Why read this: This is a short, friendly news story about Changi Airport in Singapore. Changi just won the prize for the World's Best Airport again. For many students this is a first look at the topic. The story gives a clean list of facts you can hold in your head: where Changi is, what it has won, and what makes it special. After reading, you will know the basic shape of the story.
What to notice: Pick out three kinds of facts. First, the awards: Changi just won the top prize for the second year in a row, and 14 times in total. Second, the fun features: the tall indoor waterfall, the butterfly garden, the free cinema, and the robot bartender. Third, the smart parts: face and eye scans at the border, plus 60,000 staff. These three groups will help you tell the story in your own words.
Skills practised: Reading: finding facts in short paragraphs and putting them in order; spotting numbers like 14 times, 60,000 staff, and the year 2024; matching each fact to the part of the airport it talks about. Writing: making short, simple sentences that join with 'and' or 'but'; using descriptive words like 'tall', 'fast', and 'clean'; making lists of three things from the text.
Why Changi keeps winning the world's best airport prize
Changi Airport is in Singapore. It just won the top airport prize again.
Tap any green word in the article to see its meaning.
Changi Airport is in Singapore, and it just won a big prizeprize: Something you win in a competition. — 奖品；奖励. Skytrax named it the World's Best Airport for the second year in a rowrow: A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden etc — 一排. In total, Changi has won this prize 14 times. No other airport has won so often.
Changi has many fun things for travellerstraveller: A person who is travelling or who travels regularly. — 旅行者；旅客 to see. It has the world's tallest indoorindoor: done, used, or situated inside a building — 室内的 waterfallwaterfall: A flow of water over the edge of a cliff — 瀑布, and the waterfall is in a building called Jewel. Changi also has a butterflybutterfly: A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring — 蝴蝶 garden with real butterflies. There is a free cinema, a cactuscactus: Any succulent plant with a thick fleshy stem bearing spines but no leaves, such as euphorbs — 多肉植物 garden, and a sunflowersunflower: Any plant of the genus Helianthus, so called probably from the form and color of its floral head, having the form of a large disk surrounded by yellow ray flowers — 向日葵 garden on the roofroof: The top covering of a building. — 屋顶；顶部. In Terminals 2 and 3, a robotrobot: A machine that can move and do tasks automatically. — 机器人 called Toni can make cocktailscocktail: A mixed alcoholic drink; a mixture of different substances or elements, often with dangerous or unpredictable effects. — 鸡尾酒；混合物. Travellers with a longlong: Lasting for a great amount of time — 长久的 wait can even join a free tourtour: A trip to several different places for pleasure or to see interesting things. — 旅游；参观游览 of the city.
Changi is also very fast and very clean. About 60,000 staffstaff: the group of people who work for an organisation — 员工；全体职员 work at the airport, and they keep it tidytidy: Arranged neatly and in an organised way; clean and in good order. — 整洁的；井井有条的 at all times. In 2024, Changi was the first airport in the world to use face and eye scans for travellers. People from Singapore can now leave or arrive without showing a passport, so the line is very short. Cleaning robots also help. They wipe the floors all day and night.
So why does Changi keep winning? Singapore is a small country, and there are not many workers to hire. These labour constraints: limits on how many workers a country has available to hire — 劳动力短缺约束 pushpush: To move something away from you using force. — 推；推动 the airport to use machinesmachine: A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity, to produce a certain effect — 机器 insteadinstead: In place of something else. — 代替；反而 of people. Changi also has an innovation lab: a research team set up inside an organisation to test new ideas — 创新实验室 called Terminal X. The team there tests new ideas. They use predictive analytics: using past data to predict what will happen next — 预测性数据分析. This means smartsmart: intelligent; having a neat and stylish appearance — 聪明的；时髦的 computers look at past datadata: Facts or information collected for use or study — 数据；资料 and guess what will happen next. The airport then fixesfix: To repair something that is broken. — 修理；固定 small problems before travellers see them.
