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  3. Airport security is one of the least popular aspects of travel, according to a passenger survey conducted by the International A

Airport security is one of the least popular aspects of travel, according to a passenger survey conducted by the International A

admin2019-06-20  25
问题    Airport security is one of the least popular aspects of travel, according to a passenger survey conducted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Airports have realized this, and some are now making efforts to make the experience of being touched, scanned and having your suitcase rummaged through as painless as possible, while maintaining the same level of scrutiny.
   The biggest annoyance is queuing time, followed by the need to remove electronic items, restrictions on liquids and requirements to take off belts and boots. Pat-downs are less of an issue, as is the use of full-body scanners. As it happens, full-body scanners were supposed to reduce queues—and improve security. They were first introduced in 2007, to replace or complement metal detectors, but began to be widely used in the wake of a failed Christmas 2009 attempt to blow up a plane over Detroit with a bomb smuggled past security in the would-be bomber’s underwear.
   Driving the rollout of the full-body scanners was the US Transportation Security Administration. There are two types of these scanners currently in use: ’ millimeter wave’ machines that use non-ionizing radio waves to produce a three-dimensional image, and backscatter scanners that use X-rays. However, at first these scanners dramatically increased queuing time, because every time a scanner detected something suspicious, it would trigger an alarm and a full pat down would ensue.
   It also didn’t take long for people to wonder just how much the scanners were actually seeing, especially after the media published a picture of the head of the TSA’s research lab, Susan Hallowell, which showed her being scanned and appearing rather nude. It was an eye-opener for many, and privacy groups took up the cause. Soon officials acknowledged that the technology had to be tuned down a bit. By mid-2013 this type of scanner—each of them worth about $ 175 ,000 (￡ 113 ,600) —had gone from US airports.    In most other countries they have disappeared too, replaced by millimeter-wave machines running privacy software called Automated Target Recognition. Instead of an all-too-revealing picture, they generate a cartoon-line body image that identifies the location of a potentially suspicious element so security staff can carry out a pat-down. "It’s a security scan designed for privacy and for smart detection," says Ron Louwerse, the director in charge of safety, security and environment at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. Airports hope these new measures will allay people’s concerns, says IATA’s communications manager Chris Goater.
   So to cut down the queues, airports are now introducing what could be described as procedures to optimize the workflow, based on the Smart Security System developed by IATA. In London’s Gatwick Airport, for example, passengers are now guided to form several queues at each X-ray machine’s conveyor belt. It makes the process of picking apart one’s luggage much more efficient. On the other side of the security check, meanwhile, passengers are offered numerous desks to repack their stuff, with dividers offering a semblance of privacy.
   Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport uses a similar system to load the trays and cut down the queues, while a new auto scan system performs an initial assessment of the content of the tray, and shows the operator an image only when it spots a suspicious item. The system is part of the Schiphol Security Experience initiative, which tries to provide security as a service, not a cumbersome necessity. Schiphol also will end its practice of having security checks right in front of each gate, and introduce instead—from June this year—a more conventional centralized security checkpoint. The airport hopes that this will end its notorious, snail-pace queues.
   Researchers believe they may already have a solution. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, for instance, have come up with a system called MagRay, based on the scanning technology developed for medical applications—a combination of X-rays and nuclear magnetic resonance, which is used in MRI scans. " We combine the two methods to discriminate benign from threat liquids, " says Michelle Espy, a physicist at Los Alamos and MagRay’s project leader. Trials at Albuquerque airport were "favorably received by screeners," she adds—although the project has run out of funding for now.
   US Company Analogic, meanwhile, uses a 3D-scanning system for hold luggage, which is based on medical computed tomography, or CT (an imaging system which produces cross-sectional images or "slices" of a-natomy). It is adapting this technology to work for checking carry-on luggage, and is currently testing its technology at London’s Luton Airport and at Schiphol. But until the technology is rolled out on a larger scale, we’ll have to keep stuffing our toiletries into those transparent plastic bags for a little while longer.
   Passport control is another pain point for passengers, although during the past few years border controls have become increasingly digital and automated, with computerized passport gates and machines processing traveller information. Goater is convinced that the rise of biometrics has boosted security hugely. " If an individual is able to swap passports with someone they physically resemble, they might get through a human visual check, but an iris scan would catch them". E-passport gates also speed up the flow of passengers. Gatwick, for instance, prides itself on keeping queue time in security under five minutes, thanks to facial recognition technology.
   But Hosein from Privacy International says that these security innovations are mainly focused on enhancing "opaque surveillance systems" rather than improving the passenger experience. "We have no idea what background processing is going on to decide whether someone should be stopped or not, " he says. " The technology is now available to monitor and profile each and every traveler, even before he or she leaves home — in fact, even as you purchase your ticket, the profiling begins. Yes, this is to aid efficiency and ’ passenger experience’ , but the priority is about revenues. And intelligence gathering.
   It’s a value judgment we also have to make for another innovation that may—or may not—make security go easy on some passengers, but not so on others. Some airports are using behavioral analytics to spot potential criminals, with algorithms sifting through security camera footage in real-time, trying to identify unusual behavior. " There have been significant advances in algorithmic surveillance for basic scrutiny, for example observing that all passengers go the right way through security zones and to identify anyone moving in the wrong direction, " says Steve Wright, who specialises in policing technology at the UK’s Leeds Metro-politan University.
   With superior scanners, better biometrics and smarter systems for queuing, airport security may indeed get that little bit less annoying. However, it’s unlikely that technology will spare us all embarrassments at the X-ray machine, as security staff tell us to dress down.
What is true about the full-body scanners?
选项 A、They were first introduced in 2007.
B、At first they dramatically decreased queuing time.
C、Their use made pat-downs no longer an issue for passengers.
D、They were launched by the International Air Transport Association.
答案A
解析 事实细节题。第二段第四句明确提到他们是2007年引进的，由上一句可知“他们”即full-body scanners(全身扫描器)，故答案为[A]项。由第二段第二句全身扫描器使用后，全身拍摸的检查方式就不算什么问题了，less of an issue(不算什么问题)与no longer an issue(不再是问题)含义有区别，[C]项的说法过于绝对。由第二段第三句可知，使用全身扫描器会减少排队现象，但这不等同于大幅度减少排队时间，[B]项说法不准确。由第三段首句可知全身扫描器的推出是由美国运输安全局发起的，故排除[D]项。
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