resources.
未听先知
预览四道题各选项,可以初步推测,对话内容与机场有关。
详解详析
22. What does the speaker say about the dream airport in Berlin?
C)。讲座中说，由于多次长时间延期、接连不断的管理问题以及不断飙升的费用，这座机场已经成了德国的一个笑话，也是让当地的政治家、商人领袖以及居民都感到挫败不已的一个问题。因此答案为C)。
23. Why was there a need for a new airport in Berlin?
B)。讲座中提到，建设新机场的计划始于1989年，那时候，很明显，刚统一的柏林市需要一座现代化的机场，这座机场需要比当时的机场有更大的客容量。因此，城市统一是建造新机场的原因，答案为B)。
24. Why did Berlin postpone the opening of its dream airport again and again?
D)。讲座中提到，2012年，检查员发现消防安全系统不合格，之后又发现有90多米电缆装错了，4,000扇门的序号不对，自动扶梯太短，登记柜台也不够。这足以说明导致机场不断延期投入使用的原因是各种各样的问题层出不穷。因此答案为D)。
25. What happens while the airport remains unused?This is the end of listening comprehension.
C)。讲座中提到，更糟糕的是，未启用的机场会产生巨额的费用，每个月的费用高达九百到一千万欧元。不难推知，这些巨额费用是用在维护上的，因此答案为C)。