Changi shows that good design and smart planningplanning: The process of deciding how to do something before you actually start doing it. — 规划；计划 can make air travel easy. For many travellers, it is now the airport they hope to land in.
Changi Airport is in Singapore, and it just won a big prizeprize: Something you win in a competition. — 奖品；奖励. Skytrax named it the World's Best Airport for the second year in a rowrow: A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden etc — 一排. In total, Changi has won this prize 14 times. No other airport has won so often.
Changi has many fun things for travellerstraveller: A person who is travelling or who travels regularly. — 旅行者；旅客 to see. It has the world's tallest indoorindoor: done, used, or situated inside a building — 室内的 waterfallwaterfall: A flow of water over the edge of a cliff — 瀑布, and the waterfall is in a building called Jewel. Changi also has a butterflybutterfly: A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring — 蝴蝶 garden with real butterflies. There is a free cinema, a cactuscactus: Any succulent plant with a thick fleshy stem bearing spines but no leaves, such as euphorbs — 多肉植物 garden, and a sunflowersunflower: Any plant of the genus Helianthus, so called probably from the form and color of its floral head, having the form of a large disk surrounded by yellow ray flowers — 向日葵 garden on the roofroof: The top covering of a building. — 屋顶；顶部. In Terminals 2 and 3, a robotrobot: A machine that can move and do tasks automatically. — 机器人 called Toni can make cocktailscocktail: A mixed alcoholic drink; a mixture of different substances or elements, often with dangerous or unpredictable effects. — 鸡尾酒；混合物. Travellers with a longlong: Lasting for a great amount of time — 长久的 wait can even join a free tourtour: A trip to several different places for pleasure or to see interesting things. — 旅游；参观游览 of the city.
Changi is also very fast and very clean. About 60,000 staffstaff: the group of people who work for an organisation — 员工；全体职员 work at the airport, and they keep it tidytidy: Arranged neatly and in an organised way; clean and in good order. — 整洁的；井井有条的 at all times. In 2024, Changi was the first airport in the world to use face and eye scans for travellers. People from Singapore can now leave or arrive without showing a passport, so the line is very short. Cleaning robots also help. They wipe the floors all day and night.
So why does Changi keep winning? Singapore is a small country, and there are not many workers to hire. These labour constraints: limits on how many workers a country has available to hire — 劳动力短缺约束 pushpush: To move something away from you using force. — 推；推动 the airport to use machinesmachine: A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity, to produce a certain effect — 机器 insteadinstead: In place of something else. — 代替；反而 of people. Changi also has an innovation lab: a research team set up inside an organisation to test new ideas — 创新实验室 called Terminal X. The team there tests new ideas. They use predictive analytics: using past data to predict what will happen next — 预测性数据分析. This means smartsmart: intelligent; having a neat and stylish appearance — 聪明的；时髦的 computers look at past datadata: Facts or information collected for use or study — 数据；资料 and guess what will happen next. The airport then fixesfix: To repair something that is broken. — 修理；固定 small problems before travellers see them.
Changi shows that good design and smart planningplanning: The process of deciding how to do something before you actually start doing it. — 规划；计划 can make air travel easy. For many travellers, it is now the airport they hope to land in.
Questions
Check your understanding
- 01
How many times has Changi won the Skytrax World's Best Airport prize?
- 02
What can travellers see in the building called Jewel?
- 03
What did Changi start doing in 2024 to make the line short?
- 04
Name three things travellers can see or do at Changi Airport. Write one short sentence about each one.
Suggested length: ~50 words
- 05
Describe two ways Changi uses machines or computers to help travellers. Use facts from the article.
Suggested length: ~50 words
Questions
Check your understanding
- 01
How many times has Changi won the Skytrax World's Best Airport prize?
- 02
What can travellers see in the building called Jewel?
- 03
What did Changi start doing in 2024 to make the line short?
- 04
Name three things travellers can see or do at Changi Airport. Write one short sentence about each one.
Suggested length: ~50 words
- 05
Describe two ways Changi uses machines or computers to help travellers. Use facts from the article.
Suggested length: ~50 words