At the beginning of November, the 35th Chinese Antarctic expedition(南极科考队) set off for the polar(极地的) region. This time, one of their main tasks is to build China's first permanent(永久的) Antarctic airport, Science and Technology Daily reported.

There are more than 20 airports in Antarctica, according to Global Times. But none of them belongs to China. China's polar plane Xueying 601 has to take off and land at Russian airports.

The new airport will help Chinese airplanes take off and land in the South Pole. This will make it easier to transport scientific equipment and do research, Zhang Xia from the Polar Research Institute of China(中国极地研究中心) told Global Times.

In order to be environmentally friendly, the airport will be small, said Sun Bo, the leader of the research team. It is much smaller than the usual airports in our cities.

However, this doesn't make it easy to build the airport.

The site of the airport is an ice cap 28 kilometers away from Zhongshan Antarctic Station, Xinhua noted. An ice cap is a thick layer(层) of ice. It covers the land like a warm coat. But this "coat" is always moving. Scientists have to find the slowest-moving part of the cap. You can hardly notice the movement of the ice in this area.

The next problem is the snow. The snow on the ice cap can be very thick. Also, it is as soft as cotton, which makes it hard to build a runway(跑道) for airplanes. Scientists have to use a snow blower to get rid of the snow on the top of the cap. Then, they compact the rest of the snow with a road roller-like machine. This way, the snow will be strong and hard enough to build a runway.

The builders intend to set off on November 2 and the building would start later the same month.

1.The main task of the 35th Chinese Antarctic expedition is to _______.( )

A.transport scientific equipment B.do research

C.set up a research station D.build an airport

2.China's polar plane Xueying 601 got to Antarctica with the help of ________.( )

A.Beijing airports B.Antarctic airports C.Russian airports D.American airports

3.What is the main idea of the third paragraph? ( )

A.Why we need to explore Antarctica. B.Where China's polar planes take off and land.

C.What the new airport in Antarctica can help do. D.How other countries build their own airports.

4.The meaning of the underlined word "compact" in the seventh paragraph is "________".( )

A.压紧 B.铲除 C.冻结 D.融化

5.Which of the following is not among the difficulties of building a polar airport according to the passage? ( )

A.The weather changes very often. B.The ice cap is always moving.

C.The snow on the ice cap is thick. D.The snow on the ice cap is soft.

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